From 2004 to 2015, Ha Manh Thang was 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.

From the series "Circle of Time" (2016-present), Ha Manh Thang gradually switched to abstract style, with his discovery about images, colors, and multi-layered meanings through objects in his antique collection. The ideas of nature in old Vietnamese and Chinese poetry and literature, the observation of changes in scenery, color in the landscape and the mindscape have also been his inspirations in the past five years.

Born in 1980 in Thai Nguyen province. 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) and Shared Inspiration - Asian Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China (2019).

Ha Manh Thang currently lives and works in Hanoi.

[ Introdution by Quynh Pham, galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietam ]

"For me art is a way to define my own life in a different way. It is like a circle of time, memory and history.
I am interested in how meaning is ascribed to images especially historically and culturally significant images."