Sculpture, painting and art in general are all based on the requirement of beauty, in the aesthetic depth that the work creates. All meanings must originate from beauty, without beauty it is difficult to exist, because “beauty saves the world” (F. Dostoyevsky). But the difficulty is that each era, each person has a different approach and perception of beauty, not to mention their diversified styles. A sculpture must recreate the object and reality as it is, but only like that, many people can do it. The statue must resemble the character; the phenomenon but must exude inner depth, have spirit, sparkle with the beauty of the soul, carry a message and create emotions of praise or anger… Artists everywhere and at all times are the ones who create value for themselves through creativity. Pham Van Hang is one of the few people who can do that.

Sculptor Pham Van Hang, the co-creator of the Dragon Bridge across the Han River with architect Thomas from the United States

Pham Van Hang is a familiar yet very strange person. Most famous writers in the South and the North have written about him. He is everywhere, and wherever he goes he leaves an indelible mark. He is someone who is hard to forget once met. He impresses others thanks to his self-designed clothes, a scarf that is always with him and his eyes that seem to have full of passion and attract a great deal of attention. He makes people admire, not only in the country but also abroad. When you get closer to him, you see in him the silence of the forest.

‘Evidence” - the desire for peace

A painter may not know much about sculpture, but when he wants to be a sculptor, he must be good at painting, architecture and even… chemistry. I wonder if that is why there are more painters than sculptors in the world? Indochina fine art was once famous talented painters such as Nguyen Phan Chanh, To Ngoc Van, Mai Trung Thu and Nguyen Gia Tri…However, it is difficult to find a sculptor of equal caliber. Why? No one has analysed the reason, but the general feeling is that the path to sculpting is very arduous.

The fingers of a hand on a stone statue cannot be spread out, but on bronze it can be. That is an enlightening understanding, but to make a statue whose body shape represents an entire race, an entire generation, and is famous for many generations, how many people can do it? Taking on the task of chiseling, carving, hammering and welding to create a soul, for future generations to think and remember is one of the few most difficult things in life.

Pham Van Hang had his artworks exhibited very early. His artwork “Evidence” (the name of the painting was given by the late renowned Vietnamese songwriter Trinh Cong Son), which showed the endless desire for peace, was very famous in 1970 when he was in his twenties and it made him rise to fame at that time.

Hard work with sensitivity and creativity

I don't know how Quang Nam's character influences Pham Van Hang's personality, a bit stubborn, talented, intelligent and very hard-working, of course there must be arguments. There is a hot air around him that is always ready to argue, it seems like he forces others to listen to him speak, to argue, to be passionate.

But above all, he is a person who always has critical thinking and great efforts to do what he intends. And he is always hard-working like a field worker going back and forth in ‘the field of ideas’, so we can easily sympathize with Pham Van Hang's belief: Suffering is the greatest gift for an artist. He became famous mainly through self-study. In fact, there are many paths to a dream, but for him, it is hard work with a rare sensitivity and creative intuition.

Pham Van Hang has three sculpture gardens in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat and Da Nang respectively. He has “captured” the images of many famous people in the country and the world as a whole through vivid sculptures. His works, if counted in size, are in the thousands.

Academic spaces such as universities, libraries or public places all have statues of historical people erected. His creativity makes the space warm, creating highlights to remind us of our origins and human beliefs. The difficulty facing sculptors is not the lack of themes, but the lack of emotions in the language of stone and statues. Another thing that is equally difficult is the perception of the viewers.

Renowned Vietnamese sculptor Pham Van Hang

Love for Da Nang

In Da Nang, Mr Pham Van Hang has many statues and reliefs, but many people often mention scuh famous sculptures such as ‘Heroic mother’, ‘When there is good land, birds will perch’ and the dragon head and tail of the ‘Rong’ (Dragon) Bridge. These are familiar works receiving high applause from both local residents and tourists from near and far. The dragon here is typical of the Vietnamese Ly Dynasty (11^th -13^th centuries, also the symbol of Thang Long (Flying Dragon). The dragon head and tail are large, majestic yet still familiar, strongly expressing the aspiration of a renewed Da Nang. If anyone notices, the dragon's tail has two hearts as if it wants to tell the river, to life about kindness and love.

The sculpture ‘When there is good land, birds will perch’ depicts doves gathering in a nest, symbolizing a young, dynamic and livable cit. Erected at the Bach Dang - Nhu Nguyet roundabout in Hai Chau District, this artwork consists of a statue of doves huddled together, showing harmonious and very emotional status. The meaning is clear as a flock of doves symbolizes the desire for peace, showing Da Nang inciting visitors from all over the world to come here to enjoy peaceful moments.

‘Heroic Mother’, another artwork that is also one of the largest located at the western gateway of the city, is made of seven thousand cannon shells. We know that after the cannon shells are shot, Pham Van Hang had them cut and flattened to create a majestic bronze statue, with determined eyes and ‘the mother’s hand pointing towards the sun’.

This is a statue expressing gratitude to a specific mother in Thanh Khe District, but it is also a common image of loyal and patriotic Vietnamese mothers. For nearly a whole year, Pham Van Hang hung himself on a high scaffold, all day long to create such majestic monument. This highly valuable artwork shows a deep gratitude toward the predecessors.

Not only is Pham Van Hang is famous for his statues, although that is the main part of his creative life, he also painted quite a lot, and many of them are still sketches. Every time he feels helpless before the colour and shape of the bronze statues and stone stele, he relieves his mood with poetry on which he spends a lot of time.

There is a bit of philosophy, a hint of haiku, especially the concern for life. Many people write poetry, but not many people have their poems embossed on thirty bronze plates looking like a giant book weighing tens of kilogram as Hang did. He was still extremely enthusiastic and whenever thinking about him, I keep in my mind a fact that: To have a moment of surprise, people often have to work for it their whole life”.

Reporting by MAI LANG - Translating by A.THU