Vietnamese painters: a few more

Hong Viet Dung

Here's a few more artists that you might like, very tourist oriented, but what can you do? Art shows the reality of a country!

Nguyen Trung

Doan Thuy Hanh

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Vietnamese propaganda posters

Colonialists, International Traitors, Think Carefully Before You Take Vietnam Artist: To Lien (1978)

In Vietnam you have the old posters with uncle Ho, Nixon, information about the agriculture, winning the American Destruction War (aka Vietnam War) and you have the new ones that are in front of every hospital, school, beginning of a village, etc.

Vietnam's victory

Tran Thi Tam: Courageous & Steady, Clings to Land & To People

Artist: Huynh Van Thuan (1972) 

You can buy them here and here's another page if you are more curious about other lot of propaganda posters 

Here you can find other vietnamese art forms that I enjoy.

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Strong vietnamese women

She has been selling food for the past 53 years next to the market in Dalat

Eventhough women in Vietnam are clearly second class citizens and domestic violence is a real problem, you can see how powerful vietnamese women are when you look at them in the eyes.

Women had a very important role when the vietnamese men were called to fight, first in the French War, then in the Anti-American War and in the Cambodian War (as they call them). With the men gone, women were in charge of everything: protecting the family, protecting the villages in a time of war, plowing fields, picking up the rice, keeping the canals for proper irrigation, raising kids, selling whatever they had as a surplus,... and they did it for many decades. Hard times made hard ladies!

An Inch of Land is an Ounce of Gold. Our Duty is to Plant as Many Vegetables as Possible.

You can see the importance of women in the propaganda posters, most of them show women and talk to women about farming, planting, construction,... not your ordinary "shop at our store" message!

We Must Cultivate a Lot of Soybeans

Priority Should be Given to Rice Without Neglecting Industrial Crops and Livestock

Irrigation Systems Must be Used Wisely and Conscientiously Maintained

Fighting to Harvest 10 Tonnes of Rice Per Hectare

Enemies Will Certainly Be Defeated ! (France – USA – China)

Today the party strongly "advises" to have only 2 children and everybody wants to have boys and only boys. Thanks to their prayers (is that how gendercide is called now?) they will soon have real problems to marry their males because there won't be enough females.

Here's a couple of articles that talk about current gender issues in Vietnam:

• Tackling gender inequality in Vietnam: Poverty and cultural attitudes in Vietnam mean many women still die in childbirth, female foetuses are aborted and sex is a taboo subject
• Two faces of gender equity in Vietnam

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Vietnamese painters: Bui Huu Hung

He must be the best seller of the vietnamese painters, he is in every gallery and I am sure he sells a lot because all the tourists that I spied where asking for his paintings. Congratulations Bui Huu Hung! You made a living out of painting!

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Vietnamese artists: Dinh Cong Dat

He is in all the trendy galleries and in all the trendy shops, his work is fun and I love fun! Enjoy his funkiness!

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On how Asia reminds me of my childhood: Excitement

Cycling around Asia is a great way to see the real life. You can go on an organized tour or you can go by yourself, most of the places are very safe and people are extremly curious about you.

When you cycle in small towns kids get extremely excited. Here's some of the situations:

• Moms with babies waiving at you, starting to teach the kid to say "Hello"
• Kids so little they don't even know what to do, they just stare at you with their mouth wide open.
• If you look at the front yard of the house, you might see little kids going to get their big brother because they want to go by the road and say hello to you.
• Kids screaming "Hello", "What is your name?", "Wellcome to Malaysia!".
• Kids picking up their old rusty bikes and racing you.
• Shy girls smilling at you and waiving from their bikes.
• Teenagers getting out of school and trying to block your way or do stupid things.
• And the most painfull but also the best, High fives! Yes, high fives are back.

When I was little every summer there was a race going on and they would go through my grandparent's house. We would be waiting for them for hourss, to see the cyclist, to cheer at them and to get the beach balls and other merchandising that they were giving away.

Going through the little villages and hearing the kids with their "hello, hello" made me think of what I looked like when I was little.


The picture that ilustrates this post was taken by somebody I don't remember with Max's camera during our trip from Saigon to Hanoi in Vietnam.

Here's other reasons why Asia reminds me of my childhood:
Everything is under construction and there are lots of flowers
Sun drying food and stone tables 
Poorly paved roads and reusing stuff

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Vietnamese painters: Nguyen Quang Huy

The cheap paintings (specially lacquers) in Vietnam fold up, they have been painted in small pieces so you can take them home inside your luggage. Nguyen Quang Huy's paintings don't fold up, they are big and powerful, as powerfull as vietnamese woman. They had to do everything during the 3 wars that took place in Vietnam in the last 80 years and they are kick ass people!

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Vietnamese painters: Tran Quang Huan

It is not correct to explain the reality of a country based on the artists that you see in the galleries but since I liked some of them, here's a selection if my favourite contemporary vietnamese artists. Number one is not for my favourite but for the most surprising one: Tran Quang Huan.

 

Thanks to the fantastic people at the Green Palm Gallery in Hanoi for their information!

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