ArtBlue Studio

Royal Lady

Artist Profile

Bui Huu Hung was born in Vietnam’s northern capital city of Hanoi in 1957. Since the age of 18, Hung has been fascinated with lacquer. Hung has been a member of the Vietnam Artists Association since 1986 and the International Lacquer Artists Association since 1996. Lacquer painting, unique to Vietnam, involves applying various layers of carefully chosen pigments embellished with shiny gold and silver leaf and white crushed duck eggshells onto multiple layers of translucent lacquer. This renders complex paintings with dramatic lustre and a captivating three dimensional effect.

Bui Huu Hung rejuvenates this ancient art of Lacquer painting with a distinctively original approach. His paintings are grand in setting but intimate in likeness. His central theme is regal women, adorned in richly decorated colourful gowns with their eyes set forward, as if sizing up and contemplating. Their expressions are delicate and reveal a range of emotions, from confidence to languor.

Ornamental designs fill the background and his choice of colour and design influences the personality of the paintings, adding depth and heightening the colour contrast. His figures exist in an illusory space, unanchored by earth and sky. The addition of rich gold leaf creates beautiful nuances of light that shines through the lacquer.

Through his work, he bestows upon the women an almost mystical grace. Bui Huu Hung rejuvenates this ancient art of Lacquer painting with a distinctively original approach. His paintings are grand in setting but intimate in likeness. His central theme is regal women, adorned in richly decorated colourful gowns with their eyes set forward, as if sizing up and contemplating. Their expressions are delicate and reveal a range of emotions, from confidence to languor.

Ornamental designs fill the background and his choice of colour and design influences the personality of the paintings, adding depth and heightening the colour contrast. His figures exist in an illusory space, unanchored by earth and sky. The addition of rich gold leaf creates beautiful nuances of light that shines through the lacquer. Through his work, he bestows upon the women an almost mystical grace.