The exhibition called Vết In Từ Đất (Impressions Unearth) featuring works in ceramics by four veteran artists is on display at Sàn Art, a non-profit fine arts organization, in HCM City. The event introduces the latest works by artists Bùi Công Khánh, Lê Triều Điển, Nguyễn Đức Phương and Hồng Lĩnh. (Photo courtesy from Sàn Art)

By Thu Anh 

HCM CITY— A new exhibition featuring works in ceramics by four veteran artists is on display at Sàn Art, a non-profit fine arts organization, in HCM City. 

The event called Vết In Từ Đất (Impressions Unearth) introduces a series of latest works by artists Bùi Công Khánh, Lê Triều Điển, Nguyễn Đức Phương and Hồng Lĩnh. 

The artists’ works highlight Vietnamese culture, lifestyle and heritage. 

Themes of life and love are also included. 

Artist Khánh uses celadon, a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color (greenwave), to send his messages of art. 

Bùi Công Khánh and his works in celadon.  (Photo from Sàn Art)

 “Khánh’s works are very unique and very Vietnamese,” said Trần Công Huân of HCM City, a fan of Khánh. 

According to Huân, celadon originated in China and later spread to East and Southeast Asia, including Việt Nam. “Khánh is one of the country’s very few artists who love and use celadon successfully,” he said. 

While Lê Triều Điển and Hồng Lĩnh use terracotta pottery, which dates back thousands of years, Nguyễn Đức Phương loves handicraft. 

“I gained new experiences and passion after visiting Vết In Từ Đất at Sàn Art. The exhibition’s works are different in materials and themes but share the same topic of love for art,” said Huân, a first-year student at the HCM City University of Culture, who visited the event’s opening ceremony last week. 

Sàn Art, a non-profit fine arts organisation in HCM City, began its activities in 2007 and has offered cultural and arts exchanges, training programmes, shows and exhibitions. It has attracted dozens of skilled Vietnamese and foreign artists.

It organised a free five-month-long camp in HCM City, called A.Farm, for visual artists living in Việt Nam and other Southeast Asian countries last year.

The camp’s participants participated in workshops and discussions about contemporary fine arts, exhibition-making and projects. They also took field trips and visits to museums and galleries around the city. 

Founder of Sàn Art is painter and curator Đỉnh Quang Lê, 53, a Vietnamese-American. He and three friends opened Sàn Art in 2007 after living and working in the city for 10 years.

He has a bachelor of fine arts degree in photography from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a master of fine arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

He has displayed his art in Sydney, New York, Washington DC and Việt Nam.

Vết In Từ Đất will be open through May, starting 11am to 6pm, from Tuesday to Saturday, at Sàn Art at 132 Bến Vân Đồn Street in District 4.  — VNS