Vietnamese fine art in modern times presents a scene that is replete with many fine artists and countless admirers and enthusiasts. Vietnamese fine art has been shying away from the eyes of the world for many years. It is only recently that it has been emancipated from its erstwhile provincial existence. Vietnamese fine art is finally coming out of the closet to present itself in its full glory before a wider audience.
The growth of interest and the rise in popular enthusiasm about Vietnamese fine art have been truly phenomenal in the past few years. The last decade, especially, has witnessed a dramatic growth in the number of people world-wide taking an enormous deal of interest in Vietnamese fine art. It is safe to assume now that Vietnamese fine art has finally come of age and is ready to go truly international.
The contemporary art scene of Vietnam is buzzing with activity, and is vibrant like never before. This is to be attributed not only to strong commercial considerations, but also to the commitment of artists and dealers to create and promote quality work. One cannot help but wonder in awe when one looks upon the radical metamorphosis of Vietnamese art over the last few years. Less than a decade ago, contemporary Vietnamese fine art and artists had negligible presence in their own country and virtually none on the international art scene. Yet, in 1993, eminent art critic and accomplished painter Ca Le Thang wrote in the popular art journal My Thuat, “In 1992 a total of 130 groups and one man exhibitions were opened in Ho Chi Minh City, featuring works by local (Vietnamese) artists… and even (artists) from overseas. Over 5,500 works created by more than 200 artists were exhibited in 25 different locations; attendance numbers rose to over 400,000.”
Vietnamese fine art, since then, has only grown from strength to strength with every passing year. A closer look at this phenomenon reveals that it is not just the profile and status of the nation’s art and artists that have grown in strength. The change is also evident in the quality of the art and in the scope of its representation through local, regional and international galleries and museums.
Compared to other Asian countries, and according to several art commentators, Vietnam was the earliest to merge into the mainstream of modern art, as defined by the West, in both form and content. Such a fact can be easily seen with the coming into existence of Ecole Des Beaux Arts (Indochina’s School of Fine Art) in the early 1930s, with the presence of professors from France.
Western style in technique and the use of color was what the first student generation trained in this school obtained. The techniques however were employed by the graduate artists to depict the aesthetic essence of Viet-narn, especially the freedom and generosity of an Asian soul. Such a fundamental beginning had laid the foundation for the younger generations to follow and again led to their success.
Local galleries and museums have a major role to play in the growing popularity of Vietnamese fine art. They are the main driving factor behind the increasing popular enthusiasm and the commercial success of fine art in Vietnam. Such galleries are virtually countless in cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hue. Some are nothing more than mere shops selling paintings.
In the major cities, about 50 of these galleries can be deemed professional. They deal in a wide variety of local art, ranging from highly popular landscape and figurative work to abstract and experimental work in lacquer and other mediums. The range of variety to be noticed in Vietnamese fine art by gazing upon these paintings is truly amazing.
By: Wain Roy
Posts Tagged ‘Last Decade’
Vietnamese Fine Art – the Taste of Modern Asian Art at Its Best!
November 28th, 2009Vietnamese Art Galleries – the Epicenter of Vietnamese Art
October 23rd, 2009Vietnamese modern art is a rising force in the world of fine arts. And Vietnamese art galleries have played, and are still playing, a major role in this new surge of international enthusiasm around Vietnamese art. Let’s take a closer look at the immense contribution of Vietnamese art galleries to the widespread popularity of Vietnamese modern art.
The genesis of the current popularity of Vietnamese art can be traced back to the beginning of the last decade of the last century. It is during this time that Vietnamese art in general and contemporary Vietnamese art in particular have started to emerge from a state of virtually no recognition and anonymity to have its say on the world’s art scene. For long, scholars and researchers from the Occident were prone to dismiss Vietnamese culture as a wan replica of Chinese or a mishmash of French-Chinese-Indian cultures. That Vietnam owes much to those great civilizations is undeniable, but it in no way means that Vietnamese culture is a mere product of mimicry. It is safe to say that what has enabled Vietnam to survive as a nation through an aggregate thousand-odd years of foreign domination is that she has known how to digest foreign influences and incorporate their quintessence into her own culture.
It is not surprising then that Vietnamese modern art today exhibits a happy knack of mixing Western techniques with a rich traditional sensibility. Thematically, Vietnamese modern art has stayed close to the nation’s tradition and cultural heritage, drawing inspiration from local festivals, age-old traditions, peasant life and other local variety. In these days, when people are speaking of an identity crisis in Asian art, Vietnamese art has become a center of attraction. Indeed, Vietnamese art works in the last decade have been increasingly sought after by foreign collectors and art lovers. Exhibitions of contemporary Vietnamese art are being organized in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, USA, Argentina and more.
A Vietnamese art gallery is probably the best place to get acquainted with this new école. In most parts of the art world, the life of an artist tends to revolve around art galleries. Vietnamese art galleries are no exception. Recognition comes easy for an artist if he or she succeeds in displaying a work in a reputed gallery. This simple philosophy has led to the fervent populating of many Vietnamese art galleries with the best samples from one’s repertoire.
The owner of a reputed Vietnamese art gallery often plays a significant role in launching and promoting artists. He may weave engrossing, mostly fictional but sometimes true stories around them. Seasoned art lovers, however, will usually look past the hype, negotiate hard and sometimes get very good prices by going directly to the artists.
One can easily conclude that art is big business in Vietnam. Fine Arts have found an all new commercial lease of life. Vietnamese art gallery owners today talk of selling individual works for tens of thousands of dollars, and some are financing frequent trips to the United States, Europe, and Asian cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Paintings that sold for less than $50 even ten years ago, are now fetching more than $50,000.
Aroma DD Art Gallery, Suffusive Art Gallery, Apricot Gallery, Doai Gallery, Dong Phong Gallery, Green Palm Gallery, Hanoi Studio, Mai Gallery – there’s no dearth of galleries in Vietnam today. If you want to have a first hand experience of Vietnamese modern art, there is just one place to head for – Vietnamese art galleries.
By: Simon Churchgate
