HÀ NỘI — Lê Thiết Cương, one of Việt Nam's most celebrated contemporary artists, passed away on the evening of July 17 after a battle with cancer. He was 63.

Born in 1962, Cương was a pivotal figure in the development of modern Vietnamese art. He left an indelible mark on the contemporary painting scene with his distinctive minimalist style.

His artistic journey was unconventional. After attending high school in Hà Nội from 1973 to 1980 without formal art training, he later studied at the Hanoi Film School from 1985 to 1990, focusing on design and animation.

Cương's career began with his first solo exhibition in Hà Nội in 1987, followed by a series of successful shows in Việt Nam in 1991, 1992, and 1993.

He gained international recognition in 1995 with his first solo exhibition abroad, titled The Quiet Path, held in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Two years later, he participated in the Young Vietnamese Artists group exhibition in Paris and the Vietnamese Art Post-Opening show in Washington, D.C. That same year, he mounted another major solo exhibition, Changing Perspectives, at the Plum Blossoms Gallery in both Hong Kong and Singapore.

The artist held an exhibition titled Việt Nam in the New Era at the Andy Jilien Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1998, and Vision at the Plum Blossoms Gallery in Hong Kong and Singapore.

From 2003 to 2006, Cương had exhibitions almost every year abroad, including locations such as Bangkok (Thailand), New York (US), and Rome (Italy).

His artworks are part of the collections at the National Museum of Singapore, Deutsche Bank AG (Vietnam), and ABN Amro Bank (Singapore), as well as numerous other private collections.

A diverse talent

Cương is a multifaceted artist who works in various fields.

He designed stages for music shows featuring Tùng Dương, Giang Trang, and poetry nights for Vi Thùy Linh, among others.

As an interior designer, Cương hold a particular passion for chair designs. He even had a substantial portfolio dedicated to his chair creations. Additionally, he worked in ceramics, incorporating many messages related to Buddhism into his pieces.

As a book cover designer, Cương illustrated covers for the works of notable authors such as Nguyễn Huy Thiệp, Hoàng Ngọc Hiến, Nguyễn Quang Lập, and Nguyễn Quang Thiều, among others. His book covers were beautifully crafted and elegant, reflecting his impressive ability to interpret literary works.

In painting, he is renowned as a minimalist artist. He also connected and conveyed Buddhist themes in many of his works, both in ceramics and paintings. He established his unique style early on, which is why he is regarded as one of the leading artists and a top-selling painter of the Đổi mới (Renewal) era.

In the field of fine arts, Cương is a passionate curator, an observant individual who wrote diligently and insightfully about various artists.

Despite his illness, Cương remained creatively vibrant and dedicated to his art until the very end. In his final year, he collaborated on the exhibition Mặt Khác (Otherwise) with two close friends, sculptor Đinh Công Đạt and writer Nguyễn Việt Hà. In this deeply personal show, the trio, all hailing from Hà Nội's Old Quarter, shared poignant stories of the capital city through a collection of ceramic masks and papier-mâché works.

He also orchestrated the Gốm Thiệp (Thiệp’s Ceramic) exhibition, an event that brought together numerous artists to create ceramic pieces inspired by the literary works of celebrated author Nguyễn Huy Thiệp.

His final book, Trò Chuyện Với Hội Họa (Conversations with Painting), has recently been published. This collection features his writings on fine arts over several decades, showcasing him as an objective observer and a dedicated, talented curator.— VNS