Coal and rice flour bring Vietnamese artist to famous painting award in Southeast Asia

Artist Nguyen Viet Cuong and his work Flow

VTV.vn - Artist Nguyen Viet Cuong will continue to compete with award-winning artists from countries in the region to conquer one of the most prestigious art competitions.

Through the work Stream, artist Nguyen Viet Cuong skillfully uses two indigenous materials, coal and rice flour, to depict the story of Vietnam’s natural resources. The artist meticulously processes, cleans and grinds the coal into pebbles before sifting and sprinkling them onto the canvas surface. The rice is ground into powder, mixed with glue and then funneled to form the solution to flow down the black coal layer. This combination ultimately creates a contemporary ink landscape painting with a poetic dialogue between black and white, evoking the graceful beauty of the stalactite terrain in caves in Vietnam.

The work Flow brought artist Nguyen Viet Cuong the second UOB Painting of the Year award in Vietnam, in the Established Artist category.

Artist Dang Xuan Hoa, head of the competition's jury, shared his assessment of the winning work: " Dong Chuyen is a unique work in terms of materials and expression, expressing a new way of thinking in contemporary art while still maintaining the spirit of painting. The two materials that the author chose to express are black charcoal and white rice from natural materials in life, containing the vitality, spirit and soul of the Vietnamese people. We see that the author has a profound perspective with a soul full of emotions".

Artists honored at the award ceremony

As the top winner in the Established Artist category, artist Nguyen Viet Cuong will receive a cash prize of VND500 million and will compete for the prestigious UOB Painting of the Year Southeast Asia 2024 alongside winning artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The results will be announced on 13 November 2024 at an awards ceremony in Singapore. First held in 1982 in Singapore, this is one of the most prestigious art competitions in Southeast Asia to date. The competition aims to discover artistic talents and provide them with the opportunity to showcase their works to the wider community in the region. Also honoured at the Awards Ceremony in Vietnam was Phan Tu Tran in the Emerging Artist category with her unique work titled Doraeco .

Phan Tu Tran and the work that won the Promising Artist award

Through the work Doraeco , Phan Tu Tran said she wanted to convey a message to everyone about the awareness of protecting the living environment, protecting the common ecosystem of humanity, towards a green, clean, and sustainable ecosystem. The winning works of both the Established Artist and Promising Artist categories will be displayed at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. The exhibition will be open to the public for free from October 5 to October 20, 2024.

Vtv.vn

Source: https://vtv.vn/doi-song/than-da-bot-gao-dua-hoa-si-viet-toi-voi-giai-thuong-hoi-hoa-noi-tieng-cua-khu-vuoc-dong-nam-a-20241003055847115.htm