Painter Tran Hoang Trung: A man who longs to find beauty
(Baonghean.vn) - Tran Hoang Trung, pen name Hoang Trung, has his father's hometown in Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province, his mother's hometown in Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province. He belongs to the generation of veteran painters of Nghe Tinh, a talented painter who has contributed much to his homeland. Perhaps the gallantry of a son of Hue, the gentleness of a son of the coastal region of Nghe An has created a Hoang Trung with paintings that have such deep emotional depth and strong intuition.
Tran Hoang Trung comes from a family of many artists. His elder sister is painter Tran Thi Thu, known as the “sand painting witch”; his younger sister is the zither artist and poet Tran Thu Ha. Therefore, it can be said that art is not only a passion but also a bloodline, a precious gene that he is lucky to have from his family lineage.
Painter Tran Hoang Trung has been a member of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association since 1979. He has made many contributions to the painting of Nghe Tinh in general and Nghe An in particular. In 1967, Tran Hoang Trung graduated from the Department of Graphics at the Industrial Fine Arts College. After graduating, he worked at the Ha Tinh Information Department. In 1978, Hoang Trung continued his advanced studies and graduated from Yet Kieu Fine Arts University (now Hanoi University of Fine Arts). In 1979, he worked at the Nghe Tinh Department of Culture and Information. After 1991, when Nghe Tinh was divided into two provinces, Hoang Trung worked as a lecturer in the Fine Arts department at Nghe An Culture and Arts School, Head of the Exhibition Department of Vinh City, and retired in 2006.
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Self-portrait of Artist Tran Hoang Trung. |
Painter Tran Hoang Trung left behind a rather large painting career, he has achieved many successes with many outstanding works that have been recognized. The themes in his works are associated with the lives of people and nature in Nghe An, where he grew up and spent most of his life on the Mai River, Lam River, Ben Thuy Bridge, Cua Lo Wharf... and also the countryside where he lived and worked such as Ben Tam Soa, Cau Phu, Ru Nai, Nga Ba Dong Loc... All have entered his works as a story, a vivid slice of life.
Hoang Trung's paintings are full of conventionality and symbolism, which is not difficult to understand because the nature of art in general, and painting in particular, is conventional and symbolic. His works are not so unconventional, but they are enough to make viewers think, reflect, and feel the spirit in each work that he wants to convey. Hoang Trung believes that the conventional and symbolic style is to express the depth and essence of reality. Painter Ho Thiet Trinh believes that Tran Hoang Trung's works are free, liberal, sometimes as if they are free on the "material" background of real scenes of nature and human life. In particular, Hoang Trung is a very passionate person, he lives and creates until he can no longer hold a brush.
Hoang Trung was successful in three main genres of painting: landscape, portrait and still life with oil paint, later acrylic paint. This is the main material in his works because it depicts the spirit of the scene and the person he wants to portray. Some typical works of Hoang Trung include: "Adding a higher floor" (oil paint, 1978, National Fine Arts Exhibition, 1980); "After the practice session" (oil paint, 1985, National Fine Arts Exhibition, 1985); "Boat on Lam River" (oil paint, 1990, National Fine Arts Exhibition, 1990); "Border patrol" (oil paint, 1999, Military Fine Arts Exhibition); "Headwaters" (Acilic, 1997, Regional Fine Arts Exhibition IV)...
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Some works of artist Tran Hoang Trung. |
Throughout his creative career, Tran Hoang Trung was recognized with many noble awards in literature and arts such as Nguyen Du Award (Nghe Tinh Literature and Arts Association); 4th Ho Xuan Huong Award (Nghe An Literature and Arts Association); A Prize of Spring Improvisation Exhibition (1994); Award from Vietnam Fine Arts Association (1997); Medal for the Cause of Vietnamese Fine Arts (2003); Medal for the Cause of Vietnamese Literature and Arts (1999); Medal for the Cause of Culture (1999)...
Hoang Trung has devoted his life to his motherland, Nghe An, with its harsh Lao wind and scorching sun. It is here that his soul is nurtured, a man who has carried with him his lifelong desire to find beauty. The beauty in his paintings is simple, familiar, and affectionate, with the poverty of his homeland, the vast Lam River, the majestic scenery of the Truong Son range, and the image of his thin, kind-hearted old mother... All of them appear, all of them move through the warm, sad brushstrokes like the compassionate soul of the artist.
