Painter Hung Khuynh's journey from realism to abstraction, from tradition to modernity

Lacquer, like a fate

Painter Hung Khuynh shared that this exhibition of his lacquer collection can be considered an event marking his journey of more than 40 years of artistic work.

Over nearly a century, from the traditional lacquer technique used by artists as a creative material, this material has undergone many changes to suit the creative trends and contemporary artistic context. Lacquer has advantages and still has many untapped potentials for artists to continue to explore and experiment. According to artist Hung Khuynh, each person has their own choice and approach to art and art practice. For him personally, coming to lacquer material is like a destiny.

Painter Hung Khuynh.

Since his childhood, in his hometown, fishermen have used many types of fishing gear and boats made from lacquer. From a very young age, he was exposed to horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, and Buddha statues in temples and pagodas, and felt that they were very beautiful things. However, when he entered the University of Fine Arts, Hung Khuynh enrolled in the graphic design major.

During the 5 years of university, lacquer was not taught much, the young student only watched his friends do it but had no chance to try it in practice. When he graduated, many people who majored in lacquer had to quit the profession, but Hung Khuynh "jumped in" and was immediately attracted to this strange material. Then, when his colleagues were busy making a living with other materials, in 1996, Hung Khuynh caused a shock when he sold a lacquer painting for 13,000 USD - a huge amount of money at that time.

That initial success encouraged Hung Khuynh to delve deeper into the lacquer material. The more he learned and explored, the more fascinated he became by its magic and wonder. And he discovered that works inspired by folklore are best expressed through lacquer. “Lacquer helps artists convey the emotions, spirit and soul of the Vietnamese people. This material not only brings visual depth but also contains layers of meaning, creating a dialogue between eras and ideas,” said artist Hung Khuynh.

Lacquer helps artist Hung Khuynh unleash his creativity, so although he has “tried” paper, silk, and oil paintings, he has only created on this material since then. His works at the exhibition have a very rich theme. From landscapes, portraits, women… to abstraction, but the biggest common point in the works that everyone can recognize is that the inspiration for creation comes from folk culture materials.

The world in artist Hung Khuynh's paintings is communal houses, pagodas, temples, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, ceremonial shrines, characters created from the stage of Tuong and Cheo; stories about festivals, customs and even folk songs, chants... He uses many strokes and blocks, which are influenced by the graphic style he learned, but also the way his elders often used in Dong Ho or Kim Hoang folk paintings. Therefore, when coming to the exhibition, viewers are drawn into the bright colors, the silhouettes reminiscent of childhood and a countryside hiding many traditions.

The public views the exhibition "From realism to abstraction, from tradition to modernity"

“From the roots of folklore, I seek out cultural values ​​that have been deeply engraved in the soul of the nation through many generations. Folklore is not only the past but also a living flow through each stroke and each layer of color. The material I chose for this journey is traditional lacquer, a material that has accompanied the Vietnamese people in marking history in culture and art since ancient times,” shared artist Hung Khuynh.

Art does not escape reality

According to artist Hung Khuynh, the exhibition titled “From Realism to Abstraction, from Traditional to Modern” reflects his reflection on his more than 40 years of artistic activity and this is his philosophy of art. Exhibition viewers can see that, although exploiting folk materials, Hung Khuynh’s paintings are not old-fashioned, on the contrary, they are expressed in a new and creative way. Colleagues commented that realism and folk elements permeate artist Hung Khuynh’s works, from materials, themes, content to expression.

However, this exhibition also shows a different Hung Khuynh with his abstract lacquer paintings. Although he admits that he is not a researcher who studies the artist's style, Hung Khuynh said that when looking at the abstract lacquer paintings of previous artists, he still feels that something is missing, making the paintings not attractive enough.

Therefore, he was forced to take inspiration from folklore and he wanted to go to the end of abstraction. It is understandable that, with that mindset, Hung Khuynh's abstract paintings are still full of folk elements such as brocade decorations, pipa lutes or stylized winding Vietnamese dragons, wave and cloud motifs... As Hung Khuynh confided, each layer of paint, each line, each shade of gold, vermillion or then in his works carries within it the story of the nation, but also reflects the complexity and multi-dimensionality of contemporary life.

The work "Festivals".

Artwork "Space Rhythm"

The work "The Beautiful Women"

“Abstraction for me is not simply an artist spontaneously drawing something with emotions, a few colors, lines; it is not just dreaming of something fanciful, beautiful and escaping from reality. On the contrary, abstraction is reality, something that exists in our lives, it changes and becomes metaphysical. But in the end, abstraction returns to reality; just as modernity must originate from tradition and eventually return to tradition,” said artist Hung Khuynh.

Sharing more, artist Hung Khuynh said that art for him is a never-ending journey. There, he is like a traveler, not just passing by the things he sees but also wanting to explore the hidden meanings behind them.

According to artist, Doctor of Aesthetics Nguyen The Hung, over the past four decades, artist Hung Khuynh has inherited and created new methods of expression in materials, developed more techniques to create magnificent and brilliant lacquer works, conveying his own unique spirit and philosophy while still preserving the beauty of traditional values. "I think this is a remarkable appearance of Vietnamese painting. It has been a long time since the art world has had such a large-scale and fully-standardized lacquer painting exhibition," artist Nguyen The Hung commented.

The Vu

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/hoa-si-hung-khuynh-hanh-trinh-tu-hien-thuc-den-truu-tuong-tu-truyen-thong-den-hien-dai-post314986.html