By Charming Vietnam
https://duyendangvietnam.net.vn/hoa-si-ca-le-thang-my-thuat-luon-can-nhung-ngon-gio-moi.html
Artist Ca Le Thang is an unforgettable name for those who love paintings. He was one of the earliest abstract painters out of a group of ten modernist painters who emerged during the Đổi Mới (Innovation) era. In addition, he is a member of the Executive Committee of Vietnam Fine Arts Association and Ho Chi Minh City. He is one of the judges of the Vietnam Fine Arts Awards which takes place every three years (the last one being held in 2020 in Hanoi).
He gave Duyên dáng Việt Nam (Charming Vietnam) a talk about new things in arts. Nguyen Huu Hong Minh reports.
* Poet Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: It was nice to meet you at the exhibition ‘The Flying Man and his Surreal Dreams’ of artist Dinh Phong, who has moved the paintings from Saigon to Hanoi just before the opening. Both artists from the South are present in Hanoi during mid-autumn days. Can you tell us your feelings?
* Artist Ca Le Thang: I have just come to Hanoi to judge the Vietnam Fine Arts Award which takes place every three years. This award had once been every ten years. Ten years is too long, indeed quite a long journey in a person’s life. Whereas, changes in the world’s contemporary painting take place every day, every hour. Every day, every hour, new beauty is born. Dinh Phong’s painting is an example. His name, Phong means ‘Wind’. A hidden strange wind. Fine arts always needs new winds.
Another source of joy was that I had the opportunity to return to the Fine Arts College in Yet Kieu, where I studied and then taught for more than ten years. There are so many memories. I also look forward to having the opportunity to exhibit my own paintings here, as a chance to reflect back at the milestones in my journey.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: As a famous painter, you has worked for many years as a teacher, directly providing skills to young people who love painting. How do you feel about the hardships in this profession? What are the factors to be successful?
* Ca Le Thang: I’ve seen quite a few people who have studied in the school for a long time, and, after decades, they remain good students, and yet could not become artists!
The most important thing for an artist, in my opinion, is to keep Tâm, or “Heart”. That means sincerity, honesty, feelings. The heart also means the ego, your own horizon, your own spaces, your own colours … without which there’d no hope for success. Besides that, there are other factors such as loyalty, consistency.
Poet Nguyen Huu Hong Minh is having a conversation about contemporary painting with artist Ca Le Thang at the Art Space Center for Art Development and Creation, Hanoi Fine Arts College.
Imagine it: now you can just sit in front of a computer, type in Google what you want and then you can search for a lot of information about art schools. To choose something useful out of this huge mess is not that difficult, and still you cannot do anything meaningful without the abovementioned “Heart” combined with year-long accumulated mass of thoughts, feelings and passion.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: So what about the case of Dinh Phong, who has never studied a single day in an official painting school?
* Ca Le Thang: I think the word “Heart” is still the same, but with Dinh Phong it works somewhat differently. He may never have attended a formal art school, and still he can nurture a love of painting accumulated over the years.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: Can you clarify a bit more? For example, right now, in front of the exhibition “The Flying Man and his Surreal Dreams”, what are your thoughts?
* Ca Le Thang: To draw reality is not easy, you cannot come at it immediately. Dinh Phong knew himself, so he chose to mix Expressionism, Symbolism and Surrealism in his paintings. All those styles absorb things in the way of the Naïve art. This is the point of his success.
I also think that Dinh Phong was right to choose this path, which perfectly suits him. It is clear he has tormented himself with thoughts, has prepared for such a long time before getting started. In a short time he found a way to express his feelings. Dinh Phong also has luck or, like our foreparents used to say, he’s chosen by God. Which is why he went a shorter path than some people did and, compared to them, was more successful.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: It seems that you are very knowledgeable about Dinh Phong’s art world?
* Ca Le Thang: When I saw quite by chance some small paintings by Dinh Phong, I saw a very good, very promising development trend. I think any newcomer will face many difficulties. I’ve once encouraged him, and yet it’s surprising. After only two months since then, Dinh Phong’s paintings came to be unified in terms of ideas and his visual thinking became more and more mature in terms of everything from composition, motifs, to colours. In particular, that progression shows the self-initiating trait of an artist with born inner resources. Often, beginners in art easily get confused and daunted, but here it’s the opposite. Dinh Phong is very steadfast in his visual language. That is the power of a true artist.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: What do you think about breakthroughs in art? Is Dinh Phong a case of breakthrough? Has this ever happened in Vietnamese painting?
* Ca Le Thang: Yes! Art always needs unique and novel elements. Creativity always wants breakthroughs. And yet, as far as Vietnamese art is concerned, I think it’s now in a slowdown, with less and less artistic breakthroughs. Not so long ago, I judged a national art award that saw
only few new things. Decades-old compositions and motifs still linger. Dinh Phong’s paintings and ceramics are clearly novel. It is not a quite outstanding language, and yet it’s the innate innocence of the artist that counts. We are in a period which sees dreadful information disturbance, and the economic pressure makes it difficult for the artist’s mind to remain pure. Dinh Phong was not sandwiched in between those two pliers. He has kept the essence of spirit. Once you can keep your soul intact, your paintings turn out to be unique. Not exaggeratingly, Phong’s paintings have their own spirit. Dinh Phong is able to integrate with the current artistic atmosphere, his paintings do not seem at all innocent and naive. He has taught himself, studied a lot, and made friends with many artists, which created a basic and solid foundation.
By the way, I recall that Vietnam’s art had gone through a period we can call “Innovation”, which is around the end of 1986 and the early 1990s. There was, in Saigon, a group of new artists with the names Nguyen Trung, Dao Minh Tri, Ca Le Thang, Nguyen Tan Cuong, Nguyen Thanh Binh, Hua Thanh Binh, Tran Van Thao, Do Hoang Tuong, Nguyen Trung Tin, Vu Ha Nam. In Hanoi, there were Dang Xuan Hoa, Tran Luong, Hong Viet Dung, Pham Quang Vinh… It has been quite a long time since then that breakthroughs in paintings and sculptures can now be seen again in Dinh Phong.
* Nguyen Huu Hong Minh: A last question for you. Sir, are breakthroughs in general also the perfect solution for the balance of an artist’s talent and artistic flair?
* Ca Le Thang: Any breakthough is unstable. It is a state of sublimation, not just the perfection of skills or approaches. Dinh Phong’s paintings create strong emotions for viewers in general. But in a certain way, then, the person holding the brush for the first time has errors in terms of skills and approaches. So is Dinh Phong.
But I think it’s these flaws interwoven in the general picture that make the specifics more prominent. The same can be applied to literature, especially poetry: there are cases where some works create novel impression, and yet, in terms of grammar, it contains “errors”.
It’s totally remarkable for someone who has taken the paintbrush for such a short time and yet produced such a large number of paintings and sculptures to be presented in an official exhibition to the astonishment of fellows, friends, and lovers from the capital city. Dinh Phong is a man with artistic energy; he is not impulsive and is not easy to let go. I think Dinh Phong will go a long way in his creations.
Minh Ngữ
(Translated by SonWeb)