‘Ocean and Ty’ solo exhibition is made of 43 artworks from various period by painter Mai Hoàng Minh, or ‘Ty’ in art world (1960-2023). The opening ceremony will take place at 17h00, Friday May 26th 2023 at Lotus Gallery, C.space Design Complex, Tân Thuận Đông ward, District 7, HCMC.
I first met Ty roughly 20 years ago in Nha Trang and was impressed right away by his 'unusual’ depiction of the subjects in his works. At that time, while everyone was enjoying paintings of ladies in traditional Ao dai, ancient banyan trees or the images of old village gates, Ty was passionate about the inner struggles and the complicated psyche of the working-class.
Ty’s paintings perhaps do not impress the others by their flattery visual; they instead will touch your hearts by depicting the ordinary beauty, twinkling rays of hope existing along the hardships of farmers and fishermen in particular.
Ty is a self-taught painter who did not go to any art school. Perhaps that's the reason could him consistent on his own path for over 20 years.
Ty prefers to use original colors and use a palette knife to paint instead of brushes to create thick and full layers of oil painting. The vivid colors in his paintings are often in contrast to the characters who seems to have gone through a lot of ups and downs in life.
Starting to paint in the late 90s, at a small corner in his family's decorative ceramics shop, Ty experimented with various creative themes such as love, human’s loneliness, etc.
Not until 2010 did Ty had a hobby of going fishing. He had spent a lot of time living and floating on the sea with fishermen to empathize with their hidding concerns. Since then, fish, ships, waves, wind, fishermen groups have become the main subjects in Ty's paintings. Ty paints as if he wanted to talk about the destitution and the burdensome journey of the fishermen.
Ty's ocean is not romanticized. His sea is ready to rage, and the people sometimes become tiny to its immensity and unpredictability.
The image of the oil lamp commonly seen in Ty's paintings symbolizes the prayers for things to go smoothly.
Each of us will definitely have different feelings at his artworks which can make ton of questions arised in our head 'why...?' as well as bring up aspects of life that needs to be thoughtfully mentioned.
The 3rd day of the last lunar Tet holiday (2023), it was appalling to me to hear that Ty already left this world. The son of the sea finally returned to his own origin, left behind many unfinished plans.
Thus, 'Ocean and Ty' is as a tribute to the late artist's tireless efforts, and we hope that the art lovers will also feel something in Ty's paintings, or in other words, the concerns and aspirations of the farmers-fisherman,...
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