Love traditional paintings
No one in his family is an artist, but artist Nam Chi has had a knack for painting since he was young. When he was in primary school, when he was exposed to the painting “Quan Am” in a textbook, he was fascinated and passionate about this folk painting genre. Later, when he studied at the University of Industrial Fine Arts, he was exposed to more, and decided to pursue folk painting. He is currently studying in depth two folk painting genres: Hang Trong and Kim Hoang. In addition, he is also learning more about the technique of making royal decree paper.
The more Nam Chi learns and researches, the more he realizes the unique values of Vietnamese art. He feels that the beauty of this genre of painting is not only in the lines and colors, but also in the meaning that our ancestors have conveyed. That is the philosophy of life, the satire, the teachings and the lessons passed down to the next generation. For example, the painting "peacock, carp" represents fertility, prosperity, warmth and happiness. Or the Kim Hoang painting line has the painting "pair of divine chickens" associated with poems describing the beauty of the chicken with its head held high, body like a phoenix, big tail, heroic posture, when crowing it can drive away evil spirits. And the painting "to nu" represents the beauty of Vietnamese women with their sitting posture, playing the instrument, rich costumes...
The arduous journey of pursuing passion
When pursuing this folk art stream, the young artist encountered many difficulties. Because he himself was not a "child of the family", did not come from a craft village to know the process of creating a painting. The characteristic of traditional painting is that it is a profession passed down from father to son, so he encountered difficulties in gathering knowledge and putting it into practice. He spent time on field trips to artisans' homes to learn and study traditional painting techniques.
In Vietnam, the material for this type of painting is dó paper. At first, because he could not find a source of dó paper, he tried painting on fine art paper but it did not meet his expectations.
“Many people often use dyes but they are not very durable, they only fade after a few years. I researched and decided to choose natural colors like the way artisans used to do. Mineral colors take time and technique to make, but when ground to the right consistency, the colors are bright and durable,” Nam Chi said.
The next difficulty in working for a 9X guy is the source of consumption of paintings to have the economy to pursue this art. When there was no outlet for the paintings, to have money to cover expenses, he had to do other jobs. In the morning he went to school, in the afternoon he went to work, in the evening he came back to paint. When he had a work, he took pictures, explained the meaning of each painting and posted it on social networks, people liked it and supported him, so he had a certain number of potential customers. These challenges made Nam Chi more determined in his choice.
Nam Chi has been in the profession for 8 years now, he can't remember exactly how many paintings he has painted. Among them, there are paintings drawn according to traditional models, paintings drawn according to customers' ideas, but also paintings drawn with his own creativity.
The most impressive thing in his career is the 60 x 120 cm Quan Am painting. With the high demands of customers, he had to research from the beginning about the patterns and architecture of communal houses in each period to be able to apply them to the product. That Quan Am painting was painted with the style, costumes, patterns, and colors completely of the Vietnamese people. In particular, the painting used the technique of gold plating and gold grinding to draw the patterns.
Creative but not unconventional
As a young artist, when pursuing folk paintings, Nam Chi has variations and creativity but still relies on the core of traditional folk paintings that our ancestors left behind, not breaking the mold. “Because deep inside each painting are layers and meanings that not only carry artistic value but also historical value of the nation. Therefore, I always want to preserve the identity, beauty, and soul elements that make up the Vietnamese people,” said Nam Chi.
With his efforts, Nam Chi has launched many new paintings that inherit from traditional paintings but also combine graphic techniques. These paintings not only simply use the patterns of Hang Trong paintings such as swirl patterns and longevity characters, but Nam Chi also researched historical documents about costumes of the Le and Nguyen dynasties and incorporated them into the work to bring higher artistic value to the paintings.
Up to now, Nam Chi has had initial success when his paintings have been selected for display by many museums such as Hai Duong Museum, Hue Museum, Da Nang Museum... At Hai Duong Museum, Nam Chi has displayed many paintings of both Hang Trong and Kim Hoang.
According to the male artist, in order for folk paintings to reach many young people, it is necessary to not only promote them on social networks but also apply motifs to handicraft products such as lamps, fans, cake boxes, etc.
Deputy Director of Hai Duong Provincial Museum Do Dinh Quyet commented: In Nam Chi's paintings, we can clearly see the ingenuity and talent in using materials and colors in visual arts, which helps us feel "both ancient and modern", that is, both nostalgic and modern. Over the years, Nam Chi has donated to Hai Duong Provincial Museum 13 sets of artifacts including more than 30 paintings with many different themes. These are meaningful paintings by a young artist. In the midst of modern life, the most precious thing is to preserve and develop the folk paintings that young artist Nam Chi has been doing.
LINH LINHSource: https://baohaiduong.vn/chang-trai-9x-nam-chi-say-me-my-thuat-dan-gian-390998.html
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