Films on Artmaking in Southeast Asia: Lacquer

This demonstration by lacquer artist Nguyen Xuan Viet reveals the meticulous labour behind a lacquer painting. This intensive process begins with the preparation of soft-brown and black lacquer, made by mixing raw lacquer with a wooden paddle in a ceramic vessel and with an iron rod in an iron vessel respectively. Viet then creates the painting surface by applying dozens of layers of lacquer to a cloth-covered wooden board; each layer has to be individually dried, sanded and polished. When the lacquer baseboard—known as vóc—is ready, he begins painting on its surface with materials like colour pigments, gold leaf, eggshell and silver powder. Once the paint has dried, Viet sands the surface under water to remove impurities and resurface buried layers of lacquer. He then repeats the steps of painting, drying and sanding many times—sometimes over months or even years—until the desired effect is achieved. To complete the work, the surface has to be polished with fine textures like chu powder to achieve an extremely flat and smooth surface, a mark of elegance in lacquer art.

About the Artist
Nguyen Xuan Viet (b. 1949, Vietnam) is one of Vietnam’s most prominent lacquer artists. He studied under Nguyen Gia Tri, the father of Vietnamese lacquer painting, and he uses media like charcoal paint, gold, silver and eggshell to reinvent traditional motifs through abstraction. He graduated from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts and has had various solo and group painting exhibitions in Vietnam and abroad, including a solo exhibition in Paris in 1999. His works can also be found in the collection of The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, and private collections in France, USA and Asia.