Nhà thơ Lưu Trọng Lư

In his portrait of the poet Lưu Trọng Lư, Chóe employs a unique approach to caricature: not leaning towards sharp satire, but rather towards evocative imagery through poetic association. The poet's face appears not realistically, but rather as if composed of countless thick layers of pale yellow, yellowish-brown, earthy brown, and bluish-gray paint. The entire surface of the painting evokes the feeling of a layer of dry autumn leaves overlapping, from which the face gradually emerges and then dissolves back into the background.

In terms of visual structure, the most striking feature is the thick, raised brushstrokes, making each paint stroke resemble rustling, dry, fragmented leaves. The face is positioned slightly to the right, the left side submerged in a deep grayish-brown, giving the poet's countenance a half-visible, half-hidden quality, like a shadow emerging from memory. The deep, dark, slightly slanted eyes become the focal point of expression; the nose, mouth, and facial outline are only subtly hinted at, enough for identification but maintaining a state of ambiguity. It is this restraint that prevents the portrait from remaining static like a "painting," but rather makes it vibrate like a feeling.

The work's discourse is closely tied to the theme of the poem "Autumn Sounds." Chóe seems to borrow the line "the bewildered golden deer / treading on dry golden leaves" to envision the poet as an autumnal being: fragile, wistful, bewildered amidst a world of withered leaves, falling sounds, and the changing seasons. Here, Lưu Trọng Lư is not only a portrait of a New Poetry poet, but also the embodiment of his poetic atmosphere. The face seems to be made of golden leaves, yet simultaneously enveloped by them, making the viewer feel as if the poet is dissolving into his own poetic essence.

Chóe's caricature in this work is therefore very subtle. He doesn't exaggerate the appearance to evoke laughter, but rather exaggerates the poetic quality and spirit: transforming the face into a visual metaphor. The "bewilderment" isn't expressed through gestures or posture, but rather through the deep gaze, the semi-transparent structure of the face, and the very texture of the paint, like dried leaves covering the surface. Thanks to this, the portrait possesses a beauty that is both witty, lyrical, and culturally profound.

This can be seen as a very typical portrait of Chóe's ability: using caricature to penetrate the spiritual essence of the character. Instead of simply "painting Lưu Trọng Lư," he reconstructs an entire field of associations linked to autumn, to the Sound of Autumn, and to the image of the "bewildered golden deer." The work thus not only presents the portrait of a poet but also opens up a beautiful discourse on the relationship between man and poetry: the poet seems to be born from his own verses.