 | Cat scratch fever: A cat brings luck to families that want children (painting by Dang Mau Tuu). |
|  | Blue rider: A painting by Dang Mau Tuu tells the story of the battle between a tiger and a cat. |
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THUA THIEN HUE — As a custom among artists living in Hue to celebrate Tet, artists are making cat drawings for an annual exhibition to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Cat.
The exhibition shows paintings of creatures that symbolise each 12-year cycle, including dragons, rats, horses, dogs, tigers and goats.
While veteran artists depict the cat successfully fighting a rat, young artists prefer to show the cat's speed and dynamism.
In the Eastern viewpoint, the cat and rat are considered natural enemies.
In Tran Van Mang's painting, the cat sits in a corner of a kitchen spying on some rats, and in Vinh Phoi's painting a cat is shown killing a rat.
On the other hand, young artist Vo Xuan Huy uses an abstract style to express a young cat that symbolises the beginning of the new year.
Artist Dang Mau Tuu in his works tells of a legendary tale of a tiger and a cat, in which the cat teaches the tiger many things, except for climbing trees.
However, after being trained, the tiger uses his new skills to attack the cat but fails when the cat climbs up an areca tree.
Tuu's message is that keeping one's own identity will help people stand firm in case of calamity.
He said the massage is significant in the context of globalisation.
Tuu, who is also chairman of Thua Thien-Hue Province's Association of Art and Culture, said the exhibit offered the community a chance to think about the possibilities of the upcoming year.
The first exhibition of this kind was held in Hue in 1999, he said. Late artist Buu Chi was one of the most popular artists of this genre, and the community applauded his work for its creativity and philosophical expression. — VNS