VietNamNet Bridge – Trong Lee, a 32-year-old artist/architect born and raised in Phan Rang City in the south-central coast province of Ninh Thuan, has shown his devotion to the promotion of heritage, history and culture via artworks to the younger generation.

Local architect Trong Lee is at his solo exhibition at Vin Gallery in HCMC’s District 2

Lee is staging a solo exhibition titled “A Fictional Journey By Trong Lee” at Vin Gallery in HCMC’s District 2 featuring some 30 original and unique drawings selected from his 96-page book “Saigon Xua: Mau cua hoai niem” (Old Saigon: The Color Of Nostalgia) which was launched in February.

Lee’s drawing style is distinctive. Swirling lines are elaborated by a nouveau style which describes recognizable Saigon buildings - both old and new. An architect by trade, Lee is unapologetically influenced by the city he knows so well – be it through transportation, city streets or buildings.

An architectural background mixed with a great deal of imagination has allowed him to generate a great deal of watercolors and ink drawings. Viewers are promised to admire the Notre Dame Cathedral, Ben Thanh Market, Cay Lieu (Willow Tree) Roundabout, Opera House, HCMC Post Office, the old trees that once lined Nguyen Hue and Ton Duc Thang roads as they had been felled to make room for the city’s first metro line, and the 134-year-old Saigon Tax Center, which would be replaced by a modern building.

One of his latest drawings “The myth of the ancient Co Loa rampart” in the upcoming historical art book “Dia linh nhan kiet” is also on display at the exhibition – Photos: Kieu Giang

The valedictorian graduate from the Architecture Faculty of Van Lang University in HCMC is concerned about architectural changes at many structures which have damaged the cultural and historical beauty of HCMC and the country as well. Future generations have no chance to know about those priceless values, according to him.

“However, one person cannot make significant contributions to heritage preservation. Thus, I wish my ‘Old Saigon’ book may inspire other people, especially youths, to have proper knowledge and take actions to help preserve those architectural works,” he noted.

The exhibition also features some artworks in his upcoming books of fairy tales’ characters and Vietnam’s legendaries, which are expected to come out in 2016.

His next major project is an art book titled “Dia linh nhan kiet” featuring some of the nation’s historical legends accompanied with brief notes about them with an aim to provide historical knowledge via lively paintings for people of all ages.

Lee is seeking partners to bring the book to more communities by publishing textbooks for students, and printing historical characters on T-shirts, mobile phone cases and handbags to promote Vietnam’s culture, tourism and history.  

He also unveiled his upcoming project to launch a new art book featuring drawings of fairy tales’ characters published by Phuong Nam Publishing House next year. According to him, all people have some good memories of the fairy tales they heard in their childhood and they learned so many things from these stories. Even after they are grownup, those memories are still there. “The fairy world is where people can feel relieved from stress and burdens of modern life,” he added. The book will also have a section of paintings for readers to color characters in fairy tales.

According to Shyevin S’ng, founder of Vin Gallery, the host of Trong Lee’s exhibition, she once chose a collection of four artworks named “Portraits of Asia” by Trong Lee for display at an art fair in Taiwan, and one of the four pieces was sold there. This was the first drawing of Trong Lee sold on international markets. Shyevin S’ng also showed her expectation to promote more local young artists like Trong Lee to the world.

Trong Lee’s exhibition runs until October 18 at Vin Gallery at 6 Le Van Mien Street in HCMC’s District 2.