In Vietnamese culture and folk beliefs, the tiger has always been the supreme symbol of strength, bravery, and a sacred guardian that wards off evil spirits. Entering the artistic world of painter Lê Thiết Cương, this zodiac animal not only inherits the thousands of years of national heritage depth but is also redefined through a minimalist language.

Lê Thiết Cương's profound understanding of the tiger motif in traditional Vietnamese art history is demonstrated through his insightful gaze at heritage spanning several centuries. He points out that the image of the tiger appeared abundantly on the unique 13th-century Trần dynasty brown-patterned ceramics, as well as on 15th and 16th-century Chu Đậu ceramic jars and three-color (tam thái) plates. He also discovered the village art identity of the Vietnamese through 16th and 17th-century communal house woodcarvings, such as the relief of a tiger playing at Lỗ Hạnh communal house, the tiger hunting scene at Thổ Tang communal house, or the tiger-fighting carving at Chẩy communal house. Most prevalent in spiritual life are the stone tigers guarding the three-entrance gates (tam quan) and the famous Hàng Trống Five Tigers worship paintings, closely tied to the custom of worshipping the White Tiger facing West, representing the Metal element, by the business and trading community. 

The artist reflects on this spiritual culture of "faith brings sanctity," even drawing connections to the Eastern horoscopic charts of heroic figures characterized by the Tang Môn / Bạch Hổ (Gate of Sorrow / White Tiger) star combination. Because traditional art history already boasts so many exceptional depictions, creating a tiger form becomes a difficult puzzle, demanding that contemporary artists find a distinct path of their own, without conformity or repeating the past.

Painter Lê Thiết Cương himself is a "Tiger" - an artist born in the Year of the Tiger. Therefore, when he sets his brush to paint a tiger, it is not merely about illustrating a sacred beast from culture or folk beliefs. It is also a journey of self-portraiture. The tiger imagery in Lê Thiết Cương's paintings bears the very reflection of the artist himself: rebellious, unconventional, full of aura, and always fiercely driving his craft to the absolute limit.

"In the breath of the contemporary world, there is a reflection of ourselves [...] I don't want to depict a specific person, a specific street, so that everyone who looks at it can see their own reflection, their own role." - Artist Nguyen Minh has depicted a story where the boundaries of identification are blurred to make way for empathy. In his creative philosophy, there is a subtle choice: rejecting the depiction of specific entities to create an artistic space that is symbolic. It is a meaningful "space," allowing each viewer to step in and fill it with their own memories, shadows, and roles.

For him, contemporary art is not something distant, but the very heartbeat of existing life, where the individual self blends into the mainstream of society. 39 Concept believes that this perspective offers a liberation to the viewer, as they are no longer confined to the author's viewpoint but are free to define themselves within the artwork. In this episode of Art Talk, let’s contemplate how nameless forms can evoke the most genuine emotions, allowing each of us to feel an inseparable part of the contemporary spirit that artist Nguyen Minh is persistently seeking.

39 Concept invites you to step into a "multidimensional space" of color and emotion. Here, we will admire how the essence is distilled from the simplest things, transforming them into timeless works of art that convey a message of appreciation and continuity of national cultural values.