Huynh Le Nhat Tan returns to Green Sacred Land

Huỳnh Lê Nhật Tấn trở lại với Miền thiêng xanh - Ảnh 1. — A corner of the "Green Sacred Land" space by artist Huynh Le Nhat Tan - Photo: H.VY

After Trace of Origin , poet and painter Huynh Le Nhat Tan has just met the art-loving public again with his third solo exhibition titled Green Sacred Land , on display until October 5 at 22 Gallery (HCMC).

From sadness to the sacred

Three years ago with The Root of the Cause , Huynh Le Nhat Tan attracted attention when he turned personal sadness and mental wounds into an impressive painting language.

From there, he continued to delve into his inner self and layers of memory, creating his own style: both abstract and metaphorical, both a spiritual expression and a dialogue with social reality.

Sadness was fully expressed in The Root of the Origin , Tan wanted a brighter, more peaceful life. So he painted The Green Sacred Land to tell the story of the "orphaned" ancestors for thousands of years, about the intersection of cultures that were present and faded but still left their mark on every person today.

The "orphanage" here is not only in the cultural consciousness but also in Tan's own experience. When he was making Trace of the Origin, his father passed away, and when he was preparing to make Green Sacred Land, his mother passed away, leaving behind painful gaps.

"I drew this series of pictures to commemorate my parents" - Tan confided.

Huỳnh Lê Nhật Tấn trở lại với Miền thiêng xanh - Ảnh 2. — Painter and poet Huynh Le Nhat Tan at the exhibition *Green Sacred Land*

Reflections on culture, spirituality, music , folk dances, millennial dreams and many other life questions... flow together, merging into a common story.

Then the name Green Sacred Land came last, when Tan had finished painting the entire series and sat contemplating each one.

He realized that he had drawn a "sacred land", in this life or another, where his grandparents had lived since ancient times. "Green" was hope, the connection between the past and the present. Because for Tan, people have always been searching for the truth, "humanity without truth is lost".

If the Root Trace is still full of cracks and heavy with darkness, the Blue Sacred Land opens up another emotional vein: transparent, diluted, light and full of light like a step of escape from the root of suffering to the sacred land of refuge.

Painting of creation and liberation

Critic Dang Tien once commented: "Tan's paintings are a creative and liberating genre, expressing spiritual mysteries, interwoven with many aspirations."

Tan's paintings contain gaps, streaks, and incomplete structures. This evokes existential philosophy: the sacred does not lie in external divinities but in confronting one's own imperfection.

Originally a poet, Huynh Le Nhat Tan has published Men da (2009) and Que than (2017). Perhaps that is why his paintings always have a poetic quality.

For Tan, language and images are one. The titles of his paintings suggest more than describe, opening doors for viewers to enter their own realm of consciousness: People and bird characters, Melody, Silk shuttle song, Ash sun…

Huỳnh Lê Nhật Tấn trở lại với Miền thiêng xanh - Ảnh 3. — Painter Huynh Le Nhat Tan was born in 1973, lives, writes poetry and paints in Da Nang.

Many people compare Tan's paintings to wordless poetry. Each color block and paint stroke is a sincere narrative, leading viewers to find themselves and connect with deep roots.

With The Sacred Green Land , Tan not only tells a personal story but also invites empathy. He believes that painting has the power to liberate both the painter and the viewer.

The artist paints to touch and decode the haunting threads in the mind, to be free from worry and fear. If the viewer is in tune, he can also find solace for himself.

As Tan wrote in his confession: "Life has thousands of wounds that do not need to be healed, just need to be placed under the light. Or abstract with the land that is not on the map, but in our own hearts. I call it the Green Sacred Land".