“I draw my dreams, my desires, my present feeling and also my memories. All swarm in just a moment and I try to catch every single one of them. When they all go away, my mind is felt empty, deserted; but far away, I see a little speck of light leading me to the future. As time goes by, the present will soon become the past, and I always try to retain these precious moments.”
This is what Vu Hong Nguyen says about his exhibition entitled ‘ Streaks of Time,’ currently showing at the Hanoi Art Museum. Being a member of the Vietnam Fine Art Association, Nguyen has participarted in many exhibitions including The Club of Young Vietnamese Artists for the last five year, Hanoi Fine Arts Exhibitions for last three years, the Exhibition of Vietnamese contemporary Art 2005. ‘Streaks of Time’ is Nguyen’s second solo exhibition after the first one entitled ‘Time & Space’ at the Melia Hotel, Hanoi in 2003.
After graduating from the Hanoi institute of Industrial Art in 2000, Nguyen developed an interest in abstract painting specialising in the use of oil, lacquer, acrylic and mixed media; all this is carried out with precocious talent. After just five years he has developed a reputation as one of the most unique young artists in Vietnam, earning high praise from various art critics. In the eyes of critic Nguyen Xuan Tiep, who is now vice director of the Hanoi Art Museum: “Nguyen’s abstract paintings at present wake up our senses more visually than mentally. Colourful combinations of blue and black, red and white or all the tones and colour combined make up his flexible and dynamic style in which the most vivid impression is created by the artist’s competent technique and media’s attractiveness. Self-evident are Nguyen’s passion for art and his praiseworthy effort to find himself an orientation and shape and artistic language of his own.”
The 30-year young artist is fullly aware that the personal imprint is paramount importance to an artist and each artist’s own temperament and personal view is reflected in the work that is produced. Nguyen is hoping to prove this is his second solo exhibition ‘Streaks of Time.’ He also wants to introduce his new ways of using traditional lacquer techniques.
“I have worked hard on finding new ways of mixing chemicals and apply them to my paintings. In my lacquer works, I always paint on wet surfaces, which is diferent from the traditional way of painting on dry surfaces.”
Compared with previous works, this exhibition of 35 works signifies a new era for Nguyen who is developing into a calm and mature artist: “Each life has its own hidden fate.Each soul secretly contains memories. So does a painting: it conceals the confidences that the artist entrusts to his individual speechless world. With me, my paintings are precisely my real self. When I draw painting, I express my own feelings on their flat surface and deep down underneath I seem to sense the bottom of my heart of hearts, my proper self, my memories.”
Discovery Magazine 2003