Nguyen Trung (b. 1940)
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“I paint with industry and cleverness as a mason’s laborer but also with the pleasure and indulgence of a little boy who dips his hands into the sand on the beach to build his own palace. I, too, have an extreme deep longing for dipping my hands in the material I use to paint: trowel and brush are not enough for me.”
Nguyen Trung, a working Vietnamese artist whose studio is in Hồ Chí Minh City. A veteran artist who is known for both abstract and figurative paintings, Trung has been called “The Father of Vietnamese Abstraction.” Trung is also a journalist who was formally the editor of Đại học Mỹ thuật Việt Nam, a highly-regarded journal that covered the contemporary Vietnamese art scene published by the Vietnam University of Fine Art. Trung’s art reflects a mix of Vietnamese culture and Buddhism.
Trung was born in Soc Trang in 1940 and at the age of 18 entered the Gia Dinh School of Fine Arts in Saigon. His reputation grew as he earned silver and gold medals in the 1961 and 1963 Saigon Spring Exhibition. He was Chairman of the Saigon Association of Young Painters from 1966 to 1973. Beginning in 1990 Trung’s work was exhibited internationally, including shows in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, The United States, Taiwan, Korean and Thailand.
The starting points of his abstract works include temples and pagodas and he also takes inspiration from poetry and folk songs. His studio is full of antiques that also help provide ideas. Trung likes rough surfaces, which he develops by adding clay or paper to oil paint and also attempts to portray the effects of time through his use of somber hues of color. He once described his subject matter as “moss covered walls on which sunlight and dew drops slip down their ancient and cracked facades.” The artist attempts to evoke both history and timelessness through his development of surfaces that suggest decay.
When painting representationally, Trung’s most common subjects are women. They may be shown meditation or engaging in ordinary activities and are characteristically long-limbed, like the figures in Italian Mannerist paintings. Their gestures, expressions and movements are stylized and graceful. Some of his recent paintings of female subjects have been made using the traditional Vietnamese medium of lacquer on a wooden panel.
Nguyen Trung’s works can be found in numerous public collections including the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum, the Museo Biblioteca Archivio, Bassano del Grappa, and the Singapore National Art Museum. Trung has been the subject of more than six solo exhibitions in Vietnam and in 2014 was the subject of a solo exhibition at Insight, Art Basel Hongkong. His works also appear regularly at international art auction houses, including Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Nguyen Trung, a working Vietnamese artist whose studio is in Hồ Chí Minh City. A veteran artist who is known for both abstract and figurative paintings, Trung has been called “The Father of Vietnamese Abstraction.” Trung is also a journalist who was formally the editor of Đại học Mỹ thuật Việt Nam, a highly-regarded journal that covered the contemporary Vietnamese art scene published by the Vietnam University of Fine Art. Trung’s art reflects a mix of Vietnamese culture and Buddhism.
Trung was born in Soc Trang in 1940 and at the age of 18 entered the Gia Dinh School of Fine Arts in Saigon. His reputation grew as he earned silver and gold medals in the 1961 and 1963 Saigon Spring Exhibition. He was Chairman of the Saigon Association of Young Painters from 1966 to 1973. Beginning in 1990 Trung’s work was exhibited internationally, including shows in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, The United States, Taiwan, Korean and Thailand.
The starting points of his abstract works include temples and pagodas and he also takes inspiration from poetry and folk songs. His studio is full of antiques that also help provide ideas. Trung likes rough surfaces, which he develops by adding clay or paper to oil paint and also attempts to portray the effects of time through his use of somber hues of color. He once described his subject matter as “moss covered walls on which sunlight and dew drops slip down their ancient and cracked facades.” The artist attempts to evoke both history and timelessness through his development of surfaces that suggest decay.
When painting representationally, Trung’s most common subjects are women. They may be shown meditation or engaging in ordinary activities and are characteristically long-limbed, like the figures in Italian Mannerist paintings. Their gestures, expressions and movements are stylized and graceful. Some of his recent paintings of female subjects have been made using the traditional Vietnamese medium of lacquer on a wooden panel.
Nguyen Trung’s works can be found in numerous public collections including the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum, the Museo Biblioteca Archivio, Bassano del Grappa, and the Singapore National Art Museum. Trung has been the subject of more than six solo exhibitions in Vietnam and in 2014 was the subject of a solo exhibition at Insight, Art Basel Hongkong. His works also appear regularly at international art auction houses, including Sotheby’s and Christie’s.