The Latoa Indochine artist group has been making efforts to restore, preserve and enhance the value of Vietnamese folk paintings on carved lacquer.
An excerpt from the work 'The Bamboo Forest Great Master Emerges from the Mountain'.
The lacquer painting exhibition 'Heritage Circuit' will display 60 Hang Trong, Dong Ho, Kim Hoang folk paintings with familiar themes. With the goal of spreading traditional culture to young people and international friends, the Latoa Indochine artist group has been making efforts to restore, preserve and enhance the value of Vietnamese folk paintings on carved lacquer material.
Following the Vietnamese folk heritage
Originated by a group of artists with a special passion for folk paintings with the aim of spreading traditional culture, from August 9 to September 3 at the Old Quarter Cultural Exchange Center (49 Tran Hung Dao, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi), the exhibition "Heritage Circuit" will tell a fascinating story about folk paintings, recreated by combining lacquer painting and engraving techniques, bringing a new perspective on the unique traditional art of Vietnam. Representative of Latoa Indochine said that the lacquer painting exhibition "Heritage Circuit" will display 60 Hang Trong, Dong Ho, Kim Hoang folk paintings with familiar themes such as: Pigs, Rooster God, Jealousy, Five Tigers, Mouse Wedding... recreated by combining lacquer painting and engraving techniques, bringing a new perspective on traditional paintings. The artists of Latoa Indochine said that, peeling away each layer of culture that appears on each folk painting, is enough to see how pure and clear, diverse and unique the Vietnamese cultural capital is. The painting is called "rats carrying dragons", but it is not to honor the dragon and phoenix, but like a happy festival, demonstrating the power of rats with a status lower than the dragon. Rats are afraid of light, but still carry lanterns, as if to implicitly send a message about the prosperous and confident rats celebrating when Tet comes and spring returns. The image of rats in Dong Ho folk paintings is also shown in the painting "Rat dancing dragon". The folk comedy painting depicts a group of rats carrying a dragon in a festival. In the past, Chinese people in Hanoi often organized fun games such as dragon dances and lion dances on festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year. Dragon dances were paraded through the streets. Dragons were made of paper or fabric attached to poles. Mice are personified with poles dancing, holding lanterns shaped like fish, fruits, some groups holding flags or badges, some groups playing trumpets, drumming on carts, playing gongs, and setting off firecrackers. There are 11 mice in total, but the most notable are the mice with very long tails. Perhaps the artist wanted to describe the characteristics of the Chinese people in the Qing Dynasty who had long braided hair in a special way. The uniqueness of folk works does not stop at description or message. There are paintings - such as "Red Tiger" that are intentionally created as "2 in 1", meaning the lacquer work is engraved on both sides. Just "turn the other side" to create a new, beautiful and sparkling painting. In the Five Elements, Red Tiger represents life, symbolizes fire, fairness, justice or honor as well as immortal spirit, enthusiasm and courage. Meanwhile, the Rooster God in the Kim Hoang painting is often pasted on the door by the ancients during Tet. The bright painting is meant to bring good luck, but the real meaning is that the ancients made it as a "talisman painting" to protect the house and ward off evil spirits. The ancients believed that the Rooster God had the power to scare even ghosts and gods. Each folk painting deeply reflects the material and spiritual life of people in ancient society. Through the creativity and dedication of the artists, the images in the carved lacquer paintings are meticulously depicted, sharp and profound. The artists will take viewers back to the past, to see the flow of heritage from tradition to modernity. Latoa Indochine artists wish to spread traditional culture to the general public.
Go to the end of tradition
In addition, the exhibition also introduces themes of lotus, lantern dance, landscape, characters... using lacquer material, expressing love and passion for art. During the exhibition, the group of artists Tran Thieu Nam, Nguyen Van Phuc, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Luong Minh Hoa also organized activities to experience lacquer carving and folk painting so that the public could better understand the traditional lacquer art of Vietnam. Lacquer material is considered a "specialty" of Vietnamese art. Meanwhile, folk paintings have been closely associated with Vietnamese people as a way of life. However, when life changes, many types of folk paintings are at risk of fading away. The regeneration and "new clothes" for folk paintings on the basis of lacquer material is a creative practice that goes to the end of tradition. Folk paintings on carved lacquer material bring new values of modernity, durability and luxury. The artists of the Latoa Indochine group used a combination of ancient and modern art methods: Lacquer carving. Instead of the brilliance of the original Hang Trong paintings, when using lacquer, the color tones become more subdued. The characteristics of lacquer are painting and grinding. After each painting, the artists grind until they achieve the necessary color and light effects.Each work is made through many stages such as sketching, using detailed concave carving tools, coloring the lacquer, gilding, silver plating after grinding... The entire process for a work is about 15 - 20 steps, taking about 45 - 60 days to complete. In 2022, Latoa Indochine displayed nearly 100 special works in the exhibition "The Road" at the Hanoi Museum. Among them, the work that especially attracts attention is “Truc Lam Dai Si Xuat Son Do” which is nearly 5m long, painted in a long scroll style with 2 sections, 82 characters, depicting the event of the Buddhist Emperor Tran Nhan Tong practicing and attaining enlightenment, leaving Vu Lam cave (Trang An, Ninh Binh) to return, and being welcomed by King Tran Anh Tong and his mandarins. With a creative and interesting way of expression, the “traditional in tradition” works have opened up a new path for projects to restore and preserve artistic values. At the same time, they spread the cultural heritage left by our ancestors, raising the value of Vietnamese folk paintings on lacquer material.
Comment (0)