Artist Pham Ha Hai with oriental silence

Known as an artist who persistently pursues the theme of oriental spirit and nature, having achieved some initial success, artist Pham Ha Hai shares with Nhan Dan - monthly a few career stories and his future plans.

After nearly two decades of pursuing the topic of Eastern spirituality and nature, what do you think you have achieved?

I'm said to have established my style early and having less struggles (laughs...). Of course, at each stage of creation I also have certain artistic marks of my own. If I can say a little about the method, it is that I do not want to describe things in a conventional way but want to provide a signal system, leading the viewer into a quiet world close to meditation.

To achieve that must be a struggle and a price to pay?

Finding beauty in the spirit of remaining cultural heritage is an endless journey. It is more about personal experience than serving a purpose. Artists must accept to give up the glory of trends, not be dependent or controlled by the market. I thought a lot and finally decided to choose this path!

Many people think that your image, color, layout... are all good. But they also say that your work lacks freshness and the rhythm of current life. What do you think about these feelings?

If viewers knew more about my works from the early 2000s, they probably wouldn't think so. In 2015, the painting "Transportation of Seasons" won the Bronze Medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition, which was a professional honor for me personally. Viewers often encounter lotus images in my works. Lotus is a quite traditional subject, many painters and artists from countries near Vietnam paint together. But I create the atmosphere of the lotus, instead of describing it with my art. Personal emotions are an internal reality, while on the outside there can be abstractions. Associative thinking in painting is the path I aim for, so evocation is what I pursue. Specifically, when feeling autumn, I remember the scent and taste of green rice, I do not paint green rice in its visual reality, but just evoke the color of green rice, that colorful painting is enough. I also often place my works in monochrome situations, saving colors... because I think that's enough. Each color has its own unique visual value, it evokes the most basic elements of all things, space, and time. Thus, my contribution to a large flower garden may be as modest as a quiet lotus branch or even a dried lotus stem in the morning. Any artist wants to do something new and interesting. The present is just a past.

What do you hope your future works will be like?

Drawing the recent October Emotions series was when I thought a lot about Vietnam's color system. A red stick of betel residue is a hint of the red corners of the mouth of an ancient woman (in the aesthetic system of white skin, black hair, dark lips...), which is also an image in the system of aesthetic and cultural values. This is the direction of creative thinking in my Figure & Silhouette series during this period. The "emotional painting" that I have built requires strict demands on both space and time. Real contact with the work, the work needs to have a dimension adequate to the subjective emotions... and I experience myself in painting as daily communication of my inner world with the objective world. It will be small stories, like quiet self-talk. The section in front of me is spreading my thoughts about the set of Heritage Pictures & Silhouettes that started with Heritage Shadows (about the Cham towers), Red River No. 1... In 2017, I think I will be busy because of the idea thought it was overflowing...

The abstract painting style he is practicing can be said to be popular with the public. Can you share more details about this expression?

Erosion or dissolution is what I am promoting.

What is the biggest challenge for you?

The economical drawing style requires emotional quality in the painting. To me, it is atmosphere! Thus, energy is needed.

Thank you artist Pham Ha Hai for sharing!

Author: KHOI NGUYEN

Source: Newspaper Nhan Dan