Hanoi (VNA) - An exhibition that opened this week at Hanoi’s Fine ArtsMuseum depicts lacquer paintings depicting the Vietnamese practices related tobelief in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms, which was recognised a fewmonths ago by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The26 works were painted by Artist Tran Tuan Long over nearly 20 years. He triedto exhibit some of them at the National Fine Arts Exhibition in 2000, but thepaintings were rejected. "I was a little sad because my work was notrecognised. The national exhibition organisers told me that I drewsuperstitious things," said Long.

However,he was not discouraged from pursuing the theme to which he had been exposed bychance. "One time my foreign friend and I were hanging out and we saw a haudong (spirit medium) at Vua Ba Temple in my home province of Quang Ninh in thenorth. It was the first time I encountered the Vietnamese ritual and I becamefascinated by it. The bustling sounds, the illusory artistic space in themiddle of the night are so strange and so unprecedented that they touched medeeply."


Longpainted his first depiction of the practice in 1998 and his latest early thisyear. He has attended numerous such rituals in an effort to understand them andthe spirit mediums, which he depicts on his canvases in great detail.

"Tensof artworks by Long depict the tranquil, mysterious and at the same timeglamourous aura of the practice, embracing the spirit of lacquer in both itsclassic and modern forms," said veteran lacquer painting artist Ly TrucSon. "His paintings are classic, modern, serious, simple, lovely — all atthe same time. I greatly appreciate Long’s labour and his works will no doubtstand the test of time."

Longgraduated from the Vietnam Accademy of Fine Arts. He is a member of the VietnamFine Arts Association and a group of Vietnamese lacquer artists. Khanh has hadsolo and group exhibitions in Vietnam and Taiwan; the Republic of Korea andGermany. He has also gained awards such as the Vietnam-ASEAN Fine Arts Prize in2004 and first prize of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association in 2015.


"MotherGoddesses through the unique lacquer paintings by artist Long opens the 21stcentury genre of Vietnamese rituals painting," art critic Luong Xuan doan wrotein introduction words.

Theexhibition will run until March 15 at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hanoi.-VNA