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The Gallery is located at 46 Hang Bong,the busiest street of the capital city and also a tourist center
of Hanoi with a centenarian tradition of commerce, art and handicraft articles, jewelry and antique shops.
During the war and under the period of planned economy, trade was dull but, over the last few years, business
has been booming again with the restored commercial activities as in the past. Although located in a narrow
old street due to its favorable, roomy and convenient site and chiefly by the competence of its staff, Co Do
Gallery rallied the best artists of different generations in Vietnam including a lot of young painters who
enjoyed the opportunity to present their artworks for the first time here. This is because we are constantly
promoting and encouraging work and research in terms of artistic media and genres such as ceramics,
installation art, lacquer painting...
Co Do Gallery displays works by famous authors from various Vietnamese art centers as well as paintings by
artists from remote provinces who have no opportunities to participate in any artistic life of national or
international importance. We have worked out a program for presenting authors and their works of art on the
Internet. We are broadening our international tics hoping to introduce the best authors and works in painting
to art lovers in the region and worldwide.We are longing for good and effective cooperation with partners
nationwide and worldwide especially with those who are interested in art business and international cultural
exchanges.
Past exhibition
1. Three Art Characters ( First Art Exhibition in December 1998 ) : Vu Thang, Nguyen Bao Toan and Ly Truc Son".
Vu Thang is a young artist specializing in lacquer painting with a novel style to express the innermost being.
He is also an innovator of colour materials when he introduced embossment and combined other media with traditional
lacquer painting.
Nguyen Bao Toan is a well-know ceramics artist of Hanoi and a pioneer in installation art the first painter who
utilizes materials of folksy origin viz. Straw, sand, bricks, pasteboard, bamboo, hemp, etc. in this genre of painting
to create a very impressive space reflecting the age-old, full of vitality culture of Vietnamese villages.
Ly Truc Son is a lecturer of Vietnamese Fine Arts Institute a specialist of lacquer and "do" (paper mulberry)
paintings. He has just returned from Europe after 10 years living and painting there.
2. Hue Painting Exhibition At codoGallery (Second Art Exhibition :In April - June 1999)
Seven authors from the old capital city of Hue were introduced. As everyone knows, Hue has
a great tradition of fine arts dating from 18thand 19th centuries, especially after it became
the capital of the Vietnamese Empire at the dawn of the 19th century. At present Hue's cultural
heritage is duly preserved and is recognized by UNESCO.
Paintings in this city have their original style, truly meditative and poetic in character with
elegant and melancholic tones and colours. Hue is noted for its "beauty and poetry" - this reputation
has been handed down with praise - and accordingly the character of its inhabitants is quite distinct,
different from those living in Hanoi or Saigon.
The above exhibition devoted to Hue paintings was warmly, welcomed in Hanoi and among our foreign customers.
3. Exhibition of CatPaintings (Thirt Art Exhibition In Dec 1999)
Twenty-six works of art by 30 authors of Hanoi were exhibited on the occasion of the Lunar New Year
(The Year of the Cat, 1998). They included works of Veteran artist Nguyen Tu Nghiem and those drawn
by young painters such as Tra Vinh and Diep Quy Hai In Oriental culture, each year is symbolized by
an animal pertaining to the Earthly Branches (dizhi). People usually think they have sympathy or actually
have something similar in character to the animal symbolizing the year in which they were born. Hence,
almost customarily, when the Lunar New Year comes, Vietnamese artist have the habit of beginning their
first picture by drawing the symbolic animal of the year to hope for good fortune. They hang it on the
wall to embellish their home or give it to their friends as a token of their best wishes.
4. Lacquer Paintings by present-day Vietnamese Artists (Fourth Art Exhibition :July - September 1999)
Specially designed for lacquer painting, this exhibition offered a panoramic view of the present state of
lacquer artworks in Vietnam today. This genre of painting is a new one developed in the 1920s - 1930s by
the teachers at the French Indochinese cole des Beause - Arts de L'Indochine" on the basis of
ancient Vietnamese lacquer work. Pummicing now is done many times and the European rules of drawing,
composition and perspective are suitably applied. After a period of stagnation due to the monotony of
styles and lack of artistic media such as gold, silver, lacquer now lacquer painting has regained its
high prestige thanks to some renovation in terms of new techniques and styles of expression.
The Exhibition also included works from distant provinces namely Huլ Haiphong, etc.
5. Inspiration of the Year 2000 (Fifth Art Exhibition due to open from 19/12/1999 to February 2000)
As an annual tradition, Codo Gallery organizes an art exhbition each year on the occasion of the Lunar
New Year to display pictures of the symbolic animal of the Lunar Year. The above mentioned exhibition
which marks the end of 1999 and also the close of the 2nd millennium will present 15 authors of 3 generations
who are already celebrated both at home and abroad. Each author will exhibit one picture of the dragon as well
as his selected works that are rich in styles, genres, topic and artisitc media. The pointers all live and work
in Hanoi. This exhibition is held to greet the New Year and will last until Tet i.e. the Lunar New Year, the
year of the Dragon 2000.
6. The meeting 2000 exhibition (Sixth Art Exhibition:due to open from Apr to May 2000)
Young but highly talented ,Vu Thang is a rare phenomenon in Viet Nam. He did not receive much training and was
not born in a locality rich in cultural traditions ( his home city in Hai Phong ). It seems that Thang is not
under the influence of any feudal art ( such is the case of most Vietnamese painters). His talent rather stems
from primitive emotions and present day art. Thang made rapid progress on the way of his sudden inspirations,
apparently prejudice- free, unintentional, seeing no need to realise any target . His paintings was rushingly
made according to his inspirations , during his daily contact with reproductions of European and Oriental
paintings . As regards his method of painting , he leaves out the existing practices in Viet Nam in terms
of languages and technique , considering them as a process impossible to preconceive.
7. The Horse Exhibition
Horse is supple, strong and graceful. Horse is of heroic style of King Nguyen Hue when he entered into
Thang Long on the 5th of the Lunar New year. It is of male valiant style of a fighter or hero Tu Hai.
Horse is also a Romaic dream traveling in "half sober half drunk" state of a person in love.
Horse is a thoughtful time - as stone horse in a majestic place, is the time passing quickly through
our life. Horse is placed in the altar together with gods and goddesses to protect mountain and forests,
land fields, rivers and oceans The Exhibition will be advertised on the mass media and the Internet.
The owner of Codogallery now possesses a collection of 150 Vietnamese painter's works. Information of the
said collection can be acquired through our e-mail address :
codagallery@hn.vnn.vn.
Codogallery is a leading professional art gallery of international standards in Viet Nam, focused on
discovering and assisting Vietnamese artists to develop their carrier through creative learning and exchange
with national and international peers, for a genuine visual art of the new Viet Nam.
Codogallery won the heart of art lovers not only by its genuine and qualified masterpieces but also good quality
of service. It is your right to discover and your visit is our great honour.
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