Cai luong artist marks 30 years

Old school: Cai luong artist Kim Tu Long (left) poses with actress Thoai My. Long will celebrate his 30-year career by a live performance in HCM City this week. — VNS File Photo

HCM CITY — Cai luong (reformed theatre) artist Kim Tu Long will mark the 30th anniversary of his career with a live performance in HCM City this week.

Thien Duong Cua Toi (My Paradise) will feature extracts from cai luong plays that helped him achieve fame – including Day Song Bach Dang Giang (Waves in the Bach Dang River), and Nang Tien Mau Don (Peony Fairy).

Long, also the show's director, said it offered him a chance to achieve his dream of "paradise" – or, as he described it, an ideal theatre show where several performances were staged in the best possible conditions and actors work hard.

Long, real name Hoang Kim Long, will be joined by Thoai My, Phuong Hang, Trong Nghia, and Que Tran for the show.

Comedians Hoai Linh and Bao Quoc, and singers Cam Ly and Phi Nhung will be special guests.

Day Song Bach Dang Giang will not be a solo effort. Instead, Long will collaborate with young director Vu Minh, and the play will feature nearly 150 dancers.

Long, born in Sai Gon (now HCM City) in 1966, developed an interest in cai luong at 14. He learned to sing vong co (nostalgic tunes), a traditional southern art form, and perform cai luong from Vuong Quang and the late People's Artist Phung Ha.

In 1985, he was a member of Tran Huu Trang Troupe 3, one of the region's leading cai luong performers. His strong voice and dance skills quickly made an impression on audiences.

In 1992, he won the prestigious Tran Huu Trang Award given to promising cai luong artists.

He also won the Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper's Mai Vang (Golden Ochna) Award for Favourite Cai Luong Actor in 2002, 2003, and 2009.

Thien Duong Cua Toi will be staged at the Hoa Binh Theatre in HCM City on Friday and Saturday. — VNS

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Human body is the best canvas for painting: artist

Artist Phuong Vu Manh (L) is painting on nude body of a model

Two illustrious body-painting artists Phuong Vu Manh and Ngo Luc discuss their love for and beauty of the art, which – like nude photography and body tattooing – is developing discreetly in conservative Vietnam.

As Manh hails from the northern capital of Hanoi and Luc from Ho Chi Minh City down south, the two’s viewpoints could be seen as representative of two regions and two styles.

Can you describe briefly what body painting is?

PVM: Body painting highlights the sympathy between human beings, between models and artists who combine together in their effort to seek perfect value.

NL: Body painting is the harmonious combination of human body, painting and sexual desire.

What are your ideas of the remark that it is more inspiring to paint on the body of a nude or semi-nude girl?

PVM: Not wrong. It’s a wonderful job to paint on the body of a nude girl because I can then express my ideas through the paintbrush and discuss with her – the model – about our perceptions of art, life as well as the outlook on politics and society.

You see, no canvas can bring me such feelings.

NL: To be frank, painting on a human body is inspiring and it’s even more so when you do it on the body of a person of the opposite sex.

If it’s the desire for sex, I will drop my brush.

What do you think about the idea that body painting is obscene?

PVM: Give them [critics] more info about the developments of body painting.

NL: I never think of it that way. Those who do think will not make that statement.

 

What is the difference of painting on a human body and on a canvas?

PVM: The best-ever canvas on earth is the human body and the body itself is the masterpiece of the Creator. And the artist just makes it look different with colors and patterns to display his/her perception.

NL: It’s much different. Human body is itself a wonderful work of art and the artist can just honor it.

A work of body painting can last for a couple of hours and then will be washed out. What do you think about its short life?

PVM: Body painting can actually survive longer with photography and filming. And I believe that in a not so far future, lovers of the art will search for collections of images of body painting.

In developed countries, an artist of body painting can earn from US$500 - US$5,000 by painting a piece of art. Some others work for media and advertisement firms with a handsome income of $1,000 an hour.

But it’s not the case in Vietnam now.

NL: The short-lived survival applies not only to body painting. For me, I make some small sum from body painting.

Do sponsors help?

PVM: My body painting events got sponsored. However, an artist needs their own work of art and then, I have to cover all costs.

NL: I see a clear border between doing a job to earn my livings and doing other things for my passion.

Anyway, you always need sponsors to be successful with body painting.

