Exhibit captures audience with mini nature scenes

      A world of nature has begun to flourish at l’Espace, giving the public a reprieve from the heat of early summer in the capital.
An exhibit by two young Vietnamese artists, Nguyen Nghia Phuong and Nguyen My Ngoc, and French artist Virginie Faivre d’Arcier, is on display with their latest mini gravures (intaglio printing technique) creations on the subject of nature.
The pieces give the public a look at the broader world around them, taking them on a voyage between different spaces and bringing them back to their own roots and their relationship with nature.
Ngoc, a young teacher at Ha Noi’s Fine Arts College, has 37 wood grauvres and nearly 200 natural wood prints on do (poonah) paper in the exhibit. Her gravures pieces are displayed in the shape of a tree and the wood prints are set up in the shape of its shadow.
Each print is an image of an animal that faces the risk of extinction, including tortoises, tigers and rhinoceros.
"I simply want to raise awareness about the necessity to protect the environment," she said.
According to Ngoc, the mini gravures are not as popular among artists as other types of art because it requires a tremendous amount of skill to create such small images.
"This is a good opportunity for us to present the art of gravures to the public," she said.
D’Arcier invites the public into a world of dreams with her gravures, featuring different landscapes of Viet Nam.
"I make pictures about the light and colours of the landscape. I try to create another world, opening small dreamlike windows, like in a Tim Burton or David Lynch movie; a parallel world, not realistic, not political," she said.
"I want to reach the imagination of each person, to help them discover an interior world, more beautiful than normal life, to create an escape from daily life. I must stick to an intimate relationship, like a story we read while sitting in a good armchair; my engravings must be looked at with calmness, serenity and comfort," she added.
The exhibit will run through May 19 at l’Espace, located at 24 Trang Tien Street, Ha Noi.