Nguyen Lam was born in 1941 in Can Tho and graduated from National School of Fine Arts Saigon in 1965. Before 1975 he was a professor of the Nation School of Decoration and Fine Arts, Gia Dinh. 
 

Nguyen Lam is well known for his abstract artworks spanning over decades. His subjects are modern, however there is a link between the old and the new seen in his technique: Nguyen Lam uses big brushstrokes of black paint inspired by the traditional technique of calligraphy. Each stroke is precise, coming out of a meditation to be perfect. 

 

Nguyen Lam received numerous  prizes and awards for his works spanning from 1962.  His exhibitions between 1962 and 1975 were highly regarded. Since then, his work was exhibited around the world, many times around Europe, America and Asia.  Nguyen Lam's paintings appear in permanent collections of the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts and several private collections in Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and most of all in the US, where some collectors have been following him from his early years.

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Nguyen Lam is a member of Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association and a member of Vietnam Fine Arts Association. In 2013 he beat many candidates from France, Japan and Vietnam to be specially chosen by the French government to restore a rare painting by Nguyen Gia Tri (b.1908-1993, Tri is Vietnam's legendary lacquer painter with many works considered Vietnam's national treasures. 

 

AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Certificate of honour from the First International Art Exhibition in Saigon, 1962

• Silver medal from Spring Exhibition in 1962

• Bronze medal from the exhibition organised by the Directorate of Catholic Chaplains, 1965

• Selected to participated in Biennale de Paris, 1961, 1963

• Selected for International Art Exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur in 1963, New Delhi in 1967 and in New York in 1968

• Jury member for Saigon Tourist Painting Competition, 1993

• Selected for Southeast Asian Art – A New Spirit, with 100 other established artists, Singapore 1997

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1963: Exhibition at Information Hall, Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh City)
1965: Exhibition at L’Alliance Francais, Sai Gon
1970:  Exhibition at Vietnamese American Association, Sai Gon
1971: Exhibition at Information Hall, Sai Gon
1972:  Exhibition at Vietnamese American Association, Sai Gon
1974: Exhibition at L’Alliance Francais, Sai Gon

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1960: Exhibition at Cultural Association of Vietnam
1961: International Art Exhibition “Biennal de Paris”
1962: Selected for the First International  Fine Art Exhibition in Sai Gon
1963:  International Art Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur
1966-1974: Exhibition of Vietnamese Young Artist Association
1966:  Exhibition in New Delhi
1969: Exhibition in Washington DC, USA
1972: Exhibition at Dolce Vita, Vietnam
1979: Exhibition at Vietnam’s House, Paris
1991: Exhibition in Michigan, USA
1992: Exhibition at Mandarin Hotel , Singapore and exhibition at Vietnam’s House, Paris
1993: Participated in exhibition “New Space” by Vietnamese and Singapore artists
1994: Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
1994: Exhibitions  in France: at L’espace Jacques Preven, Dunkerque, and Gallery Bellint Paris
1994: Asia International Modern Art Exhibition, Vietnam
1995: Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam

1995: Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition, Washington DC touring 7 museums from 1995-1998.  “An Ocean Apart” exhibition at Ellipse Arts Center Arlington, Virginia, James A Micherner Art Museum Doylestoye Pennsylvania
1996: Exhibition at Jujita Vente Art Museum, Tokyo
1996: San Jose Museum of Art, California, USA
1997: Selected for Southeast Asian Art – “A New Spirit” with 100 established Asian artists, Singapore
1997: Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
1997: Cultural Representative in Transition, New Vietnamese Painting, Bangkok, Thailand
1998: Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC; Asian Modern Art exhibition in VN
1998: Exhibition at H and S Art Gallery, Brussels.
1998: Exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo and USA
1999: Exhibition in HCMC, Vietnam
2000: Exhibition in Singapore
2001: Vietnam-Japan Art Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
2002: Participated in Festival Hue,  exhibition at the Champs Elysses Gallery in HCMC, Vietnam
2003: Exhibition in New York, USA
2004: Exhibition at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
2005: Exhibition at the World Bank, Washington DC, USA
2006, 2007, 2008: Exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
2009: Exhibition of Lacquer in Hanoi
2009, 2010: Exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Art HCMC, Vietnam
Permanent collections displayed at the Museum of Fine Art of Vietnam in Hanoi and the Museum of Fine Art in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

2015:   Group Exhibition – “Treasures of Vietnam” , London by Hanoi Art House UK