At the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, artist Nguyen Trung Hieu opened his first solo exhibition titled Emergence – Disappearance – Space, presenting more than 40 artworks selected from five years of continuous artistic creation and research from 2020 to 2025.
Relief of a mother, 2023. Mixed media on paper, 78 x 108 cm.
The exhibition acts as a visual journal of Hieu’s artistic journey, focusing on the exploration of space through subtle transitions between appearance, disappearance, light, and the movement of the human form.
According to the artist, light affirms existence – it enables the emergence of form. Meanwhile, even the slightest bodily movement triggers disappearance – images fade as quickly as they form, leaving behind a space that exists eternally.
From this concept, Hieu constructs an artistic world where the human being is both material and idea, and where the boundary between reality and illusion becomes blurred.
The exhibition invites viewers to embark on a contemplative experience through space – a realm where people emerge, vanish, and regenerate within domains of light and awareness.
Am I beautiful No. 2, 2022. Mixed media on paper, 106 x 157 cm.
Art critic and researcher Vu Huy Thong commented: “Hieu’s paintings emphasize spatial depth, bending and twisting it. His figures seem to be half-emerging, half-fading. Many Vietnamese artists have painted nude subjects, but no one does it quite like Hieu.”
Alongside the exhibition, Nguyen Trung Hieu also released a book bearing the same title, Emergence – Disappearance – Space, published by Fine Arts Publishing House, summarizing his five-year artistic exploration.
Nguyen Trung Hieu (born 1974) graduated from the Department of Graphic Arts at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 1996. He previously participated in notable group exhibitions such as 36/59/74 (2017, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum) and Silhouettes (2025, Vietnam University of Fine Arts).
The exhibition is free and open to the public until October 16.
