An ancient material but with plastic forms that have been entirely renewed for almost a century, Vietnamese lacquer painting was born from the meeting of multiple influences, Asian and Western, to become the national expression par excellence, capable of linking the present to the past while questioning the future. The artist Mai NgỠc Lâm, known as Maixanh, is an ardent defender of this technique.
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>> The creative art of lacquer
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| Mai Ngoc Lâm known as Maixanh hard at work in her workshop. |
Born on 1is December 1974 in the province of Nam Dinh (North), the artist studied at My Tho High School in the Y Yén district of this province in the Red River Delta region. Graduated from the Nam Dinh Art School in 1995, he organized his first painting exhibition at a young age at the National Art School of Hanoi. Subsequently, he moved to Hô Chi Minh City to pursue studies in business administration. He obtained his business administration diploma from the Open University of the Southern Megapolis in 2002.
From that moment on, he multiplied projects around art, traditional painting and lacquer. He will direct the famous Art Arcade gallery in the center of Ho Chi Minh City and will highlight a colossal number of paintings of which he is the author during exhibitions both nationally and abroad.
We find him in Seoul in the Republic of Korea in 2008 for a personal exhibition of paintings as well as in Nha Trang and An Giang in 2009 for national exhibitions. Returning to Hanoi between 2013 and 2015, he continued to produce for different galleries then he moved to Europe between 2017 and 2019 to better promote the art of Vietnamese lacquer.
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| A painting of women in áo dà i. |
Back in Vietnam, his exhibition of new lacquerware at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association in 2023 will be one of his greatest artistic successes. Many works by Maixanh are now part of private collections around the world such as Singapore, Japan, Russia, Canada and Australia. Lacquer is for him a whole science and basically a material with extremely demanding implementation.
Be patient
To harvest it, it is necessary to make incisions on the trunk of a lacquer tree aged three to eight years. The sap is then collected from river mussel shells protected from sunlight and humidity. This whitish material which turns brown very quickly on contact with air is left to decant for several months in airtight jars; the upper layer, liquid and transparent, is used for decoration.
The viscous layers at the bottom, mixed with sawdust or clay, are used to prepare the panels. Two layers of putty are necessary to prepare the panels which are then covered on all sides with a very fine textile (hemp or cotton), itself covered again with at least six to seven layers of lacquer. Between each coat, approximately two weeks of drying in a warm, humid environment are necessary, as well as intermediate sanding. The upper layers, intended to create the decoration, will be churned for seven to fifteen days.
The use of an iron container and spatula allows you to obtain, thanks to oxidation, a deep black lacquer, which is particularly appreciated. This is followed by the stage of filtering the lacquer using a fine textile twisted between two wooden boards.
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| The inlay of mother-of-pearl, stones, metal and the application of gold or silver leaf are also used. |
The inlay of mother-of-pearl, stones, metal and the application of gold or silver leaf are also used. Eggshell mosaic, widely practiced in Vietnam, allows areas of pure white to be obtained. Colored lacquers can also be obtained by adding powdered minerals. However, lacquer reacts chemically when drying and most traditional pigments deteriorate. For this reason, the colors are essentially restricted to the red (cinnabar), black (obtained by oxidation of iron), yellow (orpiment) and the whole range of browns (obtained by natural oxidation of lacquer).
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| A magnificent triptych. |
Before the 1930s, lacquer was used in Vietnam in the field of decorative arts and architecture. It helped protect the wood from insect attacks and mold while beautifying it. In the temples, she participated in the very spirituality of the place. One thing leading to another, it will be used for exceptional works such as screens, jewelry boxes, placemats or kitchen trays.
The Vietnamese lake has always been popular with the general public for its at once traditional and modern character. After Pháo¡m Háou, Lê Phà ́, Nguyá»…n Văn Tá»μ or Nguyá»…and Gia TrÃ, Mai Ngá» c Maixanh’s name is not so successful equality with theI’ll give it to you the pho (noodle soups) or even adjust the salary (théâtre rénové).
To contact the artist:
Maingoclam.com
https://www.facebook.com/lamartpainting/
Tél : 09 13 66 95 49
Lamartpainting@gmail.com
Texte : Hervé Fayet/CVN
Photos : Mai NgỠc Lâm/CVN
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