Indochine Living Art

“Contemporary Painters from Hanoi”

Diversity, originality and exuberance are among the terms that best describe the art of Vietnam of the last fifteen years. The government of the United States lifted its embargo against that country just as the Vietnamese government eased restrictions against foreign tourism and gallery ownership. No party official could have predicted the consequences of such moves for the painters who live in Hanoi.

At first a part of the tourist industry, the trade in Vietnamese art is transforming itself into a serious, independent market. In San Francisco, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore the number of museum exhibitions and gallery shows on Vietnam has been growing quickly. In Hanoi, sales are thriving as never before. Promising students from the school of fine arts as well as senior artists from the 80 year-old “Ecole des Beaux Arts d’Indochine” contribute to today’s incredible scene. Attentive observers like professor Nora Taylor are comparing the emergence of the Vietnamese art in the new millennium to the blossoming of the African art market in the 1960s or the birth of the Australian native art market in the 1980s.

Vietnamese artists are, however, savvier than their colleagues. The frequent contacts with overseas buyers who have suddenly exposed to capitalism have encouraged painters to seek better control of the commercialization of their products. Today, many believe that risk-taking individualism and avant-garde originality are more reliable sources of global recognition than sheer commercial success. Foreign collectors remain challenged by a unique combination of positive factors: the rapid expansion of the art community, the extreme creativity of its expressions, its high visibility on the streets of Hanoi, and the rebellion of independent-minded artists against the “system.” Prospective buyers can nevertheless explore the back alleys of Hanoi and locate the alternative spaces where painters exhibit. Vietnam connoisseurs accumulate experience when they discuss with artists and negotiate with private dealers.

Art historians have marginalized Vietnamese art in their writings. True, Vietnam cannot be labeled as primitive; it belongs neither to the prestigious civilizations of India or China. The supposedly pristine and innocent Vietnamese paintings have therefore escaped textbook categories. The absence of academic literature on the topic has not prevented Sotheby’s and Christie’s to hold auctions of contemporary art from Southeast Asia. To their surprise and delight, the international art clientele quickly bought the masterpieces available. Soon, we will find more appealing paintings from Vietnam in the catalogs of auction houses and art galleries. Precise information on authentication and provenance will determine bidding prices to an extent larger than today.

In about five years the Vietnamese market should enter a more mature period. Experts could then be conversant in the art production of Vietnam, but auction prices may shock many artists in Hanoi and several collectors in Europe and North America.

Philippe Forêt, PhD
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

For Christophe Barwinek

Nguyen Anh Ha
                       "Su va dap cua mao do"
                              Oil on canvas
                                    50 x 60

Dao Anh Khanh
Original Lacquer painting (2 faces)

         Nguyen Anh Ha
   oil on canvas
                        90 / 120 cm

Nguyen Anh Ha
             Oil on canvas
                  70 x 90

Thanh CHUONG,
"Childrens with buffalo"
Original Lacquer painting
90 x 120 cm

Passion leads painter to success
As the eldest son of one of Vietnam’s most noted writers, Kim Lan, painter Thanh Chuong is blessed by inheriting his family’s traditions as well as the ability to express himself through his talent. Though not following in his father’s footsteps, Chuong has made a marvelous success and is a big name in Vietnam’s artistic community.  Thanh Chuong started painting when he was five years old and has so far produced thousands of distinctive works, mostly portraying rural landscapes and women. In Chuong’s pictures, viewers sense a unique creativity and the beauty of traditional Vietnamese culture. He said he found love and inspirations from his father.
„My father’s passion has paved the way for me to access arts and painting. Though a writer, he was particularly interested in painting and advised his children to pursue this art form. During my childhood, my father often took me to visit his friends, many of whom were famed painters, and this sowed the desire of painting in my mind.“ Chuong said his father taught him to keep his own style at all costs, to live with it and to die for it because it is vital for the career of a painter. Without his father, there would never be today’s made-by-Thanh Chuong pictures. Over the past 50 years, life experiences, especially those gained during his military service, have reinforced Chuong’s exceptional painting style.  After the end of war, Thanh Chuong became one of the first Vietnamese painters to be involved in abstract painting. At that time, he felt that only the visual language of abstractness can fully express the obsession and adversity of war. But later, Chuong portrayed things around him from a more human perspective. His images appear to make people understand more about the value of peace. Most of his works during this period featured women, children and peaceful life in rural areas.
Thanh Chuong has also produced a series of self-portraits. He often draws himself with a face, which is round and a little bit out-of-the-ordinary. Chuong says this is a very difficult topic and a challenge for him because he has managed to make sure that each of his self-portraits in no way resembles another.  He holds that an artist must pick up new ideas from traditional styles and find new method of expression, differing from those of predecessors. The creativity of a painter should be imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity but should also be modernized in line with the flow of world arts.
Recently, Thanh Chuong’s picture „Buffalo Boys“ was sold for US$30,000 at an exhibition in Singapore. One of his paintings has also been selected by UNESCO for production as an international stamp.
Chuong says he is pleased with what he has achieved but adds that all this is in the past; the future is another story and an artist must always be on the move. He says the basic nature of art stems from people’s daily lives. Vietnamese painting is imprinted with spontaneity and with the simple innate relationship between humans and nature.  But, he adds, it has also been influenced by other cultures, particularly during the French colonial period.  It is time, he says, for contemporary Vietnamese artists to move out of the shadow of French style so as to form a painting genre imbued with the spirit of Vietnamese people. Painter Thanh Chuong explains, „I think a successful painter must present his own character and personality. He must show people what country and what culture he belongs to, in order to distinguish himself from others. But, he must also learn from the world of modern art to avoid being left behind.“ Thanh Chuong has recently established the „Thanh Chuong Palatial Space“ on an area of more than 10,000 sq.m in Hanoi’s outlying district of Soc Son. He says this serves as his workplace, an exhibition venue and a place, which domestic and foreign art lovers can visit. A wide range of painting works, wooden statues, ceramics and chinaware, representing Vietnamese cultural values are preserved and displayed at the site, showing their owner’s passionate love for arts.
Chuong says he regards the „Thanh Chuong Palatial Space“ as the artistic work of his lifetime.