Viet Nam News
Minh Thu
HA NOI — The exhibition Four Seasons in Sa Pa, recently opened in Ha Noi, showcases 12 paintings by Dang Tin Tuong.
Though the number of paintings is not large, I still spent hours contemplating them—they are too beautiful and lively. The paintings in large scale (1.2m to 8m long) captured the panoramic view of Sa Pa’s mountains, flowers, clouds and rice fields.
Art critic Trang Thanh Hien said people may feel dazed when they contemplate the paintings because the spectacular landscape of Sa Pa is right there, in front of their eyes.
“Looking at the paintings, it’s like you are standing in front of the landscape,” said Hien.
Tuong was well-known for working in lacquer and woodblock. But in the las 15 years, he has changed both his style of living and creating. He spends half the year living in Sa Pa. He also tries to expand his abilities with acrylic on canvas.
“On the first day I came to Sa Pa with my friend, painter Tran Luu Hau, I didn’t know that I would become stuck to the land,” said Tuong.
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| Sa Pa in the season of flowers. |
For him, four seasons in Sa Pa are not spring, summer, fall and winter as usual; they are the seasons of pouring water onto terrace fields, clouds, flowers and ripening rice fields.
“Those are the moments I was totally charmed and inspired by the landscape and people in Sa Pa,” he said.
“I have wondered, When did I fall in love with Sa Pa? Every moment, when I am eating, sleeping and working, Sa Pa is always there in my mind. Though I am in Ha Noi or somewhere else, I just think of Sa Pa.”
Tuong said Sa Pa is always surprising to him with its magical, foggy, vaporous beauty. The dream land brings him different emotions and visions each time he comes.
“Vast clouds flying in the sky at the dawn or sunset made me feel like I am in the wonderland,” he said.
“This is the place where my soul is nurtured and enriched, that leads me to the endless journey of creation.”
When art critic Phan Cam Thuong visited painter Tuong, he realised that the painter was groping to find his way or pick up objects and sometimes missed them altogether due to his bad eyesight.
“It sounds abnormal when an artist tries to paint as much as he can, more than ever in his life, at the edge of becoming blind,” he said.
“It may be the fear of losing the ability to paint or the coming of furious inspiration.”
“It’s amazing that he can paint in this condition,” said Thuong.
When Thuong wrote an essay about Tuong, he titled it “Painting led by an inner spirit”.
When an artist depicts nature, the best way to create is following the inner spirit, because nature is never understandable: just let the brush follow the perception.
“It’s also the best way for a mostly blind artist to create,” said Thuong.
That’s the reason why Tuong doesn’t focus on details, he chooses to work on big canvas with big brushes.
The beauty of nature now appears on the canvas as if it had been part of the artist’s life, Thuong remarked.
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| Sa Pa in the season of flowers. |
His concern
Tuong rented a flat at the most beautiful place in Sa Pa Town, where he has a panoramic view of the area. Sometimes, when he and his friends have lunch, clouds float through windows into the room, bringing cool, pure and fresh air.
However, many buildings and hotels have been built in recent years. Sa Pa has changed drastically. In Tuong’s eyes, it is not Sa Pa as it was on the first day he came.
“I feel like Sa Pa is wriggling with economic and tourism development,” he said.
Due to his eternal love for Sa Pa, he expressed the concern that in the future, the pristine beauty may be lost.
Tuong was born in 1945 in the northern province of Hai Duong. He has received many awards and exhibited artworks in Viet Nam as well as foreign countries such as Japan and the US.
The exhibition will run until October 17 at the Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ha Noi. — VNS