Echoes of the Fragments

The exhibition invites us to enter a metaphysical space where birth and death are intertwined in an eternal cycle of continuity.

In the luxurious space of Lebadang Memory Space, located on Kim Son hill (Thuy Bang ward, Thuan Hoa district) in mid-May, the exhibition is an attractive destination for those who love art in general and painting in particular. On the opening day, the weather was drizzling after the hot and humid early summer heat, fatigue seemed to disappear to make room for thoughts and contemplation next to the works displayed in the tunnel inside Lebadang Memory Space.

There, 22 works by Pham Tran Viet Nam - a painter who graduated in sculpture but pursued painting as the main means of expression in his artistic journey - have startled many people. Different from the calmness and composure of the painter who has just turned 40, these are haunting works, breaking through the inner strength of a perspective, a theme that always makes people think when thinking about it.

For Pham Tran Viet Nam, the painting and exhibition “The Circle of Life and Death” is a transitional ritual. There, the works he created are also “reborn” from old works to bring new forms. Some people compare “The Circle of Life and Death” to a metaphysical watchtower. There, Pham Tran Viet Nam himself has become a witness to the haunting shapes and fragments emerging from the void, sediments… If the viewer is calm and sensitive enough, he can listen to the voices of other worlds. And behind that distance is not dissolution, but the infinity that sparkles. Stopping next to each work, the viewer seems to be absorbed into the vague realm it creates. The beauty in the painting does not lie in the technique or composition, but in the vibration of the being.

Painting becomes a form of ritual, where colors become incense smoke, and lines become the sound of prayers. Painting does not describe, does not interpret, but calls for intuition. It is what Pham Tran Viet Nam calls “super intuition”, a state of creation that transcends logic and form, where images are constructed not according to conventional visual rules, but as if summoned from a deep unconscious stream.

Pham Tran Viet Nam shared that when he painted this series of paintings, he was like a sleepwalker. In that state, emotions and energy flowed naturally. Painting was like interpreting the spirit and language of another existence. “Gradually, through the process of continuous work, I began to understand more deeply the spirit and language of the images I drew. I naturally sympathized and integrated with that other existence…”, Pham Tran Viet Nam explained himself.

Art researcher Ngo Kim Khoi, curator of “The Circle of Life and Death”, said that the exhibition invites us to enter a metaphysical space, where birth and death are intertwined in an eternal cycle. This expert commented that Pham Tran Viet Nam’s artistic journey goes beyond conventional art, becoming a sacred consciousness, where life and death are intertwined. The circle of life and death is neither the starting point nor the ending point, where each moment of birth opens a death, and death opens a new cycle.

“Pham Tran Viet Nam is a guest wandering between dreams and reality, turning each brushstroke into a prayer for the dead, the echo of broken pieces,” commented art critic Ngo Kim Khoi. He cited the main work of the exhibition “Circle of Life and Death” as an oil painting over 20m long hung in a closed circle. It is not simply a work of art but also a symbol of the state of immediacy, where birth and death dissolve. Standing in front of that work, viewers not only look but also deeply feel the fragility of existence and the eternal questions: what is life? what is death?

It is the brush strokes and color blocks that help Pham Tran Viet Nam listen and bear witness to the unnamed pains and the chaotic search for meaning of human life. It is a journey that Mr. Ngo Kim Khoi calls “a pilgrimage without a destination”, where each person has enough silence to feel the vibrations of the self and realize that it is in the incompleteness that the meaning of existence appears.

Article and photos: NHAT MINH

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/tieng-vong-cua-nhung-manh-vo-154332.html