The Timing Masks: A person with over 40 years of mask painting experience in Hoi An

In the World Heritage Site of Hoi An's ancient town, there is an artist who has devoted over 40 years of his life to the art of making paper mache masks. Thousands of masks bearing the distinctive style of Tuồng masks have served as "cultural ambassadors," accompanying travelers everywhere to tell fascinating stories about the homeland of Quang region. That artist is Mr. Bui Quy Phong, a man of seventy with a rugged yet somewhat romantic face, exuding both a worldly air and a hint of whimsy, looking very unusual.

Mr. Phong has been engaged in the craft of mask painting for over 40 years. Despite starting his livelihood as a lion head maker right after liberation, he unexpectedly shifted to become a tuồng actor. The months and years he spent traveling with the theater troupe not only nurtured his dream and passion for tuồng but also satisfied his restless spirit of wandering from place to place.

Eventually, the profession of a tuồng actor did not hold Mr. Phong for long due to his fervent passion for painting, urging him to return. Upon his return, instead of painting lion heads as before, he painted paper mache masks. These two endeavors seemed unrelated at first, but it turned out there was an interesting connection because the techniques of decorating lion heads and painting Tuồng masks both share similarities in strict conventions regarding lines, composition, color, and especially high expressiveness.

In Hoi An's ancient town, artisan Bui Quy Phong established a small painting workshop named "The Timing Masks". This place serves both as his creative space and as a venue for displaying, introducing, and selling masks to tourists.

Despite its small size, the workshop always attracts a crowd, especially foreign tourists. People come to "The Timing Masks" partly out of curiosity about the impressive space of the painting workshop and partly because of the talented and cheerful workshop owner who is always willing to indulge visitors by spending hours discussing the interesting aspects of the art of painting tuồng masks of Quang region.

As someone deeply influenced by tuồng art, especially the art of painting tuồng actors' masks, artisan Bui Quy Phong has infused that inspiration into his technique of painting paper mache masks. Thus, regardless of the theme, his masks all bear the distinctive mark of the tuồng mask style, with a painting style characterized by high expressiveness, clear and transparent lines, clear color segments, and strictly adhering to the rule of five dominant colors following the principles of yin and yang five elements, not exceeding five main colors, which are red, black, white, deep yellow, and green.

In the painting workshop of artisan Bui Quy Phong, alongside the authentic Tuồng masks painted according to ancient conventions, there are also many masks painted on various themes such as images of wandering vendors, young women, village landscapes, Hoi An heritage, romantic love, portraits, flowers and leaves, and even modern, abstract images... yet all still carry the influence of tuồng mask painting technique. That is the talent of an artist when wanting to renew his work to meet the tastes of the audience but still maintaining the identity and culture of the Vietnamese people.

Artisan Bui Quy Phong stated that the art of painting tuồng masks is a characteristic traditional painting style of the Vietnamese people, distinct from the painting style of Peking opera masks in China or any other mask painting styles in neighboring countries.

"Vietnamese Tuồng masks only use five colors, while Peking opera masks can be painted with up to 8 or 10 colors. In terms of painting, the color segments of Peking opera masks can blend, overlap each other, while tuồng masks have clear color segments and transparent lines," said artisan Bui Quy Phong.

An interesting aspect of the mask painting style of artisan Bui Quy Phong is that he does not incorporate fierce or sinister images or lines into his decorations. Instead, he always uses motifs that are cheerful and humane because he wants to lead people to the beauty of kindness, goodness, and beauty - a beauty that always brings a feeling of love, peace, and contains many positive aspects about life.

For over 40 years, thousands of masks have been born from the talented hands of artisan Bui Quy Phong, with none alike, each mask being a unique product carrying its own story conveying humane and beautiful things that the author wants to convey to the players with the hope that more and more people understand about the people, culture, heritage, and scenery of their Quang homeland.

Although he is old now, artisan Bui Quy Phong still burns with the same passion as before. Besides working at home, he also travels to many places, to many countries, and attends many workshops to introduce and promote his mask painting art, especially the joy of passing it on to young people the love for the unique art of his homeland. With his silent but persistent and enduring contributions, artisan Bui Quy Phong has contributed his part to making Hoi An's World Heritage Site become a global creative city recognized by UNESCO in the field of handicrafts and folk arts in 2023.

You can visit his workshop here:

Address:  66 Bạch Đằng street (Google maps)

Tel:  +84 235 3959 159

Open time: From 07:30 untill 17:30 every day

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 Author & photo: Thanh Hoa (Vietnam.vnanet.vn) - Thank you for your watching