Paintings on Rice Sacks have become synonymous with the artist Pham Luc in Vietnam. The artist, a former military painter, has experienced many battles in his lifetime. He indicates that the mission of the military painter is honest reflection about the life of people in the battlefield, what he observed and how he felt during the marches. The villages and people helped him when he got hurt, and the fierce battlefields he passed through are featured in his works. He considered materials and brushes to be the instruments of conveying ideas in the painting.
He painted hundreds of paintings on rice sacks made of jute or synthetic fiber rope from the Soviet Union and China. The idea to use rice sacks came about as he lacked the necessary materials to paint on, and rice sacks were plentiful. He revealed that the first rice sack paintings were created with the artist Bang Lam in 1965. Pham Luc had to use lubricating oil from cars and trucks to draw because he lacked paints. Every character, image, and depiction in the paintings are associated with his military compatriots. Unfortunately, many paintings were damaged by bombs and ammunition.
War scenes often appear in his paintings, with subjects such as an old mother taking care of wounded soldiers, two teammates piggybacking injured soldiers back to the unit after a battle, a pregnant wife looking up at the image of her sacrificed husband, and militia girls carrying guns. Pham Luc also painted nudes on the sacks, a rather sensitive topic and a taboo in the military. He had to use his imagination because there were no female models, and the finished pieces were often concealed. In one piece he depicts Vietnamese women soldiers taking a bath in the midst of the Truong Son mountains after he had accidently come across them. In his paintings, those images bring a pure and romantic setting to the war.
Pham Luc has a distinctive style, one that reflects the culture and history of Vietnam. Many foreign and domestic collectors are proud of owning one or more of his rice sack paintings. In 2013, due to ill health, the aritst stopped drawing and exhibiting this type of painting. Because of these changes, the rice sack paintings have become more sought after. When asked about why he quit painting the sacks, the artist explains, "This is my toughest decision, but I'm very happy about my first exhibition without rice sack paintings. In any solo or collective exhibition, the rice sack paintings always make me different. The paintings created by the lack of fabrics and color, this material reflects the misery of the whole nation at the time, and that has touched many people. But I think nothing is forever nowadays. The artist must also portrays life with pen strokes and canvas.” Mr Ben Wilkinson—representative of Harvard Kennedy University (now USA Fullbright University) in Vietnam—is a Pham Luc collector, He noted that, “Pham Luc’s paintings are like windows that we can look through to understand more about the country and the people of Vietnam, both in the past war and the present.”
