Paralysed painter stares into the abyss
Fine arts shows are common, but it’s rare to see an exhibition that is also emotionally moving, but this is what painter Trinh Long has achieved.
Although Long couldn’t attend the opening of his first solo exhibition at the Viet Art Centre in Ha Noi on Wednesday, hundreds of his friends and fine arts lovers turned up to experience the extraordinary energy he has managed to create, despite struggling with a severe disability.
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Rage against the machine: The painting entitled Life was taken as the theme for painter Trinh Long’s solo exhibition. |
Ten years ago, at the age of 30, an accident in sport training left Long paralysed. After the tragedy, he quietly began to recreate his life. It culminated in this latest exhibition with the meaningful name, Life.
“Life is like climbing a steep mountain,” Long says. “One wrong move and you can slip and fall. To reach the peak, you must strive hard not to slip. I’m an unlucky climber who slipped, but I have tried not to fall into the abyss.
“With the support of my family, friends and acquaintances, I have tried to climb back, little by little. Maybe I will never reach the peak but I still have to climb, to try day by day. For me, even a little progress is a great success.”
For 10 years Long couldn’t move from his room. He painted from memory and his friends and relatives became portrait models.
Long, who is paralysed from the waist down, cannot hold the brush because he has limited use of his arms and cannot move his fingers. One of his friends made a brush holder from stainless steel tubes which he ties to his hand to paint.
Long’s Self Portrait is one of the most impressive paintings in the exhibition. In it Long is a statue standing in nature.
Painter Dao Ngoc Huynh says of the portrait: “Long paints his body as a fossil rock, illustrating the fact he is disabled. His face is painted like a tree which grows from the rock, as his will never die. The painting is imaginative and makes me think.”
Courage
Nina McCoy has walked with Long’s family for the last 10 years and is a character in one of his portraits.
“He learned to express himself through painting, even though he cannot grip a brush in his fingers,” Nina says. “The courage his family and he have shown is beyond description.
“There were many times we did not know if he would rebound from new physical challenges, but he always has.
“Long is never far from my mind and I hope that through this exhibit he will be in the minds of others as one of the truly brave people in this world.”
Each painting is the result of a major effort, of sweat and tears. Long says painting helps his imagination run free, makes him happy and helps him cope with challenges. Ngo Anh Co, vice director of Ha Noi University of Industrial Fine Arts, says he is moved by Long’s paintings.
“I knew Long when he was a student and then a teacher at my university, a strong man with enthusiasm in painting,” Co says.
“After 10 years, the flame of passion still burns and gives vitality to his works.” The exhibition will end next Wednesday at 42 Yet Kieu street, Ha Noi.
Source:vietnamnet.vn
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