NGUYEN VAN BANG’S NEVER-ENDING LOVE OF LACQUER
The name Nguyen Van Bang is not unfamiliar to those who love lacquer. He and his wife, artist Nguyen Thi Tien, have spent their entire lives with this challenging material. Nearing 70, Nguyen Van Bang still surprises art lovers with his works.
As a traditional Vietnamese technique, lacquer carries a tough, noble beauty. Although only 100 years old, Vietnamese lacquer paintings have left strong marks in world painting. Names like Nguyen Gia Tri or Nguyen Tu Nghiem appear in international auctions, and there are many equivalent products in prestigious collections in the US, UK, or Hong Kong. However, “making” polished paintings has never been an easy process. Although raw materials are not difficult to find, what determines the success of a work lies in the artist’s technique when a painting requires many stages.
Nguyen Van Bang’s experience with lacquer spans nearly four decades. No longer violent, he embraced this difficult material with all his love and a fire of passion that had never been extinguished. He has group exhibition rooms every year to introduce his spiritual children to art lovers. In November 2023, he developed the “Northern Lacquer Painting” gallery group at the museum. Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum.
Nguyen Van Bang has almost received the soul of lacquer craft. To him, lacquer is not as graceful as silk paintings nor as colorful as oil paintings, but it contains a virtual transformation that other materials can hardly bring. The mystical step of lacquer into products is imbued with the breath of the Northern mountains. Nguyen Van Bang guides viewers through dreamlike scenes. The hill hidden in the clouds, the stilt roofs hidden at the foot of the mountain, or the ethnic women resting by the forest, all delicately express the material products that seem to be very rough.
The colors in Nguyen Van Bang’s paintings are not mild, with the orange of the sunset showing off the highlands and the lush green of the vast forests. Landscapes and people are in harmony on the corrugated iron panels, without any opposition, and also highlight extremely delicate and bold details of the national spirit, such as silver jewelry and typical patterns on costumes of ethnic women.
In the world of lacquer painters, having to choose between traditional and imported paint is always a hotly debated topic. Each type has specific characteristics and user preferences that will yield the best results.
As for Nguyen Van Bang, he is always “loyal” to traditional lacquer materials, even though he admits that the cost of materials is increasing. But is anyone normal when in love?
Visit Nguyen Van Bang’s work at Green Palm Gallery here.
