Two styles in one exhibition

Published: 26/03/2011 05:00

VietNamNet Bridge – One focuses on man’s loneliness while the another addresses the boundlessness of landscape. The two styles of Ngo Thanh Nhan and To Chiem make their painting exhibition compelling and interesting.

This is the first time the two artists are sharing an exhibition at Tu Do Gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau, District 1, HCM City.

Nhan contributes 10 lacquer paintings and Chiem with ten oil paintings.

In Nhan’s paintings, one will see iconic Vietnamese landscapes and Vietnamese people, for example ancient houses in Hanoi, basket boats or ethnic minority girls.

Nhan likes painting boats very much. Of the ten paintings, up to six feature boats.

“I have hundreds of paintings about all kinds of boats in Vietnam. It is my hobby to paint boats. Each boat has a life and I love them. After passing through waterfalls and rapids, waves and wind, they land peacefully at the port,” Nhan said.

If Nhan’s paintings focus on landscapes and things, Chiem’s works dig deeply into his personality and the self. He said that he felt very lonely in the period from 1998 to 2000. Looking at Chiem’s paintings, one can feel the loneliness through each line.

However, Chiem’s recent artworks look more brightly. They no longer focus on only one character.

Calling their exhibition “Contrast”, two painters from Hanoi want to share the idea about diversification in style. However, the “contrast” is only in material, the way they show their feeling. When it comes to art and emotions, they are on the same page: love for human and life.

Ngo Thanh Nhan was born in Hanoi. He graduated from the Hanoi Industrial Art College in 1979. Nhan is a member of the Vietnam Fine-Art Association and Hanoi Fine-Art Association. He is an employee of the Culture and Information Publishing House.

Nhan participated in national painting exhibitions in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010.

He had personal exhibitions in Hanoi in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1998 and 2000, in Hong Kong in 2005, 2008, in Singapore in 2002.

Nhan has also joined group exhibitions in China, South Korea, Canada and the US.

His artworks are displayed in the Art Museum of Vietnam and collected by local and foreign painting collectors.

He has won several painting prizes in Vietnam.

To Chiem was born in 1965 in Hanoi. He graduated from the Hanoi Art University in 1991. He is working at the Kim Dong Publishing House. Chiem is a member of the Hanoi and Vietnam Fine Art Associations.

He has participated in many exhibition in Vietnam, China, Singapore, France. His works are collected by painting collectors in Vietnam, France, USA, Italy, New Zealand, etc.

Ngo Thanh Nhan’s paintings: