Tiếng Việt
Hà Trí Hiếu
The Artist
“Each painter has his or her own light. Scientific light appears in Renaissance and classical painting, there is mythical light in El Greco’s work, religious light in Rembrandt’s … In Ha Tri Hieu’s work one encounters the light of the earth, a melancholically dark light reflected from a place without origin. Like a sad story that is shared only with the void.” – Thai Ba Van, Vietnamese art critic, in Ha Tri Hieu: Red River Gallery 1996.
Hieu was interested in studying architecture and yet his father, who passed by the Indochine Arts School each day, longed for his son to follow an artist’s path. His father enrolled him in the class of Pham Viet Song to prepare him for the examination for the Fine Arts School and it was there Hieu met fellow Gang of Five members Hong Viet Dung and Dang Xuan Hoa who were also preparing for the exam. He would gain entrance into the Industrial Fine Arts University in Hanoi where he met Pham Quang Vinh and later Tran Luong.
Hieu, soul of the earth, inhabits a special place in this band of five artists. Solid, gentle and accepting, he embodies the countryside that is the soul of this nation. Born into a Confucian family, Hieu was raised to uphold many of Vietnam’s most valued ideals—most importantly the honor and reverence for the ancestors that serves as the foundation of the Vietnamese culture.
Although 1996 marks the last time the Gang of Five showed together as a group, each member continued to form relationships with other galleries and exhibit abroad in solo and group exhibitions. Hieu continued to exhibit in Hanoi and in 1996 opened his first solo exhibition Light of the Earth, at the Red River Gallery. 1998 the Mai Gallery in Hanoi presented Hieu’s solo exhibition about which the esteemed art critic, Nguyen Quan, says, “Ha Tri Hieu is possessed by an ardent yet shyly self-conscious passion which finds its expression in the impetuosity of colors combined with a refined subtleness of light, that seems to be enlivened by the sudden gush-out of a long-repressed vitality. Featureless faces with white yawnings instead of mouths, from which soar up silent songs. Cows, sometimes elongated yet giving nonetheless an impression of squareness, usually of a quiet earthy colour of soil like the peasant’s life. In Hieu, brims that pastoral quality of a rural soul not yet urbanized.”
Throughout the latter part of the decade Hieu exhibited extensively abroad in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Japan, Norway and the United States. Hieu’s works are in the collections of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam, the Singapore Art Museum, the National Museum of Malaysia and in private collections worldwide.
1959 Born in Hanoi, Vietnam
Native place: Kim An commune, Ha Tay province
1983 Graduated from the Hanoi Industrial Fine Arts College
1991-01 Worked for the Vietnamese People’s Army Newspaper
Featuring Dang Xuan Hoa, Ha Tri Hieu, Pham Quang Vinh, Tran Luong & Hong Viet Dung
A celebration of acclaimed Vietnamese artists mastering tradition with depth and distinction
From the wild west of Montana to the eastern shores.
A celebration of acclaimed Vietnamese artists mastering tradition with depth and distinction
Featuring Dang Xuan Hoa, Ha Tri Hieu, Pham Quang Vinh, Tran Luong & Hong Viet Dung
Lunar Creatures, Painted Tales
The twelve animals of the Vietnamese zodiac have been intricately woven into the spiritual and cultural fabric of the nation over the course of millennia The Zodiac in Vietnamese Cultural Heritage The twelve...
Freedom In Abundance
Following the Renovation reforms, Vietnamese artists embraced the use of found objects, transforming everyday materials into powerful symbols of freedom, identity, and social commentary The Rise of Found Object Art in Post-Renovation Vietnam Following...
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Ha Tri Hieu
2016
Nest by AIA, Hanoi, Vietnam
Portraits
2014
Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Flower
2012
Eight Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
My Way
2008
Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Ha Tri Hieu
1998
Mai Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
The light of the earth
1996
Red River Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Chancing Modern
2018
The Factory Contemporary Arts Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Gang of Five
2017
Vietnam Film Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam Now
2012
The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong
Sosabeol International Art Expo
2007
Sosaboel, South Korea
Vision & Resonance
2005
Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore
15 Tracks
03/2003
Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, traveling ASEANCOCI exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, The Japan Foundation, Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, Vietnamese Fine Arts exhibition, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
36 Ideas from Asia
03/2002
Singapore Fine Arts Museum, Singapore
Vietnamese Identity
2000
Exhibition in Melbourne, Australia
Dialogue
1999
Exhibition in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Vietnam in the 20th century
1998
European Union, Brussels, Belgium
Color Country
Vietnam Express
1997
Gallery 19, Hanoi, Vietnam
Contemporary Arts from Vietnam, Oslo, Norway
Vietnamese Fine Arts after Doi Moi
A Winding River – The Journey of Contemporary Art in Vietnam
Spirit of the Vietnamese Village with Phan Cam Thuong
1997
Fujita Vente Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Meridian International Center, Washington D.C., USA
Galerie La Vong, Hong Kong
Gang of Five
1997
London, UK
Gang of Five
Group exhibition
New Vietnamese Painting
1996
Galerie La Vong, Hong Kong
Cicada Gallery of Fine Arts, Singapore
Contemporary Arts Exhibition, Thailand
6 Vietnamese Artists, Yokohama Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
1995
Contemporary Vietnamese Fine Art, Itoyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Weather Report Exhibition. An art collaboration of Asian and Netherlands artists
1995
The Netherlands, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong
Collaborations, 6 Day workshop in Dai Lai with Hong Viet Dung, Ha Tri Hieu, Dang Xuan Hoa, Tran Luong, Pham Quang Vinh, Viet Hai, Hans Van Bentem, Rienke Enghardt
1995
Mai Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Exhibition of Artistic Portraits with Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sang, Duong Bich Lien, Hoang Lap Ngon, Van Cao, Tran Dung Luong, Trong Kiem, Viet Hai, Van Tho, Kim Thai, Hoang Dinh Tai, Nguyen Quan, Dang Xuan Hoa, Hoang Hong Cam, Ha Tri Hieu, Pham Quang Vinh, Tran Luong, Viet Dung, Tran Tuan
1990
Gallery No.7 Hang Khay, Hanoi, Vietnam
Gang of Five
1993
16 Ngo Quyen, Hanoi, Vietnam
Turtle Key Arts Centre, London, UK
Group Exhibition of five artists (Hong Viet Dung, Dang Xuan Hoa, Ha Tri Hieu, Tran Luong, Pham Quang Vinh)
1991
Gallery Thanh Nien, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Portrait, group of five artists (Hong Viet Dung, Dang Xuan Hoa, Ha Tri Hieu, Tran Luong, Pham Quang Vinh), exhibition commemorating the centenary of Van Gogh
09/1990
Gallery No.7 Hang Khay, Hanoi, Vietnam
Exhibition of Artistic Portraits with Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sang, Duong Bich Lien, Hoang Lap Ngon, Van Cao, Tran Dung Luong, Trong Kiem, Viet Hai, Van Tho, Kim Thai, Hoang Dinh Tai, Nguyen Quan, Dang Xuan Hoa, Hoang Hong Cam, Ha Tri Hieu, Pham Quang Vinh, Tran Luong, Viet Dung, Tran Tuan
12/1990
Gallery No.7 Hang Khay, Hanoi, Vietnam
PUBLICATIONS
The Light of Earth
1996
Red River Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Ha Tri Hieu
1998
Mai Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Ha Tri Hieu
2006
Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
Flower 2012
2012
Eight Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
MEMBERSHIPS
Member of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association
COLLECTIONS
Singapore National Art Museum
National Museum of Malaysia
Vietnam Fine Art Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam
