Today, I woke up at 12:00 noon. I was feeling very drained, probably because I walked so much yesterday. I also talked a lot with Cici, which probably drained my energy. I love to talk with people at ENFP, but it’s not like I want to be with them all the time. Ideally, I’d like to have a 2:1 ratio: 2 days alone and 1 day with someone else. I think such a life is the best for me.
Visit to Saigon Art Museum with HIROMI
In the afternoon, I met my friend HIROMI whom I met the other day and we decided to go to the Saigon Art Museum together. It was located in Destrict1, in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. I ride my motorcycle there. When I arrived, it was really a beautiful Coronial style architecture. I was going to sit and wait somewhere there, but HIROMI was waiting nearby. So she noticed me first lol. It seemed she had already bought the ticket. Thank you so much.
The “misery” I felt
The Saigon Art Museum had a lot of old art, as well as some contemporary art. We first went around the second floor, and then the third floor. Among the many antiques and art, I felt some kind of “misery”.
There were many works depicting people suffering, being forced into slavery, and people reading books while sleeping underground and relying on a few candles because of the war. I have seen a lot of European art, but this was probably the first time for me to see works from Southeast Asia. There was something different about them.
On the contrary, the “misery” of European painters seems to me to include a certain “elegance” and a lot of “irony” in it. I am an Asian, so I may have my own subjective viewpoint, but it seems to me that there is a European “playfulness” or something like that in the paintings.
In comparison, the Vietnamese paintings I saw this time were not a millimeter of “elegance,” and they used a lot of dull colors, with no glamour at all. So I felt something real and human here. Compared to Europe, the works of art in Vietnam are inferior in terms of detail, fineness, and depth, but I felt the “humanity” of the Vietnamese works was overwhelmingly more human. I was very surprised by that as I walked around the museum.
Exterior is colonial construction
Interior is also colonial architecture
Looking at the corridor, I felt that the museum was probably built in the French colonial period, as it had double-paned windows like in France, with wooden windows on the outside and glass windows on the inside. I liked the angle of view so much that I ended up taking pictures with my film camera, which I rarely use.
Other than that, as for contemporary art, some of the works were made of silk, some of them were made of natural plants such as grass, and some of them were made of what looked like white stones that had been shaved and then pasted one by one. It was really incredibly beautiful and very impressive. I felt that this is what Vietnamese artwork is all about. There were very few works of art that used pure colors, and most of them used dull, “earthy” colors. So I was very surprised by this. And I could feel the Vietnamese flavor in my skin.
The museum, to my surprise, was not air-conditioned. Of all the museums I have been to, this was the first one that was not air-conditioned. So I really couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if they are trying to save money, but it was really hot.
We go to the nearest McDonald’s for our web project
HIROMI is now an art teacher, teaching children about the fun of art. At the same time, she is also an intern at TOTO, and at the same time, a university student. So it’s really just amazing to me. Her paintings and interior designs are so amazingly creative and interesting.
I’m currently working on web design and coding, so I thought I’d like to design her website too. Apparently, she wants to be an artist in the future, not an interior designer, and she wants to be someone who paints art using paint. In Vietnam, Instagram and Facebook are the mainstream, and websites are not very famous. I told her that she should definitely be seen on a global level as an artist, and that it was therefore very important for her to create a website.
I have the skills of a web designer; it costs at least 500,000 yen to create a website, and the average college student or young person can’t order that. So I thought myself: “What if I made one every two months for free?”
I came up with the idea.
And the first person to come up with that idea was HIROMI. So in May and June, I’ll be designing, coding, and building a website for HIROMI in my spare time from work.
It is a moment when I feel that doing something for someone is really fun.
In order to make money, my goal is not to “make money,” but to “help people. That is why money follows.
Just as Elon Musk has become the richest man in the world because he has the goal of “saving humanity,” I really want to learn the importance of “helping others” now.
That is why I want to do “something useful for people” now. That is why I launched this project.
While talking at McDonald’s, I asked questions such as “What kind of pages would be ideal for a website,” “What kind of menu would you like,” “What kind of color scheme would you like,” “What kind of font would you like,” etc. I also explained how to sign up for a “server” and “domain” and how to connect using Youtube. I also sent her a Youtube video explaining how to connect to the server and domain name, and other things necessary for preparation.
So, I would like to take this project to the next level, and once the project is settled, I would like to do a web production project for HIROMI. I think this is the beginning of “being useful” to others.
Thank you, HIROMI, for letting me create a website!
And I welcome any artist or creative person who needs a website in the future!
