Suy-Van-03---Dai-Lua-Do

Virtual view – Phạm Huy Thông

28/07/2020

Suy Van 02 - Phan Con Lai Cua Khu Vuon

Pham Huy Thong, Súy Vân 2 – Phần Còn Lại Của Khu Vườn, Suy Van 2 – The Remain of The Garden, Sơn dầu trên vải linen, Oil on linen, 130 x 100 cm

Suy Van 03 - Dai Lua Do

Pham Huy Thong, Súy Vân 3 – Dải Lụa Đỏ,  Suy Van 3 – Red Silk, Sơn dầu trên vải linen, Oil on linen, 130 x 100 cm

“Súy Vân is a character in a famous Vietnamese folk play. In the play, she pretended to be crazy to escape from a loveless marriage. Her new lover, however, the one that she sacrificed everything to be with turned out to be a “Don Juan.” He tired of her quickly and got rid of her after a short while. Losing everything made Suy Van truly crazy and she resorted to suicide in her distressed state. She is a character that has created radically divergent reactions among audiences. Some thought her a loose woman who simply fled one man to be with another for selfish reasons. Others have seen her as a heroine of freedom who fought and died for true love.

In this part of my Real Estate painting series, I observe the changing of Vietnam’s physical landscape from rural to urban and and the concomitant change of the country’s culture and the destinies of its people. Suy Van stands as a stark example of what happens to an agricultural based people who are caught up in the changing “habitat” around them and the costs that they often have to pay when they give into the temptations of the new lifestyles available in contemporary Vietnam.”