1.
The first theme that the H&A group exploited was Ancient Fine Arts and National Treasures, which resulted in the exhibition “Once Upon a Time” (August 23-27, 2024) with 39 works by 16 artists. The works are diverse in materials (oil, lacquer, watercolor, silk painting, torn paper, ceramic, mixed materials) in the fields of painting, graphics, and sculpture. The images of patterns and motifs of folk paintings - statues, village temple sculptures... have become part of the works of many authors, but towards new colors and breaths.
Heritage signals such as: Ly Dynasty terracotta leaves, Ly Dynasty dragons, fairies offering flowers at Thai Lac Pagoda, Thousand-eyed, Thousand-armed Buddha statue at But Thap Pagoda, Quan Am Bodhisattva statue at Hoi Ha Pagoda, 17th-century dragon-carved door at Keo Pagoda... enter the works like memories being recalled; although the age of most of the artists who created them belongs to the 7x, 8x, 9x generations - meaning hundreds of years away from the era when those heritages were created.
Images do not speak, but heritage has its “voice” because of its beauty in both aspects: Material (physical) and intangible (spiritual). From the tangible material that artists see (soil, stone, wood, paper), the national soul of our ancestors appears clearly along with the flow of the country's history. Each image has its own meaning, each period has its own characteristics; but the gentle, rustic, simple, yet very delicate, affectionate, and lyrical features remain unchanged. This is the inspiration for artists to continue their creative path.
In fact, Vietnam has gone through a long war and a difficult social life, which has caused many of our ancestors' heritages to be destroyed or lost. In addition to museum collections or collections of Vietnamese antique lovers, art practice is also an effective channel to remind generations of the value of national heritage and the awareness of preserving them. When artists work together with the values of heritage, expressing them through outstanding works, the public is also inspired and more convinced. The ability to attract and illuminate the mind that true art brings, especially to the younger generation - the generation living in an era of strong technological development, easily receptive to many diverse sources of information, but also easily distracted in that sea of information - truly becomes valuable.
Activities in the project “Vietnamese Cultural Heritage through the perspective of Contemporary Artists”:
Meeting with experts, art researchers, cultural researchers; Field trips to collect documents; Meeting with people related to Vietnamese cultural heritage; Researching and systematically creating contemporary art works according to themes and heritage groups.
Message: Inheriting, preserving, developing and spreading Vietnamese cultural heritage - respecting the past, looking towards the future. - painter Nguyen Minh, representative of the H&A artist group.
2.
However, if artists do not turn heritage into a part of their own lives, are not able to transform them, but only copy the image of heritage and put it into their works, working with it on the "form" side, then their art not only has no value but is also counterproductive. Because heritage - the shadow of the beauty of the past - is something that has been refined and filtered over time, not fleeting or temporary. That beauty is the crystallization of an entire historical period, with the creative work of many people, not focusing on the individual ego like in modern times. Not understanding heritage, not feeling the profound beauty of heritage, "excerpting" and "cutting and pasting" heritage in the wrong place can easily make the work superficial and shallow. Normally, a condensed essence is difficult to shine when surrounded by impurities, a value needs a corresponding value to go with it. This is talking about physical heritage.
For intangible heritage, the “permeation” and “absorption” are even more difficult to quantify. Because on the surface of the painting there are no longer ancient patterns or motifs, they are not purely informational signal images, but information - emotions, souls. To concretize the abstract through visual language (through shapes, colors, compositions, lights, rhythms or through blocks, spaces, materials...) so that a painting or a statue is truly a life, a feeling of life, a non-life of the artist is really not simple. Love for art, love for heritage is not enough, the artist also needs talent, a personality.
Heritage is honored in art when the heritage signal incorporated into the work is convincing enough. This is not a simple summation problem to increase the value of heritage, the value of the work or to solve the pressing topic that the artist wants to solve.
If an artist possesses both talent and personality, even if their work does not include any specific heritage images or signals, they are still capable of creating valuable works that bear their spiritual imprint and that of the entire community.
“Today we can work in a way that brings heritage in a concrete, intuitive way; but in fact I think that all Vietnamese painters and artists, no matter how we apply it, it is just a path, a way of working. Surely the national character will be hidden in all our works... Because the national character is always ingrained in us.
Working on the national source does not mean that we are held back in our creative style, but this is an extremely solid foundation for us to default to our national name, territory, and style” - Painter Le The Anh, lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts Design, Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, member of the H&A group.
Regarding the art story, I still think that... actually, your spirit is the deciding factor. The heritage signal is once again permeated through you... You are human, you are spirit, you are a part of the culture of the country, so the artist's mark must be stronger than the heritage signal, then the transmission to the next generation will be even better." - Ms. Duong Thu Hang, owner of Hanoi Studio Gallery.
