The 5th solo exhibition of artist Do Son: Youthful and liberal colors

Painter Do Son (white shirt, in wheelchair) at his solo exhibition.

The 92 works are 92 youthful, liberal perspectives on many familiar themes such as landscapes, sketches, abstracts and nudes. These are paintings he painted sporadically over a long period of time. The paintings are a testament to his relentless creative journey and youthful, vibrant creative thinking, even though he is now 82 years old.

The exhibition shows viewers different "colors" in the painting journey of artist Do Son: vivid, realistic battlefield sketches, spacious landscape paintings, and especially more than half of the paintings in the exhibition are nude paintings with women with a natural, rustic beauty and extremely youthful, full of life...

Sharing about the exhibition, artist Do Son said that the exhibition is an opportunity for him to share about the beauty of his homeland, the beauty of the women of his homeland. “I remember Ben Da, my hometown, or in the mountainous areas I have been to, the women are very beautiful, very sincere, the women bathing in the stream, blending with nature, the Red Man people going to the market in the highlands, the women in the beauty of labor…”

Painter Do Son said that his paintings mainly use oil paints and images of women are also his favorite subject: "My paintings mainly depict women, and I also like the image of women in everyday life the most."

Talking about the 5th exhibition of painter Do Son, art researcher Vu Huy Thong said that the exhibition is one of the artistic milestones in the creative career of painter Do Son.

Right from his 4th year at Vietnam University of Fine Arts, one of his silk painting compositions titled "School Garden" was collected by the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

In 1980, the artist Do Son's creative career was officially recognized with national awards. His work "Phu Quoc Sea Village" won a Silver Medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition.

In 1984, the oil painting “Sea Flowers” won the Gold Medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition on the theme of the Armed Forces. These are all works collected by the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Art researcher Vu Huy Thong also said that the first solo exhibition of painter Do Son took place in 1992, among the many works on display, there were 3 works collected by the Singapore Art Museum, including the famous work "Mother's Heart". His solo exhibitions took place in 1997, 2002, 2008.

According to researcher Vu Huy Thong, many important documents have recorded the artistic career of painter Do Son, a member of the pre-renovation generation of painters with very important contributions to art and innovative painting. His award-winning works are all works with new language, encouraging the innovative painting art, which has flourished until today.

Although Hoa Bien is still about the theme of revolutionary war and soldiers, it has a very different language of expression, more or less realistic, exploratory, creative in expression, somewhat close to the cubist painting style.

In many of his works in the later stages, he painted with a strong expressive language, especially the nude paintings - a theme that ran through his many years. In these paintings, he painted the beauty of his favorite women, which was the beauty of a fertile body, and this was also the reason for him to use a very strong expressive brushwork, almost painting with his own palette, directly taken from the tubes of paint, without paying attention to the problems of light or the structure of the shapes, but most importantly, all those female figures revealed a beauty of vitality.

Researcher Vu Huy Thong also said that sketches, landscapes, nudes… at the exhibition are excellent works selected from the artist’s artistic heritage. In particular, the landscape paintings created after his field trips to Sa Pa have many imprints that have shaped the artist’s painting language, greatly influencing many later generations of artists.

Painter Le Anh Van, one of painter Do Son's long-time friends, said that he and painter Do Son knew each other when he returned from the army and studied in the same 4th year class at the Vietnam College of Fine Arts. They went to the Central Highlands together to take their graduation exam.

"During those days, I recognized in his personality and paintings very pure, free, and liberal elements. Right from that time, Do Son clearly expressed his sense of color. Even when he was studying at school in those years, he was very passionate about drawing, always drawing. There were paintings he painted right in the school hallway, which were the ones the Fine Arts Museum bought. But the most prominent work to recognize Do Son's paintings is "Sea Flowers" - said artist Le Anh Van.

“Sea Flowers” is also the painting that was awarded the State Prize, 4th time, in 2016, and there is only one work in the nomination file for the Ho Chi Minh Prize and the State Prize for Literature and Arts.

Painter Do Son was born in 1943 and spent many years in the military environment. After graduating from the Intermediate level, school year 1961-1964, Vietnam College of Fine Arts (now Vietnam University of Fine Arts), he joined the army, participated in work and fought in the battlefield of Zone V. In 1971, he was injured and had to be transferred to the North for treatment, then worked at the People's Army Newspaper.

He entered the 5-year program - Vietnam College of Fine Arts, school year 1973-1978, when he was 30 years old, had his own family and small children, and his material life was still full of difficulties.

After graduating, he returned to work at the Army Fine Arts Workshop, Vietnam Military History Museum, until his retirement.

His passion for painting has made Do Son's name famous in the country's painting scene with many marks. Painter Do Son has 8 works in the collection of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

His paintings have also been collected by many organizations and individuals in 26 countries and territories. These include the Singapore Art Museum, the Moroccan Royal Family Collection, the Mobil Art Collection, USA...

LINH KHANH

Source: https://nhandan.vn/trien-lam-tranh-ca-nhan-lan-thu-5-cua-hoa-si-do-son-nhung-sac-mau-tre-trung-phong-khoang-post912797.html