Vietnam, French artists exhibit work at city museum

A wooden sculpture Thieu Nu (Young Women) by Le Manh Ha is on display at the second International Artistic Encounters, a joint exhibition between Vietnamese and French artists at the HCM City Fine Arts Museum. VNS Photo by Phuong Mai

The exhibition includes 73 paintings in oil, acrylic, lacquer and mixed media, and 19 sculptures in wood and ceramic, by six Vietnamese artists, two Vietnamese-French artists, and three French artists.

French painter Elisabeth Besnier is showing seven oil paintings, reflecting feelings on women’s faces, gestures and bodies.

Her works include Vie (Life), Joie (Joy), Abandon (Abandonment), Attente (Waiting), Bien-être (Welfare), Méfiance (Mistrust), and Pensées (Thoughts).

Born in 1970, she studied visual arts at the Paris College of Arts. Her paintings have been shown at galleries in Normandy and at the Affordable Art Fair in Belgium.

She has also won top prizes at several arts contests in France.

The Binh Thuan-based Luong Luu Bien showcases four large-scale lacquer paintings featuring images of women.

His works are Dai Lua Do (Red Silk), Ballerina, Buong (Release) and Dan Ba (Woman), which were created in 2017.

Bien is a member of the HCM City and Vietnam Fine Arts associations. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in HCM City, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea and France.

The exhibition also includes 15 wooden sculptures by Le Manh Ha, a lecturer at the University of Dong Thap Province.

Ha, a native of Bình Định Province, is showing his sculpture collection Thiếu Nữ (Young Women) and the collection Mau Tu (Mother and Children).

The artist, a member of Vietnam Fine Arts Association, has participated in several exhibitions in the country since 2006.

The event also features works by Eugéniya Zharaza, Myriam Feuilloley, and Normandy-based Le Mai Diem Thuy and Nguyen Kim Chi.

Other Vietnamese artists include Huynh Phuong Thi Dai Trang, Nguyen Thanh Mai, Nguyen Cong Hoai and sculptor Nguyen Mau Tan Thu.

The exhibition was orgainised by La Seine et Le Mékong (The Seine and the Mekong) Association, in collaboration with the HCM City Fine Arts Association and the HCM City University of Fine Arts.

La Seine et Le Mékong is a non-profit organisation founded by Nguyen Kim Chi and Freddy Loiselier in 2015 in Normandy.

It aims to create a cultural bridge between Normandy and the Mekong Delta region in the form of an art biennial alternating between France and Vietnam.

In May 2017, the association organised its first International Artistic Encounters in Normandy featuring Vietnamese artist Lương Lưu Biên. The event attracted more than 20,000 visitors.

The exhibition in HCM City will close on June 17. The museum is at 97A Pho Duc Chinh Street in District 1.