Xuân Lam
Vietnamese painter bridges the past and the present
By Vy Dan Tran
Artist Xuân Lam and his folk painting remakes. Image courtesy of the artist.
Based in Hanoi, Nguyễn Xuân Lam (b. 1993) is a visual artist inspired by local traditions and Vietnamese heritage. In 2016, Xuân Lam graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. Having been awarded a Fulbright scholarship by the United States Government, he will pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Autumn 2023. Xuân Lam described his art-making method as combining the work of an archaeologist and a DJ. He also said that his art was like a Rubik’s cube wherein each facet explored various forgotten aspects of Vietnamese culture.
Xuân Lam, ‘The Dutch – Vietnamese Five-fruit Tray’, 2021, acrylic, gold leaf on composite. Collection of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vietnam. Image courtesy of the artist.
For more than seven years, Xuân Lam had enthusiastically researched Vietnamese folk paintings, resulting in two successful solo exhibitions: ‘Folk Paintings: The Remake’ (2017) and ‘Rendezvous Between The Old & The New’ (2019). In those series, the artist remade Hàng Trống and Đông Hồ folk paintings by combining pencil drawings with digital gradient colours, creating a modern and refined version. Moreover, he intended to blur the historical socio-economic gap between the city dwellers who bought Hàng Trống paintings and the farmers who could only afford Đông Hồ ones. Aspiring to bring contemporary art closer to young people, Lam collaborates with local design brands and participates in non-profit projects. His notable public art projects include the ones in Phùng Hưng (2018), Phúc Tân (2020) and, most recently, the installation of 36 lanterns at the Hàng Buồm Culture and Arts Center (2022).
Xuân Lam’s body of works appeals not only to the general public but also to governmental establishments. At the invitation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Xuân Lam designed a work celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Vietnam. The composite sculptures are called ‘The Dutch – Vietnamese Five-Fruit Tray’ (2021). Xuân Lam has works in the collections of the German Embassy, the Italian Embassy, and the National Assembly of Vietnam and is the recipient of the 'Young Talents Programme' of Vincom Center for Contemporary Arts (VCCA).
Xuân Lam, ‘Self-Portrait with “Five Tigers” and an Old Cassette Player’, 2021, acrylic, pastel, collage on linen, 170 x 150cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Despite working with different media like sculpture and installation, Xuân Lam is still most passionate about easel painting. ‘Self-Portrait with “Five Tigers” and an Old Cassette Player’ (2021) represents a significant shift in Xuân Lam’s style and techniques. This is the artist’s very first self-portrait. During the first seven years of his career, Xuân Lam was well-known for his modern version of Vietnamese folk paintings. One of the remakes, the ‘Five Tigers’, can be seen on the right in the background of the self-portrait and thus suggests a tendency towards a new signature theme: Art in art. Despite the big success with such seemingly impersonal works, Xuân Lam has taken a new interest in figurative painting. Influenced by Western contemporary artists such as Luiz Zerbini, Kehinde Wiley and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Xuân Lam experiments with vivid acrylic paints, newspaper collages and photo transfer techniques. The portrait teems with biographical details and references to the cultural items the artist grew up with as a millennial urban kid; for example, the cassette, pop icons, video games, and animation characters. Moving away from nonhuman subjects to tackle the art of portraiture, Xuân Lam demonstrates that contemporary portraits can be fun, high-spirited, and inviting. Such a youthful style popularises the art of portraiture and attracts a wider and younger audience for figurative paintings.
Click here to read our dialogue with Xuân Lam, where he speaks about his diverse practice, pursuing a master’s program at RISD and overcoming uncertainties.