Do feelings of sexual sensation survive while you are painting on a body? And how does it help in making a great artwork?

PVM: I am a man and an artist. Either a man or an artist knows how to respect and honor natural beauty, especially the charming bodies of women. So both of the feelings intertwine to make up my feelings and urge me to draw.

But after a moment, I would forget I am a man and my feelings of an artist would rule until I complete my artwork.

NL: Nothing can stop sexual desire but it grows just only enough to make my feelings soar high and nothing more.

Artist Ngo Luc (R) is creating patterns on the body of a foreign model

 

You paint not only on men and women, but also on buffalos

PVM: It’s different to draw on the body of a buffalo. Its hairs are stiff and so you need more labor to make the ink adhere. And a buffalo can hardly understand you so you must understand him.

NL: For me, I like it best when I paint on the body of a woman.

Bio of artists Ngo Luc and Phuong Vu Manh Phuong Vu Manh, 42, graduated from the Hanoi Fine Art University in 1998 and has taken part in 40 exhibitions. Not only making body painting, he works on oil paintings, and lacquers. Ngo Luc, 32, graduated from the HCMC Fine Art University and becomes well known for his involvement in contemporary visual art.   A pattern created on model Hanh Quyen by artist Ngo Luc

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Longevity, not talent criteria prompts People's Artist furore

Contesting the title: Artists from Ha Noi's Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre perform on stage. Performing artists throughout the country are complaining about stiffer criteria recently set for the prestigious titles of People's Artist and Meritorious Artist. — VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa

HA NOI — Recently revised criteria for awarding prestigious titles such as People's Artist and Meritorious Artist are stirring controversy among performing artists.

People's Artist is the most prestigious title for performing artists in Viet Nam, given since 1984. Up until the last award in 2008, 191 artists have received the title. Pianist Dang Thai Son was the youngest artist to receive the honour, being named a People's Artist in 1984 at the age of 26.

Meritorious Artist is a lower level title, deemed a stepping stone to the higher honour.

Although the period for considering new nominations has been reduced from once every five years to once every two years, some artists are claiming the new criteria are too demanding.

For the title of Meritorious Artist, eligible nominees must have worked in their particular field for at least 15 years (10 years for circus artists) and needed to have won at least two gold medals at national or international festivals.

"This condition is too challenging," said Dao Quang, head of the Nam Dinh Drama Troupe. "It tends to judge an artist's contribution according to medals he or she has won rather than by his or her actual contribution to the community.

"It is quite difficult for an artist to win at least two gold medals as the national theatrical festival is only held every five years," Quang added. "And it's not sure that a second medal can be won at such rare festivals."

Quang claimed that, in fact, some enormously talented artists do not win any medals at all.

Cai luong (reformed opera) artist Quoc Hung from Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre agreed, saying that some young artists might be eligible for the nomination list before other, more experienced artists.

"Young artists always have more chances to get leading roles, which lead to more chances to earn medals," Hung said.

Hung also argued that the requirement was not fair to artists who worked closely with the troupes that travelled to remote areas to serve rural audiences, a time of performance few medal holders were keen on.

The Nam Dinh Drama Troupe has nominated two artists for the People's Artist title and four for the Meritorious Artist title this year. The Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre, instead sent a list of artists who did not meet the criteria on the number of medals but were talented and experienced enough for the prestigious titles.

"The list includes artists Thoai Mieu, Truong Hong Long and Kim Phuong, who have worked in the theatre since national liberation in 1975 and worked hard with their colleagues to overcome difficult times and preserve the art of cai luong," Hung said. "They have also been ready to step aside and let younger artists try their hands at lead roles."

The Ha Noi Cai Luong Theatre has also submitted a list of six artists for the Meritorious Artist title, four of whom were proposed under special privileges.

"Some artists do not have enough gold medals," said theatre director Quang Hung. "But they have four silver medals. They deserve the Meritorious Artist title."

Hung proposed the culture ministry consider two silver medals as equivalent to one gold medal, along with considering nominees' enthusiasm for their work.

Even eligible nominees are now required to receive at least three-fourths of the votes from the jury, another obstacle for some talented and enthusiastic artists to receive the titles. — VNS

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Finnish artist fashions playful works in metal

Steely: Works by Maritta Nurmi at the exhibition.

