
HCM City (VNS/VNA)- Lacquer is the link between one artist from Vietnam and two from Franceat the painting exhibition “The Soul of Vietnamese Lacquer” at the HCM CityFine Arts Museum.
The exhibition displays 34 paintings by Nguyen Van Minh of HCM City, and MitchellPontie and Annick Tarbouriech of France.
Minh is showings six large paintings, reflecting his love for and attachment tothe country. His subjects are children, women, landscapes, cultural festivalsand people’s daily activities.
In his painting Sau Giao Thua (After Lunar New Year’s Eve), Minhdepicts images of Vietnamese women and children dressed in ao dai goingto school to pray for a happy new year.
The Dong Thap-born artist shows his nostalgia for his hometown through hispainting Que Toi (Memory of my Homeland) with familiar images ofbanana trees and a cau khi (foot bridge) crossing a canal in Cuu Long(Mekong) Delta.
Born in 1965, Minh began his painting career in 1989 with a group exhibition inthe Mekong region.
In 1992, he graduated in lacquer painting at HCM City Fine Arts University, andthen became one of the most outstanding lacquer artists in the city.
He has introduced his Vietnamese lacquer works at exhibitions in France,Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Chile, and Singapore.
As a lecturer at the city’s Fine Arts University, he inspires both Vietnameseand foreigner to love the art.
His student Annick Tarbouriech is showing eight abstract paintings at theexhibition.
The French artist uses inlaid eggshells and mother-of-pearl in colours of gray,white, pink and green to give a mineral appearance to her paintings.
After finishing a work, the layers create images like islets on the paintings. Shecalls them Shagreen skin, Thinned-skin, and Shedskin.
Tarbouriech graduated in fine arts from Aix-en-Provence University in 1987, andbecame lecturer at the school from 1987 to 2010.
In 2010, she came to Vietnam to study lacquer techniques with Minh, and thenhad several group exhibitions with Vietnamese and French artists in bothcountries.
Pontie, whose mother is Vietnamese, depicts the coexistence of opposites in her20 paintings, which combine both Vietnamese with European cultural heritage.
Pontie was born in Cho Lon (China Town in HCM City), and now lives and works inFrance and Vietnam.
She has held several solo and group exhibitions in France and Vietnam since2007.
The exhibition will be open until July 27 at the Fine Arts Museum, 97A Pho DucChinh street in District 1.-VNS/VNA