Wildlife through an artist's eyes

Artist Dao Van Hoang opens an exhibition of 160 paintings depicting Vietnamese and international wildlife.

Dao Van Hoang with his first painting after becoming a full-time artist. The painting (pictured behind him), titled "Uprooted," took two months to complete. It conveys the desolation of a life without forests, inspired by the douc langurs of the Son Tra Peninsula (Da Nang). "This is my favorite piece in this exhibition," he said.

The exhibition, titled "Wild Art - Nature through an Artist's Eyes," is being held at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association (Pasteur Street, Xuan Hoa ward) and features over 160 works.

Dao Van Hoang, 65, was born in Ho Chi Minh City. After moving to France in 1979, he taught himself painting while working in technical and graphic design roles. In 1996, he returned to Vietnam, working in advertising and participating in conservation activities.

In 2014, he left his advertising career to pursue his dream of becoming a wildlife artist. He focuses on Southeast Asian species, especially those endangered and less discussed in conservation media. His paintings primarily utilize acrylics on canvas or watercolors on paper.

African black swifts, which the artist encountered in Zimbabwe. The picture behind depicts scarlet macaws, observed along the Corcovado beach in Costa Rica.

A painting of a serow climbing a cliff. The backdrop is the steep limestone cliffs of Cat Ba Island (Hai Phong), where serows are believed to still survive.

The exhibition features paintings of over 50 animal species, with birds being the most prominent subject.

A highlight is a series depicting 180 bird species from U Minh Thuong National Park (An Giang), created during his conservation work there from 2008 to 2009. Only a portion of this series is displayed, and rather than precise anatomical depictions, Hoang aims to capture the birds' lively moments.

A painting of a Harpy eagle (left). The artist has only seen this species in captivity in the Amazon. The painting conveys its power through its beak, head feathers, and gaze. On the right is "Like Flying Herons," inspired by the artist's visits to Tram Chim National Park (Dong Thap). The picture behind depicts a cuckoo, which the artist observed while visiting a friend's house in Ba Ria - Vung Tau (now part of Ho Chi Minh City).

To understand and find inspiration, Dao Van Hoang frequently travels to forests and conservation areas in Vietnam and abroad. He collaborates with scientists, meticulously studying the anatomy, behavior, and habitats of each species.

Several primate paintings are featured. The first image shows a proboscis monkey mother and child. The artist first encountered this species in Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. "I intentionally omitted the foliage, focusing on the primate suspended in mid-air," he explained.

The second image, "First Leap," depicts a Tarsier, notable for its large eyes, long ankle bones, and 180-degree head rotation. The artist encountered this species in Tangkoko National Park (Indonesia), where he painted a conservation mural. Both pieces belong to the "Flying Primates" series, previously exhibited at the Three Monkeys conference.

"I met this orangutan at a rescue center in Sulawesi while painting a mural for Tangkoko National Park. It left a deep impression, so I wanted to recreate it in my work," the artist said.

According to Dao Van Hoang, the greatest challenge in wildlife painting is anatomical accuracy and body proportions. From the curve of a horn to the structure of fur and the eyes, he studies every detail meticulously.

This painting, completed this year, depicts a tiger moving through tall grass. The blended colors and matching patterns make it nearly invisible. In this piece, he aimed to capture the movement of both the tiger and the grass in the wind.

Dao Van Hoang explains that animal painting also requires understanding their behavioral characteristics, such as a bird preening, a gibbon swinging through branches, or a leopard stalking its prey.

One of Dao Van Hoang's favorite works, displayed at an international bat conference in Thailand in 2019. Based on the Can Gio mangrove forest—still home to bat colonies—the artist imagines the first bats emerging at dusk, mysterious and silent like a squadron.

The second image is of a tube-nosed bat, titled "Half-Sleep." He painted it based on his friend Joe Chun-Chia Huang's account of this small bat species in Japan and Korea. They can lower their body temperature to hibernate under the snow. While painting, he imagined a person or creature passing by and waking it from its long slumber.

A 2016 painting of the extinct Archaeoindris lemur.

According to the artist, another challenge in wildlife art is visualizing extinct species. With Archaeoindris, scientists have only found a skull and a few bone fragments. The rest of the painting is almost entirely imagined but based on some scientific hypotheses.