There is something subtly captivating when we look at the paintings by Hoang A Sang: faces of people sleeping inside lotus flowers, and people doing meditation, radiating some peculiar warmth. Looking at the paintings, it is impossible not to love  the life we are living, and the life experience that we are going through. This painter uses a palette of light colors, he does not intend to shock  people with strong tints.

Sang’s paintings resemble Delta wave music, sending the audience to deep meditation, to nothingness. Everything inside the mind is suddenly washed off,  and let go, allowing one to envision their innermost. A painting of this artist should be hung in the  home of one with quick temper who usually fail to control their emotions, and those with spiritual pains as well. The beautiful energy released by the paintings can calm their mind, helping them to overcome shocks, and lead them to a more peaceful life.

Arts contain in them gigantic sources of energy. Just like we need the food and the air to stay alive, the materials to meet our needs, we need  arts to relieve ourselves, above all. Sang’s paintings, which are imbued with the essence of meditation, relieve  the painter himself, and they transfer the spiritual tranquility to the audience.

Sang said that he did not want to tell any complicated stories with his paintings. He does not intend to renew anything. He does not follow any trend or school of painters, either.  Refusing to limit himself within the framework of any artistic theory, he simply paints what is inside him. That is the journey inward, a minute inward observation, after all the outward orientations have come apart.

In his younger years, Sang tried “everything” with painting. He followed a variety of new trends, even  “frightening” ones. He once like something strenuous, something that impresses himself as well has his audience. However, after twenty year’s time painting  and earning his living as a journalist, Sang has realized that disappointment is the only thing that an artist can achieve by straining himself. Art must be something natural, something that flows out from  inside the artist. Art is created only by those who do not strain themselves to become artists.

A Sang claims that the artist and his picture must be one, there must be no difference between the two. They differ when the artist is orienting himself outward, making a display, satisfying the crowd with the thing they desire.

There are times when Sang ponders after visiting his friends’ galleries, when he notices discrepancies between the artists and their pictures. That is when the artist is trying to do something different from himself, following some trend. They paint to attract the audience, aiming at the crowd’s  rational mind. The gallery may be well visited, lustily reported by the mass media, and is found astounding by the audience. Yet Sang knows for sure that the artist will feel disappointed when facing himself. He does not know who he really is. Because he is orienting himself outward, he has not reached his inner self, and has not seen his very core.

Through his practice of meditation, A Sang has come to believe that each person has a “core”, which is formed through many lives. That core is like a pearl hiding itself inside the mussel at the bed of the ocean. To see the pearl, one must learn to see through the outside layers. It is a difficult journey inward, towards the side of  no light, of a lot of darkness, of no “fake joy”, and  of “true sadness”.

Sang said that he left the mountainous village of Pac Thay of the Tay ethnic people (Cao Bang province) for Ha Noi at the age of 20; with nothing in his posession, except for the passion for painting. However, to survive in the city, he needed so many things. It took him almost ten years to rebel, seek, and get disappointed. There were times when he regretted not following his parents’ advice, refusing to enter the college of agriculture to become an engineer. Then he started working as a journalist, thanks to the privilege of making acquaintance with high profile professionals of the field.

At first, he was only a newspaper painter  in charge of the layout. Then he discovered his ability in writing. And he began writing. Then he did all types of jobs related to newspapers. He was passionate with his jobs, just like a buffalo that did not spare its energy plowing the field. In return, the job of a journalist enabled him to support his family, and brought an end to the time when he had to strain himself to make ends meet. Painting was done only at night. Most of his paintings were created during the night-time, after all the work of a journalist  was finished. He would paint, then discard the painting. Then he would paint again. Throughout the period of silent  self-seeking in painting, he did not exhibit his artwork anywhere, even in a shared gallery. He kept the passion to himself, to such a level that people thought of him as a journalist rather than a painter. Simply because he had not found himself in painting.

Then meditation brought Sang to another world. That was when unexpected incidents happened in his life.  He talked about a time when he was seriously depressed, when there were upheavals in his family life. He was exhausted with the pressure of life. There were moments when he thought he would not survive. He began to read books about meditation and started practicing it as a technique of improving his health. The more he meditated, the more changes he found inside himself. Things began to fall back into place in his life.

The spiritual difficulties gradually disappeared when he could let go of his Ego, when the attachments were one-by-one released. And there was a peculiar change in his art. Sang could really see himself whenever he merged himself in the activity of painting. His pictures started to convey the true color of an artist named Hoang A Sang. They began to reveal a style, a link  with the spiritual aspect of his life.

Every night, he enters his studio the way one begins a ritual. He gets absorbed in the world of colors. In the past, he would paint when he was frustrated and crazy, when he was struggling. Now, it is when he feels blissful. Before the pictures communicate the message to the audience, they enrich him. “ I was closer to my family members, I loved them more, and I loved myself more as well. There was no more frustration and inferiority. I was transformed into another person.”

For the time being, A Sang’s paintings sell very well. The artist in him is now more widely known than the journalist. When  a new painting is posted on his web page, it is usually seen and commented on by many people. They look for his serenity shown in the painting. Being asked about his feelings about selling his pictures, he said it was impossible to express with words. Not only because he could earn money.  Money is good, but the most significant thing is that his energy can be transmitted to many people. In truth, Sang can live well in the city thanks to his years’ working as a journalist. He used to work for many newspapers simultaneously, and was very responsive to the market’s tendencies.

Life itself has always been beautiful, and is always treasured by those who seek beauty as the meaning of their existence. According to A Sang, the happiest time of his life is the present moment. He has a cozy family with two lovely daughters, time when he can come into his studio every day, and can get absorbed into his paintings. He talks about his daughters with sparkles of joy lighting up his eyes.

Sang said that he was grateful for having the two daughters. They make up for the short-comings in his character. They pull him back to the gentleness that he idolizes: “When I get angry, they just remain perfectly calm. When I get crazy, they just hold me in their arms. When I drink wine, they come and tell me not to drink too much. Thanks to their presence, I can do meditation. Children are like presents from God to their parents. Nothing compares to their love”.

The life story of Sang, someone who spent his time searching, and finally found himself, gives us much food for thought. We are living in a world of conveniences and information, a world of constant attractions. For those outside seductions, we sometimes forget to come back to ourselves. The more we orient ourselves outwards, the longer the way back inside becomes.

For A Sang, the pictures he paints are the “way back inside” for himself. They make up the way back to his true self…

2016

Author: Binh Nguyen Trang

Translator: Van Thi Thanh Binh

—

Họa sĩ A Sáng: Tìm đến cõi thiền trong mỗi nét tranh