With time, lacquer art took shape and progressed. Three great artists were associated with this medium – Nguyen Gia Tri, Nguyen Tu Nghiem and Nguyen Sang – and their works seemed to have set the style of this art form. But in the early nineties, there appeared a new wave in Vietnamese lacquer painting. Mr Bui Huu Hung is among the artists of this “movement”. He has embarked on a risky venture. Indeed, no innovation is free from peril. He fully rejects the concept that an artistic language is limited by the artistic medium, and applies European chiaroscuro in the depiction of people and objects even though this is extremely difficult in lacquer work. A few predecessors had repeatedly tried to do it. 

Enjoying Bui Huu Hung paintings   Art is often a representation of the general experience of mankind, but here, this representation is the artist’s own, wholly separate and unique. Bui Huu Hung’s works are beautifully varied, yet they centre around a common theme - the  theme of recollection, of memory. He has discovered how to create this bittersweet feeling in his paintings, using soft lights to shine on things past, to revive past desires. Hung’s work has a central theme, but simple names. Names such as “Mood”, “The past”, “Mother of Saint”, “Pagoda Teacher”, “By the fire” evoke a spirituality, a magic. This seemingly simple spirituality is Hung’s genius. His lucidity easily penetrates the soul of the viewer. Hung’s style is unique, yet constant. This deliberate simplification of style easily a voids possible monotony and, instead, reaches the viewer in a more profound way. The uncomplicated square or nearly square shape of his paintings is yet another intentional simplification. This shape reminds the viewer of the “square and circle” “canon in Vietnamese tradition, the cradle of Vietnamese life. “Square and circle” expresses the  desire to have good weather and simple life. The “square and circle” dogma is commonly accepted by students of art as representing the standard, simple value of beauty. The square shape of the paintings, together with the lack of a main colour, shows us a carefully planned  arrangement. The human figure at centre of the painting and the large dusky space in the background, which seemingly dwarfs the human shape, is not restrictive, nor over – formulated. The space is sky, wide with silent, dark colour, with blue, pink and white creating levels of “ time colour”. The viewer is left in a timeless state of memory, floating among the colours. There are a few colours – violet and blue for incense urns, traditional purple alcohol bottles and high - bottomed bowls -  but their co-ordination brings the past alive. As I stand in front of a painting. There is not one clear thing that I obtain, but nostalgia dots my mind. These memories I have already met once, lived with for a while, and forgot them. They come back in front of Hung’s works. Remembering my mother’s punishment for playing in the pagoda yard and getting soaked with summer rainwater – an empty belly. Remembering a clear, quiet summer noon, under the shadow of the grapefruit tree with a cool southern wind blowing, reading the diary of Mr. Nguyen Van Xe, “Remember Mr. Han Mac Tu”, our famous poet. This is a passage in which Tu’s mother cries at her son’s grave. “She looked much older than her age, and so many tears feel”. I stopped reading for a moment to remember Mr. Han Mac Tu, to sympathise with his mother, and to recollect a verse of his poem “Loneliness”. “Oh God, it is terrible in mind The loneliness lasts for so long”. The power of Hung’s work is exemplified by the evocation of a vivid memory, which is clear and thought provoking. By professor and art critic Nguyen Ngoc Dung  

“…Fine art lacquer will be a great contemporary fine art revolution in future.” Said by a famous Vietnam artist at National Art Festival in The Northernmost Vietnam Base, an anti-French colonialist year’s 50’ last century.  Famous artist Nguyen Gia Tri also said, “…owning a lacquer painting is likely keeping a high value antique and it’ value prices increases yearly and the value also clams up the great value that artist who created it could not imagine.”  We wonder if Vietnam fine art lacquer could create a great revolution for contemporary fine art expecting of famous artist To Ngoc Van or all lacquer paintings could be respect keeping as value antique as famous artist Nguyen Gia Tri said!  For me , “to create a lacquer painting is likely nightly ceremony – starting my works, always clean, tranquility, sit in straightly… and the first draw always starts from the center of hard wood. ”  I think m every painting carries a story, a fate at the first draw lines appear by artist!   Bui Huu Hung artist

Many years ago, while visiting a friend of mine, I was truck with surprise when I saw in his living-room a large lacquer painting several teenage girls in their traditional dress. What a beautiful painting! I looked very ancient, with subjects apparently from folk stories, in the dim, diffused light of pagodas and temples. I was told on this occasion that the author was artist Bui Huu Hung.              The painting unrelentingly obsessed me afterwards, which urged me to try to meet Hung. It was not until 1997 that I was able to see him. It was almost incredible when a very young painter stood before me, so unaffected and simple, quite contrary to the image I had pictured in my mind. We have become close friends since then.              ‘My grandfather often began his story thus : “Once upon a time, in a certain village…” . Those are Hung’s words whenever I ask him about some picture that we are admiring together. I heartily thank him then because after each viewing my inspiration seems to be refilled with fresh vigour, a stimulus truly autochthonal , absolutely different from the clamorous, boisterous and modern that surround us day in, day out.              I am very happy to be able to hold an exhibition of his paintings now and grateful to him for this. Allow me to express my sincere thanks to Professor Ngoc Dung, Ms Pham Quang Vinh , Ms Nora Taylor and my colleagues at Apricot Gallery , the friends who help me publish this catalogue. I would also like to warmly thank Mr Stephen McGuinness and Mrs Jacqueline Huong Lim at Plum Blossoms Gallery who have joined our efforts to present artist Bui Huu Hung’s works to art lovers worldwide.                                                                         Forework by Ngo Tan Trong Nghia                                               

Now 53 years old, Bui Huu Hung is one of the most renowned , respected and important contemporary artists in Vietnam. He is also one of the most original – the undisputed maser of the challengingly complex and mysterious art of lacquer painting. He has taken an ancient Vietnamese craft and technique and breathed new life into it, producing works of astonishing refinement, understated elegance and timeless beauty.