An exhibition on truc chi art themed “Truc Chi - Symbiotic - Return” is taking place at Sao La Gallery in HCMC’s District 1 until next Tuesday. Ngo Hoang Bao Vi is the director of this exhibition as well as the project manager of truc chi art.

Vi and a fi ne-art creation made of truc chi.

Regarding Vietnamese traditional fine arts, do paper and diep paper are popular materials preferred by painters to create fine works while the concept of truc chi art still remains quite new. Truc is bamboo and chi is paper; therefore the word truc chi means paper made from bamboo.

In 2000, painter Phan Hai Bang, a lecturer at Hue College of Arts, began to do research in an effort to invent a new material from bamboo for fine-art creations.

After 10 years, Bang and his colleagues performed experiments. Making truc chi requires a long, painstaking process.

Bamboo has its barks and nodes eliminated first. Next, the bamboo is chopped into small pieces which are then immersed in water for one night. After that, these chops are cooked in 12 consecutive hours. Then they are ground with a crusher in over four hours and are decorated with patterns. After being dried, this material is ready for use.

A lot of painters have applied this type of paper to various forms of fine arts such as sculpture, lacquer and calligraphy for their fine creations. Truc chi paintings have attracted strong attention.

Truc chi art in fact has appeared in many international and local exhibitions on fine arts. From a positive start, enthusiasts for truc  chi art have sought to develop this art. Therefore, painter Bang realized that truc chi can totally go with applied fine arts.

More than two years ago, Ngo Hoang Bao Vi, a fine-art graduate in Saigon, was suddenly aware of truc chi art and fell in love with it immediately. Vi then decided to travel to Hue City to meet the creator of truc  chi in person. Fortunately, she was honored to be tasked with the management of truc chi art project and combining applied fine arts with this material.

Vi and her colleagues have painstakingly created a wide variety of works used in daily life from this material. These creations are much preferred owing to their aesthetic and elegance. Vi says her group will be working on combining truc chi and other interior decorations in the near future.

The exhibition themed “Truc Chi - Symbiotic - Return” is part of Vi’s mission to widely introduce truc chi art to the public. She is responsible for helping people understand the unique feature of this art via a number of workshops and visits to galleries so that they can admire the fine works made of truc chi.

Truc chi art project is expected to be available in Danang City soon. Next year, the project will return to Saigon before heading for Hanoi. Vi is now striving to make this bamboo paper well-known at home and abroad.