Their time to shine

A group of 52 artists from HCM
City is presenting an overview of current lacquer paintings at their
exhibition at the HCM City Fine Arts College.

Son Mai Sai
Gon 2011 (Sai Gon Lacquer) features more than 50 works in different
styles, using the traditional material of lacquer.

Being a
native of the northern province of Ha Tay (now part of Hanoi ),
the influence of Le Xuan Chieu's birthplace can be seen in his art
works.

The lecturer of the HCM City Fine Arts College
highlighted work is Ho Guom (Sword Lake), featuring Vietnamese girls
in traditional costume ao dai (traditional long dress) at Ho Guom, a
landmark of Hanoi .

Like Chieu, landscapes and
beautiful women are also sources of inspiration of veteran artists like
83-year-old Hoang Tram's Ha Long (Ha Long Bay) and Ca Le Dung's Xom Cau
Van (Cau Van Village).

This year's exhibition features
works of artists born in the 1980s, including students of the Fine Arts
College Tran Thi Ngoc Linh and Vu Thi Thuy Dung.

The
youngest participant, Linh of the college, brings a modern breath and
image to her lacquer work. Linh's Toi Dang Lang Nghe (I Am Listening)
portrays a girl in modern clothes listening to music with an earphone.

Held for the first time last year, the event falls on December 21 of
the lunar calendar, the day that honours the memory of the ancestor who
founded Vietnamese lacquer-making.

The exhibition remains
open until February 12 at the Applied Arts Gallery at HCM City Fine Arts
College, 5 Phan Dang Luu Street, Binh Thanh District./.

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Exhibition spotlights nation's fine arts

The best examples of Vietnamese fine arts produced during the past
five-year period are on show at an exhibition of 836 artworks in Hanoi.

The National Fine Arts Exhibition is held every five
years to review and assess the state of Vietnamese fine arts. The works
awarded and displayed at the exhibition are selected from 5,000 entries
nationwide.

They show the creativity, skill and increasing professionalism of Vietnamese artists.

The works on show include paintings, graphics, installations and
sculptures that reflect different perspectives on contemporary life and
society.

Tran Khanh Chuong, president of Vietnam Fine Arts
Association, who is also deputy head of the organising board, says "The
exhibition presents many works by artists during the renewal process
who are creating a positive movement in Vietnam fine arts and
sculpture. This is the most important event of Vietnam fine arts
this year."

Forty-eight awards were granted including three gold medals, six silver medals, nine bronze and 30 consolation prizes.

The gold medals went to Vu Cuong for Mam Da (Stone's Buds), oil on
canvas; Nguyen Truong Linh for Hanoi Co Cau Long Bien (Hanoi Has Long
Bien Bridge) lacquer; Nguyen Quoc Thang for Nhung La Thu Thoi Chien (War
Letters), bronze sculpture.

Linh's painting was not the
only one at the exhibition featuring Long Bien Bridge , but he is
the winner thanks to different point of view and style of colours, says
painter Le Anh Van.

Long Bien Bridge is portrayed
as a grandiose construction with buttresses painted in dark and light
colours. In contrast, the painter describes the lives of small people
living around it.

The bronze sculpture of Thang tells a
long story of a cruel war. The visitors can see an image of a soldier on
guard, protecting the country. He lets fly with letters amid the
gunfire and smoke. The sad eyes of a woman waiting for the letters – his
wife or his mother – haunts people.

The oil painting Mam
Da reflects life in a mountainous region. Despite the hard life, people,
children and cattle are still energetic.

Rural power: The
oil on canvas Mam Da by Vu Cuong, which shows the power and vitality of
the people in mountainous regions, was granted the Gold Medal.

Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition
Department, says "The quality of the work is quite even, so it was
challenging for the jury and organising board to select the
representative works for the exhibition.

"The artists show
a wide variety and diversity of themes, styles and media. Through the
artworks, they express their inner feelings.

"Many people
think that all cities and provinces in the country have artworks
displayed at the exhibition because this is the national event but
actually, we couldn't select any artworks from nine.

"In
the previous exhibition, the organising board tried to show
representative works of all cities and provinces, but since this year
only the most excellent ones are honoured."

The exhibition will run until Dec. 8 at the Vietnamese Culture and Arts Exhibition Centre, 2 Hoa Lu Street , Hanoi .

After being displayed in Hanoi , the exhibition will be taken to HCM
City Fine Arts Museum and displayed between January 10-26./.

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87-year-old remains master of martial arts

Vietnamese traditional martial arts master Dao Thanh, 87, performs a Tu mon bat quai, a defensive technique against many simultaneous attackers

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Dao Thanh is the last of the four Great Sages of martial arts still alive.

The 87-year-old master of Tay Son, one of Vietnam’s many traditional fighting skills, still trains young learners daily in his remote hometown in the central province of Binh Dinh.

Despite his age, he rides his bicycle 60 kilometers every day to go around for the training.

He lives in the mountainous village of Tan Duc in An Nhon District. A large garden surrounded by bamboo hedges in front of his house has been a training ground for generations of Vietnamese martial artists over the last 70 years.

Master Pham Dinh Phong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Traditional Martial Arts Federation, was one of his disciples several decades ago.

Thanh agreed to meet Tuoi Tre correspondent at home last month.

“I’ve been teaching martial artists for free all my life,” he begins.

“I can’t stay at home as I miss my students and miss schools. I may die if I stay at home.

“I don’t get money from my students but they sometimes give me some tea, milk, or rice.”

A few gift him money occasionally.

“I [am] poor but relaxed.”

He began learning martial arts at 15 from teacher That Duy.

“My mother was afraid I would be enrolled in the French Army and sent me to the teacher.”

After two years there, he went to other teacher, Phi Hung in Phan Ri District in the central province of Binh Thuan, to learn sword fighting and bare hand techniques.

After six years of training he began teaching himself to earn money so that he could go to a top master to learn. And, he has never looked back since.

Now he lives with his wife he married at 17 and has six sons and four daughters.

“She loves me because I was handsome and skilled at martial arts,” he jokes.

“I love her because she is good at singing and making beautiful conical hats.”

He pours some wine and says with obvious contentment: “We are poor but happy.

“I just need three bowls of rice and a bowl of soup for a meal. That’s enough. So what do I need money for?”

“If I want some fish, I ride my wife to the market to sell some chicken eggs and buy some fish. I don’t need any more than that.”

Thanh’s home has become a regular visiting place for Phong to learn esoteric techniques that few teachers know.

Thanh says he may be the only person to still know some techniques believed to be invented by King Quang Trung in the 18th century and General Ly Thuong Kiet in the 11th century.

Phong says Thanh is a sage of Vietnamese traditional martial arts that need to be preserved.

The country is home to more than 100 different martial arts of which 40 -- like Xuan Thanh, Xuan Lieu, Nhat Nam, Tay Son, and Hung Ke Quyen -- are famous.

Thanh’s other famous contemporaries, the three other Great Sages, Huong Kiem Trung, Muoi Dau, and Ha Trong Son, have all passed.

Thanh says: “Last year I went on a bicycle tour of Quy Nhon [city] to visit friends who trained with me. Unluckily, they had all died.”

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