Giving folk paintings a "new look"

Creative on traditional materials

According to Latoa Indochine Chairman Pham Ngoc Long, turning the pages of cultural history, we will encounter the golden marks of Vietnamese folk painting, the folk paintings that people love to buy to decorate every holiday. However, nowadays, the need to decorate living spaces is much different than before, not many people still use folk paintings to hang in their homes. Therefore, if we want folk paintings to be preserved and to live in a modern environment, we must make the paintings more beautiful, more valuable, and more applicable...

Khoác lên tranh dân gian một — Folk paintings are adapted to engraved lacquer material.

"Therefore, we think we need to find a way to spread and develop those values more appropriately to the contemporary times. By 2022, we decided to form the Latoa Indochine group, Latoa here is an abbreviation meaning "spread". After researching and testing many solutions, we decided to convert folk paintings onto engraved lacquer material, which means creatively combining two long-standing painting methods: lacquer and engraved lacquer, to help folk paintings become modern, luxurious, and highly adaptable to different types of architectural spaces" - Mr. Pham Ngoc Long said.

From there, each painting is sketched by the artists, using the technology of carving each detail to create black lines like traditional paintings. Next, use then lacquer, cockroach wings to polish the color, then gilding, silver gilding, each color is a layer, after each layer is a polishing. Although this is a new way, each work is born without losing the value and traditional beauty of the nation, but also makes folk paintings richer and more splendid.

After more than 2 years of pursuing and developing, Latoa Indochine artists have created hundreds of works based on folk painting models. Most of them are based on familiar themes of Hang Trong, Dong Ho and Kim Hoang folk paintings such as the paintings: "Than Ke", "Mouse Wedding", "Carp Watching the Moon", "Ngu Ho"...

In addition to the paintings inspired by folk paintings, there are also some other paintings such as: "Truc Lam Dai Si Xuat Son Do" and "Huong Van Dai Dau Da" inspired by Buddhism and the portrait of the famous person Nguyen Trai... also showing the hard work and dedication of the artists.

In addition, with the desire to bring Vietnamese folk paintings closer to the public and international friends, artists have participated in many domestic and international events such as: Creative Design Festival 2022, Hue Festival 2022, participating in Vietnam Day in Japan, Vietnam Day in France 2023 and many exhibitions in Korea, China, ...

In particular, in 2024, the group of artists has been implementing the Color Painting - Folk project, where the public will experience painting famous folk paintings on super durable paper that can be washed, ironed, is mold-resistant, tear-resistant and self-destructive, and is environmentally friendly. This helps everyone, especially the younger generation, to get closer to Vietnamese folk paintings, thereby raising awareness in preserving the image and value of folk art of the nation. At the same time, it also contributes to minimizing the negative impact on the environment from the production and use process.

"The great thing is that not only in Vietnam but also in all the places where we bring Vietnamese folk paintings, they are loved and welcomed by the public, especially the young people - that makes us very happy and even more proud of the work we are doing" - Mr. Pham Ngoc Long expressed.

Application in modern design

Also reviving Vietnamese folk paintings, designer Trinh Thu Trang (University of Architecture) pursues the renewal of Hang Trong folk paintings through applied arts.

According to designer Trinh Thu Trang: "In the process of researching folk paintings, I was overwhelmed by the creativity of our ancestors in the past. In particular, Hang Trong paintings carry many meanings and spiritual and aesthetic values of the Vietnamese people and until now those values are still intact in today's life. However, with the rapid changes in life and technology, many traditional values, including Hang Trong paintings, are being replaced and forgotten or are only displayed as artifacts of a bygone era. It would be a pity if those values were forgotten.

Through that, I realized that transforming and creating folk materials to create new products that bring practical value and efficiency to modern life is extremely necessary. From there, my colleagues and I established the S River group with the aim of preserving, promoting, exploiting and developing Vietnamese folk paintings and Hang Trong paintings are the first paintings we made."

However, the way designer Trinh Thu Trang works does not try to copy the folk paintings into reality, does not try to cling to historical things but distills the unique motifs and details of folk in Hang Trong paintings that have the potential to be applied to modern life, to the current work of graphic designers, fashion designers, interior designers or other artists. Thereby, it has helped the ancient folk values "revive", and can be easily encountered anywhere in life. Up to now, the group has launched many products applying printed Hang Trong painting motifs such as fabrics, silk scarves, clothes, handbags, shoes, postcards, pillowcases...

Designer Trinh Thu Trang shared: "In each product, we choose a few details, motifs, images, and color palettes that we like from one or two paintings, then create, imagine, arrange, and mix them into new aesthetic values, placed in a new context, with a new mission and the ability to apply them to life. However, I affirm that all the new products we create originate from Hang Trong folk paintings."

Not stopping there, realizing that the Design industry is lacking traditional materials with Vietnamese identity, designer Trinh Thu Trang has summarized her ideas and knowledge to create a book specializing in researching and applying Vietnamese folk motifs and colors in design called "Vietnamese Colors". Up to now, the motifs and color palettes from Hang Trong folk paintings have begun to be widely applied, creating a new trend in the Vietnamese Design industry...

"By digitizing the typical patterns and color palettes of Hang Trong paintings, I hope it will be a huge and valuable treasure trove of cultural documents so that young people can start creating their own personal projects related to folk art" - designer Trinh Thu Trang said./.

Appreciating the way the artists work, Dr. Lu Thi Thanh Le - Lecturer of the Department of Cultural and Creative Industries, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hanoi National University shared: In recent years, we have discussed a lot about the issue of traditional culture of the nation being at risk of being lost when the public, especially the young people, are increasingly distant and forgetful. Therefore, when artists return to research, create and develop traditional cultures of the nation such as: Lacquer, Hang Trong paintings, silk, ... have contributed to creating a very new identity and personality for traditional values in modern life, making it easier for the public, especially the young people, to access. This not only helps revive the culture of the nation but also contributes to maintaining traditional occupations that are being lost, thereby creating conditions for the local economy as well as the country to develop.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/khoac-len-tranh-dan-gian-mot-dien-mao-moi-20240621145502663.htm