Vietnamese art

The appearance of Vietnamese contemporary art on the international art market in recent years has been to the delight of many an art collector more use too much of the clichéd art previously associated with southeast Asia. For some people, there was a sense of revelation in the variety of style and the richness of the art from a country that had withstood decades of traumatic internal external conflicts. Many of the styles, the subjects, and the mediums too, have fallen in line with contemporary international aspirations.

Many artists developed their own styles based on Vietnamese culture. Painting during the strict communist rule from 1975 to the early 1990s which was in those days mostly limited to propaganda. With the arrival of "doi moi" or ‘renovation policy that occurred in Vietnam in the late 1980’s, artists found a new medium in which to express themselves, since which time many promising talents have emerged. Artwork is usually done in lacquer, oil, gouache, and watercolour. Young Vietnamese artists have taken the traditional art form and transformed it into a highly innovative and interesting medium.

These days Vietnam’s art still bears the seal of an agricultural tradition, attaching to the community life of small villages under the influence of Confucianism, a tradition with more poetic than creative features. Yet, as Vietnam’s young artists continue to seek influences it is most likely that the country’s art culture will develop beyond the quiet beauty or even simplicity of Vietnamese people who for their long history only struggle against invasions.