Life
Turning garbage into paintings
From waste like cartoons, eggshells, straw, beer and beverage cans and nails, local artisans Nguyen Van Quang and Doan Niem have turned them into artworks which are priced from hundreds of thousands of dong to millions of dong.
Some beautiful artworks made from waste – Photo: Dieu Thuan
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Quang said his first painting was like trash with a motley combination of colors and detached pieces of decoration patterns. The artist then found a technique of soaking all the materials into lime liquid and let them dry in order to keep the colors of those materials. He took out the embryo from an egg and dried the shell under the sunlight in 45 to 60 minutes. The longer it is dried, the less brittle and fragile the shell is. Finally, he glued all these stuff together.
Quang’s second product was his self portrait which was completed within three days. Since then he has created tens of artworks using the above technique. Quang said the most important things are developing ideas, making sketches and attaching materials with much effort and patience.
Doan Niem, aged 85 in Hai Chau District in the central coast city of Danang, uses beer and soft drink cans, nails and screws to make paintings which foreign tourists can buy as souvenirs. People may find it interesting as all of Niem’s artworks have their own stories. He said his drawing named “Tien ong ngoa co” (playing chest with a fairy) started from a story about passengers on a train ten years ago. During his train trip from the northern province of Thai Binh to Danang, he saw a painting of a fairy playing chest printed on a cover of a tea box of a passenger. Then, he bought that tea box and later asked a photo studio to print out the picture with the measurements as wished. After that he collected all beer cans and nails and screws to make an artwork.
Niem said his favorite materials are cans of beer and soft drink as they have multiple and catchy colors. He would use a hammer to beat those cans and cut them into shapes.
Many owners of resorts, restaurants and coffee shops from HCMC to Hue and Quang Binh have come to purchase Niem’s products. It takes him three to four months to finish a painting.
