Art lovers in Hanoi are currently witnessing this shift firsthand at Two Friends, a dual exhibition featuring Northern Irish painter Rodney Dickson and Vietnamese sculptor Dinh Cong Dat. The show is more than a reunion of two old friends - it marks a profound transition in their creative journeys after more than 25 years of mutual understanding and quiet artistic dialogue.

Despite no shared language or cultural background, Rodney and Dat are bound by a deep artistic empathy. That silent companionship now culminates in a body of work that is pared-down, reflective, and inward-looking.

At Two Friends, both artists step back from guiding the viewer, offering 18 paintings and sculptures that exist side by side, each with its own rhythm and internal logic.

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Rodney Dickson’s artworks.

Color is restrained. Form is reduced to its essence. Narrative is consciously withheld. Rodney’s paintings - dark, thick, and meditative - pull the viewer into an interior world. In contrast, Dat’s sculptures are distilled almost to skeletal structure, whispering rather than declaring.

Together, the works do not impose meaning, but instead create a stillness in which emotion arises only through slow, attentive looking.

Known for his large, energetically textured canvases, Rodney introduces a more intimate scale in this exhibition - 13 oil and charcoal paintings that feel personal and contemplative.

Dat, too, turns away from the flamboyant color and detail that once defined his sculptures. Using papier-mâché and traditional lacquer, his newer works are larger in scale yet markedly more restrained, revealing a commitment to clarity and essential form.

This mutual departure from signature styles suggests a shared pursuit: slowness, stillness, and subtlety. Art, for both, is no longer a vehicle for message - but a space for unnamed experience.

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Minimalist papier-mâché sculptures by Dinh Cong Dat

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The two artists at Two Friends.

Speaking with VietNamNet, Dat reflects on this evolution: "This morning’s cold rain came unexpectedly - but only if we forget the winters that came before. Perhaps it’s age, or the accumulation of past seasons of work, or simply time to change. Rodney and I both slowed down, became more economical with words and form. I was surprised, too, by how naturally this new chapter arrived."

Dat’s sculptures, once ablaze in hot, saturated tones, now verge on monochrome. When asked whether such a stark change is a risk to his established reputation, he replied candidly: "The real risk was when I was 21 or 22 and first chose art. Now, I’m already known. If I stumble, it’s fine. I’ve climbed out of darker windows before."

Their attitude reveals an artist’s grace in facing change - a willingness to let go of old brilliance in search of new meaning. The exhibition provides no explanatory theme, no key for interpretation. Instead, it offers an open space for reflection, where each viewer is left to discover their own resonance.

Following its run in Hanoi, Two Friends will travel to Ho Chi Minh City this September for a second showing.

Rodney Dickson, born in 1956 in Northern Ireland, lives and works in New York. He has been deeply connected to Vietnam since the early 2000s. His work, often seen as a spiritual quest, explores the vast beauty of the cosmos through charged brushwork. His paintings have been exhibited widely across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Dinh Cong Dat, born in 1966 in Hanoi, graduated in sculpture from the Hanoi University of Fine Arts. He is one of the leading figures in contemporary Vietnamese art, with work spanning sculpture, installation, and spatial design.

Tinh Le