Painter Hoang Phuong Vy: The journey to find yourself

(Baonghean) - He said that for him, painting is living, that when he paints he gets to live another life. I smiled as I imagined him sitting at the easel, with his palette, his brush, on a white canvas, forgetting everything around him to start his other life...

Born in 1962 in Hanoi, Hoang Phuong Vy's hometown is in Quynh Doi commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An. He is the son of the late poet Hoang Trung Thong, a typical representative of Vietnamese revolutionary poetry in the previous period. His mother is from the Ho family, in the same village as his father. As a child, Phuong Vy often followed his father back to his hometown. For him, his hometown is a peaceful place for people's souls to take refuge. Although he did not live in his hometown, he still clearly remembers Quynh Doi commune with thatched-roof houses hidden behind trees, with honest and simple farmers. His house at that time was in Ngo Quyen, right near Hanoi train station, so relatives in his hometown often came to visit. Therefore, Phuong Vy always felt connected to his hometown in Nghe An, he always felt like he was in his hometown.

Thanks to his father's friendships, Hoang Phuong Vy had a lot of contact with artists since he was young, especially famous painters such as Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Mai Van Hien... Not only did he interact with them, he was truly a friend of theirs. Even though he was just a child, he could visit the artists' houses, chat intimately with them, and even be called by their names instead of uncle or aunt. The moments of admiring paintings and watching artists paint were extremely precious moments for Hoang Phuong Vy. Another world seemed to be displayed on paper, on canvas, and the young Vy was absorbed in wandering in the sky full of changing colors.

Painter Hoang Phuong Vy.

Gifts from his father's trips abroad always brought joy to Hoang Phuong Vy, which were painting books. After graduating from high school, Phuong Vy spent a few months studying at artist Pham Viet Song's house to prepare for the drawing subject to enter the University of Architecture. These were also unforgettable days for him, when he began to systematically learn painting techniques. When he became a student at the University of Architecture, drawing was just a minor subject, but for Phuong Vy, the awareness of drawing, of his passion for painting, had truly begun. It was like a flame, sometimes flaring up, sometimes not shining, but always smoldering, kindling. He knew that, and he waited. Because it was also a kind of love, it needed to be cherished and treated fairly.

However, he only really devoted himself to painting when he was a construction worker in Hanoi, after graduating from school. He painted and wrote poetry, using colors and words to express himself. Before his son's eagerness to paint, poet Hoang Trung Thong was both happy and worried. He still wanted his son to pursue architecture "to balance life", because as an artist, he understood the hardships on his path. Artists, more than anyone else, always suffer, torment their souls, and the more talented they are, the more lonely they are. Knowing this, the poet has been worried about his son since the old days, when painter Nguyen Sang once said that Vy had a talent for painting, so let Vy follow the path of painting.

But perhaps deep down in his heart, the father also knew that he could not refuse it, art, if someone truly had talent and passion. Art is an intoxicant, but its intoxication makes the human soul happier and better. Phuong Vy did not refuse it, he even resolutely committed himself even though he knew that the price to pay was often more than the worries of making a living.

The artist left his job as an architect to focus on painting. At first, he painted oil paintings, pastels of still life, landscapes, portraits of young women, and illustrated them for literary and artistic newspapers. Recently, he switched to the theme of children. Little boys and girls holding chickens and fish, holding fans, playing flutes, houses, leaves, cats, birds, etc., all come alive in Hoang Phuong Vy paintings. However, it is not simply a world of children.

The artist does not “record” that world, but he expresses his feelings, thoughts, and experiences about it. On the innocent face of the little girl holding the chicken, there is something deeper, something that awakens the viewer’s love, awakens memories and emotions that are difficult to explain in them. Because on the face drawn with the simplicity of that line, the colors still silently speak their voice, not clearly like a story, but descriptive, evocative. It makes us not perceive things in the usual way, but it awakens the view from within and reveals the mysteries of colors.

Just like that, Hoang Phuong Vy takes us into his own world. There we can feel close as if encountering familiar images somewhere in the world, but at the same time also feel new and attractive. Phuong Vy's paintings are a wonderful combination of folk and modern elements, between realism and absurdity. He places two separate objects side by side, in the same small space, or sometimes two different spaces side by side. Red next to blue, red next to pink, yellow next to brown..., sometimes two colors that are not easy to blend, but overall, each of his paintings is very beautiful, warm, luxurious and full of emotion.

Works of artist Hoang Phuong Vy.

One of such paintings is hung prominently in his apartment, the one called “Game”, which won the ASEAN Fine Arts Award in 1998. The painting depicts children playing blindfolded goat-catching, on a very impressive red background. A blindfolded girl is waving her hands to find her way and find other children. Behind her, her friends are hiding. What is special about the painting is the color scheme. On the bright red background, Hoang Phuong Vy does not try to find a color that needs to stand out as a focal point. The red, orange, white, and blue colors on the girl’s outfit are not too clear but are submerged in the red of the background, but they all blend together to create a space of childhood that is both real and illusory. In addition, the lines in the painting seem simple but are extremely talented. They express innocence, they are poetic, suggesting more than describing…

Since the 90s of the last century, Hoang Phuong Vy has won many art awards. In addition to the ASEAN award with the painting “Game”, he also won an award at the Capital Fine Arts Exhibition in 1992 with the painting “Man with a bottle of wine”, and in the same year 1996 won two awards for the painting “Two people”: the Capital Fine Arts Exhibition Award and the Vietnam Fine Arts Association Award… However, for Hoang Phuong Vy, participating in organizations or associations, winning this award or that award is just a way for him to feel that he is not completely an outsider. Because inside him, there is always another voice. That quiet sound that only he knows, and he is both happy with it and afraid of it. He cannot name it, but he knows what it is. Something like loneliness, like suffering, like happiness, like freedom…

Phuong Vy often drank alone. Many times, while at the bar, an idea came to him, and he rushed home to sit down at his easel. In front of the white canvas, he joyfully faced his passion and determination. “It’s like a friend,” the artist said. I understand, it’s a friend who helps him pour out his heart. And when the ideas and emotions contained in his heart need to be released, color is the artist’s freedom. When painting, Phuong Vy forgets everything around him. There, beside the easel, is only him and his life that is just beginning.

“The hardest part is the beginning and the end of a painting. The happiest moment is the moment when you are painting, like a ghost, like an illusion pulling you away”, Hoang Phuong Vy confided. I understand why he gave up many other things to come to painting. Among the myriad things that life has to offer, he chose to paint, chose loneliness as he chose life. He once said: “Painting is a journey to find yourself!”

Quynh Lam