Nguyen Trong Minh
Biography
When the young generations of a society are educated: “the discipline is the core”, when the perfection and standard are considered and highly appreciated, when the identical appearance is critical, when the extraordinary is preached, then incidentally we repeat and create a terrible pressure obsessively. The art works of Nguyen Trong Minh is a reflection and parody of the society like that. Throughout the paintings, the art style of Nguyen Trong Minh directly represents problems of society with a very strong spirit and criticism attitude linked to the education issue. When nowadays, students are likely to be “the automatic machines” which are “comprehensively” educated. And Nguyen Trong Minh is one of the few artists who use the human clone of Pop Art to criticize the reality.
The same people as the industrial products on the supermarket’s shelves make a strong obsession to anyone’s mind. The context of each painting is always put in an indefinite, upset and symbolic, as well as it has a surreal feeling. The artist said: “I feel that life is so complicated, everything is crowded as well as vague. I need the quietness”.
His paintings have two main colors are black and white. These are the color tones that people often use when they want to refer to the dark, the devil, the mischief in contrast to the transparency, the righteousness and the true. And the special thing is that with these two-color paintings, we will see a memory of our past as well as our friends’ – it is the school time. Therefore are the fun, the memories of students just needed seperating into Right and Wrong? Perhaps, therefore, the art works of Nguyen Trong Minh are always really update and have made us thinkable.
- SACARSM IN NGUYEN TRONG MINH’S POP ART
Article about the artist
Nguyen Trong Minh
NGUYEN TRONG MINH
1982 : Born in Hung Yen province.
2001 – 2004 : Graduated from Music and Fine Art Pedagogy College.
2004 – 2007 : Teacher of Fine Art at secondary school.
2007 – 2011 : Study at Vietnam Fine Art University.
EXHIBITIONS
2003 : Student Art exhibition in Hanoi
2007 : “Fine Art University’s student” Exhibition
“Red River Art Prize” Group exhibition organize by Vietnam Fine Art University and Korea Art Central
2010 : Exhibition in Hanoi
My road to Arts is a long and winding one, passing through numerous hustles and bustles of life before I could officially enter the path of Fine Arts. As a saying goes, everyone has his own shoes, my works reflects my own experiences in life. When I spread on the canvas my dreams, my obsessions, my memories, my nostalgia, I feel like being redeemed.
The use of white and black colors came to me as both a coincidence and conscious choice. When studying painting at the art academy, I often prepared black and white drafts for countless assignments in various techniques and themes. Then I realized that black and white colors suit me the most, and started using them more often. The more I apply this dichotomy of black and white colors, the more I realize that I was bonded to them by karma. For my graduation, I chose to execute my final work in black and white. After my graduation, black and white colors have served me better in my research and creativity.
To me, to become an artist is very much like practicing a religion, which is no other than finding one’s own self. Buddha professed that “There is a Buddha in every being.” A learned Buddhist would become one with Buddha. In very much the same way, one would become an artist when he is learned and found himself. And I am already en route on the search for myself.
