A cat figurine is displayed at the Meo (Meaw) exhibition. Photo courtesy of Huyen Art House

HCM CITY - Unique cat figurines crafted by lacquer artisan Nguyễn Tấn Phát will be displayed at a solo exhibition that opens at Huyen Art House in HCM City on December 9.

The Meo (Meaw) exhibition features nearly 60 lacquer artworks, a part of the artisan’s collection of 2023 cat figurines created in the past two years to welcome the lunar new year 2023 – the Year of the Cat on the Vietnamese zodiac calendar.

“In the context that contemporary markets have been lacking creative works and are full of industrialised ones, I want to honour the creativity by launching a collection with a number of works corresponding to the year 2023. Thousands of unique works I have hand-crafted are expected to offer an interesting artistic experience,” Phát told Việt Nam News.

The special feature of the cat collection is the uniqueness of each item, meticulously crafted from the indigenous materials of Sơn Tây Town on the outskirts of Hà Nội – jackfruit wood and laterite – in combination with Vietnamese traditional lacquer art.

Vietnamese folk stories, songs and traditional architecture have also been richly integrated into the unique collection “to enhance national pride," he said.

The cat figurines are integrated with various functions. They could be used as a box, a flower vase, a table or a chair, which makes images of cats dearer to art lovers.

This is the third unique collection of artworks by the lacquer artisan. He completed 1,010 buffalo figurines on the occasion of the 1,010th anniversary of Hà Nội in 2021 and another 2022 tiger figurines to welcome 2022, or the Year of the Tiger.

Lacquer artisan Nguyễn Tấn Phát is putting the final touches on the collection of 2023 cat figurines to welcome 2023, or the Year of the Cat. Photo courtesy of the artist

Painter and artisan Nguyễn Tấn Phát was born in 1983 in Hà Nội’s Sơn Tây Town. Since graduating from Hanoi University of Fine Arts, he has won many awards, including first prize in the Hà Nội handicraft design competitions in 2014 and 2019; and the top prize in the Vietnam Handicraft Design Contest 2020 with the “1010 Lacquered Buffalo Statues” project.

In 2017, he was among the youngest artists honoured as a typical “Hanoi Artisan” by the Hà Nội People's Committee.

As the only lacquer artisan in Sơn Tây Town, Phát has also contributed to passing down the craft to the next generation, inspiring young artists in his homeland, and creating jobs for dozens of local people.

Meo (Meaw) exhibition will run until December 17. VNS