Opening: Fri 18 Apr, 5.30 pm
Exhibition: 18 – 23 Apr 2014
Vietnam Fine Arts Museum
In the recent years, artistic expression of Vietnamese arts in general, painting in particular, has become more sophisticated and diversified. Such sophistication and diversity are becoming more and more widely accepted as a common trend. After the inspirational Renovation (Doi moi) era in the early 90s, Viet Nam fine arts has fallen back on a downturn for a relatively long time. At present, there are harbingers of a revival with the emergence of a new artist generation. They are able to engage the social issues, using the language of arts and diverse styles to express their social criticism with an enthusiastic spirit of humanity.
From the very departure of his artistic course, Nguyen Trong Minh has adopted a realist style, in juxtaposition with the replicating mechanism of Pop art. The context of his artworks was always constructed in an infinite space, rife with melancholy symbolism, with a more or less touch of surrealistic aura. Realism and his somehow troubled life experiences are conducive to the artists’ distinctive style, which is rather elusive yet always full of anxiety, flashback, or satire. This, in turn, has precipitated an artistic language of direct expression and criticism based on the artist’s reflection and parody of the surrounding environments in Vietnam, of which Minh is certainly a trailblazer in his own right.
In the artist’ self-statement, Minh related:
“I found life to be so complex, everything is at once crowded and vague. Everyone tries to scramble for something, even for one’s own breathes!
I need the calmness.
Things need to be stalled, clarified as black and white, condense and tight.
…
Fine arts, in my own way, have equipped me with the ability to best respond to life.”
“At the end of the line” exhibition is the first solo exhibition by Nguyen Trong Minh in Vietnam, though a number of his works have been presented and displayed at the National Fine Arts Exhibition 2010 and National Festival of Young Artists in 2011 in Hanoi.
“At the end of the line” will be opened at 17:30 P.M, Friday April 18th 2014 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hanoi and will be showcased until the end of April 23rd 2014.
Additional information
Nguyen Trong Minh’s profile
Nguyen Trong Minh was born in 1982 in An Thi district, Hung Yen province. From 2001 to 2004, he studied and graduated from the Central University of Art Pedagogy with his Pedagogy of Arts major. Upon graduation, he worked for 3 years as art teacher at Kim Tan junior high school, Lao Cai province. Unsatisfied and frustrated with the art education viewpoint, Nguyen Trong Minh left his job and continued to study Fine Arts at the University of Fine Arts of Vietnam, majored in Fine Arts until 2012.
Nguyen Trong Minh has participated in many art exhibitions, his works have been displayed at the “Red River Fine Arts Awards” exhibition in 2003, the National Fine Arts exhibition of 2010 and the National Festival of young artists in 2011. In 2013, Minh had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland.
