HÀ NỘI — Through paintings of dogs, artist Bùi Hoàng Dương expresses the stories of humans in society.

His solo exhibition titled Forever opens on August 22 in Hà Nội.

Dương is a young man from the Mường ethnic group. He studied landscape painting in China and worked in Australia for years. He returned home for business, and then got back into painting.

Though he and his wife have divorced, he still longs for her as his forever first love. Dương also loves dogs unconditionally. So far, he has painted nothing other than dogs. He has painted almost 300 paintings of dogs using a variety of materials.

"Fifty per cent of my dog paintings were inspired by Koko and Kiki, two dogs that my wife and I considered our children," Dương said.

Art Director Bùi Quang Thắng of the Việt Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies Art Studio (VICAS) said he realised the professionalism, passion and talent shown through Dương’s paintings.

Humanistic: Poster of the exhibition.

“The work of painting dogs is no longer a private statement and sentiment of Dương. His dog paintings are profoundly soaked with human personalities and social changes.”

“These are the feelings of love, hate, fear and internal conflicts in the context of contemporary society,” said Thắng.

“His reflection on humanity, society and his emotions were transformed so naturally into the figures of the dogs and they make the audience feel it in a very natural way. To me, these expressions are sometimes more appealing and vivid than drawings of people.”

“In terms of art, he painted for entertainment and for his own satisfaction; his strokes were made freely and transformatively; creating shapes and colors intertwined and flicking. That made his paintings quite a bit haunting but fascinating.”

The exhibition will run until September 2 at the VICAS Art Studio, 32 Hào Nam Street, Hà Nội. — VNS