Exhibition «Báo cáo Thành quả Trại sáng tác 2026 và Sáng tác mới»

   Four hundred and three works fill the galleries of an Indochine-style mansion in the heart of District 1: lacquer, silk, ink wash, sculpture and ceramics, all made this year. If you want a single place to see what Ho Chi Minh City artists are thinking about in 2026, this is it, and it closes on 3 September.

   The Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association opened the show on the morning of 25 August at the Fine Arts Museum, marking 81 years since the August Revolution and National Day. It is the association's annual round-up of new work: 403 pieces by 335 artists, picked in two selection rounds from 868 submissions by 583 artists. Of those, 249 works come from 203 association members and 154 from 132 non-members.

   A few names the jury singled out:

• — «Mạch sống» by Trần Văn Hải, ink wash, A prize
• — «Chiếc khăn voan» (The Veil) by Nguyễn Quốc Nam, lacquer, A prize
• — «Bãi Ngự - Đảo Thổ Chu» by Võ Nam, lacquer, A prize
• — «Vọng ngàn» by Ngô Trọng Văn, ceramics, A prize
• — «Nhà dê» (Goat House) by Nguyễn Trí Minh Thư, A prize; the goats were modelled on the posture of the artist's own dog

   Thirty-seven member works were awarded in total: 10 A prizes, 12 B, 15 C, plus 15 equal-rank prizes reserved for non-members.

   What is new this year is the map. Alongside the nine regular creative camps the association added one for the Bình Dương area after the city's administrative merger, and submissions rose against last year even though funding and equipment were tighter. Painter Siu Quý, standing vice-chairman of the association, called the show a festival for the enlarged city's whole art community. Sculptor Nguyễn Xuân Tiên, deputy head of the art council, points to the number of large-format pieces giving the rooms real visual depth.

   Subjects range widely: landscapes, everyday life, family, social worry. History gets close attention. Painter Thanh Tùng, back from a working trip to Côn Đảo, put the prison's watchtowers, guards and cells into her canvas but kept the palette bright, letting a seedling push through the narrow window.

   It works for a solo hour, for friends or for a family visit: the ceramics and large sculptures read easily, and the museum building itself is a long-standing photo stop for young Saigonese. Come in the morning, walk it slowly, and you get a whole year of a city's art in a handful of rooms.