Mother Earth and the Language of Silence
Best Classical Painting / Artist Of The Year
In Nguyễn Như Đức’s art, reality is never presented as it first appears. It is filtered through memory, emotion and dream, becoming a world where the human body, nature and symbolic forms exist in quiet conversation. Through his solo exhibition Đất Mẹ (Mother Earth), Đức invites viewers into a visual universe shaped by contemporary surrealism, where every image feels both familiar and strangely transformed.
His practice is rooted in a deep interest in how we experience the world beyond physical sight. Rather than simply describing what is visible, Đức uses painting as a way to explore what is hidden: personal memory, family bonds, emotional silence and the human desire to move beyond ordinary limits. His works ask viewers not only to look, but to feel.
At the centre of Đức’s visual language is the connection between the human form and the natural world. Bodies, branches, roots and organic shapes appear to merge into one another, suggesting that human life is inseparable from the earth that gives it form. In this sense, Đất Mẹ is not only a title, but also a spiritual point of return. It evokes origin, nurture, belonging and the quiet strength of the land.
There is a poetic stillness in his compositions. His paintings do not unfold through direct storytelling. Instead, they move through suggestion. A hand, a flower, a tree branch or a human silhouette may become a doorway into a larger emotional space. The viewer is encouraged to slow down and read the work as one might read a poem, not for a single answer, but for atmosphere, feeling and resonance.
This quietness gives Nguyễn Như Đức’s work its distinctive power. His art does not rely on spectacle. It draws the viewer inward. Within the layered images and symbolic details, there is a sense of contemplation, as though each painting holds something unspoken. The silence in his work is not empty; it is full of memory, tenderness and unresolved longing.
Through the lens of surrealism, Đức expands reality rather than escapes it. The strange forms in his paintings do not feel distant from life. They seem to reveal what lies beneath it: the emotional structures that shape human experience, the invisible ties between family and identity, and the intimate relationship between the body and the natural world.
Đất Mẹ can be seen as a meditation on connection. It speaks of affection, inheritance and the fragile yet enduring bond between people and the place they come from. The earth, in Đức’s work, is not a passive background. It becomes a living presence, holding memories, dreams and the quiet force of renewal.
What makes Nguyễn Như Đức’s art compelling is its ability to balance mystery with emotional clarity. His works may appear dreamlike, but they are grounded in deeply human concerns. They remind us that art can offer more than visual beauty. It can become a space for reflection, a way of listening to memory, and a gentle return to the unseen roots of who we are.
