Artist Vu Dinh Luong will hold an exhibition on the beauty and peaceful life of Vietnamese villages and old little streets entitled “From Villages to Streets,” presenting 18 watercolor paintings, nine lacquer artworks, and nine oil and acrylic paintings at the Fine Arts Exhibition House in Hanoi from October 10 to 20.

In the Pagoda’s Yard, one of the artworks featured in Vu Dinh Luong’s “From Villages to Streets” exhibition

Luong says he has always been drawn to the topic of villages and streets and doesn’t calculate much when painting but let the emotions and feelings guide him.

“There are paintings that were finished in a nick of time, there are ones that had to be repainted over and over again, and not a small amount of watercolor drafts are discarded,” he says.

As a person whose paternal hometown is in Hanoi and maternal village in Ha Tay, he sees the change in both villages and cities. His memories of the villages are what motivated him to open this exhibition.

Each of his paintings is a small story of a sudden feeling, of familiar sceneries, until one day he felt the urge to put them down on the canvas. The artist works as a journalist so he travels and observes. The villages and city streets that he portrays are from all over the country.

He paints familiar scenes, such as empty rice fields, old residential buildings, with the thought that one day these will no longer exist – urbanization will take over the vast fields, up from the ground buildings and factories will spring. An old mansion turned residential building will one day be taken back then rebuilt.

Luong wants to capture the images of the early 21st century with all its changes, with the old and the new co-existing in village and city life.

He uses lacquer as an appropriate medium to the rural scenery, as a means to convey stories through paintings. His art evokes feelings rather than describes, and impressionism is visible not only in lacquer but also in soft, watercolor paintings illustrating the nature, while oil and acrylic paintings give out a stronger, more impressive feel.

“From villages to streets – just the name could evoke in you so much, but only by seeing with your own eyes Vu Dinh Luong’s works that can we understand how their palpable meanings move us – with unforgiving time, with the “game” of impermanent urbanization. City streets on one side and rural areas on the other, and between the lines are old street corners and villages interlaced with skyscrapers. Luong’s paintings seems to be tugging, urging, eagerly and gently finding the way back to hidden streams of emotions running deep between the old and the new, between traditions and modernity,” artist Le Tien Vuong writes in a foreword about the exhibition.

“The trees, the grass, the bamboo fences, the street corners are expressed diversely, at times with soft watercolors and other times with bold acrylic paint, then still there are these melancholy moments with lacquer. With the eyes of a journalist and of an artist, it seems like Luong is living, urging, exploring, and searching for a soul mate,” he adds.

“With the grand success of the first exhibition using three types of media, Vu Dinh Luong’s From Villages to Streets presents a multi-media game that is bold yet pure. And then one day, we will get to hear from the artist once again in the future.”

SGT