Throughout painting history, from the representation of the visible world to the articulation of conceptual and inner experience, realism and abstraction have developed alongside one another as 2 fundamental modes of artistic expression. Distinct in their respective characteristics, together they have continually expanded painting's capacity to construct new ways of perceiving both the world and the human condition.

Although both originate from the visible world, European Realism and Eastern aesthetics evolved from fundamentally different philosophical traditions. While European Realism places emphasis on observing and understanding the world through visible phenomena, affirming the value of direct perception in engaging with life, Eastern thought has long regarded nature as a site where mind, intention, and the Dao converge. The significance of this tradition lies not in the faithful imitation of reality, but in its capacity to capture the vital spirit of its subject and evoke meaning that resonate beyond what is directly depicted.

Besides, the emergence of abstract painting in the early 20th century further expanded the expressive possibilities of art by liberating the image from its descriptive function. Line, colour, and form no longer served merely as means of representing the visible world, but became autonomous elements of meaning in themselves, participating directly in the construction of emotion, thought, and visual experience. Yet abstraction should not be understood as a denial of reality. Many abstract works still originate from nature, memory, or emotional experience, but through processes of reduction, transformation, and reconstruction, these sources are translated into entirely new pictorial structures.


Encompassing these artistic trajectories, “Spectrum of Scene” offers a modest reflection on the influence of modes of representation upon the practices of 5 young artists: Pham Duc Tung (b. 1983), Truong Van Ngoc (b. 1990), Le Quynh Anh (b. 1995), Nguyen Ha My (b. 2000), and Ha Minh Thuan (b. 2001). Here, the notion of scene transition evokes not only the changing landscapes of nature, but more fundamentally the evolving movement of artistic thought as each artist encounters and interprets reality – not the reality perceived by the eye, but the reality constructed through contemplation. It likewise reflects the gradual transition of painterly language from generalisation to stylisation, and ultimately toward abstraction as part of a continuous flow.

Within the exhibition, although differing in their visual approaches, the perspectives of all 5 artists converge in an exploration of the dialogue between nature, memory, and the subtle transformations of inner life, imbued with a distinctly East Asian sensibility. The exhibition does not seek to establish an opposition that privileges either figurative or non-figurative painting, for in practice the movement between the 2 has always remained reciprocal: from realism to abstraction and back again. Instead, each work is allowed to reveal itself through the viewer's own sensitivity, regardless of the artistic tendency to which it belongs.