Artist Vương Duy Biên, president of the Việt Nam Cultural Industry Development Association and former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaks at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. — Photo courtesy of Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum.

HÀ NỘI — An exhibition inviting art lovers to explore The Gaze – a major retrospective of the late painter and sculptor Lê Công Thành (1932–2019) – is on view at the Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum.

The exhibition presents a portion of his vast artistic legacy, featuring 35 paintings and 19 hand-moulded and bent-cut metal works.

Organised by HAKIO–Let’s Art as a heartfelt tribute on the seventh anniversary of the artist’s death, the event also marks the lead-up to the 51st anniversary of National Reunification Day, creating a meaningful intersection between personal memory and the currents of history.

Throughout the exhibition space, visitors encounter the 'gaze' – the starting point of all of Thành’s creativity. 

While people often assume sculpture begins with carving stone or casting bronze, for the late artist, it began with a single gaze. Before creating a sculpture, he would hold onto the surging emotion in his mind using the humblest materials: earthen clay, scraps of metal or a quick pencil line.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to clearly see the direct flow of his creative process, in which painting and sculpture meet and illuminate one another, inviting each person to find themselves in moments that are at once intimate and jagged.

Thành was dubbed “the guardian of the feminine” for his fervent artistic faith in the image of women. To him, a woman was not merely a body but the source of life, a primal and enduring force.

Through a style that blends East Asian tradition with a modern, abstract visual language, he transcended boundaries to reveal a beauty at once raw and sacred, transforming a philosophy of fertility into a ritual hymn to mothers and the world’s rebirth.

An oil painting titled 'Ngọ' (Year of the Horse) by late painter and sculptor Lê Công Thành. — Photo courtesy of Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum

According to artist Vương Duy Biên, president of the Việt Nam Cultural Industry Development Association and former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Thành is a breakthrough artist who was always searching for new paths and creative languages.

“I was fortunate to visit his studio and was truly impressed by his sense of mass, his artistic vision and his tireless work ethic. Even in old age, he worked relentlessly. His creations are present in many places across the country. He is a shining example for our generation,” Biên said.

“This is a very meaningful exhibition, not only for the sculptor himself but also for those who love his art. I hope the exhibition will continue to spread the artistic messages to which he devoted his life.”

Painter Vi Kiến Thành said the exhibition moved him deeply, making him feel he had met the late artist in person again.

“Memories of my visits to his small apartment, always overflowing with work due to his astonishing productivity, came back vividly.

“I was also especially impressed by the quality and completeness of the pieces on display, particularly the oil paintings. This is a very striking, emotionally rich exhibition that is truly worth seeing, not only for practitioners but for the general public who love art."

The Gaze exhibition runs through April 12. — VNS

A view of 'The Gaze' exhibition. — Photo courtesy of Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum