Born in 1980 in Thai Nguyen Province, Ha Manh Thang is one of Vietnam’s most important young painters. He was also the only artist from Vietnam profiled in the Phaidon publication ‘Painting Today’ (2009) alongside acclaimed artists such as Gerhard Richter, Neo Rauch and Peter Doig. Having graduated from the Hanoi Fine Arts University in 2004, Thang has since held a number of notable regional and international exhibitions including Instruments of Meditation: Works of Art from the Zoltán Bodnár Collection, Reök Palace, Budapest, Hungary (2011); Connect: Kunstzene Vietnam, ifa Galleries, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany (2009); The rain and the small stream presented by Ernst & Young’s Asean Art Outreach program, Singapore (2008); and Post Doi Moi: Vietnamese Art After 1990, Singapore Art Museum (2008). Ha Manh Thang currently lives and works in Hanoi.
Ha Manh Thang is known for his bold and colorful painterly canvases that juxtapose Vietnam’s past and its rich heritage with fashionable images of consumerist culture. Bridging modernity and tradition, Ha Manh Thang’s satirical paintings examine Vietnam’s culture and social history within the context of the dramatic changes the country has undergone since Doi Moi. (Galerie Quynh)