Picture perfect

I’ve often heard Co Do, situated in Ha Tay province, described as a village of artists and conjured up fanciful images of a town full of men wandering around wearing berets while sketching each other. I decided it was time to see it for myself.

The town is quiet and peaceful just as you’d expect in the north of Vietnam. The farmers I spot don’t have a brush in their hands and no one I see at first is poised behind an easel while painting a watercolour. As I walk down the street, there’s no sign of an art gallery or painting studio and I wonder have I been the victim of extreme embellishment.

Then I stumble upon the small museum-cum-house, which belonged to the late Nguyen Si Tot. I’m aware of Si Tot’s work as an artist. He is regarded as one of the masters of Vietnamese fine art in the 20th century and is considered to be the vanguard artist of the village.

Born to a poor family in 1919, after graduating from the Fine Arts College, he created a number of significant works to the fine arts scene throughout the 20th century.

Over 150 pastel, gouache and oil paintings and sketches, and the objects of Si Tot are displayed in the museum now, while his work can also be seen at the Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi.

I meet Si Tot’s grandson, Nguyen Van Nhat, who lives nearby with his family. He lived with his grandfather when he was born, so Si Tot taught him how to draw. While not the master his grandfather was, he clearly loves to draw. His house is full of sketches and paintings of people, flowers and landscapes.

“I do not have talent like my grandfather but I still love to draw as he did,” says Nhat, who adds that there are 10 people in Si Tot’s family pursuing art as a career.

Nhat agrees to take me to visit some of the other artists in the village. Along the way he tells me that the small village is home to more than 60 professional and amateur painters. Eleven of them are members of Vietnam Fine Arts Association. Over 30 are active members of Co Do village arts club.

We visit the house of an amateur artist, a disabled veteran called Nguyen Ngoc Kui. The 65-year-old is paralysed in the right arm and so he paints with his left hand. His jaw was also badly scarred when fighting in the war.

But despite his troubles, both past and present, Kui’s paintings are cozy, familiar and bright depictions of the countryside and his village.

“I’ve liked drawing since I was young. I saw my uncle Si Tot painting, so I studied for a short of time with him then I learn to paint more by myself,” says Ngoc Kui. “I will paint the beautiful fields around my village till the end of my life.”

Kui’s son Nguyen Van Vo, is a talented sculptor, who is currently collobrating on a sculpture in Dien Bien Phu.

“In 1990, Vo was 12 years old and we had to make bricks to build our house. I remember watching Vo knead the clay into beautiful animal-shapes. So I decided to pay for him to study at the Fine Arts University to become a sculptor,” says Kui.

Next we visit another amateur artist, Nguyen Huy Khoi, whose house is a picture in itself with a red brick yard and a colourful garden.

Now 65 years old, Khoi is the headmaster of Co Do Primary School and seems far younger than his age. He is a passionate painter whose name is well known to those moving in the Ha Tay literature and art circles.
Khoi also loves to paint landscapes as well as still-life. He often travels for work and sketches every beautiful thing he sees along the way.

“No one knows exactly when the Co Do villagers found this passion for painting. When we were children we drew with chalk on red bricks in the yard. Then we drew on paper and then on canvas. Some ended up in art college, others in the Universities of Fine Arts. But some of us stayed at home to do gardening, farming, carpentering, cattle breeding or teaching but we still kept on painting,” says Khoi. “Painting seems to be a natural characteristic of our villagers, rather than a means to a living.”

Next, we visit a large villa on the outskirts of the village. This is where Hoang Tuan Viet lives and works as an art teacher. Viet, who also teaches art at Co Do secondary school, is another enthusiastic member of the village’s arts club and teaches children for free at home. As we arrive, a group of 20 kids rush out the door.

Despite a busy schedule, Viet still spends four hours a day at weekends to open two classes. Not only does he teach for free, but he provides the kids with materials.

“I’m very happy when my pupils pass the entrance exams for the fine arts college and then became my fellow artist,” says Viet. “I don’t consider painting or running the classes as a livelihood. But I feel very satisfied when I hear of Co Do’s rising reputation as a village for fine art. However I do not want to turn my village into a craft village,” Viet emphasises. “I am just proud that our village is home to so many art lovers and artists.”

Viet sends me off to visit the artist Tran Hoa, one of the most respected artists after Si Tot in the village. Now 70 years old, I take Hoa to be a man of few words, so I browse around eyeing up his paintings as he sits drinking his tea.

He has dedicated his life to painting, which is quite apparent in his expressiveness in each and every piece, no matter whether his subject is a person or a landscape.

After his cup of tea, he suddenly becomes quite outspoken but he does not speak of his work besides uttering, “Your work reflects truthfully your soul and life.” Instead he speaks of Co Do and he agrees with Viet that it’s wonderful to live amongst such an openly artistic community.

“But I do not care for a brand name such as Co Do art village,” he says.

He doesn’t want to analyse what made the art so popular. As an artist he doesn’t like to veer from his instincts.

“We paint to make our souls more refined but also to bring the beauty to the masses,” is all he says.
In Co Do village there’s no hunger for commercialization. Each of these individuals is an artist in the truest sense of the word. Each one is happy to pursue their passion for art, living by the Latin maxim that life is short, but art is long.

Source Vietnamnet