The event also honoured their contributions not only in arts but also in social influence, through the roles they once undertook in the community activities of the fine arts circle.
The exhibition is not only a collection of works but also a kind of “map” reflecting the cultural and artistic intersections between locality, history, and the global sphere, as well as their efforts on the journey of independent creativity.
The three painters — Ly Truc Son, Ca Le Thang, and Dao Minh Tri — are contemporaries who graduated from the Viet Nam College of Fine Arts (now the Viet Nam University of Fine Arts) in the years 1976 and 1979. Each came from a different region, with different experiences, and each has brought along memories, materials, and local symbols to create unique artistic worldviews.
Painter Dao Minh Tri, a native of Hanoi who has resided in Ho Chi Minh City since 1976, presents works centred on the mermaid figure: at once lyrical and surreal, reflecting the relationship between human beings, nature and the universe. Dao Minh Tri’s techniques are diverse: oil, gouache, lacquer. Combining the language of modern painting with folk symbolic imagery, his paintings achieve a balance between personal expression and tradition.
Painter Ly Truc Son, originally from Hue but who has spent many years living and working in Hanoi, develops an abstract universe from earth—the primordial material of life. But before arriving at earth, stone, sand, and plants, he had a long journey devoted to traditional Vietnamese lacquer, especially natural resin. For him, lacquer is not only a technique, but also a material of thought, through time, inner light, and the long process of creating works, becoming an instrument to unlock a unique abstract language.
Born and raised in Ben Tre (now part of Vinh Long province), painter Ca Le Thang takes the Mekong Delta as the source of his creativity. The river, the flooding season and the alluvial landscape are not only subjects, but become a living body, where art records the relationship between people, nature and time. The series Flooding Season 2025 on display at the Exhibition expands the space of memory and the present, both capturing the rhythm of nature and expressing the poetic quality of the river region.
Three artistic languages, three distinctive personalities, now co-present in one space to create a truly meaningful milestone. The spirit of rigorous artistic labour and the enduring creativity of the painters will surely serve as a great source of inspiration for the younger generations to come.
