Phuong
Quoc Tri has found in Expressionism the language that is fit with his
burning creative energy. He did not set out to choose nude as the
motive for his paintings. His images of naked men and women, painted
with strong expression, come about as result of depressed loneliness and
seemingly unbearable hardship of daily life. Through the explosive
passion as expressed in nude images, Tri has also found for himself a
way to express the illusion and mystery of a double life, in which
hidden passions are allowed to flow freely with all of their surprises
and charms to the eyes.
The
curves and the sexual softness often seen in nude paintings seem to be
too weak for Tri’s emotions. They had to give space to the other
spectrum of emotions --- so tense, so extreme, so strong as well as so
masculine. That is why even in his paintings of families or mother and
sons, we can feel a visual depression, taking us to a life where people
have to fight to embrace life and to overcome life’s hardship.
To
Phuong Quoc Tri, painting is the journey to freedom --- free to
discover himself and his deep emotions; free to play with improvising
figures and blocks. Tri becomes his true self when he is no longer bound
within emotional limits.
The
intensity felt in the figurative movements in Tri’s paintings act like a
breeze to the paintings themselves, helping to balance the oppressed
desires of the painter who is so keen to express himself and his own
view.
With
a collection of 24 paintings done in 2007-2008, Phung Quoc Tri has
lifted his paintings to even a stronger level of emotions, through
getting rid of unneeded details of the body figures. In a number of his
new works, we can see figures that are like they have been roughly
sculpted, showing all their solidness and rawness, quite typical in
sculpture. We can clearly see the sculptural nature in Tri’s paintings.
The inner twisting with pain formerly seen in his works has become
less, giving way to a calmer and quieter view.
It
looks like Tri never tires of finding himself and his emotions when he
paints --- that is also where he is found least balanced. There, behind
each stroke of his is the movement of his model, carrying with it the
emotions of the artist. It is like we are enjoying a contemporary dance,
captivated by the choreography which has been brought to life by the
movements of the dancer’s own muscles In that dance, the body has raised
up its voice, forcing us to feel more than just the colors of the
paints in the painting. Against the monologue of a single color, there
is a private story of an individual, with his own joys and sorrows,
dilemmas and depressions, worries and hope, desires and dreams. All are
alive, through the passion of a human body and its movements…, in the
performance of a contemporary dance.
Hanoi Studio