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Jazz sketches: Innocente is among the comics being displayed at the exhibition. — Photo Casterman |
HA NOI — A comic display aims to lure young and old readers alike to an exhibition that opened yesterday at the Ha Noi Library. The exhibition features 62 works by Vietnamese and Belgian painters.
Entitled Comics and Jazz, the 32 pieces by Belgian artists work together to tell the story of jazz music, said Franck Pezza, head of the Wallonie Bruxelles Delegation to Viet Nam.
The works were made by Belgian painters at the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art, and they have been displayed across the world before making their way to Viet Nam.
Well-known Belgian comic characters like Tin Tin and the Smurfs will amaze Vietnamese fans with their jazz-related actions. "Extracts from comic books that have jazz themes will tell the jazz story to visitors," Pezza said.
In the 50 years since it first appeared in the Spirou newspaper, the Smurfs have become some of the most popular characters in comic books and films across Asia and Europe.
Belgium culture through music is a fusion of styles and the history of the saxophone. One of the greatest contributions to the world of music is Adolphe Sax – the inventor of the saxophone, according to Pezza.
The Belgian comics on display cover five subjects: Musical Beginnings, To the Saxophone, They Write Captions for That Music, Final Is Twilight, and Music Written to Colour.
At the exhibition, Vietnamese comics will also be on display, with the subject: Comics and Child Folk Songs. The 30 works on display were made by Kim Dong Publishing House painters in the folklore style. The works tell Vietnamese folklores such as Con Coc La Cau Ong Troi (The Toad is God's Uncle); Chu Cuoi (Uncle Cuoi) and No Nhu Chua Chom (Debt as Chom Lord).
Combining elements from literature and drawing, comic books have developed and transformed over the course of many decades. Nowadays, comic books are one of the most diverse and creative forms of art, according to Pham Quang Vinh, the publishing house's director.
"We hope that the exhibition will become an annual event to advertise comic book activities in Viet Nam," said Pezza.
The exhibition is co-held by Kim Dong and the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation. It will run until Sunday at 47 Ba Trieu Street, Ha Noi. — VNS