Exhibition “Cuộc Sống Tiếp Diễn” (Life Goes On) - Artist Nguyễn Công Hoài

What makes the image of a person remain in our memory?

For Nguyễn Công Hoài, portrait painting is not simply about recreating appearances, but a process of revelation. Thick layers of paint, urgent brush rhythms, and forceful strokes gradually transform the canvas surface into a psychological space - where people appear not only through their form, but through what they have experienced.

His practice recalls the psychological intensity found in the paintings of Lucian Freud, the materiality of Frank Auerbach, or the direct physical presence seen in Jenny Saville’s works. Here, paint is no longer used merely to describe, but to construct “flesh” itself, layered, accumulated, and preserving memory.

If historically portraiture was often associated with power and glorification, here the large-scale faces belong to ordinary individuals. There is no embellishment, only traces of time, existing in a raw and truthful way.

The exhibition “Cuộc Sống Tiếp Diễn” (Life Goes On) is an invitation to look again; a place where the most familiar faces may, perhaps for the first time, be seen in their entirety.

Exhibition Information:
Opening time: 6:00PM - 8:00PM, Friday - 10/04/2026
Exhibition time: 9:00AM - 5:00PM | 10/04 - 10/05/2026 (Tuesday - Sunday)
Location: QS Art Space by Quang San Art Museum | 189B/3 Nguyễn Văn Hưởng Street, An Khánh Ward (formerly Thảo Điền), HCMC.
Free admission (does not include permanent exhibition areas of the Museum).