Nguyen Ba Tuan

1. The artist’s biography and art:

The artist was born in 1974 in Ha Nam Province, in northern Vietnam.

He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Theatre and Cinema in Hanoi, where he studied from 1996 to 2001.
He currently lives with his family, including his wife and two children. He works full-time as a painter. He has participated in several group and solo exhibitions, as listed below:

2001: Participated in a group exhibition in Hanoi

2002: Participated in the Northern Art Exhibition

2003: Held a solo exhibition in Hanoi

2004: Participated in group exhibitions at the Melia Hotel and Sofitel Hotel, Hanoi

2005:

Participated in an exhibition of a young artists’ group in Hanoi

Participated in a group exhibition in Hungary

2006:

Participated in a group exhibition in Poland

Held a solo exhibition at Lotus Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City

2. How did you become an artist? What first sparked your interest in art?

I have loved painting since childhood and drew on anything I could. As I grew older, I pursued this passion through formal academic training. Since graduating from university, I have continued to study and create paintings, remaining fully committed to this passion.

3. What is your style?

My painting is suggestive rather than a direct depiction of real-life scenes. I maintain a consistent style that can be described as monochromatic. Drawing on nature and human figures, I convey my inner thoughts and emotions—whether joyful, sorrowful, contemplative, or quiet. I incorporate the colors and lighting of stage and cinematic art into my paintings.

4. What is your inspiration, and do you have a mentor or idol?

My idol is Monet, a very famous French artist at the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century. Luckily, I saw Monet’s paintings and I paved the way for myself then. I was affected by his works, such as “The sunrise impression” or when he drew the church in the dawn.
The North Vietnam Delta’s nature always fills me up with creative emotions.

5. What makes your art distinct from that of other Vietnamese artists?

My painting’s theme is the rural of Delta of North Vietnam, which many senior artists’ generations had been very successful with. Nevertheless, I’m different from them, I create for my imagination like dreams. Half of reality and half of dreaminess expressed monochromatic colors.

6. How do you view Vietnam and the outside world?

Vietnam has started to integrate, so that the Vietnamese Painting has more chances to be introduced to appear all over the world. The World Painting has been over developing and always be new-fangled, Vietnam only can be successful by introducing our own culture character.

7. What are your likes and dislikes?

I’d like to have an own way and I’m doing my best to continue to go on that way.

My private thought and my passion in creation can’t be similar to anyone’s. I don’t like to follow any trend or fashion, etc…

8. Why do you utilize this medium and style?

I’m fond of the oil material, because it helps me with recommending my personal feelings very fast. In the moment of happiness, sadness, the sunset or sunrise, thanks to oil – it helps me to draw out my impression most effectively.

9. What is the main idea or message you aim to convey in your art? Is there a common theme across your works?

I’m trying to introduce the natural sceneries where I was born. This place attached with my childhood’s memories.

10. Are there hidden meanings in your artworks? Do they convey a particular message—political, personal, or something else?

My art works have no relations to politics, people’s emotion usually rises and falls unexpectedly, you can be sad and happy just in a second. As there are seven musical notes in a song, I express these feelings through colors like blue, red, yellow, white, etc… they are simply true and beautiful feelings.

11. What are your ideology and views on art?

“Art means beauty”. I always try my best to contribute to establishing a general beauty for the fine arts of our country.

12. Who are you and why should people purchase and collect your art works?

It depends on the buyers. Perhaps they buy my paintings just because they like the peacefulness of rural sceneries behind the villages’ bamboo hedges or the poetic rivers’ sceneries in my paintings. I have been expressing them for I was born there, and I grew up with it.