Exhibition of compact landscape painting “The Far Horizon” The Muse Artspace

The exhibition of compact landscape paintings titled "The Far Horizon" displayed at The Muse Artspace from January 25 to February 25, 2024, is a meticulously selected gift for art lovers during the Tet holiday. This significant Vietnamese festival is not only a time for family reunions and joy with friends but also an opportunity for exploration to relish the spring season—a time when nature and people are renewed. Gathering eclectic sceneries from various places into compact landscape paintings, the exhibition "The Far Horizon '' aims to furnish a spring-filled journey for visitors through the artistic perceptions of various painters.

Featured artists in this exhibition

Võ Lương Nhi

Trịnh Cẩm Nhi

Đoàn Đức Hùng

Huỳnh Quốc Bảo

Hoàng Huệ Phương

Curated by Vân Vi.

The Muse Artspace

1. Trịnh Cẩm Nhi

Trinh Cam Nhi graduated from Accademia di Belle Arti Roma, Italy in 2019 with a BFA in Fine Art. Nhi came back to Vietnam and made her first appearance with a solo exhibition, “Garden of Unknowing”, at Casa Italia, a Vietnamese-Italian cultural exchange center in Hanoi. Working mainly with oil paint on canvas, Nhi explored the botanical form intertwining subtle allusions to the human body to unveil a realm that exuded an enigmatic and surreal primitiveness. Trinh Cam Nhi now lives and works as an independent artist in Hanoi.

Painting Series Relishing Blooms - Gaze upon the Moon

80x100 cm, Oil on canvas

60x80 cm, Oil on canvas

Relishing Bloom painting is divided into various small sections. Trịnh Cẩm Nhi shares that it's a method she uses to examine her perspective. When thoroughly observing an object, she realizes one can easily miss the entirety and consecutively focus on the small components. More importantly, admiring these components opens a new train of thought for the artist. Nhi depicts squares and rectangles in the paintings as pathways, extending beyond reality. It's also a way the artist brilliantly engages with fragments of reality, spirituality, and abstraction, creating numerous possibilities to play with form and space. In what appears to be a simple bindweed flower, the artist reveals hidden details in small sections, blending realism and surrealism. Nhi's assembly continuously transports us to entirely different realms.

Place

90x90 cm, Oil on canvas

The landscape painting is diagonally designed, featuring a vibrant bindweed prominently placed with a tiny figure attempting to move. The surreal scenery unfolds, resembling reality only seen in the realm of dreams. The diagonal line divides the space, creating a visual illusion - the slanted horizon imparts a gravitational pull, suggesting the small figure is drawn to stay behind rather than move forward. There's a parallel motion of nature's rhythm here, observed by the artist with introspection in their inner world.

Landscape

90x90 cm, Oil on canvas

The Landscape painting, divided into two, presents a notable overall impression, but upon closer examination, it appears challenging to discern whether it's composed of different parts of the same space or entirely distinct spaces. This ambiguity adds an intriguing layer to the viewer's perception, creating a sense of uncertainty and prompting reflection on the nature of the depicted scenes.

In landscape painting, determining the horizon is typically crucial, followed by detailing elements such as trees or people. However, when Trịnh Cẩm Nhi breaks down the canvas into fragments, defining boundaries becomes challenging. This poses a unique obstacle for the artist as she sets her own rules, only to break them by playing with fragments, thus opening up new perspectives and unconventional outlooks.

2. Hoàng Huệ Phương

Mrs. Nguyệt

30x20cm, Oil on canvas

"Cô Nguyệt" is a surreal space, where artist Hoàng Huệ Phương draws inspiration from her recurring dreams. On one side, a coastal area features a large oyster resting on the shore, while on the other side is a distant place, simultaneously real and unreachable. The peachy-pink hues lend the painting a sensual allure, concealing traces of memories, alien yet familiar.

Laika

30x20cm, Oil on canvas

Laika, the space-traveling dog, was the first living being sent to space by humans aboard the Sputnik satellite. This story prompted artist Hoàng Huệ Phương to paint a portrayal of Laika. For her, Laika is simply a small, ordinary creature placed in a circumstance to serve a lofty purpose in human ideology. The dog itself appears innocent and bewildered in the painting. The scene surrounding Laika is entirely imagined by the artist and is bathed in a pinkish-orange hue, consistent with the dreamlike quality present in Phương's other dream-inspired artworks.

Empathy

20x30cm, Oil on canvas

Artist Hoàng Huệ Phương draws great inspiration from ancient history, mythological tales, and intriguing, enigmatic stories. Whether the narratives are majestic or poignant, the artist always grasps the beauty within them, appreciating the allure of both grandeur and sorrow present in these stories.

The recognizable six-pointed David Star serves as an iconic symbol in the Jewish community. The painting "Empathy" is crafted based on an ancient Jewish ritual called the "scapegoat." This ritual personifies an individual within a family or community who bears the collective guilt and serves as an embodiment of the divine. The artwork captures a sense of universality, echoing the profound aspects shared by the community, yet it also conveys a touch of the artist's introspection.

Elegy

20x20 cm, Oil on canvas

Elegy depicts a scene of a locust swarm passing by, inspired by a past locust plague that brought deprivation to the harvests. Behind the swarm, there lies the artist's self-proclaimed "Utopian Castle" – a distant uncharted place.

