Catching the eye: Italian visitors enjoy Vietnamese lacquer paintings at the exhibition. — VNA/VNS Photo Pham Thanh

HA NOI (VNS)— An exhibition of lacquer paintings by Vietnamese artists opened in Venice on Tuesday as a part of Vietnamese Cultural Days programme.

It displays 50 artworks by Vietnamese fine arts' pioneers, including Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem and Tran Van Can, as well as painters of the following generation such as Thanh Chuong, Nguyen Nghia Dau and Vi Kien Thanh.

The works depict the beauty of Vietnamese people and landscape as well as their contemporary life.

Curator of the exhibition Vi Kien Thanh, who is also head of the Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition Department, said the show would be a panoramic view of Vietnamese lacquer painting development, an important and traditional genre in Vietnamese fine arts.

Attending the exhibition is representative of the Venice authorities, Viero Erminio, who said the paintings displayed were unique and had been created with a different technique from those of China and Japan.

"Vietnamese painters used naturally extracted materials, creating special effect," he said.

"In many Italian people's opinions, Viet Nam still faces war consequences and difficulties but through the exhibition we know a different Viet Nam, which is vital and beautiful."

The exhibition will run until August 3 to mark the 40th anniversary of Viet Nam-Italy diplomatic ties (1973-2013).

Also on Tuesday, the Viet Nam National Symphony Orchestra, including violinist Bui Cong Duy, performed at Fenice Theatre. They will have another concert in Florence today and at the residence of President Giorgio Napolitano tomorrow.

Vo in Venice

Conceptualist Danh Vo is the only Vietnamese artist invited to display artworks at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennial, one of the biggest art events in Europe.

The exhibition, titled The Encyclopaedic Palace, is open to the public until November 24.

Curator of the show will be Massimiliano Gioni, associate director at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Vo is among the 150 artists from 37 countries who display their artworks.

He was born in 1975 in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and grew up in Denmark. He displays large-scale installation artworks, including an entire skeleton of a 200-year-old Catholic church from Viet Nam.

"The timber and stone building is a commentary on the impact colonialism has had on countries like Viet Nam, where both religion and even the construction of their places of worship have been imposed from abroad," Vo said about his work.

He received the Hugo Boss Prize 2012, the biennial honour established in 1996 to recognise significant achievement in contemporary art. His works were displayed at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, early this year. — VNS