Pham Quoc Hung
After running into Anh, Hung, and Jian Pham Quoc yesterday at the Kirkland Wednesday market I visited them again today at a Pioneer Square artist display to see some of Hung's new paintings. His more recent work uses a style closer to my original painting, a man playing music to a woman, with textured pebbles and intense, blended colors. I ended up buying two new medium size works, one a winter scene from Vietnam for my Colorado house, and another beatuful painting of a woman at peace with birds. I'm visiting their studio tomorrow before as they return to Vietnam for the Winter on Monday. I'll likely buy a few more paintings as future gifts as they haven't had as good of a sales year as those past and need money.
They invited Mary and I to visit with them in Vietnam anytime. Anh would help find us nice hotels (she said $10 / day you can find amazing hotels), and Hung would show us all the great out of the way places and sights. They said the artwork there is amazing since artists are free to think and spend significant time preparing for their work as opposed to rushing to sell them to pay high rents.
They mentioned two galleries online sell some of their work. I found one, biteofasia.com which had the following short biography on Hong:
"Pham Quoc Hung is a well-known Vietnamese artist who was born in Hue, a city located in central Vietnam and best known for its historical and cultural heritage (more about Hue). In 1992, Hung graduated from the Hue Fine Arts University and afterwards began his career as a professional artist.
Born and raised in a city filled with rich artistic tradition, Hung uses his watercolors to creatively capture Vietnamese life and scenery familiar to him. His work is greatly influenced by the allure of Vietnamese peasants and fishermen as well as the charm of places that he has visited. An award-winning artist, Hung has participated in exhibitions at the 1996 Group Painting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the National Art Exhibitions in Hanoi, Vietnam (1992, 1995) and the Vietnamese-French Cultural Artistic Festival in Hue and Paris, to name a few.
Currently Hung’s work is exhibited in over 100 art galleries, fine gift shops, resorts and private collections throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. Moreover, various companies have licensed Hung's artwork for use on a variety of their products, including but not limited to calendars. Hung depicts solitude in his paintings through scenes of resting, reading and praying, all of which naturally draw the viewer into each picture.
Hung’s delightful, charming and skillful portrayal of Vietnamese life and countryside have made him deservedly popular throughout Asia and in France. And more than any other Vietnamese painter he is responsible for the westerner’s familiarity with “Vietnamese Silk Paintings.” Indeed, his watercolors on silk combine technical virtuosity with a dramatic point of view."
