Vin Luong

The son of a widely known Chinese painter, Vin Luong received an early introduction to art and technique from his father. He came to Peoria from Vietnam in 1987, destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.

A Father’s Inspiration
Vin’s father, Siu-Hong Luong, was born in Canton, China, where he attended art school before fleeing his homeland during World War II. After settling in Vietnam, he became an art professor and, over time, began to focus more on his own work. Recognized as one of the top artists in the country, he exhibited his work throughout South Vietnam.

Siu-Hong’s artistic style was called Lingnan, referring to the mix of traditional and modern elements by artists from the Guangdong province of China. According to lingnanart.com, this manner of painting began in the 19th century, attaining national visibility and becoming a distinctive style in the early part of the 20th century. The leaders of the Lingnan School of painting “combined the local style with elements of Western and Japanese realist painting to create an art that they hoped would be more accessible to the citizenry of China’s new republic than the literati painting of the past.”

Vin was born in Saigon in 1966. As a child, he was surrounded by art. He would sit at the table where his father was working and observe how he painted. It amazed him to watch his father lay out his brush strokes and, in a few minutes, turn those strokes into a tiger or a peacock. His mother had always been very supportive as well—she was married to a painter, after all—and Vin felt very fortunate to grow up with their encouragement.

Sadly, Siu-Hong Luong passed away when Vin was just nine years old, never knowing that his son had followed in his footsteps.

The Path of a Young Artist
When Vin was 14 and still in Vietnam, he walked past a Western art studio and decided to take classes from the owner. After that, he did lot of self-study, experimenting with a number of different painting styles and reading a great deal of books. From the Renaissance to Impressionism to abstract art, he was influenced by the masters, closely examining their strokes and style. The Renaissance Age—Michelangelo and da Vinci, in particular—were inspirations to Vin. He found the way Michelangelo could paint the human body fascinating.

At 15, Vin copied a portrait by Peter Paul Rubens, a prolific 17th century Flemish Baroque painter, which became one of his first oil paintings. When he started painting, all he knew was watercolor and rice paper from the traditional Chinese—oil was a whole new world. It took several months to paint the Rubens portrait, but he kept at it, and today the piece hangs in his studio as one of his favorites, a reminder of when he was young, still searching…still learning.

After studying the Renaissance, Vin moved into the revolutionary literary and artistic movement known as Surrealism. Developed in the early 1920s, Surrealism attempted to “express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter” (thefreedictionary.com). In his work today, you can see both the Renaissance and Surrealism styles, with a hint of the Chinese influence.

Vin’s oldest brother never made it to Vietnam with the rest of the family; instead, he relocated to the United States with the help of Catholic Social Services, who assisted refugees fleeing communism. Over time, the whole family was able to move to the U.S. to be with him.

Vin’s artistic career in Peoria began in 1987, when he landed his first job at Bibo Gallerie, painting portraits, framing pictures and doing commission work. The turning point for him came in 1995, when he felt that he had found his voice and identity and began to emerge with his own distinctive style. In 1998, he hosted his first solo show, and today, he is able to be self-employed as an artist.

• Email this page