Instead of wearing tunics and ready-to-wear turbans, the three young calligraphers of “@ Scholar” impressed attendants of the “Mother’s Lullaby” calligraphic exhibition in modern T-shirts and jeans.

Calligrapher Phan Kien.

These authors of beautiful calligraphic works displayed at the “Mother’s Lullaby” exhibition, which opened in Hanoi on May 10 to celebrate Mother’s Day, are all young men who were born in 1985. They are Phan Kien, lecturer of the Press Faculty of the University for Social Sciences and Humanities (penname Son Van); Thanh Binh, a student at Open University (penname Khuc Doc Hanh); and Luong Tuan Dung, a student at the Border Guard Institute (penname Truc Phong).

The three men have a passion for calligraphy. They met each other on the honchuviet.com online forum and since then they have practiced calligraphy together. Nearly three years after the day they became friends, the @ Scholar group was formed.

They named the group @ Scholar to express their passion for calligraphy and their youthfulness and dynamism.

“It is often thought that calligraphy is the art of elderly, classic-styled people but our group is different. We are young because we belong to the 1980s generation,” Kien said.

Each member has his own style of writing. Phan Kien writes very fast and continuously. Tuan Dung writes very slowly and carefully. Thanh Binh is a mix of both Son Van and Truc Phong. Especially, Thanh Binh turns scripts into paintings. For example, his letter “Me” or mother looks like the image of a long-haired woman.

However, all of them deny having their own styles of writing. They say that they are practicing and on the way to creating their own styles.

“Perhaps I will have my own style in five years or more,” Thanh Binh said.

“Me” or Mother by Thanh Binh.

Phan Kien, Thanh Binh and Tuan Dung learned about calligraphy by chance and they learnt this art on their own. Kien was attracted by calendars illustrated with calligraphic works when he was a high-school student. He could not buy brushes to practice writing in his poor hometown, the central province of Nghe An, so he made his own brushes by crushing bamboo sticks. He learnt calligraphy himself at home.

When he went to Hanoi as a university student, Kien bought two books of Vietnamese calligraphy instruction, which he calls his first calligraphy teachers. Like Kien, Thanh Binh and Tuan Dung also learnt the calligraphic art themselves.

The three young men advise anyone who wishes to pursue calligraphy to have passion and be patient. They have seen many young people give up calligraphy after a few months because of lacking patience.

@ Scholar plans to open its own calligraphic exhibition in the coming time in a bid to bring calligraphy closer to the people.

VietNamNet/VNE