“Organized chaos.” This is how French artist Fred Campana describes Vietnam. This country, his home in Southeast Asia, has that eclectic urban energy that mixes tradition and modernity in the most captivating way.
Everyday street scenes — from the sea of motorbikes in virtually every street and alleyway to the sidewalk vendors that sell hearty bowls of bún riêu — paint a picture of Vietnam as a spirited, vibrant, and welcoming society.
Having seen and embraced this organized chaos, Fred decided to make his pen and kraft paper a tangible witness to his love for Vietnam. The foreign artist, who works as vice president for an American toy company, sketches vivid depictions of the typical Vietnamese lifestyle. There’s the charm in the ordinary and magic in the mundane, as they say.
Fred created an Instagram account just in October 2022 to share his art, and his first upload “went like wildfire, lots of interest and request for diverse collaboration.” As of this writing, the minimalist urban sketcher’s account has 49 posts and 17.9k followers.
“My art is not for sale,” the artist clarified. “When someone is really interested in acquiring a piece for their private collection, I give back all the profit of the sale to charities or the homeless I meet while walking around.”
Fred said he still has a lot of traveling and sketching to do, with discovering the up north on top of his bucket list. He swore to be in Vietnam “for as long as I can,” which means fans of his art can expect to see more urban sketches and get enthralled by Vietnam the way Fred did.
This is the very first sketch I posted on Instagram end of 2022. The rest is history ;)