Peach Valley

30x20 cm, Oil on canvas

In this painting, artist Hoàng Huệ Phương portrays her dog with a great deal of emotion. She often takes it for walks in a peach garden near her home. While Phương doesn't illustrate the garden explicitly, she captures a garden with peach hues where her beloved dog can peacefully rest.

The Old Dock

60x40 cm, Oil on canvas

"The Old Dock" portrays a woman by the ferry dock enveloped in the dimming twilight, holding a cup of tea with a serene expression, devoid of anticipation. Hoàng Huệ Phương shares that she was enchanted by the visual of her friend at the dock. The contrast between her casual demeanor and the far-reaching allure of the dock inspired the artist to create this painting. Phương also places a lamp on the dock, illuminating only a small area, opening a glimpse of the dock corner amidst the vast darkness.

Voyage

60x40 cm, Oil on canvas

In this painting, we witness another scene from Hoàng Huệ Phương’s collection dreams. A city atop a mountain, featuring complex architecture that interplays between recollection and imagination. Above is the sun with clouds drifting across the sky connected to an orange-hued strip below. There's a sense of ambiguity in the artist's spatial treatment, yet it precisely imparts an intriguing sensation to the artwork.

3. Võ Lương Nhi

These artworks are shared with the desire to contribute a dreamy space within the discreet yet vibrant spiritual world of Võ Lương Nhi for art enthusiasts to relish.

Having doe-eyed beauty, and bushy silver-colored hair, Vo Luong Nhi possesses a striking appearance that’s vividly radiant with life. No one would have believed that she is currently in her early sixties.

Vo Luong Nhi has been active in art since the 90s, alongside many renowned painters at the time. Nevertheless, only a few are familiar with her talent since she chose not to sacrifice for the art, rather Vo Luong Nhi builds it into a creative corner, a beautiful haven for her romance.

It can be challenging to bring out the topic of wealth or fathom absolute contentment, to Mrs. Vo, having the fortune of living in an educated home, and experiencing the spectrums of life, while surrounded by various intricate pieces is more than fulfilling. Similarly, her recollection of past events is done through the lens of a mindful person, to perceive everything in its best light.

Paintings tend to portray the artist’s life; each of Vo Luong Nhi’s pieces is distinguished and donned with a vibrant palette. On the whole, the artist’s brushstrokes, and choice of hues are boundless - a trait that’s rarely seen in female artists - while still able to distinctly depict each layer of details, which resembles the unobstructed beauty of the feminine.

For many years, Mrs. Vo has chosen to be a family painter, who dresses her home with countless paintings, transforming the space into a glamorous sanctuary. These artworks are shared with the desire to bestow a dreamy realm within the discreet yet vibrant spiritual world of Võ Lương Nhi for art enthusiasts to relish.

Noon dream, 100x80 cm, Acrylic on canvas

The Horizon, 80x30 cm, Oil and acrylic on canvas

Village of Tet Blossoms", 40x30cm, Acrylic on canvas

Reunite with the wind of vast enchantment", 40x30cm, Oil and acrylic on canvas

Sen non, 40x30 cm

Green horizon", 38x28cm, Oil and acrylic on canvas

Luna Garden 1", 60x40cm, Acrylic on Gio paper over canvas

Autumn Garden", 120x30cm, Acrylic on canvas

Rhythm of Spring, 120x30 cm, Oil and acrylic on canvas

Garden of memories, 120x30 cm, Acrylic oil paint

The Sailor Song, 125x 80 cm, Acrylic on canvas

Autumn Rain, 40x 50cm, Acrylic on canvas

4. Bảo Huỳnh

"Trà Quế Trails", 28x38 cm, Watercolor on paper

"Dusk of Cửa Đại", 28x38 cm, Watercolor on paper

"Cơ Tu Village of Tây Giang", 28x38 cm, Watercolor on paper

"Headwater of the Autumn River", 28x38cm, Watercolor on paper

"Afternoon Tempest, 28x38cm, Watercolor on paper

5. Đoàn Đức Hùng

Among the Hai Phong artists, Doan Duc Hung is seen as a reserved and shy person, while in contrast, Hung's paintings follow the expressionism movement with intense color palettes and liberating brushstrokes.

Regardless of the location he was at, who he was talking to, amidst a crowd, or eye to eye, Hung always found the opportunity to pick up his pen and sketch. He shared that when he doesn't know what to do, he always finds comfort in sketching. On top of that, he confessed that he’s not good at socializing and can't articulate his words enough to fully convey his ideas and feelings hence he chose painting as a substitute medium.

Hung’s artworks, including hundreds of portraits, are dialogues directed toward the viewers, manifesting from the brushstrokes and essence of the architect. Therefore, each person, each moment, and each state is irrefutably unique. Additionally, Hung rarely runs out of creative resources since the catalyst to invent, and the inspirations for his art are documented from real life. Hung paints people within his sight, people he meets often, or simply the act of drying his shoes, being stuck at home due to the rain also brings inspiration to Hung’s work.

The enthralling passion and brimming emotions of the artist are engraved into his art, as one can perceive, relive, be astonished, and encapsulate with.