Inspired by childhood memories of the countryside and his love of Vietmanese traditional dress - and the women in it - Bui Trong Du creates delightfully harmonious, vibrant works that are both life affirming and calming. It is that feeling when the sun is shining and all feels right in the world.

Du’s preferred medium is lacquer on wood, to which he adds other materials such as egg shell, mother of pearl, silver and gold leaf.

Personally, I have a special affinity for everything on wood. I loved pyrography as a kid. Oil on wood, lacquer on wood, everything on wood is somehow better. Maybe it’s the texture. Maybe it’s because wood is, after all, alive.

Bui Tron Du, Lotus Flower, (year?), lacquer on wood

Bui Tron Du, Plum Blossom Season 4, 2023, lacquer on wood

To Du, women in the traditional Vietnamese dress called Ao Dai are “the typical Vietnamese beauty – gentle, discrete yet very charming”. Birds often feature alongside his figures - they are memories of his childhood growing up in the countryside, caring for buffalos in the fields.

Bui Tron Du, The Kiss, 2021, lacquer on wood

Bui Tron Du, Girl Playing a Violin, 2024, lacquer on wood

Born in 1976 in Haiphong, Vietnam, Bui Trong Du graduated from the College of Art and Melody in 1997 and from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 2002. Exhibited internationally, Du's distinctive figurative works and landscapes are most often created with lacquer on wood.

You can find more of his works on his FB page at https://www.facebook.com/bui.t.du.7/ and IG @bui.t.du.7)

Poetry in Lacquer on Wood