Colour of money inspires a generation of Vietnamese painters

Vietnamese art has often been regarded as light and populist in Hong Kong. But times are changing. Over the past decade, big-name artists have emerged, such as Thanh Binh and Le Than Son, whose smaller works can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000.

More recently, Hanoi's leading fine-art dealers have renovated and expanded their galleries - many of which now wouldn't look out of place in Hong Kong's SoHo. Most importantly, Vietnam has nurtured a new generation of artists who are relatively unknown - and still cheap - but indicate the country's potential.

Nguyen Dinh Quang, who founded Hanoi's Thang Long Gallery in 1996, says rising prices help inspire younger artists.

'Some of the best artists' works are quite expensive now,' he says. 'Their success had been a good motivation for talented newer artists who might not have made the commitment without the growing interest in their country's art.'

He says Hoang Hai Anh is one artist to watch. Anh graduated from Hanoi Fine Art College (widely considered the country's best) in 1999, when global interest in Vietnamese art was already growing. Born into an artistic family, Anh started with a female nude series in 2000 and 2001, before moving to oil paintings of himself and his family. Thickly applied paint, often scraped onto the canvas with a palette knife, in a range of colours that contrast wildly between muted earthy hues and primary colours, evoke the Expressionist style of Austrian painter Oscar Kokoschka.

'He's been popular for the last two years,' Quang says of Anh. 'People like the bright colours and family images of the artist and his wife and son.' At the moment, some of Anh's smallest self-portraits go for US$350, with larger pieces fetching just over US$1,000.