Presentation

Bui Huu Hung was born in Vietnam's northern capital city of Hanoi in 1957. Since the age of 18, Hung has been fascinated with lacquer. As a teenager, he traveled to small villages where the ancient Vietnamese technique of lacquer painting was still being used in an attempt to preserve the age-old art form. 


Lacquer painting, unique to Vietnam, involves applying various layers of carefully chosen pigments embellished with shiny gold and silver leaf and white crushed duck eggshells onto multiple layers of translucent lacquer. 


The creation of lacquer painting is a particularly time consuming one, with each layer taking one week to dry before the application of the next layer. Each masterpiece has at least six to seven layers of lacquer. After each layer and pigment is applied, the artist then intuitively burnishes the painting, which gradually reveals the desired end result. 


As the painting is polished, some colours simply vanish while others are transformed. The labour of polishing the layers of lacquer is how the artist draws the figures and objects of his artworks. This renders complex paintings with dramatic lustre and a captivating three dimensional effect.


Bui Huu Hung rejuvenates this ancient art of Lacquer painting with a distinctively original approach. His paintings are grand in setting but intimate in likeness. His central theme is regal women, adorned in richly decorated colourful gowns with their eyes set forward, as if sizing up and contemplating. Their expressions are delicate and reveal a range of emotions, from confidence to languor. 


Ornamental designs fill the background and his choice of colour and design influences the personality of the paintings, adding depth and  heightening the colour contrast. His figures exist in an illusory space, unanchored by earth and sky. The addition of rich gold leaf creates beautiful nuances of light that shines through the lacquer.  



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Who is the artist?

Bui Huu Hung was born in Vietnam's northern capital city of Hanoi in 1957. Since the age of 18, Hung has been fascinated with lacquer. As a teenager, he traveled to small villages where the ancient Vietnamese technique of lacquer painting was still being used in an attempt to preserve the age-old art form. 


Lacquer painting, unique to Vietnam, involves applying various layers of carefully chosen pigments embellished with shiny gold and silver leaf and white crushed duck eggshells onto multiple layers of translucent lacquer. 


The creation of lacquer painting is a particularly time consuming one, with each layer taking one week to dry before the application of the next layer. Each masterpiece has at least six to seven layers of lacquer. After each layer and pigment is applied, the artist then intuitively burnishes the painting, which gradually reveals the desired end result. 


As the painting is polished, some colours simply vanish while others are transformed. The labour of polishing the layers of lacquer is how the artist draws the figures and objects of his artworks. This renders complex paintings with dramatic lustre and a captivating three dimensional effect.


Bui Huu Hung rejuvenates this ancient art of Lacquer painting with a distinctively original approach. His paintings are grand in setting but intimate in likeness. His central theme is regal women, adorned in richly decorated colourful gowns with their eyes set forward, as if sizing up and contemplating. Their expressions are delicate and reveal a range of emotions, from confidence to languor. 


Ornamental designs fill the background and his choice of colour and design influences the personality of the paintings, adding depth and  heightening the colour contrast. His figures exist in an illusory space, unanchored by earth and sky. The addition of rich gold leaf creates beautiful nuances of light that shines through the lacquer.  


When was Bui Huu Hung born?

The year of birth of the artist is: 1957