Unpublished artwork by painter Phan Kế An to be displayed
A series of paintings that have never been seen before by the the late artist Phan Kế An (1923-2018) will go
Every day, painter Phan Van Dac spends two hours brainstorming ideas and composing paintings from dried banana peels to introduce the homeland and people of Quang Binh.
Painter Van Dac is 79 years old this year, living with his children and grandchildren in a small house in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province, next to the Nhat Le river. The living room on the first floor is decorated with many large-sized paintings created by him with dried banana peels.
Introducing the painting That Luong, painter Dac told that many years ago he visited Laos. Looking at the magnificent tower, he sketched it out on paper to work with materials he discovered by himself. The picture is cut, assembled, and pasted with dried banana peels, with simple colors including yellow, cockroach wings, brown, and black.
Mr. Dac came to the painting of dried banana peels by accident. In 1965, he joined the army and was stationed on the western battlefield of Quang Tri. In a few minutes of resting in the hammock, he wanted to compose a work but couldn’t find a pen and paper around. Seeing that the banana forest was growing strongly among bombs and bullets, and around the banana trunks were tough, dry sheaths, he came up with the idea of compositing pictures from this material.
When he went to the army to borrow scissors, Mr. Dac cut it into a small picture of a ballet dancer, titled Spring Aspiration. On the march, he happened to meet an old friend who is a teacher, he gave him a picture, which was hung in the dormitory room. Many years later, when he meets again, he hears his friend lament: “Your paintings make me so miserable, I have not received a raise in 4 years”. The artistic concept of the time did not accept the image of a dancer in the painting, so the friend was in trouble, he explained.
He studied for three years at an intermediate level in mechanical engineering, but Mr. Dac did not follow the profession. In 1973, he was discharged from the army to work at the People’s Committee of Dong Hoi town (former), with the task of drawing pictures, making slogans, posters, etc. Recalling the wartime picture, in 1980 Mr. Dac began to research painting, creating many pictures from dried banana peels. At first, it was just small, simple pictures, encouraged by friends, he gradually became passionate. Since then, he has created about 700 paintings and opened three solo exhibitions.
“All my life I’ve been passionate about painting, I’ve been self-taught, self-researched, found materials, not going to school,” painter Van Dac confided and proudly “I built a house and raised children. thanks in the picture of banana peel”.
Retired in 2000, painter Van Dac composed more. Now that the economy and tourism are developing, many tourists and tourist areas come to buy his paintings. Domestic and foreign tourists buy paintings as souvenirs when visiting Quang Binh. The province also buys banana paintings and gives them to partners as a special gift.
Without using paints and brushes like many other painters, he went to banana gardens around Dong Hoi city, selected the dried sheaths on the stem to be cut, cleaned, dried, then flattened, treated to avoid termites. “You have to choose dried sheath on the body, not fresh cut and then dry it,” said Mr. Dac. When the gallery was very popular, his wife had to go to each banana garden, selectively cutting the dried sheaths so that he could spend time composing.
After coming up with the idea, he cut the processed banana peel, then mixed the colors of cockroach wings, brown, yellow, and black, and pasted it on a plywood bar, and today it is glued on the aluminum sheet (aluminum plastic sheet used in advertising). fox, interior), cage exterior, glazed or not. Today, the quality of the glue is good and there is moisture-proof technology, so the life of the painting is extended for decades.
The main themes in Dac’s paintings are historical relics, the army, landscape, and portraits. “The time for composing depends on inspiration, there are simple color paintings to do quickly, but there are concerns for many days,” he said. Usually paintings about history and landscapes, he devoted most of his heart to because “must bring his soul back to the painting”. Landscape paintings such as Hoang Phuc Pagoda, Old Way. .., he visited the place, sketched on paper, and then returned to compose.
“I put my paintings to exhibitions and won a number of prizes, but this land is small, so I can only develop my paintings to a certain extent,” he confided. The artist donated many paintings to the museum, such as the painting Huong lotus , a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh presented to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the key point of creation about liberation soldiers for the Vietnam Military Museum, a portrait of Dai General Vo Nguyen Giap donated to his hometown, Le Thuy…
Painter Van Dac is planning a creative camp in Da Nang next April and completing the book 80 years of life left for his children.
Painter Nguyen Luong Sang, Head of the Fine Arts Division (Quang Binh Literature and Art Association), said that painter Van Dac belongs to the first generation of Quang Binh fine arts and grew up in the cultural propaganda movement of Quang Binh. productive labor, resistance war against America, and nation-building. He has contributed to bringing the image of Quang Binh’s homeland, culture, and people to domestic friends and international tourists.
“Looking at his paintings, we can feel the warm breath from the earth, from the village, from the familiar corner of the garden. He is also very successful with the array of war topics built from sketches, Notes from the battlefield are adapted through banana peel material,” said artist Sang.
