Dinh Nghi

The painter in “the corner gallery on a quaint street”

Penned by prof. Trangdai Tranguyen
California State University, Fullerton

Frame & Art is notoriously known as “the corner gallery on a quaint street” (BBC News, London). Since 1998, Dinh Nghi has settled in this frequented veranda – more of a studio than an exhibition place though one can have a glimpse at artworks by many contemporary Vietnamese painters. Self-trained, Dinh Nghi bewitches his brush and unearths the layers and psyche of the Vietnamese stroke.

Though trained as a doctor, Dinh Nghi soon realized that his heart lies outside the doctor’s office. His initial inspiration came from his colleague, a practicing doctor who swings back and forth between seeing patients and brushing the canvas.

However, Dinh Nghi truly stepped into arts upon his return to Vietnam after years away, profoundly touched by the magnificent landscapes and the soulful culture. With that, Frame & Art gallery was born, and so was Dinh Nghi the painter. “I can’t take Vietnam with me, but I can relive its beauty on the canvas.”

His pallet shines the hues of imagination, the shade of recollection, and the stratums of the Vietnamese whole. His isle buttresses the elegance of Vietnamese beauty in its multivariante expressions.

In his artistry, Dinh Nghi brings Vietnam into the here and now, and longs for the viewers to encounter just that.

“Painting equals breathing,” he says.

California October 17, 2003