SEVEN EIGHT FIVE: BEAUTY WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE
In Seven Eight Five (Bảy Tám Năm), Bùi Chát places painting in a peculiar context: Beauty with an expiration date. This is neither a shocking manifesto nor a stunt for attention, but rather a serene gesture in the face of the natural cycle of birth and decay. The exhibition marks the debut of CON Art Gallery—a newly established independent art space that chooses to enter the scene with a challenging project, one that is not easily "liked." From the outset, Seven Eight Five reveals itself not as a mere display, but as a meticulously designed situation where painting, space, and time participate in an open-ended process.

The number 785—popularized in local card games as a "winning hand"—is borrowed by Bùi Chát as a conceptual key. As the artist explains: with 785, you stay in the game; without it, you leave the table. Art, in this view, is not a permanently reserved status but a conditional state. When the energy fades, the "coolness" dissipates, and the reason to continue vanishes, it is ready to end. No clinging, no self-delusion.

The exhibition's focal point lies in the decision to let the artworks fade naturally. Instead of destroying the paintings as a performance, Bùi Chát uses solvents to let the colors dissolve over time. There is no drama, no noise, no "shocking finale." Just a slow disappearance, almost imperceptible day by day. After seven or eight years, the painting completes its life cycle, leaving behind a white canvas—not as a relic, but as a return. Truly fascinating...

From an urban-spatial perspective, Seven Eight Five suggests a different approach to contemporary art display. Instead of detaching from life, the exhibition embraces the transience of public spaces. The marina becomes a timeframe where painting coexists with life and then quietly retreats, leaving no physical trace—only memories and questions.

Seven Eight Five is therefore not a conclusion, but an invitation. An invitation for viewers to rethink how they perceive, remember, and preserve art. When there is nothing left to see, does art truly vanish? Or is it in that very moment of emptiness that art appears—as a vague yet lingering sensation that something once existed here, and it lived its life to the fullest.

Saigon, February 1st, 2026
Painter Phan Trong Van

EXHIBITION INFORMATION:
Opening: 18:30, February 4th, 2026

Duration: Until February 28th, 2026

Location: CON Art Gallery, Diamond Island Yacht Club, Binh Trung Ward, Thu Duc City (District 2), HCMC.

Opening hours: 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Admission: Free entry