HA NOI — A playful exhibition by Finnish artist Maritta Nurmi entitled After the End of Art Anything Goes, has opened at Art Viet Nam Gallery in Ha Noi.

Nurmi, a visual artist born in Finland, has been based in Ha Noi since 1994 and is well-known for her installation art. Nurmi's background both in art and in natural sciences, together with her experience of Asia, lends her work a multilayered and multicultural feel.

The artist is famed for her richly detailed work in silver, aluminium and copper leaf on canvas. In this playful exhibition, that combines art and fashion, she has managed to add text to textile to accentuate her works' effervescent surfaces.

Freed from the constraints of making art as it is currently known, Nurmi explores all sorts of media and objects, elevating the everyday and mundane into what we may call the zone of the sublime.

Large round aluminium trays used for steaming rice are suddenly transformed into whirlpools of flora and line; small wooden stools, playfully patterned, spring from the floor to the wall, while their corresponding tea tables are transformed into colourful, functional artworks.

Stainless steel work tables are essays in structure and line; dragons and Buddhas appear faintly in their mirrored surfaces, transporting the object and the viewer into a fanciful world.

Nurmi uses images of roses and repeats them many times in her artworks. "Rose means everything," she explains. "I love roses and I think people do."

In the midst of all the playfulness, Nurmi takes her ideas into yet another dimension. Inspired by the colourful textiles of the people of Benin, in West Africa, where she was an artist in residence in 2009, she had fabrics of her artworks made in India, which she then transformed into her own eclectic mode of fashion – Couture Adorable de Maritta.

Stripes and circles, angles and lines, colour and pattern all collide into a splendid kaleidoscope of fun and frolic, a true testimony to the function of art as art and art as function wherein "anything goes."

"Nurmi's artworks really surprise and attract me," says Pham Trung, lecturer at the Viet Nam Fine Arts University.

"She is an artist of liberalism. She breaks all old orders to create the art of her own. However, she is influenced by Eastern philosophy and Zen Buddhism. She stands at the border of many cultures."

Nurmi has exhibited her works in many countries including Finland, Germany, the UK, the US, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

The exhibition will run until January 7 at Art Viet Nam Gallery, 7 Nguyen Khac Nhu Street, Ha Noi. — VNS

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Money exhibition marks artist’s death

An exhibition in Hanoi to mark the one year death anniversary of artist Vu Dan Tan (1946-2009) will show his pro-humanism paintings of money.

Tan created his money series over a period of nearly a decade from 1994. It’s iconography, in combination with the work’s conceptual premise of exchange, can be understood on many levels. Embodying Vu Dan Tan’s unfailing humanism, the work is pan-cultural in reach.

The artist depicted his own interpretations of the euro, Hong Kong dollar, the Iraqi dinar, and English pound, amongst others. The series also honored the connections between peoples and their cultures.

Unwilling to accept the power of real money in the real world, Vu Dan Tan fabricated their more valuable substitutes, loudly announcing his faith that it was beauty and nothing else, which would save the world, said Natasha, wife of the late artist.

Vu Dan Dan was a great innovator and craftsmen and often worked with salvaged or available materials, cryptically telling the story of the times.

The exhibition runs till November 14 at Salon Natasha at 30 Hang Bong Street in Hanoi.

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People’s Artist, singer Y Moan loses cancer battle

Vietnamese People’s Artist Y Moan

Vietnamese People’s Artist and pop singer Y Moan died last Friday at the age of 53 after a long fight with stomach cancer, reports VnExpress.

The artist’s funeral will be held in the central highlands city of Buon Ma Thuot in Daklak Province on Tuesday morning. The artist wants to be buried in his garden to be always close with his family.

Born in 1957 in an poor  Ede ethnic family, Y Moan started to sing at age seven when he joined a traditional ethnic band in Daklak Province. He studied at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music from 1979 until 1986.

Y Moan was famous for songs such as Oi M’Drak (Hey, M’Drak), Ly ca phe Ban Me (Ban Me coffee cup), Giac mo Chapi (Chapi’s Dream) and Doi chan tran (Bare foot), which expressed his love for his homeland.

Y Moan performed internationally in China, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, Poland and France.

In 1997, Y Moan was recognized as a Meritorious Artist, for exceptional artistic achievements. In 2000 the Culture and Information Ministry recognized his lifetime career achievements. He also has been honored as People’s Artist, the highest honor given by the State for artists.

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