VietNamNet Bridge - ‘No & Meaning’ – a solo exhibition by visual artist Nguyen Minh Thanh – one of the most important artists of contemporary art in Vietnam today, opened on December 9 and will last until January 8 at Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi.

Long known in the art community for his thoughtful, introspective musings of self, Thanh presents his life in all its simplicity and honesty. After 10 years of seclusion living a solitary, meditative life in the hillside of Dalat, Thanh has reduced his art to a simple expression of his happiness.

Born in 1971 in Hanoi and graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 1996, Thanh belongs to the first generation of Vietnamese avant-garde artists who experimented with the less traditional methods of art-making such as performance and installation in the 1990s and 2000s, and later played an influential role in nurturing and shaping the subsequent development of contemporary and experimental art in Hanoi. 

Intrigued by Buddhist concerns of attachment and escape, and using mainly Chinese ink and watercolor on handmade Vietnamese dó paper, Thanh’s melancholy portraits are the results of his meditative and spiritual search for beauty, harmony and tranquility.

Having been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, Thanh’s work is included in numerous public and private collections, such as the National Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, and the World Bank Art Program.

The exhibition is free.

PV