Artist Phan Minh Bach and a painting from the "Ru Canh" series - Photo: T. ĐIỂU
This is the second solo exhibition by artist Phan Minh Bach, currently taking place at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.
The works are created using specialized watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf on traditional silk. Regarding the unique choice of applying gold leaf to silk paintings, the artist explained that she realized the strong gold color would balance the "softness" of the silk.
The extraordinary brilliance in Phan Minh Bach's silk paintings.
The first and most striking impression in this exhibition is the vibrant green of the mountains, hills, and vegetation in the large-scale paintings—a powerful hue that is quite different from the "gentle" tone often seen in Vietnamese silk paintings.
Viewers may or may not like the harshness of this silk painting, but the series of paintings, titled "Ru Canh," has been chosen as the theme of this exhibition. It clearly delivered a powerful visual impact to the viewers.
This is a collection of paintings by Phan Minh Bach depicting beautiful natural landscapes in Vietnam as well as some places around the world that she has had the opportunity to admire with fascination. In these vibrant paintings, she conveys her hope that these beautiful landscapes will be revived.
"Scenery" is just one of five paintings in this exhibition. The rest are paintings that seem to contrast in their use of color, many of them in black and white.
The vibrant blues and purples in the Ru Canh series are quite different from what is commonly seen in Vietnamese silk paintings - Photo: T. ĐIỂU
Grand narratives about nature and history
According to the artist's interview with Tuoi Tre Online, the five sets of paintings in the "Ru Canh" exhibition were created over approximately four years, covering five themes, to tell the story of nature through thousands of years of history, encompassing both its glories and its destructions.
It begins with a trio of large-scale silk paintings titled "Flowering Waves/Blooming Flowers on the Water," predominantly featuring the blue of the water. The works depict ancient Thang Long, with images of the Ly Dynasty dragon, the ancient To Lich River, and an ancient map of West Lake next to the Thang Long Imperial Citadel.
The choice to fill this painting with the color blue, representing water, stems from the story of King Ly Cong Uan choosing waterways for his journey to move the capital to Thang Long.
Next is a seven-part black-and-white series of paintings titled " The Flow of the Earth ," depicting the movement of the earth, the primordial entities within it, and the precious minerals that have sustained humanity for centuries.
Phan Minh Bach's series of paintings, "Disappearing Landscapes, " painted over the past two years, reflects her observations of environmental and climate changes that are disrupting both natural and urban landscapes.
The final set of five black-and-white paintings, minimalist in color and detail, with only a few simple strokes, is titled "Natural Rhythms ".
Phan Minh Bach paints these pictures as naturally as breathing, hoping that viewers will accept them as a break after the "grand narratives" filled with thoughtful reflections she conveyed in the exhibition.
Grand narratives in the story of changing landscapes in Phan Minh Bach's paintings - Photo: T. ĐIỂU
The paintings, with their minimalist lines and colors, feature a natural rhythm in the "Ru Canh" exhibition.
Born in 1979 and a graduate of the Vietnam Fine Arts University in 2004, Phan Minh Bach spent over a decade working as a newspaper graphic designer alongside researching ancient culture and art.
Since 2018, she has pursued a professional career in art and has spent a lot of time experimenting with techniques on dó paper, tuyên paper, and especially traditional silk.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ru-canh-ru-tinh-voi-phan-minh-bach-20260516185544111.htm
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