In the 1960s, war sketch plays a major role in capturing the images of the battlefields since photography was neither common nor affordable in Vietnam. Therefore, many young people were trained to be both a painter and a soilder in order to document what happened at fiercest fronts.
In line with that, from 1954 to 1960-1970, the late artist Pham Thanh Tam took risk of his life in exchange for many documentary sketches depicting Dien Bien Phu battle and the daily life of civilians who had got used to the thundering roar of planes and the sound of bombing explosion in provinces like Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh.
More than half a century later, painter Dinh Quang Hai went back to these places to observe the changes and paint them using watercolor on paper. Even though photography is so common nowadays, Hai still insists to “vlog” his journey using painting medium since it could convey his emotion on nowadays matter more in depth.
Thus, at “The Revival” exhibition, viewers will be able to see the past and the presence: what happen half a century later at the used to be lands of flame.
The exhibition will be publicly open from 16 Dec to 25 Dec at Lotus Gallery.
Hope to see you there!