The painting “soldier holding a torn flag” at the Dien Bien Phu painting exhibition caused fierce controversy

Pause the exhibition “Dien Bien Phu” to “avoid misunderstanding”

On the afternoon of May 7, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports asked to suspend the exhibition “Dien Bien Phu” by artist Mai Duy Minh on the grounds that “there is information that some paintings may be misleading”. “. In particular, the picture “a soldier holding a torn flag” is controversial. This unit also announced that it will set up a re-examination committee and make a conclusion in the shortest time possible.

Previously, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports issued license number 133/GP-SVHTT for this exhibition. According to the plan, artist Mai Duy Minh will be able to display 88 works at the Museum House, Vietnam University of Fine Arts from May 7 to May 20. However, after receiving a document from the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports decided to request the organizers to stop the opening ceremony. .

Talk to PV Vietnamese peoplea representative of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports confirmed: The Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports has worked with the author, the venue management agency and relevant parties to agree to suspend the organization. Organized an exhibition with the theme “Dien Bien Phu”.

The notice that the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports made on the afternoon of May 8 also said: “After receiving information about the exhibition, there are still different opinions about some works that need further clarification. To avoid misunderstandings, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports has worked with the author, the venue management agency to request the suspension and the relevant parties to agree to suspend the exhibition. Having concluded, the Department of Culture and Sports will notify relevant units and individuals.”

Meanwhile, painter Mai Duy Minh shared that he will answer the press when there is an official response from the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports.

“Censorship is inevitable in any country”

Although the parties involved are temporarily silent, the temporary suspension of the “Dien Bien Phu” painting exhibition is causing heated debates in public opinion. While many artists think that this is a strict act with artistic creation, many other opinions believe that the work of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports is correct, when the painting won Dien Bien when The painting “soldier holding a torn flag” depicts a soldier who is too thin and austere, in his hand is a ragged flag.

Journalist Chien Van said: “The painting depicts a Dien Bien soldier in a heroic historical moment of the nation with his posture, distorted and deformed face, deformed eyes, and a torn flag in his hand. It’s hard to understand that some people still praise and defend the author. They think that’s art. And art must reflect reality?!

I don’t know much about painting, but when I look at the picture, I see three things: One is that the overall picture is too bad. Second, it does not reflect reality. The third is the feeling that the person who drew this picture does not have a positive view. People with national spirit, when thinking about Dien Bien soldiers, will immediately think of heroic, majestic, majestic and glorious images. The victory with the stature of “splendid five continents, shaking the world” is not reproduced through this sloppy, smeared, distorted image???

It is true that art is to respect creativity, not to impose, to be rigid. But no matter how creative you are, you must also aim for the beauty and the positive, especially when you want to display it in a dignified place, on the great anniversary of the country.”

Having painted many pictures on the subject of soldiers and war, artist Trieu Khac Le said he had heard about the “Dien Bien Phu” exhibition being suspended. When he saw some paintings on the internet, he didn’t really like them, however, because he had not seen the paintings directly, he could not draw specific conclusions: “However, I can confirm that the subject of war is the subject of war. a difficult subject. The artist has to include in it creativity and new elements, and at the same time respond to the nation’s history, culture and traditions.”

In the opposite direction, share with PV Vietnamese peoplethe famous art curator Ace Le said: “As for the reason why the anatomy is not satisfactory, I consider it inadequate, because as many professional colleagues have said, Mai Duy Minh is one of the painters. Doctor, alumnus of Hanoi University of Fine Arts with the best visual skills, with stable practice for the past 20 years and many works that have entered specialized scholarly publications. this for 10 years with thousands of sketches, so every detail is an expensive intention.

Regarding stylistic shaping, in the past, Mai Duy Minh pursued the surrealist school, and in recent years he has turned to reality, but his reality is not the reality of description, but the reality of mind- thought. Therefore, this painting cannot be considered as a painting directed by the government to draw (commission) but force it to strictly follow the main ideology of the “proposer” such as the design of banners, commemorative banners. events, or even commissioned portraits that can be commented “this place is missing a mole, there I want to add a good book to read”. This is a complete work, which itself has its own expression of a kind of artist’s realism; and freedom to create is a fundamental right of an artist.

Back to the point here – is such a drawing defaming the soldiers, the people, or the state? I think no. Looking at the unflattering reality of a military conflict is another kind of illuminating and essential to raising the costs of war on both sides. Did the artist only draw emaciated Vietnamese soldiers? The French soldier who fell to the ground was also very desperate in the hour of life and death, leaving his gun on the ground, just holding up a tiny picture of his loved one in his hand, right? Both sides, win or lose, have suffered huge losses in the process; And that’s a necessary lesson for all of humanity.”

Meanwhile, painter Dinh Cong Dat commented: “Painter Mai Duy Minh is a talented person who works carefully, without sloppiness. He is also a very realistic painter, always depicting everything to the very detail. The fact that a soldier has a distorted face as people think, or that the flag is torn is not accidental, spontaneous or weak. He wants to describe the fight like that. In my opinion, perhaps perhaps. Duy Minh wants to portray a realistic image after 51 days and nights of hard and persistent fighting.

People were just looking at the war from its beautiful side, without thinking that it was simply one individual’s view of the battle. We may or may not like this point of view, but we cannot say that the artist is bad.”

Talking about the issue of censorship, painter Dinh Cong Dat said: “Not only now, and not only in Vietnam, but still the issue of censorship creates controversy and frustration among artists. All countries. People all over the world have that problem with artists, including countries like the US, France…

Those who censor them are not necessarily ignorant, or do not understand art, but they need to balance the interests of a community and an author. Second, the goals of the artist and the manager are sometimes not identical on one axis, so the occurrence of conflict is not difficult to understand.

As a long-time artist, it is very important to understand and balance our own aspirations as well as the biosphere where we live. It’s not because of censorship that we scream “I don’t make art anymore”. Nor is it because we are not censored that we act sloppily.

Censored works are not necessarily good works, and censored authors are not necessarily pioneers. Let’s treat censorship as a normal matter when making art.”