Make reference to Asian modern paintings, surely you will wonder at Vietnamese modern paintings. Recently contemporary Vietnamese art has become a subject to discuss. Since escaping from socio-political shackles which have long kept it limited to a rather provincial existence, Vietnamese modern art has developed in great glory before an awed international audience.

Indeed, there is no looking back for Vietnam now. It is moving forward. However, it is not just looking forward towards the future. There is an element of retrospection involved also. Thus, the modern Vietnamese perspective comprises not just looking ahead, but also looking back, in an effort to sort out the past.

Till recent times, Vietnamese modern art has been facing a peculiar identity crisis. Questions about the extent of Western influence on Vietnam’s modern art, and how deep its traditional moorings actually go, have plagued the artists of Vietnam for long. It has not been long since they seem to have finally come to terms with the origin of their modern art.

Modern paintings in Vietnam took roots in the amalgam of two very different forces – French liberalism and Vietnamese traditionalism. Two of the strongest influences that molded Vietnamese modern art were that of brutal French colonialism on one hand, and a relentless current of Vietnamese patriotism. Before ‘Doi Moi’, or Vietnam’s Perestroika (renovation) began in 1986, the origin of Vietnamese modern art was little discussed in Vietnam because such a discussion would necessarily touch upon the role of the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine (Indochina Fine Arts College) founded by the liberal-minded French artist Victor Tardieu. During its 20 years of operation between 1925 and 1945, the Ecole trained more than 100 Vietnamese painters, sculptors and architects who formed the core group of pioneers in Vietnamese modem art. Even though the Vietnamese pioneers were primarily inspired and driven in their artistic creation by Vietnamese tradition, the Ecole was thought to be too closely associated with French colonialism to deserve mention. It was almost a taboo.

Recent events, however, have pointed to a conscious effort to put things in balance, recognizing both the catalyst role of the Ecole and the crucial contribution of the Vietnamese pioneer artists in the development of Vietnamese modern art. The year 1996 saw the Government awarding the prestigious Ho Chi Minh Prize to 7 Vietnamese artists, all of whom graduated from the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine. In 2000, the Hanoi College of Fine Arts and other local art institutions sponsored a large reunion of former students of the Ecole and their relatives to mark the Ecole’s 75th anniversary.

So how does one interpret the modern art scenario in Vietnam today? It will be perhaps apt to say that it has a strange duality. While Western trends continue to make their presence felt in style and techniques, there is an overwhelming local essence to be noticed in themes. Vietnamese modern paintings today draw heavily upon local themes and Vietnamese culture and tradition.

This duality is strange feature of Vietnamese modern paintings today. It may be a base so that Vietnamese can introduce the international to their paintings that express Vietnamese’ lifestyle.

The Do Son Casino is the largest of Vietnam’s casinos with seven gaming tables and 100 slot and video poker machines. However, the relative paucity of legal casinos does not mean that the Vietnamese themselves do not like gambling. There are innumerable semi-legal and illegal betting shops, minor league casinos, and even cock fights all over the country. For visitors to the country, it is advised that you stay away from such attractions, as while what might be overlooked by the authorities when it involves locals, the same is often not true for foreigners. Anyone with a high desire for risk taking should perhaps instead, outside of the games of Vietnam’s casinos, simply try eating from the roadside and market stalls. Some of it is excellent, truly divine; others will contain dog meat or worse, and still more regularly kills via various unpleasant forms of food poisoning. All of it will be flavored with the ubiquitous phuoc nam (an alternative spelling is nuoc mam), which is essentially a ketchup based on anchovies. The main meats are pork, beef, and a great deal of fresh fish, both fresh and salt water, is eaten. Soups form an important part of the cuisine, and the food can be, depending upon the region, quite mild or highly spicy. The country has a vibrant sense of the importance of its own history. Originally independent in the centuries Before Common Era, it was then ruled by China for a millenium, then independent again until the days of European colonialism when first the French and then, famously, the Americans took responsibility. That sense of not being free, but deserving to be so, is very strong in the country. Given the recent communist poverty of the country and the current almost explosive growth of the economy, it is a very young country demographically. It is highly likely that Vietnam’s casinos will grow in number and size substantially, both as the huge number of young people grow up and as the economy and the tourist industry increase in size.