Nguyen Dinh Dang is a Vietnamese physicist, researcher, author, and painter.
Background
Nguyen Dinh Dang was born in 1958 in Hanoi, Vietnam. He started to draw while very young, at around five years old.
During the US bombing of North Vietnam, he was evacuated to the countryside for five years. His family was very poor at that time. Nguyen Dinh Dang had no access to proper art material, even paper was in shortage, and his first painting around 1970 in oil color was a portrait of an European lady, which he painted on a piece of rough material cut from bag for keeping rice.
Education
Graduating from high school with the highest grades and being a brilliant student of mathematics and physics, Nguyen Dinh Dang was able to study physics at the Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, from 1976 to 1982 and completed his Ph.D. in 1985 on the structure of nuclei. In 1990 he received his Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Sciences from the Moscow State University.
He also did postdoctoral studies in Germany and Italy in the early 1990s.
After completing his doctorate in Russia, Nguyen Dinh Dang worked at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology.
Later for a few years he worked in Europe as a physicist, then moved to Japan in 1994 to work at the Institute for Nuclear Study (INS) of the University of Tokyo. While working at the INS he was invited by Riken Professor Akito Arima, then president of RIKEN. So after finishing 10 months of research at the INS, Nguyen Dinh Dang moved to RIKEN and has worked there since then. He is currently working on the topic of nuclear atomic structure.
Nguyen Dinh Dang pursued his painting while simultaneously undertaking demanding work as a nuclear physicist. As an artist he was self-taught, mostly through copying from reproductions of Vermeer, Boticelli, Velasquez, etc. He has had many solo exhibitions in Russia, Vietnam and Japan. Many of his works are in private collections in Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Russia and Vietnam.
His large paintings are extremely well executed and he obviously works within the verist surrealism of Dalí, though his ideas are entirely original. Moreover, Nguyen Dinh Dang was also invited to lecture on Oil Painting Technique at Hanoi University of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, Wako City Community Center, Japan and gave the presentations of his paintings in Italy, Portugal and the United States.
In addition, he is the author of many articles and translations from Russian, Japanese, English, French which were published in newspapers such as Talawas, Sparks, Expatriates, Vietnamnet, and others.
Quotations:
"It is a lamp that burns until it is dry, and if it is filled with oil that can not be burned or burned, it is only a vial of oil."
"I think the most important thing is to know independent thinking, respect the difference, and find a way for yourself. In the end you will find that the only way is right."
"Training is based on fear that does not affect the person, but only makes the person become a liar."
"Confidence is one of the very important factors that help you succeed in art."
"Many people claim to be artists, but the most difficult and beautiful is the mystery of the universe. Only a few can comprehend it."
Membership
Nguyen Dinh Dang became a member of various professional art associations in Vietnam and Japan, including the Vietnam Fine Arts Association (1987), the Hanoi Fine Arts Association (1990), the International Association of Arts (1997-1999) and the Individual Artists' Association (Shutai Bijutsu Kyo Kai, 2005).
Vietnam Fine Arts Association
,
Vietnam
1987
Hanoi Fine Arts Association
,
Vietnam
1990
Individual Artists' Association (Shutai Bijutsu Kyo Kai)
,
Japan
2005
International Association of Arts
1997 - 1999
Personality
Speaking at the opening of his first solo exhibition in Japan in 2001, Akito Arima, a physicist, senator, former minister of Japanese culture, education and science, RIKEN President, former president of the University of Tokyo, called Nguyen Dinh Dang "a genius". Besides, professor of physics and vice president of the University of Texas at Dallas, Da Hsuan Feng called Nguyen Dinh Dang a "Renaissance man" for his wide interests and his diverse talents.
Nguyen Dinh Dang is considered one of the rare examples of scientific and artistic harmony in a human being. Along with scientific research, Nguyen Dinh Dang also passionate about music and painting.