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Nguyen Trung

NGUYEN TRUNG

The Patience Of Seeing | Lisabelle Tay On Nguyen Trung’s "Untitled (Tea Vendor)" National Gallery Singapore 25 August 2024 Singapore
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Press Release

Artist Nguyen Trung’s “Untitled (Tea Vendor)” portrays a seated tea vendor in a cafe with soft, smoky blue-black hues, and is a strong example of the stylistic direction favoured by the Young Vietnamese Artists Association from Saigon. Co-founded by Trung in 1966, the association promised to “follow modern art movements closest to the tendencies that reside in the hearts of our Vietnamese audience.”

For Singaporean writer and poet Lisabelle Tay, whose work blends the personal with the fantastical and the mythic with the mundane, the subtle elements of the painting—a glimpse of the table, the tea vendor, and a luminous white cloth emerging from the darkness—reinforce the power of both painting and poetry to illuminate what is hidden.

Join Tay for a poetry workshop to learn and unlearn ways of “reading” and appreciating “Untitled (Tea Vendor)”. In this session, you are invited to participate in a generative writing activity. We will end with a sharing and reading of the poems written during the session and an opportunity for you to discuss any insights gained from your creative journey.

Whether you’re a seasoned wordsmith or just simply curious about poetry, this workshop welcomes everyone to explore the joy of writing together.

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About the Artist

“I paint with industry and cleverness as a mason’s laborer but also with the pleasure and indulgence of a little boy who dips his hands into the sand on the beach to build his own palace. I, too, have an extreme deep longing for dipping my hands in the material I use to paint: trowel and brush are not enough for me.”

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Also Exhibiting at National Gallery Singapore

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About the Gallery

Singapore’s landmark museum of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art in a historic civic monument.

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1 St. Andrew’s Road
#01–01
Singapore
Singapore
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10am – 7pm
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Singapore 1 St. Andrew’s Road, #01–01
National Gallery Singapore contemporary art institution in Singapore
National Gallery Singapore
1 St. Andrew’s Road, #01–01, Singapore, Singapore
+65 6271 7000
http://www.nationalgallery.sg

Opening hours
Daily
10am – 7pm
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