19 paintings on display at the exhibition of the same name "The Head" with strokes revolving around this concept. Not portraits but "the head", what artist Ngoc Phuong wants to portray is the thoughts, mentality, what is inside, rather than the outside appearance. Each head is a book of human life, hiding all the sublime, the trivial, the happy, the sad...
“After more than 10 years of creating the head series - a recreation of my obsession with human nature”, artist Nguyen Ngoc Phuong affirmed.
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong’s exhibition “The Head” emphasizes the search for truth beyond the visible. In this series of paintings, the artist practices creating art on canvas/wood.
The use of dense dark fields like relief art applied in the creative stages makes the lines become strong. Linear or non-linear contours are erased, human silhouettes are also blurred on the gray background. Only the heads remain, floating in an unexpected and tense way. By interpreting a new type of material that has never been seen before, his creations give the viewer much to think about.
Painter Nguyen Ngoc Phuong
Artist Nguyen Ngoc Phuong said: "The series of paintings of heads is a recreation of the darkness in my mind about human nature."
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong (1975, Hanoi) graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts and then obtained a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. Nguyen Ngoc Phuong focused on semi-abstract works, then gradually moved to abstract works. He had solo exhibitions at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum with the theme "The 49th Day" - Part 1 and 2 (2018), and "Niệm" (2021). Many of his works were selected for display at galleries and museums in Southeast Asia such as Yogia Gallery (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Penang State Art Gallery (Penang, Malaysia)...
In this series of paintings, the male artist practices creating art on canvas/wood materials.
Number 07
Number 12 head
The male artist's paintings are strong, with a breakthrough in strong color contrasts, expressing the violent explosion of a repressed inner self. In his works, he often breaks the barriers of style, material or school to achieve absolute freedom in art. Because he is no longer bound by theory or artistic expression, he has succeeded in creating a unique and individual world.
Painter Ly Truc Son commented on Nguyen Ngoc Phuong's paintings: "Different from the structure that viewers often see in Nguyen Ngoc Phuong's paintings, these works are where the artist plunges into the explosions and chaos of the formative elements and then tries to determine a dynamic order for them. Phuong's 'heads' refer to another area, where the calmness has gathered and reshaped all the disparate elements to form a face. However, the greatest thing I see in his paintings is that the energy of the hidden is so intense that it distorts the shape of what hides it."
Artist Nguyen Ngoc Phuong shares with Ms. Tuyet Nguyen - founder of Tongla Art about the series of paintings in the exhibition
Travellive had a short conversation with artist Nguyen Ngoc Phuong:
Reporter (PV): The series of paintings about “The Head” depicts the obsession in your mind about human nature. So what is the humanity you want to talk about here?
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong:Humanity here is my suggestion and wish for people living in contemporary society. They return to their instincts and the most basic values of human beings from the beginning.
PV: Why is the head the symbol you want to use to talk about human nature and not a portrait or anything else?
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong:If a portrait is at most only able to depict the external appearance, deeper down it exploits the personality such as: pensive, romantic... and it cannot fully express the human mind. It cannot even fully exploit the thoughts of a person, a nation, a people, a personality...
Many people say that the word “head” has been used very commonly for many years. But “head” has never been officially used for a declaration, boldly, clearly or explicitly so that people understand that the head has a brain, has a perspective on life…
The sound of the head is also very realistic and straightforward, even for adults and children when mentioned. Its volume is very strong, simple, powerful, easy to convey to the public of all different audiences. And I am very interested in this name, although it is rough, rustic, not aesthetic, simple but straightforward to the point.
PV: Looking at your paintings, the main color blocks are often dark. Is this the human mood that you metaphorize through each work?
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong:It is only partly true. Only when I see the weight of things and phenomena in that color does it suit my mood and philosophical thinking.
Head number 04
PV: So where do the ideas that inspire your creativity come from?
Nguyen Ngoc Phuong:Ideas often do not appear clearly and specifically right away, but they continue the journey. That is, I draw but do not know what to draw in front. I cannot draw what I see, but draw what I am planning to draw. Thinking about that problem takes ten years, I do not even know what to call it. It can be understood as: ideas will come with that process, I must be a person who knows about reason, understands form, and expertise to grasp so that imagination appears right in the creative process. In that creative process, the work is like a place or compatibility where the artist can express himself most freely.
PV: Thank you very much!
The exhibition "The Head" by artist Nguyen Ngoc Phuong opens from July 25 to 31, 2023 at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Ba Dinh, Hanoi.
Exhibition space "The Head"
