Nguyen Cam's artwork Ginkgo Sun

HA NOI (VNS) — An exhibition celebrating 20 years of work and the life of Vietnamese-French artist Nguyen Cam and Art Viet Nam Gallerist Suzanne Lecht will open in Ha Noi on Sunday.

The works of Cam that are being exhibited are mixed media on canvas created by using dark and vibrant colours. Calligraphic musings and bits of jute, votive papers, ginkgo leaves, tea bags and other distinctly Vietnamese elements are scattered over fractured landscapes to give the impression of a visual diary.

Born in Hai Phong in 1944, Cam left Viet Nam in 1954 and lived for several years in Laos and France where he gained fame as an artist.

Nguyen Cam's artwork Tet, Once upon a Time

In 1994, the Vietnamese government invited him to exhibit his works in Viet Nam and teach in the national fine arts universities.

For the last 20 years, Cam has been coming to Viet Nam to paint, exhibit and visit friends and family, restoring his ties with his homeland and memories. His current works show him to be a man at peace with the world and with a renewed energy to express the majesty of life with all its joys and sorrows.

Cam is a close friend of Suzanne Lecht, an American who came to Viet Nam in 1994. She has organised several solo exhibitions of Cam in Viet Nam and abroad. They have forged a deep friendship over the years, bound by the appreciation of the beauty and power of art to transform and reconcile with history.

The exhibition, which is expected to celebrate life, beauty, and art will run till January 13, 2015, at the Art Viet Nam Gallery located at 24 Ly Quoc Su, Ha Noi. — VNS