INTRODUCTION
Bright Quang is an interesting and inspiring man. Idiosyncratic and personal, his painting describes his response to his life and shares with us a long, solitary view acquired in the midst of tragic world events of the past thirty years--war, displacement, and struggle. Bright's reply upon all this is, rather than despair, hope. Bright's work, and his character, celebrate what it means to be alive in difficult times.
Professor: Dickson Schneider
California State University Hayward
INTRODUCTION
Bright-Quang is a South Vietnamese man with a quicksilver mind, giving expression to sounds, emotions, and textures. His poems bury in a tree root, during a six-year concentration camp incarceration, are lyrical and will enlighten and delight. By placing his carefully crafted poems in his shoe then secretly burying them wrapped in a blanket, Bright-Quang was able to save his work. This was done while digging at hard labor under the nose of his communist oppressors. Interned because of his statements of conscience in poetry and art, Quang tells of the despair and misery in a lyric and expressive outpouring about the communists and the camp. In a series of poems covering both physical and emotional life experiences, Quang prays for harmony. In a later section, Quang tells of his relocation and emotional rebirth in the United States, Redwood City, California, and his capturing freedom of thought and expression. "We need a torch," this descendant of "dragons" pleads. Balancing woe and tribulation with love his summons memories with " the sun on a river of perfume" and " love and lost harmonies". He dramatizes anger and hopelessness in a play-let that builds anguish against North Vietnam Communists tormenting villagers. In a time-honored folk theme, a young virgin spy is raped, and by the wicked older military strongman, young lover lost mother degraded. All this showing the effect of military ruthlessness It is difficult to express the spirit of the flowering of these writings, which burst like sparkling shooting stars lighting up the pages of the mind. The final section has photos of artworks by the author. They encapsulate " Hope" as an underlying theme. They are sculpted and carved in different media; ceramic, wood, plaster, and granite, then painted, some in gold, some in brass. The sum of this work creates that hair-raising surprise of finding a rare and brilliant talent emotional insight. The sculptures focus on subjects that represent the idea of liberation. The bust of President Clinton has facial symmetry, boldly extended nose, and connected eyebrow line that intensifies the inward gaze of the sagging aging eyes. This ceramic, painted in gold, emphasizes the unique personality of Clinton. In contrast to the facial strength of the bust of President Kennedy in cement, sand, and granite, and President in ceramic, is a softly modeled girl bust, in ceramic, plaster painted gold. She has a modestly downward gaze, her face framed with shiny-looking hair. Her total look is gentle, youthful, and hopeful. Quang's humor is evident in his sculpture of an elongated curvaceous Cat. An impish look, Cat tilts its head, more ready to purr than pounce. The sleek warm, wooden body elicits the desire for touching. The outward appearance of the controlling hands, the frog with the hatchet, and the rearing horse are different. They all express the underlying theme of freedom. The frog will break down obstacles, the hand has the possibility of uplifting or destroying earth, while the prancing horse shows the spirit of independence. Quang again is creating from the need to speak for justice. The sum of this work, primarily the poems, creates the hair-raising surprise of finding a rare and brilliant talent with emotional insight.
Betty J. Cornell
M.F.A Faculty Canãda College
INTRODUCTION
Bright-Quang is a rare combination, a writer and an artist. His work has sincerity as its strongest element. He has avoided the postmodern dilemma of meaninglessness. As Marc Chagall said, " Someone told me that sincerity is out of fashion, and that explains everything". Like Chagall, Bright-Quang's work is sincere and honest, and come from his real-life experiences, it is not derivative. He and his people, the Vietnamese, have endured the twin hells of war and communist repression. But his honesty and optimism sustain him and nourish his work, transcending the political to become intimate and personal. His writing has the peace of a soul at ease with itself, but the view of a terror, which few of us have had to know, except for a few rare instances in our lives. It brings a rare clarity of the effects of repression and corruption, in all of its terrible implications, more powerful and frightening than even the classic, A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich. It is a tribute that he can write and know of such things first hand and keep his balance and even a sense of humor. More than just writing, it is his story and the story of his people. His sculpture has the same honesty and sincerity. His most powerful work Controlling has a monumental presence while maintaining the ambiguity of most great works. Like the monumental heads of Constantine in Rome, it goes beyond the political to become its own icon, memorable and unique. It lends itself to multiple interpretations to avoid becoming propagandist. Even his portraits of the president transcend the political, he has made them his own. They are as much about Bright-Quang as they are about the sitters. Bright-Quang has been creating for many years, but his work still has the energy and enthusiasm of a young artist. We look forward to many more years of his excellent and memorable work.
Professor Jerry DeCamp.
INTRODUCTION
Poetry and ART is a collection of poems, sayings, sculpture pictures, and short essays; Some poetic selections offer comments on love, nurture, war, human rights, and the transitory status of mankind. Others, through the juxtaposition of images, provide some insight into the difficulties and contrasting emotions of people who begin new after being forced to leave all that has been earned and all that is familiar. Still, other shorter selections offer sage advice under the heading of "Bright Quang Said." Many of the same themes set forth in the poetic selections are repeated in the collections of essays, short stories, and pictures of sculptures. These appear to more directly reflect the myriad interests and experiences of the author and artist.
This small volume is impressive, indeed, for a student who still struggles to unlock the intricacies of the English language so that he may sculpt his thoughts in the language of his adopted country.
AMY L.HENRY
English Instructor.
Canada College, Redwood City, CA.
April 14, 1998
Dear Bright,
Congratulations on getting your book accepted for publication. You must be so thrilled and proud.
Here is the paragraph from Chapter Twenty-Five.
Twenty-Five
Two thousand, three hundred, sixty-six nightmares
Le Ban collected many ugly Vietnamese officers or leaders in Vietnamese history after four thousand years of age-old culture had passed. The Vietnamese land was left in the hands of some empires in the world because Le Ban analyzed nationalism and foreign-ism, or patriotic men and puppet men. He depended upon two elementary leaders. First, if the Vietnamese government expelled the foreign countries from Vietnam when the foreigners invaded, this Vietnamese hero was a patriotic leader. Second, a Vietnamese leader developed a new doctrine, led the Vietnamese people to thrive, enjoy happiness, freedom, and democratic government, and won all the hearts of the people. Third, this leader guided the Vietnamese people to live peacefully in the world, so he followed nationalism.
The Vietnamese leaders were called puppet men by the people because they followed foreign policy. First, these leaders welcomed foreign armies to rule the Vietnamese people in order to help their own fame and benefits. Second, these leaders fought for supremacy, came into power to build social Vietnamese chaos, and made the people have troubled times and an undeveloped country. Third, these leaders who copied the foreign policy robbed freedom of thought, speech, religion, and democracy when they borrowed foreign weapons to oppress and trample the Vietnamese people down. All of them were called puppet leader by Le Ban's theory.,
Professor JanLerman
California State University East Bay (Hayward), Hayward
