HCMC – Exhibition “Blossom in the Dark” by Tran Quoc Long

HCMC – Exhibition “Blossom in the Dark” by Tran Quoc Long

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Exhibition: 14 – 19 Dec 2018
Home of Bentley
L1, Landmark 81, 720A Nguyen Huu Canh Street, Binh Thanh District, HCMC

From the organizer:

The process of making lacquer-making process is extremely meticulous. However, it’t was incredible that Tran Quoc Long could create nearly 50 lacquer paintings during the year of 2018. It has proved his high attention and great creativity. This is a record for production number of painting that not so many artists could achieve. The exhibition “Hoa về trong đêm” (Blossom in the Dark) is expected to feature the best 32 artworks produced by Tran Quoc Long.

Apart from featuring the traditional colors of brown, black, golden and silver, the lacquer paintings by Tran Quoc Long are striking within the shades of teal green, orange and red which represent his explosive emotion, passion and concerns about life.

The name of the exhibition reminds us about the brutality of nature and the toughness of people in the North Central Coast Province of Thanh Hóa, as well as of the civilization of Muong ethnic minority group – the homeland of Tran Quoc Long. It also reminds us about a line in the poem “Tây Tiến” by Quang Dũng poet: “Mường Lát hoa về trong đêm hơi” (“Blossom in a misty night in Mường Lát”). The fierceness of nature has affected the characteristics of people born in this region, and even their creative style. However, the lacquer paintings in “Blossom in the Dark” lacquer paintings as well as the poem Tây Tiến represents for the beauty in both fierce and elegant ways.

As a child, Tran Quoc Long fell in love with drawing. However, it took him over 10 years through ups and downs in life before obtaining his degree from the Vietnam’s University of Fine Arts. He had to overcome all the obstacles from his family and the people around him to go to the art school. His family wished that Quốc Long could have a stable job for a better future. After graduation, this is the second solo exhibition of Tran Quoc Long and the artist is on his way to a well-established his career. He is willing to sacrifice all his needs to be totally focus on art.

Recently, he has lived and worked in Dalat city. When the night falls and the yard is covered by a layer of mist, Long starts to create his artworks in a small rented room. That’s the moment he finds his soul’s is at peacefulness and he confronts the loneliness, aspiration and expresses himself by drawing. Long has a dialogue with life through the palette of colors. And then, all the lacquer paintings like flowers have been born like flowers in the silence of those misty nights.

In this series of paintings, audiences can find the images of a girl with a slender shape of body, long hair and soft hands. The girl in his painting is like the shape of life that he wishes to express, always elegant and stunning compared to his rough appearance. Tran Quoc Long didn’t choose to draw those poor and sad images to get the sympathy of viewers.

“Sometimes, I feel myself isolated and lonely in the crowd. That’s why I choose to express myself through art. What I think and feel are translated into lacquer paintings. Lacquer is difficult to make, with all of its rules, and it requires the artist to be hard-working, devoted and patient or even focused like Zen practicing Zen. Expressionism has helped me to balance between the tough rules of lacquer and my freedom of mind. Thus, I choose to follow the expressionism.”.

The artist hopes that his audiences would draw their own emotions from colors and the expressionism images he has told in his paintings. Tran Quoc Long doesn’t like to make the rules or convey the wrong emotions to his audiences, as arts needs freedom for both artists and spectators.

GN181 Group

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