Speaking about the theme of the painting exhibition "Dear Next Season", author Trinh Thang said: "Next season is not a season of time, but a stage of consciousness - a message from those who have reached the destination for those who are on the journey. Not to repeat, but to continue, not to turn around. Just step. Step forward. Then see! ".
In painting history, animal skin was once used as a classic painting surface (parchment, vellum), but in contemporary painting practice, especially in Vietnam, the use of cowhide as a direct painting material with a scale of nearly 70 large-sized works in a personal painting exhibition is still rare.
In the painting exhibition "Promise for the next season", cowhide becomes the main background for painting, where natural veins, permeability and diffusion do not repeat, forcing the artist to let go of control, going to the end in each brushstroke.
Notably, for author Trinh Thang, the use of this material is not an aesthetic choice, but a "fate". He said that when he was given cowhide panels, he vowed to create the set of paintings in the spirit of towards sacredness, sacredness and peaceful transformation - from a finite material foundation, opening up a deeper and more sublimated spiritual stimulus for the works.
Artist Luong Xuan Doan, - Chairman of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, commented on the set of paintings: "Strange ideas just circle around all day, never letting go of Trinh Thang. Also because of that, every time he remembers, he throws storms that strongly hit your and my vision. The new game on cowhide is a percussion set with melodies like spells, stretching to the distant ends...".
A difference of this collection of paintings lies in the creative method that is carried out. Dr. Trinh Thang sketches and completes all the works, while the students participate in the initial color classes as part of the practical process. The whole is then connected by him into a unified whole.
The exhibition "Promise for the next season" will be held at the Vietnam Fine Arts Exhibition House (Ngo Quyen, Hanoi) starting from now until the end of May 26 and at the Center for Culture and Arts (Hang Buom, Hanoi) from May 29 to June 21, 2026.
Dr. Trinh Thang was born in 1972 in Thai Binh. With the desire to contribute and share, he pursued medicine and graduated as a doctor at Thai Binh Medical University in 1996. After that, he made efforts to self-study English and then became valedictorian in the Master's scholarship exam in the US sponsored by the Ford Foundation.
He graduated with a Doctorate in Public Health, majoring in social sciences and behavior at the University of North Carolina, USA (UNC) in 2007 funded by the VEF fund.
Dr. Trinh Thang has many years of experience as an expert, researcher, lecturer and working in public health, education and social development.
In 2012, after 30 years of researching, practicing, and teaching martial arts, qigong, meditation, and long-term energy biology, Dr. Trinh Thang founded, guided, and taught Mind and Body Meditation.
He is the author of dozens of books on medicine, culture, novels, short stories, essays, poetry, calligraphy, contemporary songs with folk, qigong and meditation influences, along with personal painting exhibitions such as: "Bodhi's Breath in the Sound of the Holy Spirit" (2025), "Stirring from nothingness" (2024), "Vo" (2020), "Old Wandering" (2020), "Coming from the Light" (2018)...
