by Như Hà – Lương Hương

While many teenagers turn to social media for inspiration and entertainment, 16-year-old painter Nguyễn Đăng Hải Nam finds his muse in traditional craft villages and cultural heritage, capturing their beauty through striking watercolour artworks.

Since taking up art at the age of eight, the young painter has built an impressive list of achievements, participating in numerous exhibitions and receiving multiple awards.

His collection of 11 works, Việt Nam Qua Nét Vẽ Của Hải Nam (Việt Nam Through Hải Nam's Brushstrokes), recently received the Cricket Aspiration Award, an annual Vietnamese prize recognising outstanding creative works for children or created by children.

Nam was born in Sơn Đồng Commune, Hoài Đức District, the western outskirts of Hà Nội — an area home to more than 50 traditional craft villages.

Sơn Đồng is renowned for its wood-carving, statue-making and gilded lacquerware traditions that date back nearly 800 years.

Today, the craft community includes more than 4,000 skilled artisans, including many master craftsmen, and more than 400 households engaged in handicraft production and trade.

Growing up amid this rich cultural environment, Nam was naturally immersed in the sights, sounds and spirit of the craft villages. 

 

Village roots

From his depictions of Sơn Đồng, Nam gradually expanded his artistic focus to encompass heritage sites and landscapes across northern Việt Nam.

This evolution was showcased in his first solo exhibition, Xuân Sắc (Colours of Spring), held in Hà Nội in December 2025, featuring nearly 40 watercolour paintings.

In his subsequent series, Việt Nam Through Hải Nam’s Brushstrokes, which won the Cricket Aspiration Award, the young artist broadened his scope further, featuring a narrative of national heritage.

The collection captures places he has visited, including the north-western highlands and the Mekong Delta.

Nam’s paintings draw on post-Impressionist techniques, revealing a maturity of vision and brushwork beyond his years.

His palette carries measured depth, his forms possess subtle vibrancy and his themes are imbued with quiet contemplation.

As Impressionism and Realism were among the foundational movements introduced to modern Vietnamese art as early as the mid-1920s, Nam’s works, while distinctive, also feel familiar to the eye, a quality that helps them resonate with a broad audience.

 

For the teenage painter, currently a student in the specialised Painting Department at the Hà Nội College of Arts, painting has also been instrumental in helping him overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), diagnosed when he was just two years old.

While seeking ways to support his development, his family discovered that drawing significantly improved his concentration. He subsequently began formal art training at a children's art club in 2018.

Art & focus 

Through painting, Nam gradually learned to manage the effects of ADHD, with art becoming both a creative outlet and a source of focus.

Although his instructor, painter Lê Tiến Vượng, and his family have not imposed any specific direction, Nam has consistently been drawn to themes of heritage.

“In each painting, I hope to take viewers on a journey through time, from ancient craft villages to the country’s beautiful natural landscapes.

The works I have exhibited are not merely paintings but bridges between past and present, between heritage values and contemporary beauty,” he said.

According to painter Lê Tiến Vượng, Nam demonstrates a highly skilful command of watercolour, combining colour and light through a palette of soft, vibrant tones.

“His artistic style is strongly influenced by traditional art, yet it also reflects a contemporary sensibility in his approach to colour composition and spatial perception," Vượng said.

"His watercolour technique is notably refined; he employs delicate layers of pigment that blend seamlessly, creating natural, harmonious light effects. This reveals both technical finesse and a keen sensitivity to colour.”

The young painter's second solo exhibition, Rực Rỡ Miền Di Sản (Radiant Heritage Regions), was held at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel in May.

It was organised to mark the official recognition of two traditional craft villages — Sơn Đồng wood carving and Chuyên Mỹ mother-of-pearl inlay and lacquerware — as members of the World Crafts Cities network.

The exhibition featured 30 works depicting prominent traditional craft villages such as Sơn Đồng, Chuyên Mỹ, Bát Tràng and Vạn Phúc, alongside Vietnamese natural landscapes, showcasing the country’s cultural and artistic heritage.

Giving back

While Nam has achieved notable success in his artistic career, marked by several awards, what may be even more meaningful is his sense of responsibility towards the wider community.

He is grateful to art, because it not only brings him personal balance but also serves as a means of helping others during difficult times.

A portion of the proceeds from his artwork has been used to support underprivileged students in mountainous regions and assist communities affected by natural disasters.

The painter also regularly takes part in outreach sessions with children facing health, psychological or emotional difficulties, sharing experiences and encouraging them to overcome personal challenges together.

In his colour-filled home in Sơn Đồng, Nam continues to portray Hà Nội’s heritage in his artworks, breathing new life into it and helping it resonate more strongly within the country’s ongoing development and global integration. VNS