VietNamNet Bridge - Ha Hung first started sketching as a hobby but his current exhibition is proof that he is one of Vietnam’s finest emerging artists, says.

At Sunlight in the Garden, the latest exhibition by Ha Hung, a graduate from the University of Fine Art in Ho Chi Minh City, one renowned art collector was left reeling. “His works are instant emotional hits,” declared Thai Son. Ha Hung claims he only started sketching and drawing as a hobby, but now he can’t see himself doing anything else. “People live for different things,” he says.

“But I think, for me, I live to paint.” After graduating in 2001, Hung picked up several awards, earned the respect of his peers and his fair share of critical approval, but his work failed to fire commercially. “Most of Hung’s works [previously] revealed a promising talent, but some [of these works] were quite unsettling, which perhaps explains why they were not popular,” says Thai Son.

His work, some of which was certainly quite spectacular, was filled with conflict, blood-red seas and sorrow – intense images and themes, which perhaps didn’t sit well with many collectors of Vietnamese art. “At that time I was very extreme,” says Hung. “I kept digging harder and deeper inside myself to look for the so-called core of life and questioned so much about what is real and what is false.”

Eventually, he began to realise he could not hide within himself forever and that a quest to the core of life would be endless. So Hung made peace with himself and started to look at the outside world with a more forgiving attitude. He had entered a new stage of his life and began to, in his words, “erase myself, not to forget about the past, but to make space for new things coming in.” Now Hung’s work is decidedly more colourful, even cheerful.

With his latest body of work he has moved away from symbolism to abstractionism. Invisible or transparent elements such as wind, water and light have been painted through the vibrations that each of these natural phenomena causes to the surrounding environment.

Each painting is, as Thai Son pointed out, emotional but also joyous. This is a gentle world that Hung depicts, a place where we can feel an abundance of peace and love. Hung’s tones and colours show us what can only be felt, not seen. There is a noticeable Van Gogh-styled vividness, especially with Hung’s fondness for orange and red.

“After more than 10 years of painting and working as a professional painter, I understand that it is very difficult to form your own style,” says Hung. “Vietnamese fine art is decades behind the rest of the world. To create something new, I think the best way is to look for a gap that other artists from around the world have missed and try to fill it in ourselves.” “Hung is a sincere artist and his art is powerful,” says Thai Son.

“His talent is that he can paint the emotions that everyone feels but at the same time they are very unique and of himself.” Sunlight in the Garden by Ha Hung runs until November 3, Ho Chi Minh City Association of Fine Art at 218A, Pasteur Street, District 3. You can also find Hung’s previous work at Thai Son Gallery at 92/30 Pham Ngoc Thach Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

(Source: Timeout)