Self-taught Franco-Vietnamese artist Hom Nguyen is notable for his expressive drawings. His latest exhibition, "Un Monde Meilleur: A Better World", features 12 portraits of women.
Nguyen, who supports several foundations (including La Maison Des Femmes De Saint Denis; Enfant Du Mekong; and Associations Du Comité Entraide Défense), said all portraits in this collection are women because he wants to convey that women bring light, brightness and kindness and are life givers.
Two highlight mixed media paintings -- Woman (3) and Un Monde Meilleur (3) -- are bright and vivid in colours with affective brush movements across the canvas. Nguyen told Life through a translator that these two portraits represent beauty.
"In the portraits, two beautiful women sporting different hairstyles appear confident and honourable. While Woman (3) has messy hair, Un Monde Meilleur (3) features hairlines that look like slow flowing lava and blossoming flowers. These portraits embody the beauty and charm of women. Although these two women do not smile, they are still beautiful. Beauty is not limited to smiles since paintings of beautiful views and landscapes do not have smiles," said Nguyen.
"The exhibition, 'Un Monde Meilleur: A Better World', depicts the world after the Covid-19 pandemic, so there is brightness, happiness and hope. Also, there is energy to move forward," he added.
As a student, Nguyen liked drawing pictures. For a period of time, he worked as a shoe salesman, where his drawings on shoes attracted customers. He quickly became a sought-after self-taught artist. Nguyen said that although he didn't attend art school he did not have much difficulty creating a career in art.
"In the past, I did not make much money for a living. Drawing was the only skill that helped me to earn income. I draw from my inner feelings and my imagination, so I do not have any problems creating line drawings. However, I experienced minor problems while mixing colours because I lacked the formal training of an art student," said Nguyen.
He said living in an international cosmopolitan city like Paris opened up opportunities for him to sell and refine his art
"If I had started working as an artist in Bangkok, I probably would not have become successful because Bangkok has less opportunities than Paris, where many collectors and large art markets are available. However, Southeast Asian countries have inspired me to create art more than Paris because I can see more problems in Southeast Asian countries. I am also proud of being Asian and to be a bridge that connects Paris to Southeast Asia," he said.
Nguyen said he either creates a painting from his imagination or from the inspiration of seeing someone's eyes.
"I develop portraits from eyes that I remember seeing or create them from my own imagination. I spontaneously draw a portrait without any draft. Besides showing anatomy, my portraits aim to create open mindedness in the viewer as well as to offer a medium of knowledge exchange between Europe and Asia," Nguyen explained.
Nguyen's portraits often portray this identity as a Vietnamese who grew up in France. His exhibition in 2016, "Sans Repère: Without Landmarks", tells of people who are migrants. Portraits in the collection were not completed in order to show that migrants do not have a permanent settlement.
Nguyen said he decided to exhibit his paintings in Thailand because he wants to support the art industry both in Asia and France.
"I would like to be a medium of relationship between Thailand and France. In my generation, there are not many Asian artists in France. I want to be an inspiration and pave the way for emerging artists.
"As a contemporary artist who represents Asia, I want to support the art industry to be more open, so viewers can see both artworks from Asia and France," said Nguyen.
Nguyen's stunning paintings reflect his inner beauty. He donates a large amount of money to many foundations, saying his late mother inspired him to help those in need.
"My mother struggled with a disability. I also saw many women encounter domestic violence and poverty, so I support La Maison Des Femmes De Saint Denis, a French foundation that helps women, especially female migrants who are victims of domestic violence. I collaborated with a high-end Swiss watch brand to create 300 watches and donated income to the Associations Du Comité Entraide Défense, which assists war veterans. I support many foundations because I used to be an underprivileged child," the artist said.
Last year, Nguyen was made Knight of the National Order of Merit of France in recognition of his service to the country through his dedication to art. Early this year, Nguyen became the only living painter displayed at the exhibition "Portraits Of France" in Musée de l'Homme. This is a rare opportunity since Musée de l'Homme is an anthropology museum where only a few painters were selected to exhibit their paintings.
"I am proud of it and it was an excellent experience. At 'Portraits Of France', I paid homage to Aimé Césaire, a Martinican politician, poet and philosopher. In the future, I will collaborate with Musée de l'Homme to create many projects and will exhibit my paintings of historical figures in other cities in France," he said.
Since the title of the exhibition is "Un Monde Meilleur: A Better World", Life asked him to explain his perspective of a better world.
"It is a world filled with women, children and kindness. The better world does not have much politics, but has co-existence in society. I also want to ask visitors, 'from viewing my paintings what do you think a better world looks like?'," said Nguyen.
"Un Monde Meilleur: A Better World" runs at SAC Gallery, Sukhumvit 39, until Aug 27. Admission is free. Visit facebook.com/sacbangkok.
