When the poet holds the brush

Poets paint! Strange, hard to believe, but if you think about it, what’s so unusual about it? Poetry and painting are not two separate worlds. Poets write with words to evoke images, and painters paint images to evoke emotions. When poets turn to painting, aren’t they looking for a new language to tell an old story?

In Vietnam, this phenomenon is no longer strange. Bui Chat and Nguyen Quang Thieu, two famous poets, have now become names mentioned quite often in the world of painting. They paint, organize exhibitions and their paintings, regardless of whether they are technically "standard" or "non-standard", are still well received, sometimes at a high price. But what is it about their paintings that makes people willing to pay? What makes their stories so curious?

Bui Chat and his paintings

Artistic Interaction

Bui Chat, with his painting style like "someone who can't draw", has created something special for himself. His paintings do not follow any standards, nor do they care about compositional principles. It is like a free poem, sometimes messy, sometimes broken but always full of emotion. In the exhibition Improvisation , he once said: " Painting is the way I improvise emotions, even before they have time to solidify into words". And that is the appeal of his paintings: not trying to be perfect but to be real.

However, this journey is not easy. Bui Chat once shared: " People say I draw like a third grader. But drawing for me is not to prove that I am good, but to free myself from the framework" . That statement partly reflects the skepticism he has faced from both the public and experts. The uncertain strokes and seemingly meaningless blank spaces in his paintings are often considered "poor in technique" but contain deep emotions that poetry is sometimes powerless to express.

Paintings by Bui Chat

If Bui Chat is a rebel in both poetry and painting, Nguyen Quang Thieu brings a deep dreamy quality to painting. His paintings do not recreate reality but recreate memories, from fields, herds of cows, roofs to flute players... like pieces distorted by time and imagination. However, he is not immune to challenges. Critics such as: " You are a poet, why don't you focus on poetry but switch to painting?" have appeared, putting pressure on him to prove that his painting does not rely solely on his existing reputation from poetry.

Nguyen Quang Thieu once said: " The fields in my poems are not real fields, and neither are the fields in my paintings." In his paintings, everything is enlarged or abnormally reduced, creating a space that is both surreal and like the flickering memories of a dream. But it is this difference that sometimes causes his paintings to be misunderstood as "not visually profound enough." However, those who truly appreciate his paintings realize that these are images that evoke the depth of nostalgia, something that words sometimes cannot reach.

When "amateurs" create legends

Not only in Vietnam, the story of the poet holding a brush has made its mark in the history of world art. William Blake, the famous English poet, not only wrote poetry but also painted. In works such as The Ancient of Days or Newton , his paintings are like visual poems, each stroke is symbolic, suggesting layers of meaning beyond the image on the surface.

Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize-winning Indian poet, also encountered many doubts when he entered the art world. He left behind more than 2,000 paintings full of emotion and freedom, but faced questions from his contemporaries: " Tagore replied: " Color is a song that I cannot sing with words." That is why his paintings, although not belonging to any school, still have a strong appeal, because they evoke an emotional world that is difficult to grasp but easy to sympathize with.

Tourists exchange while visiting Bui Chat's works.

Even famous artists like Vincent van Gogh and Jean-Michel Basquiat were once "amateurs" in painting. They were not formally trained, but it was this freedom that created their style. Van Gogh with his bright yellow, Basquiat with his messy strokes like the screams of a restless soul, proved that art does not need perfect technique, but a sincere heart.

Art has no boundaries, no prejudices

When a poet paints, they are often seen as “amateurs,” as curious people entering a world that does not belong to them. But is that fair? A beautiful painting is not about whether it is technically correct or not, but about what it can touch the soul of the viewer.

The paintings of Bui Chat, Nguyen Quang Thieu or William Blake do not strive to be "beautiful" in the visual sense but to be honest in the spiritual sense. They paint not to compete with other artists but to expand their creative language. And it is the courage to face prejudice and overcome challenges that makes these works so attractive.

Painting, like all art, is not a contest of skill. Professional artists may need to be a little more open-minded, rather than letting academic standards become a barrier. Art is not a sanctuary for anyone. It is a big house, where anyone, poet, painter, art lover... has the right to create and express themselves. As William Blake once wrote: " We never know what we can do, until we are free to try."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/khi-nha-tho-cam-co-185241203150319614.htm