It has been a long time since Da Nang's arts and literature had an event that, in the words of poet Nguyen Nho Khiem - Chairman of the Da Nang City Union of Literary and Art Associations, is "beautiful".
That is the fact that artist Vu Duong - one of the big names of fine arts in Central Vietnam and Vietnam, on May 7th, launched the "great citadel collection" of his life, a picture book with the theme "drawing life with emotions".
The painting book "Drawing life with emotions" is a selection of typical works spanning many creative stages of artist Vu Duong, and also gathers articles, feelings of friends, colleagues and professionals about the life as well as the artistic journey of the artist.
The two words "beautiful" of poet Nguyen Nho Khiem encompass many meanings. Because there are picture books that open up with images. But there are also picture books - like those of painter Vu Duong - that open up with an atmosphere.
Readers enter Vu Duong's books not with their eyes first, but with a feeling that is very difficult to describe when there are both slow rhythms, a bit of depth, a layer of careless memories enough to touch and then disappear into nothingness.
There, Vu Duong also does not appear immediately as a painter with a biography or achievements, but with stories from friends recalling a meeting, a gallery, a drinking session, a faded newspaper page but still carefully preserved... Those pieces of memory are not lined up, but spread out, touching each other, creating a very vivid portrait of Vu Duong.
Artist Vu Duong was born in Hue, but chose Da Nang as his place to live and paint for the rest of his life. Not formally trained on a formal path, Vu Duong came to painting by self-study, by observation and with a kind of patience that makes the person opposite him admire and be surprised.
And then exhibitions from Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Poland, Denmark, France, Singapore... took his paintings far in a broad sense. Vu Duong's paintings are present in museums, in personal collections at home and abroad. Prestigious art awards also come to Vu Duong over time.
But what is worth mentioning is that all those movements and achievements did not pull him away from where he lived. He is still in Da Nang, still diligently painting things around him. In a conversation with painter Luu Cong Nhan many years ago, he once said: "I only have one good trait: patiently living and painting... Painting what is around me".
Writer Vinh Quyen once saw something strange in him: amidst the movements that are often "lost" of artistic life, Vu Duong seems not to be swept away, but "the movements in the creative flow... are the result of self-exploration and discovery".
Meaning, Vu Duong does not change himself according to the outside but from within. Therefore, the "what surrounds him" in Vu Duong's paintings is not ordinary but the "light of memory" as commented by writer Vinh Quyen.
That is Da Nang street, but it has become a memory. It is Hoi An, but not just a heritage, but a layer of time settling down. It is a corner of the market, a river wharf, a woman, a bouquet of flowers... Things that anyone can pass through, but rarely stop, except Vu Duong.
Someone once stepped into Vu Duong's painting space and was surprised, as if encountering a "accidental pot" - Luu Cong Nhan's way of speaking. There, the paintings are not hung for display, but as if living with the painter. "So many souls are poured into the paintings".
That "soul" does not come from sophistication. On the contrary, Vu Duong's paintings are often simplified, sometimes only a few lines, a few patches of color. But it is this restraint that opens up a void for viewers to fill in their own emotions. Perhaps that is why his paintings are often called "the haven", a place for viewers to stay in it for a moment...
As author Trinh Duong said in an article about Vu Duong in Dat Quang magazine, selected for reprint in "Drawing life with emotions": "It seemed like he spoke in colorful language, but in fact he spoke with his own heart".
In Vu Duong, painting is not separated from life. It feels like he does not paint to find a style, nor does he try to prove anything. He paints as if he is alive and lives like strokes.
