Cover The exhibition Blooming Seeds is an invitation to rediscover forgotten values
The exhibition Blooming Seeds is an invitation to rediscover forgotten values
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Blooming Seeds at Hôtel des Arts Saigon highlights gouache’s luminous pigments, where young artists and collector Xuan Phương preserve fading Vietnamese memories.
Blooming Seeds is devoted to gouache, a medium that once played a defining role in Vietnamese modern art, particularly during the teaching years of the Indochina College of Fine Arts (1925–1945). This water-based paint, made from colour pigments, binders (usually glue) and a touch of opaque agents such as white chalk, dries almost instantly when spread on paper. Its smooth finish produces pigments that are both dense and luminous. Favoured for its quick-drying nature, gouache proved ideal for classroom demonstration and sketching alike, enabling artists to capture the fleeting rhythms of daily life with an intuitive hand, free from elaborate preparation. Affordable, resilient and suited to a hot, humid climate, it swiftly won over Vietnamese artists of the era.
Read more: How woodblock printing connects Nguyen Dynasty heritage with modern life
Above Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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Above Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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Above Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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Above Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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Above Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Some works at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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The Blooming Seeds exhibition features works largely by artists born in the 1990s, including Bui Ngoc Tu, Truong Dinh Hao and Tran Nguyen Dan. Their generation grew up as Vietnam stood on the cusp of urbanisation, yet traditional festivals, thatched roofs and folk games still formed a familiar backdrop. Set against textured paper, mixed with coloured powder, their paintings capture these moments with fluid expressiveness, preserving scenes that are slowly disappearing in the tide of modern life.
Above Collector Xuan Phuong’s paintings at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
Collector Xuan Phuong’s paintings at the exhibition ‘Blooming Seeds’
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Above More than an art display, Blooming Seeds invites reflection on values that risk being lost
More than an art display, Blooming Seeds invites reflection on values that risk being lost
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Above Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
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More than an art display, Blooming Seeds invites reflection on values that risk being lost. Amidst the noise of modern living, the works act as a quiet reminder of the beauty of simplicity, authenticity and cultural resilience. Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar.
Above Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
1 / 1
Above Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
Visiting the exhibition is a chance to honour the past, connect with the present and find peace in what feels most familiar
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Blooming Seeds runs daily, free of charge, from 9am to 6pm, between 4 and 10 September 2025 at Café des Beaux-Arts, Hôtel des Arts Saigon (76–78 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Xuan Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City).
