Du Quang: how many ways can 11 artists tell a story using only light?

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The title Du Quang: Of Light and Linger is far from arbitrary. The word “du” suggests transience, while “linger” calls forth a sense of pause, of hesitation, of endurance. Here, light does not exist to reveal or explain, but to stir feeling, to awaken subtle layers of perception.

Light is described as a “conductor” through which the artist’s emotions and the viewer’s consciousness converge. In each work, light becomes atmosphere, a shifting, elusive presence that, though at times clear or vague, always resonates.

In its presentation, Du Quang forgoes spectacle and showy effects. Instead, it embraces quiet expressions where light is like breath; there yet elusive, revealing yet veiling. As a result, the light experienced throughout the exhibition is not merely visual. It becomes meditative, unfolding slowly and inwardly.

Bringing together 11 artists in a single exhibition while preserving the delicate threads that connect their individual personalities is no easy feat. Yet Du Quang attempts just that not by blending their styles into one, but by placing light at the centre of the conversation.

The exhibition features 11 artists whose practices span nearly half a century. Each brings their own worldview, their own ideas about what art can be. And yet, within Du Quang, every voice contributes to a chorus of light. Each work stands apart, autonomous and distinct, but together they form a quiet harmony.

Born in 1949, Ca Le Thang is the most senior artist in the group. His contributions to Du Quang evoke scenes of the Southwest, where light does not descend from above but seems to rise gently from the surface of water, from layers of memory, from a hushed and deep stillness.

In his paintings, light is neither theatrical nor symbolic. It is lived light, one that has passed through time and returned, glimmering like a memory surfacing. The light in Ca Le Thang’s work is never harsh; it is tender, conveying the soft, measured rhythm of nature and humanity. It does not burden the memory but brightens it.

For Nguyen Thuy Hang, light becomes identity in dream form. A visual artist, poet and writer who trained at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts, Hang’s literary voice seeps into her paintings, sculptures and installations. Her pieces conjure a mysterious, often chaotic realm, an atmosphere that suggests psychological and societal fragmentation.

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The light in her work does not aim to illuminate; it offers slivers and wisps, as if trying to break through the layered densities of memory and self. Viewers may find themselves confronting a solitary, unsettled figure caught in a shifting world, balancing between global narratives and individual identity.

At the other end of the generational scale is Tuyen Nguyen, representing a younger cohort whose work reflects a world marked by digital rhythms and emotional volatility. In Du Quang, his light speaks of the city, its pulse, its fragmentation and the private tremors hidden within public space.

In his pieces, light is never still. It flickers from neon signs, bounces through glass, or fractures between digital overlays. Tuyen does not use light to show; he uses it to express. It speaks of exhaustion, of longing, of feeling lost in an urban haze. His is a generation fluent in technology but yearning for something tangible; a true light, flickering faintly amid the digital noise.

Themes in his work span urbanisation, ecological anxiety, deferred dreams, and the quiet presence of small, constrained figures navigating the machinery of modern life.

In Du Quang, each artist follows a different path, but light, however it appears, remains the thread that binds. It is a conductor of thought, of memory, of sensation and reverie. The diversity of age and experience not only enriches the show but also invites reflection on the evolution of art through time.

It is the same light, but filtered through different lenses: the older generation finds memory; the middle sees the self; the younger captures the fleeting present. Despite their differences, the exhibition holds to a shared orbit. Here, light moves freely through each frame, each narrative, each private universe.

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