Hai Hoang

Art surrounds man, art is in life and art is in man. But the journey to ‘art’ is such a long and winding road. So far away, the road to art seems to be as convoluted as the road to Buddhism’s enlightenment. ‘There is no journey to Nirvana/ Nirvana is the journey’. Nirvana and art are the final destinations, the ‘other side’, but to reach that harbor far far away, to grasp on that ‘shore’ - there are millions of ways, each method is a little bit different, for each soul is a bit different. Like passengers waiting for the arrival of a train, we are all bound to our own ‘stations’, treading towards different journeys in life. As I mentioned above, ‘happiness’ is part of the journey to ‘art’. Easy, but enigmatic as well. Be that as it may, free will is a concept that transcends man. After all, when the ‘free’ to the ‘will’ is blessed - it is left to one’s value to make the right choice. For every human soul, there exists a predestined path - fate follows one’s intrinsic will: a paralleling line between free will and destiny. The same goes for art - men aren’t designated to love or make art: art follows men. It is not man’s nature to ‘try’ - trying to love art is against man's will - some men spend a life dedicated to making art, ‘trying’ is common but one’s life does not have much space for ‘try’. Art is the beginning, and also the endgame. Creating art is creating one’s ‘self’ - transforming what we have to what they see. To make art is to find ourselves again. Art is the ‘shore’, but after all, art is also the journey.

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I might have been quite ‘lengthy’, because I found myself contemplating Hoang Long Hai’s artwork while writing this: 10 paintings, 1 audiovisual artwork and a piece of music. He didn’t choose to swim over the shore, the same way he didn’t choose art. Making music, poetry, reading books, listening to music, designing, photography - living, creating and Hoang Long Hai is all in one. It’s just the way it is. The medium of the message never really matters - some choose oil paints, some choose enamel, even tapes, dried leaves. As long as one’s emotion is the medium as well.

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I asked Hai: ‘What do you desire?’
‘Nothing, at all.’ - Hai answered.

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That is nihilism - it is Hai’s nature. No ‘needs’ or ‘wants’, no desire to be anywhere other than the ‘now’. As the way things should be. All the art, the poetry, the prose, the music, the graphic design, the photographs - nothing really matters. The talent elevates man from the ‘0’ to the ‘1’. But from the ‘1’ to the ‘100’ - one’s knowledge is the way. Long Hai’s artwork is in black and white, but in that gray area in between are stories - the simple stories: sad and happy, gains and losses - they are the foundation of Hai’s art. It is how those enormous paintings can truly ‘withstand’. It brings colours to a colourless world. It creates the ‘figure’ of ‘glass’. In his first solo exhibition, Hai named his series: ‘Glassy Figures’ - so translucent, so delicate like the tender age of 18. So vulnerable. But vulnerability is part of the way things work too. So fragile, but such a firm beginning in his journey in the world of contemporary art.

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18 - so free, so pure. Glass is just glass, but glass always absorbs the shining light. ‘Chan Khong - Dieu Huu’ - only when the heart is hollow, the eyes become clear. Life is a collection of so many different glassy figures. As Buddha said: ‘One is all, all is one’ - Long Hai discovered this philosophy through a song lyric by Kurt Cobain: ‘All in all is all we are’. Hai is a multimedia artist - Hai is all in his art, and Hai’s art is all in him. There are paintings that are inspired by a poem, there are poems that are inspired by a painting. There are the poems that are the paintings - Long Hai attaches poetry to his art, forming a bigger whole. Most of Hai’s artwork incorporated multiple mediums - the medium is part of the message.

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I cordially wish Long Hai to ‘always see the sunrise’ - and it is a pleasure to announce ‘Glassy Figures’ to fellow art lovers.

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Le Thiet Cuong
12.2021