Hanoi-born painter sends nostalgia through surrealist paintings
Hanoi-born painter evokes nostalgia through surrealist paintings
Through 30 surrealist oil paintings, the Hanoi-born artist conveys his thoughts about his Motherland after living away from home for 11 years.
THE HANOI TIMES — For Hanoi-born painter Nguyen Nhu Duc, the Motherland exhibition is a journey back to memories of his homeland.
The exhibition features over 30 of Duc's oil paintings from his 11 years living and working in Hoi An, the UNESCO-recognized heritage site in the central city of Danang.
The works follow the surrealist style, in which the human body and natural elements are realistically recreated but arranged in an absurd manner to express the artist's dreams.
In this exhibition, Duc embarks on a journey to explore the concept of Motherland, which governs the spiritual lives of Vietnamese people based on his own memories.
Hanoi-born artist Nguyen Nhu Duc. Photos courtesy of the artist
Motherland evokes the sensation of a vast garden where women from the past and future, from Duc’s real and imaginary worlds, coexist. It is a place where nature and the human body blend. The characters in Duc's paintings are his mother, wife, and daughters.
"Even in a surreal space, I believe anyone will find emotional resonance in this exhibition. The concept of motherhood, whether referring to the homeland, wife, daughter, or real mother, holds a sacred place in everyone's heart, whether abstract or tangible,” the artist shared.
Garden of Love.
His paintings telling dreams about the motherland are large, dense with details, meticulous, and time-consuming.
In the surrealist school, there is a branch named "Veristic Surrealism." Works in this style are still the result of the subconscious, dreams, and imagination and do not follow the usual logic of the real world.
13 moonlights in the garden.
His dream is not far from the reality of his own life. His work is not a grand metaphor of the universe, but rather a simple dream of human life. Before becoming an artist, Duc was a 45-year-old man who had experienced life's ups and downs. The arms, breasts, and faces he painted were things that gave him a place to return to. The branches, ripe fruits, and clouds were things that provided him with a place to take refuge. That is the Motherland within him.
"The concept of Motherland has been explored many times in Vietnamese painting by many schools and styles. But the surrealist school attracts me because it allows me to create a borderless universe containing every idea of the Motherland," Duc said.
The exhibition runs on July 3-9 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi and on August 1-10 at Chillala - House of Art in Ho Chi Minh City.
