Several experts, including a revered Swiss art history doctorate holder, have pinpointed the numerous problems that have impeded the Vietnamese art sector from thriving.

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Experts, gallery owners, and curators have drawn attention to the hurdles that the local art industry needs to surmount if it is to take off.

Dr. Ildegarda E. Scheidegger, a respected Swiss fine arts expert, visited Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year.

During an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, she partly attributed the local art market’s stagnant growth to limited budget.

“International cooperation is crucial if a contemporary art sector is to take off. Insufficient finance keeps art sector insiders from holding events large enough to invite their international colleagues or famed experts to,” Dr. Scheidegger said.

Many Vietnamese tourists shared with her that despite their keenness to visit countries with thriving art scenes and learn from their colleagues there, poor finances have kept them from doing so.

The Swiss art authority advised that no matter where they are, contemporary artists are supposed to create worthy works which bear their hallmark and vividly reflect topical issues to carve out a successful career and their own niche in the arena.

“It requires artists’ great will; perserverance; assistance from curators, collectors and gallery owners; as well as art prizes, which serve as morale boosters,” Dr. Scheidegger underlined.

She also pointed to another saddening fact that in a number of places, particularly in Asia, many art collectors tend to consider artwork a commodity which they trade in to gain profits.

This has resulted in their inclination to make art purchases based on market fluctuations or artists’ fame instead of the works’ genuine values, she elaborated.

“Now that I’ve pinpointed some of the existing problems in the Vietnamese art scene, I think I’m obliged to help out. I’ll talk to my friend, who is a famed curator in Switzerland, and invite him to Vietnam and lend a hand,” Dr. Scheidegger said.

Dr. Scheidegger is particularly knowledgeable about East Asian fine arts and spent six years living in Japan.

In 2010, she was in charge of the Asian fine arts section at Sotheby's Auction House, a global art business, and was director of Steinfels Art Consulting AG in Zurich.

She is also a curator, freelance art publisher, and manager of several artists.

Dr. Ildegarda E. Scheidegger, a respected Swiss fine arts expert. Photo: Tuoi Tre

What Vietnamese insiders have to say

Veteran artist Le Thiet Cuong suggested that the local art market lacks Vietnamese art investors.

Nguyen Nga, owner of Maison des Arts, a popular art rendezvous in Hanoi, said local art buyers mostly ‘scavenge’ art items instead of collecting.

Few are willing to spend thousands of U.S. dollars on a genuine artwork, but are not reluctant to spend that sum on a gem painting, which is believed to be auspicious in terms of feng-shui.

People tend to buy copied paintings, which fetch only a few dozen dollars apiece.

Duong Thu Hang, art director of Hanoi Studio, stressed that the local market has ‘fallen apart’ as galleries are not firmly founded on genuine art buyers or a sound fine arts education.

Most owners of galleries on major streets in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have seen a shrinking number of clients in recent years.

Hang underscored the fact that few galleries own truly exclusive rights to artists’ oeuvre.

She signed exclusive contracts with at least six artists, but after a while she noticed that works by these artists were for sale in several other places for undefined reasons.

Hang called for the establishment of a contemporary fine arts museum, which will serve as a guide for the local market.

A copyist is seen 'multiplying' paintings in an art workshop. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, acknowledged the stagnant growth of the Vietnamese market.

Five years ago, an Art Work Assessment and Auction Center was founded at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi, and was expected to serve as a key factor to spur the local market’s professional growth.

However, the center was barely able to operate due to lack of demand, Thanh added.

The fine arts planning until 2030 which has been approved by the prime minister includes the construction of a contemporary fine arts museum in Hanoi and five fine arts museums in other major cities, he noted.

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