"Duong Lang" is among hundreds of silk and watercolor paintings by Khoa on display until Oct. 15 at The World ArtSpace in Ho Chi Minh City's Thu Duc City.
The artist, who was born in Hanoi and studied at the Vietnam College of Fine Arts (the predecessor to Indochina Fine Arts College), dabbled in many different styles and subjects, but is most known for his landscapes and scenes from daily life.
A watercolor painting depicts the peaceful scene of a countryside market.
The northern midland and mountainous region's temples and pagodas, as well as the distinctive cultural nuances of rural life, are vividly recreated through the 86-year-old artist's use of romantic realism.
The artist claims that he paints in order to reminisce about simpler times, transporting viewers to a world where people cultivate rice, sail boats, run street stalls beneath banyan trees, youngsters herd buffaloes and women wear traditional headdresses and hats.
Khoa draws inspiration from daily northern activities like old people playing with their children and grandkids, weaving baskets, mending nets, catching fish and others.
The image of people wearing traditional ao tu than (four-part dress) and headdresses against the backdrop of the temple scenery, brings to mind the splendor of national beliefs and culture.
"Hoi Tha Den" (Lantern Festival) is one of the author's forays into the medium of silk painting.
The artist claims that the dreamlike hue is the consequence of a marriage between his drawing style and the natural smudges on the background of silk and do paper, made from the inner bark of the do tree and historically produced in villages across Vietnam.
The author highlights the raw beauty of rice fields, trees, waterfalls and others in his landscape paintings.
Picturesque scenes of young Thai ethnic women among the mountains and terraced fields of ripe, golden rice.
The silk painting "Duoi Trang" (Under The Moon) depicts a young northern woman sitting alone under the moonlight.
The collection also includes several other silk and watercolor paintings that show Khoa's compositional approach to the northern midlands and mountains theme, helping viewers discover the artist's enduring creative journey.
A visitor takes a closer look at one of Khoa's pieces.
The director of Fine Arts Publishing House, Dang Thi Bich Ngan, was there and remarked on how his paintings convey an idyllic and ordinary theme while still containing a meditative attitude through delicate lines.
Dang Quy Khoa, a painter born in Hanoi in 1936, studied oil painting at the Vietnam College of Fine Arts and graduated first in his class (1957–1962). He started doing less and less painting after an accident in 2014 weakened his right hand.
