Award-winning artist displays work

An art exhibition Mixed Media Paintings, displaying works by Nguyen Da Quyen, winner of an Asian Creative Award last year, will open on June 12 – July 17 at the Workshop Cafe in District 1.

The paintings express deep social problems with the use of simple brushstrokes and colours.

She captures the everyday life of Viet Nam under the pictures' names of Doi Thoai (Dialogue), Giac Mo (Dream), and Mo Hon Don (Chaos). The "communication world" with metaphoric stories and daily news is depicted.

Other paintings such as Chung Cu (Dormitory), Nhung Cuc Gach (Bricks), and Hop Trong Hop (Box in Box) are shown as a "piece of music" about the beauty of life.

Modern urban life is expressed through Cap Doi (Couple), Xe May (Motorbike), Song Trong Man Hinh (Live in a Screen) pictures.

Artist Da Quyen said painting was a way to help connect to her internal life and everyday life.

"With art, I feel like I am re-birthed, transforming myself from the ‘have-to' bonsai to the wild-but-free plant in the jungle."

She believes that everyone can be an artist if they expose themselves to the arts and are encouraged to express themselves freely without any pre-conceptions or limits.

The Asian Creative Awards (ACA) Vol.1 2014 was organised by Asian Creative Network with thousands of artists from 26 Asian countries.

The inaugural Asian Creative Awards was initiated to look for graphic artwork that will be in the forefront of the Asian creative scene.

The aim of ACA is to support the next generation of artists in the region by providing them opportunities to present their work abroad.

Fingerprint painting sets national record

The last of the "Noi Vong Tay Lon" (The Great Circle of Viet Nam) concert series was held in Phu Van Lau Pavilion on June 6.

The painting, entitled Noi Vong Tay Lon, Vi Mot Viet Nam Khoe Manh Hon (The Great Circle of Viet Nam, for a Healthier Viet Nam), was created from thousands of fingerprints of Vietnamese from all walks of life and set a national record. — Photo courtesy of Lifebuoy Viet Nam

The series celebrated the 14th death anniversary of legendary musician Trinh Cong Son.

The highlight of the programme was the presentation of the painting, entitled Noi Vong Tay Lon, Vi Mot Viet Nam Khoe Manh Hon (The Great Circle of Viet Nam, for a Healthier Viet Nam), which was created from thousands of fingerprints and set a national record.

Inspired by the message conveyed by The Great Circle of Viet Nam song, the painting expresses the unity and connection among Vietnamese people, regardless of their gender and region. It is also an activity to realise the aspirations of late musician Trinh Cong Son.

More than 20,000 Vietnamese people took part in the campaign of The Great Circle of Viet Nam, for a Healthier Viet Nam, after three concerts were held in Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi and Hue. Sponsored by Lifebuoy, a brand of soap marketed by Unilever, the campaign aims to prevent diseases and improve the health of millions of Vietnamese children by 2020.

Translators have their day

"Those who translate literature today always respect the original work of the author, and at the same time they try their best to help readers understand what the writers wish to say in a book or novel," Deputy Director Nguyen Duy Binh of Vinh University's Publishing House said at a seminar titled Dich van hoc - Co The va Co The (Literature Translating - Possible and Possible).

The seminar, which took place on Wednesday at the French Culture Centre L'Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hoan Kiem District, was organised by Nha Nam Communication and Culture Company. Its goal is to help the audience to have a broader look at the translation work and look for solutions for more developed translation research and criticism.

Alongside Binh, a translator himself, who has also done several significant novels of French into Vietnamese, like Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary, The Sermon on the Fall of Rome by Jerome Ferrari, the seminar also included Doctor of Literature Tran Ngoc Hieu and translator Dinh Ba Anh, who translated Czech Republic's Franz Kafka's Letter to His Father into Vietnamese.

Besides discussing with the audience the important role played by translators in the present day, the three scholars exchanged views on how some great novels of international literature are translatable or untranslatable.

"Are all the masterpiece of novels in this world translatable? If the answer is no, should we continue to do the translating, or keep the original of an untranslatable work? Personally, I will find a way to contact the author and find a solution for it," Binh said. The seminar attracted a large number of students and young writers from various universities of Ha Noi.

Source: VNS