VietNamNet Bridge – Khoang Lang Vuong (The Square Moment of Silence), an art exhibit commemorating late Vietnamese painter and photographer Nguyen Lai opened at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum Wednesday.

Abstract, peaceful: An artwork of painter Nguyen Lai.

The exhibition features over 100 oil canvas paintings by the artist and the Mat Na (Mask) collection, including 50 of his photos.

Lai (1948-2016) developed a passion for art starting in childhood. However, due to family affairs, he had to put aside his dream to pursue photography and achieved many successes. His main subject was South Viet Nam’s citizens, whom he showcased in many domestic and foreign exhibitions.   

After 5 years in the US, he returned to Viet Nam in 2001, opened an art studio and started to paint again. He also hosted a series of photography exhibitions with the HCM City Photography Association.

Great minds: Late painter Nguyen Lai (left) and painter Vo Trinh Bien poses for a photo at their exhibition. — Photo sggp.vn

“The artist uses the mask, background, and light in the arts of photography as a tool to denote his mindset and philosophy about life. In this exhibition, we chose 8 photos from the collection to present Lai’s art to the public,” said a representative of the organising board.

Lai’s two private exhibitions, entitled Dong Chay Truu Tuong (The Abstract Flow, 2010) and Truu Tuong Va Truu Tuong (Abstract and Abstract, 2015) were held in the capital city of Lam Dong Province, Da Lat City. He spent his last years in Da Lat and passed away there in 2016.

For most of his life, Lai was loyal to abstract art. He chose squares as the subject of his canvas artworks, naming them “square abstract”. His art combined fantasy and reality, influenced by the atmosphere of meditation and Buddhism, which he studied for years. He once said, “Do not see abstraction as a far-reaching and hard-to-understand. Let it make you peaceful and content with yourself, like the spirit of Buddhism.”

The exhibition will run until April 16. 

VNS