Picture perfect: Children Skipping is on display at the exhibition of Ta Thi Thanh Tam.

HA NOI (VNS) — An exhibition featuring stories about villages is offering visitors an opportunity to see the Vietnamese countryside in a colourful way, through the special point of view of an artist who exclusively depicts vistas from rural life.

The landscape and people's lives from the now fast disappearing countryside are painted by by Ta Thi Thanh Tam.

Her works, on display in Ha Noi since Wednesday, are painted on paper using lacquer to depict her reflections and meditations of the countryside, such as pagodas, temples and monks, elderly people playing chess, young sweethearts spending precious time together, and children playing together.

For dozens of years, in pursuit of the art of painting, Tam has surmounted hardship and difficulties, said art critic Phan Cam Thuong.

"She is attached to art as a source of joy and inspiration in this simple life without caring what to gain or lose.

"The facial features, arms and legs of the figures in her paintings are simplified through the depiction of their mood of joy or sadness," he added.

Tam said her interest in folk and traditional features in fine arts is particularly from the beauty of Dong Ho folk paintings.

"I was born in a small village near Huong Pagoda where the scenes of the beloved homeland always inspire me to continue to create although I moved to live in the city," Tam said.

"Through simple sketches, I want to create a profound meaning inside," she said.

Tam was born in Ha Noi in 1960 and graduated at the Ha Noi University of Fine Arts.

Now she is a member of the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association and her works have been shown in several countries around the world including Germany, Singapore, Sweden, the US, the Netherlands and Italy.

The exhibition, part of the programme Year of Italy in Viet Nam, will run until September 18 at Casa Italia, 18 Le Phung Hieu Street, Ha Noi. — VNS