Mr. Tien - The Painter

We forgot to write about our painter friend in Hoi An...

Rob and I had been looking far and wide for a painting from Vietnam as a welcome gift to us for our new home in KY (when we find one, that is). We walked from art gallery to art gallery, each one with the same rote paintings of the mona lisa (strange) and vietnamese families in rice paddies donned in cone shaped hats working the land. They were nice, but really nothing special, and we wanted special. And then we happened upon Hoang Trong Tien. Actually, Mr. Tien's gallery was the first stop on our art gallery tour, and we saw a painting of a tree under a color-rich sunset that we really liked. But when we asked the price, we were told USD$200. We decided to keep looking.

On our last day in Hoi An, tired from wandering from gallery to gallery in the beating sun, we couldn't help but still remember Mr. Tien and the sunset painting with the tree. Something about it got us, and something about the artist felt meaningful to us. We returned to Mr. Tien's shop to find his little girls having lunch. They asked if they should phone their father--he likes to do his work in another quieter gallery space in town--and after brief hesitation, we said yes.

When Mr. Tien arrived, sweaty from his several kilometer bike ride to meet us, we told him we still very much liked the painting, but that $200 was a bit steep for us. He then told us we could name our price. He said he prefers to sell artwork to people that he knows it means a lot to, that he'd rather sell his work at a lower price to people that appreciate it, rather than "full price" to people that don't "feel something" when they look at it. We were so moved. With all the touches of a professional and caring artist, he rolled up the painting (which we learned was painted in six consecutive days, only with his fingers, no brush) and asked us to take a picture with him for his scrapbook, which we also signed. As you can see on his website, his remarkable works start at $500 on the internet; he told us ours sells for $1,200. We paid $150.

When you come visit us in KY, we'll share Mr. Tien's handiwork with you...we love it!

[jg]