of poverty are covering great pain of suffering during the war. Their objects represent dreams of better life in the future. A "lantern lamp" is the symbol for waiting. Women are waiting for their husbands and children for their fathers who went to fight. Symbols in Art-history were based on religion, Mythology or Nature.

Our artists, Thanh and Hai use in their art a personal language minimized to enigmas. A bicycle appears as prominent icon, but to some extent is a "ready-made".

I would say that their works of art refer to Magritte, the modern artist. They built a whole world of icons similar to the way that the great surrealist artist did. He built a private visual dictionary (a pipe, a chair, and a hat), enigmas and codes.

Through the centuries Vietnamese artists developed a visual language which has been severe and monochromatic. Lacquer on wood has been used in Vietnamese art for 2000 years. Today many of the Vietnamese artists work in the same old technique using very few colors, black, brown, yellow and white, painting the traditional subjects. In countries that have suffered economically, as a consequence of a long war, artists created forms of art which often depicted the somber surroundings.

Our artists express their art in a colorful, dramatic language; however, they still use the traditional lacquer technique. Their icons are painted in rich colors as red vermilion, gold and silver. Sometimes, they add special effects to the painting by using silver and gold leaves as a background. This will make the painting reflect more color, and the finished product would appear metallic. Another technique is to add crushed eggshells to the paint, so that broad areas of color take on a mottled effect. This technique can be seen in a many of their paintings.

"At home, I must paint every day. If I don't, I can't sleep at night." Thus both Le Ngoc Thanh and Le Duc Hai expressed their passion for their art.