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"Mr. Pham Minh Tuan begun his solitary artistic journey with strong steps; nevertheless, his eternal searching is leading him down a myriad of paths. His debut on the international art scene with a group exhibition in May 1997 in Hong Kong. A graduate of the Hanoi Industrial Fine Arts University, he is well-trained in the techniques of traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting. A recurrent theme in his work is the passage of Time. He feels that time is forever, therefore there is no need for hands to measure segments. From the origin of man to the present, humans are linked to one another by time. Tuan also is concerned with the state of the human condition. His lacquer works "Countryside" and "House of the Ceramist" depict the bucolic nature of the simple jobs of life in the country."
--By Suzanne Lecht - excerpts from "Pham Minh Tuan, The Artist"
Pham Minh Tuan has participated in numerous exhibitions. His new solo exhibition is scheduled for Dec. 5, 2004 at The Vietnamese Museum of Modern Arts, Hanoi. |
 | Community: For Pham Minh Tuan, each person is the product of his or her community.
The things we do, the things we enjoy, and the things we loathe, all come
from the community to which we belong. We shred our individualities and
Become the image of one another. Within the community, there are no serious
conflicts because there are no significant differences. We can only conflict ourselves, and thus our conflict takes on the shape of our own reflection. We remain imprisoned within the reflections of our own beings.
Thus the artist becomes the liberator of the community. His arts, not capable of being contained in a molded form, help him transcend the uniformity and monotony of communal life. The artist awakens the lost souls, and restores their individual senses. Life without arts is therefore no true life, but only the mechanical motion of a sleepwalker.
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The East: The story goes that Pham Minh Tuan was challenged by an art critic to paint "Eastern" women.
The artist responded with this painting. For him, there is no inherence of character or attitude that is capable of dictating beauty. For beauty is part of nature, and the woman, wherever she lives, is most beautiful when she allows herself to be free, her beauty to escape the boundaries of tradition. The artist proposes that the viewers see the "Eastern" woman beyond the tapestry of traditions. She, the universal woman, will appear in full beauty and radiance only after the beholder has lifted the veil and garments of cultural prejudice.
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