Exhibition | “Hát trên bãi cỏ xanh” (Singing on the Green Grass)
Artist | Dinh Quan
Director | Viet Tu
With “Hát trên bãi cỏ xanh” (Singing on the Green Grass), Dream Studio collaborated to engineer an exhibition that transcended traditional lacquer paintings, expanding the artistic experience into spatial design, sculpture, and video art. Nearly 20 large-scale lacquer artworks by Dinh Quan were positioned in direct dialogue with a series of 1.5-meter-tall head sculptures, architecting a striking visual landscape within the premises of the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibition's defining highlight was liberating the artworks from the conventional confines of a gallery space. The red and white head sculptures were arranged across the green lawn, establishing a direct dialogue with the colossal lacquer pieces. The distorted, contorted faces in works such as “Tốp ca nam” (Male Choir), “Tốp ca nữ” (Female Choir), “Chung một hàng” (In the Same Row), “Vỗ tay” (Applause), “Chân dung tự họa” (Self-Portrait), and “Yêu” (Love) engineered a highly expressionistic visual universe. Here, the human figure emerged as the focal point of intense, unsettling emotional states.
Simultaneously, Dream Studio integrated the video art piece “Câu chuyện của những bức tượng” (The Story of the Sculptures) into the opening ceremony. Music, color, and lighting were synthesized, allowing the motifs from the paintings and sculptures to be further interpreted through dynamic visual language. Consequently, the exhibition was no longer approached merely as a static display space but transformed into a fluid experience intersecting painting, sculpture, lighting, sound, and moving imagery.
Crucially, Dream Studio meticulously respected Dinh Quan’s distinct visual vocabulary, deliberately avoiding the imposition of superficial theatricality onto the artworks. While lacquer remained the central medium, it was placed within a broader contextual framework. This allowed the audience to deeply perceive the evolutionary shift in the artist's creative universe: transitioning from the surrealist female figures of his earlier periods to the bold, visceral expressionism defining “Hát trên bãi cỏ xanh” (Singing on the Green Grass).
For Dream Studio, this project served as a definitive milestone, demonstrating the agency's capability to elevate visual arts beyond the rigid framework of a traditional exhibition. The team architected an immersive environment where the artwork could engage in a profound dialogue with the spatial surroundings and other expressive mediums. Paintings, sculptures, video art, lighting, and sound did not overshadow the core artworks; rather, they expanded the multidimensional ways the public could engage with the artist’s world.
Ultimately, “Hát trên bãi cỏ xanh” (Singing on the Green Grass) was not merely a large-scale lacquer exhibition. It profoundly exemplified Dream Studio’s strategic approach to contemporary art: transforming the exhibition venue itself into an integral component of the artistic experience. Through this philosophy, artworks are not merely observed but deeply felt within a meticulously curated, intentional visual environment.
