Painting Lacquer

Harvested in the midland and hilly regions of Northern Vietnam from the Toxicodendron succedanea (Rhus succedanea) trees, lacquer starts as a milky latex sap which is an irritant and can cause severe allergic skin reactions upon contact. Once fully cured and hardened through oxidation, it becomes completely non-toxic and inert. The Vietnamese sap relies on laccol (organic chemical compound) which makes it softer and more pliable compared to Chinese or Japanese lacquer. This makes it ideal for intricate layering, sanding and polishing which is typical of Vietnamese sơn mài art.

The medium-density fiberboard base is first wrapped in lacquer-soaked cloth, then coated with a mixture of raw lacquer, clay, and sawdust. To create a smooth, even painting surface, two-to-five further coatings of lacquer are added. Before any image-making begins, this process has already produced a dense, unusually heavy panel.

The artist begins by working with natural tree sap resins (lacquer), crushed eggshell, earth pigments, silver and gold leaf, and, at times, mother-of-pearl. In its raw form, lacquer is highly toxic and requires careful handling. Pigments are mixed with raw lacquer in shifting proportions, producing nuances and hues that cannot be fully prescribed and can surprise even experienced artists. Because lacquer dries best in humid conditions, each layer may require days or weeks before the next color, inlay, or surface intervention can be applied. The outcome of each layer remains partly outside the artist's control: setbacks are frequent and works close to completion may be scraped back or abandoned. A single panel can take months of painting, concealing, and rigorous water-polishing to complete.

The Vietnamese lacquer tradition is over 2,000 years old, but developed into its modern form in the 1920s when the French influence in Vietnam inspired Vietnamese artists to develop their techniques. What was once used predominately for palaces, temples, pagodas, and shrines became a popular medium for fine art. With the addition of shells, silver and gold leaf, lacquer paintings became rich, multidimensional pieces of art that spoke to the national pride of Vietnamese artists.

Today, lacquer artists in Vietnam lean on traditional methods with modern influences. At this intersection of old and new, artists explore themes like youth, joy, freedom, emotions. The result is expressive, emotive, luxurious works created over many hours of hard labor that lacquer demands.

The two lacquer artists share a studio made up of two large rooms, formerly used as a two-car maintenance garage. A common front courtyard serves as the place where panels are sanded and polished, while a corridor at the rear connects the two rooms.

The physical making of the works mirrors the exhibition's central theme. The Master and the Apprentice work side-by-side in separate studio spaces in Pleiku, each absorbed in a distinct artistic world: the ethnic highlands and the modern psyche. Yet their practices remain joined by the corridor between their rooms and by the front courtyard, where the demanding rituals of water-polishing and panel movement bring them together. In that shared labor, lacquer becomes both a medium of individual vision and a structure of artistic connection.