Exhibiting her first solo painting in Hanoi in 1998, just one year later, at her second solo exhibition in February 1999, artist Nguyen Thi My focused on flowers. 25 consecutive years - 6 flower painting exhibitions, is indeed not simple for any artist, no matter how much that artist loves her profession and flowers.
“Who can get bored with flowers?” - for her, the more time she spends drawing flowers, the more interesting she finds them, because she draws the soul of flowers, draws the beauty that “never fades”.
“Four seasons of flowers” is the beauty of flowers in four seasons, from Spring, Summer, to Autumn, Winter. From familiar types such as lotus, rose, chrysanthemum, gerbera, butterfly, to even strange flowers: Sen nasturtium, blue snake flower, royal poinciana, green apricot flower... In the painting, every flower is fresh, showing its own beauty and charm. Flowers in vases, hanging baskets, or flowers from tree branches, ponds and lakes seem to have no distinction of high or low, noble or humble. Each shape is a beauty, each color is a charm of the species. Each species is precious and respected.
The 44 paintings in the exhibition were created over many years, but mainly painted in 2023 - 2024 with two materials: pastel and acrylic. If the acrylic paintings give viewers a sense of peaceful, solid beauty, the pastel paintings bring a light, airy feeling. The soul of the flowers in the paintings evokes the soul of the person, which is the soul of the author.
“At some point, people want to live more gently, more peacefully, with less excitement,” the artist confided. But it seems that the gentleness and tranquility are not only attractive because of the “softness and charm” of the flowers as the artist wanted to express, but it is also beautiful because of the calm excitement “of each type of flower” in each stroke of the brush without being attached to the actual flower.
Usually people like flowers, but are afraid of their rapid fading. Nguyen Thi My overcame her fear to capture flowers in her paintings. Each flower painting is a wordless conversation, where she finds joy, harmony, and perhaps even deep sharing in her heart. Her gaze towards flowers therefore carries the time-honored look of someone who has experienced life, both tender and affectionate, yet profound and steadfast.
The artist paints flowers in all colors, from pink, white, purple, yellow, orange, red, but the green of the buds and leaves is always present at the same time. Green is like a sign of long life, nurturing the petals to open and spread, helping viewers enjoy the beauty without the feeling of a short time of fading, without the feeling of limited privacy. Looking at the flower paintings, one sees the tree, the land, the roots; one sees the sincerity in the artist's heart for the flowers.
“She has the ability to cover flowers with her sincere minimalist beauty, her liveliness and her love. Perhaps I also learned something from my mother about never giving up in the face of difficulties, concentration and perseverance. She also taught me that art is something that seems small and simple but requires a lifetime of dedication if you want to go all the way” - director Bui Thac Chuyen.
The artist loves plants and flowers, grows flowers to admire and paint flowers. Roses, chrysanthemums, violets, even uneaten chrysanthemums that bloom into flowers... are all materials for the artist to paint. Therefore, she paints "comfortably, naturally, with love, with true emotions" and not borrowed from someone, somewhere. And painting is to make herself "happy" and not for any other purpose.
At first glance, many people may think that painting for oneself is a very normal thing, nothing worth mentioning. But if we go back in time, when the country was still in difficulty, life during the subsidy period was restrictive, the artist's family of 4 lived in a small room of 15 square meters, the artist often "waited for the whole family to go to sleep before placing the board at the foot of the bed, then sat on the floor to paint - in conditions of insufficient light, no easel, only a box of watercolors and a silk frame". The main subjects at that time were landscapes or girls, painted on silk, according to the preferences of foreigners. During those years, Hanoi only had 3 addresses allowed to sell paintings to foreigners. The artist had to paint a lot of souvenirs - gift and souvenir paintings, to sell to earn money to cover family expenses when his salary was too low.
So to be able to paint what you like, paint for yourself, even if it is simply flowers, is not easy. The flowers in the paintings may not bring a specific, clear story to talk about the circumstances the artist experienced during his time, but the flowers really bloomed through those years. They bloomed persistently, devotedly, quietly, bringing color and fragrance to people.
Every beautiful image we see today is the result of many hardships and difficulties. Every sweet fruit we enjoy is the result of many losses and struggles. Human life is limited, but life is about cultivating. Learning from flowers the lesson of dedication, diligence without complaint - we learn the beauty of flowers, as the meaning of her name: My - is beautiful. The petals may fade, but the beauty of flowers is forever, forever.
When writer Bui Binh Thi left this world, his friends of the same age gradually dwindled, for the artist to still be able to sit and paint, to have an exhibition like this is "thanks to God for giving him the will to live and the purity to do it". Thanks to the paintings, the beauty of the flower's soul is nurtured, but perhaps the flowers themselves also have their own power, nurturing the life and soul of the artist. Life and beauty are thus nurtured, continued, reborn, spread, and circulate through the four seasons. "Four seasons of flowers" are four seasons of fragrance - forever following people's lives...
Painter Nguyen Thi My was born in 1943 in Hanoi, her hometown is Tu Son, Bac Ninh. She studied lacquer painting at the College of Fine Arts (now the University of Industrial Fine Arts) from 1959 to 1963. Her family is all involved in the arts, her husband is writer Bui Binh Thi (1939 - 2016), the son of director Bui Thac Chuyen, the daughter of painter Bui Thanh Thuy. The exhibition "Four Seasons of Flowers" takes place from December 3 to 12, 2024 at the Fine Arts Exhibition House, 16 Ngo Quyen, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.
