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Exhibition: Birdsong
October 21, 2023 - December 17, 2023
Free
Manzi and Blue Space Gallery are pleased to present an extraordinary exhibition by Trần Trung Tín entitled ‘Birdsong’ on the occasion of the late artist’s 90th birthday anniversary
On display: 11.00 AM – 07.00 PM (Tue – Sun) from 21 Oct until 17 Dec 2023
Venue: Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hanoi
Free Entrance
Trần Trung Tín (1933 – 2008), a talented man with an exceptional life born into a bizarre epoch, had started painting merely as a way to go through the aftermath of an ideological crisis. Stuck in the extreme disillusionment and suppression, forbidden to speak up his thoughts or write out his opinions, Trần Trung Tín began to draw. In such a strange twist of fate, the used-to-be actor/announcer/film screenwriter then spent the entire last half of his life painting ceaselessly and quietly, and unexpectedly became the most absurd and brilliant phenomenon of Vietnamese art.
He painted to release himself from all the suppression,
to seek salvation,
to break the silence,
to not get lost or give up,
to hold onto his self, with all its essence and ethos
… he painted in a struggle “to overcome the atrocious era we were all living in” (said by director Tự Huy – a friend of Trần Trung Tín)
Perhaps from chaos of all confusion and disappointment, a new strength would blossom; amid the destruction and collapse new construction would arise, as always, though isolated and muted yet absolutely pure and true.
The exhibition ‘Birdsong’ at manzi will display over 30 artworks painted on newspaper and photographic paper including both figurative and abstract series. This is the second solo show by Trần Trung Tin in Hanoi (the first one ‘Optimistic Tragedy’ was held ten years ago), naturally it has a sense of home-coming, for most of the displayed works were painted in Hanoi during the years of 1969 – 1973. The period is the peak time of the bombing and airstrike in North Vietnam during the war, and Trần Trung Tín, despite the order to evacuate from the dangerous area, persisted to stay inside the city; then under the bombshelter he painted these works. Coming back here after half of decade, they just like an alternative way the late artist kept his promise to ‘𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑖 – 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒’ (excerpt from Trần Trung Tín’s telegram to Vietnam Feature Film Studio, after moving back to Saigon in 1975)
