Since leaving the podium at the University of Education to focus on the journey of a freelance artist at the age of 40, Ngo Hai Yen has faced many challenges, both in life and in her career. Looking back at the last 10 years, her silent, fierce efforts and self-affirmation have been recognized through her works at many domestic and international exhibitions.
Since 2002, while still a student at Vietnam University of Fine Arts, Ngo Hai Yen has had participated in many exhibitions; and after receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting, in 2008 Hai Yen had a solo exhibition titled “Desire”, followed by the exhibition “Yen 2012”. During this period, Hai Yen’s paintings demonstrated a solid oil painting technique, serving as a basis for advancing her passion for conquering lacquer painting technique with a philosophical attitude of personal contemplation in the later stage of her life.
At Ngo Hai Yen’s studio, I was fascinated by the large-scale lacquer paintings that seemed to have magic power, because of the astounding abundance of colors, both revealed and hidden in the continuous movement of patches and strokes. There was an impressive spiritual world, a condensation that penetrated into the paintings. It was the wise spirit of Mother Goddess that the Vietnamese people have worshipped over many generations.
Hai Yen’s paintings skillfully and boldly combine traditional and modern lacquer techniques, outstanding in the blurring of lines, especially the colors in the way of overlapping and mixing many layers, creating the thickness and also the porosity of the object represented. The beauty both settles and “squirms” gracefully in a graceful form in harmony with the flexibility in the movement of the natural world. Hai Yen “takes” the strokes – patches and “covers” them with colors that match the emotions to the point of sublimation, many times not coinciding with the subjective consciousness, going beyond her own sense, making the work become objective. It is an expression of awareness of the natural world that exists under the binding influence of relationships, intuitively, that is, without resorting to explanation, guiding the audience to understand the nature of matter.
In other words, Ngo Hai Yen’s lacquer paintings show us the natural blend of the spiritual world and the existential world in uncertainty. From there, in a very natural way, it shows us the artist’s intention of wanting to go beyond the usual principles of painting to approach beauty, while still retaining the essence and folk soul.
Based on minimal rules and traditional materials, Ngo Hai Yen’s lacquer paintings have transformations in technique that express the desire to “capture” beauty in every moment, from the constant movement of nature. The natural world blends with the sensitive soul, to create shapes that contain anxiety, satisfaction of motherly love, both the restlessness and awakening of burning passion with overlapping colors, for the beautiful, radiating sparkling light, attracting viewers to look into the uncertain depths and contemplate deeply.
Author: Cao Ngọc Thắng | Người Hà Nội magazine