Contemporary fine arts Indochina fine arts

CHANGING SCENERY

Vietnam is fundamentally a country of villages, and Vietnamese villages are an embodiment of the nation. To understand Vietnam and its people, one must understand its villages. In other words, understanding a village means understanding Vietnam, as a village is a condensed image of the country. In the village is the nation, and in the nation is the village.

Cự Đà is a typical village in the northern delta of Vietnam. In the 1970s, Cự Đà was almost intact. The entire village faced the Nhuệ River, with many stone bridges leading from village roads to the river, still frequented by boats. The village paths were made of compacted earth, with brick paving, straight curbs, and fishbone-like alleys. There were many gates, doors, village gates, and hamlet gates, along with communal houses, pagodas, temples, shrines, and clan ancestral halls. The most distinctive features were the houses with three, five, or seven compartments, yin-yang tiled roofs, Bát Tràng square brick courtyards, banana trees in the back, areca trees in the front, water jars, and wide verandas with bamboo shades for rain and sun protection. Every house had horizontal lacquered boards, ornamental gates, and parallel sentences engraved with beautiful sayings, reminding descendants of the teachings of their ancestors.

The culture of the people and their homes contributes to the village’s traditions. The residents of Cự Đà have a history of being simple and kind-hearted. Besides farming, they also engaged in auxiliary trades like making cellophane noodles, brewing alcohol, making soy sauce, and cooking bánh đúc (a type of cake). Such side occupations are characteristic of villages in the Red River Delta. Those who left the village to work in the city and became successful often returned to contribute what they had learned to their hometown. Alongside traditional houses, Cự Đà also features Indochinese architecture, a harmonious blend of French-European and Vietnamese-Asian architectural styles. This blend ensures that Indochinese houses fit seamlessly with the traditional Northern Vietnamese houses, remaining charming and beautiful.

All these unique features and the charm of Cự Đà’s landscape and people inspired the artist Nguyễn Quốc Thắng. For the first time, an artist lived in the village, painted the village, and exhibited his works in the village using the simple material of colored powder on old newspapers, a familiar and rustic medium like the village itself. Nguyễn Quốc Thắng pursued this subject for nearly a decade, carefully selecting a few dozen pieces for display. This meticulous approach reflects his slow and deliberate lifestyle, mirroring the village’s pace. Perhaps his village essence and personal style are one and the same. His paintings rarely feature people, as his essence has seeped into the alleys, fences, soy sauce, and noodles. He prefers using contrasting colors, such as warm and cool tones, orange and banana green, and green with lotus pink. His work allows emotions to guide colors and shapes, so the sky might be red, and the tiles not necessarily brown but a vivid green. The crumbling walls, mossy paths, and old gates remain lively and not melancholic. The ancient, quaint village retains its freshness, thanks to Thắng’s contrasting color palette. Achieving contrast requires harmony between warm and cool, shapes and lines, dark and light, filled areas, and exposed old newspapers. This is Thắng’s unique charm—his shapes, colors, personality, and village.

Trần Nhân Tông said, “When facing a scene with a mind free of thoughts, there’s no need to ask about Zen.” A mind free of thoughts does not mean an empty mind, but a profound, wondrous mind. Nguyễn Quốc Thắng approaches Cự Đà village with such a mind, which only he understands, making it unnecessary and impossible to label his art. All we know is that Nguyễn Quốc Thắng’s Cự Đà is full of tranquility, serenity, peace, and a wondrous presence.

Some works in Nguyễn Quốc Thắng’s exhibition: