The Artist

1962 Hanoi Vietnam

Education and Buddhist philosophy permeates Cuong’s artistic creations. He wants to inspire us to live a simple and carefree life, in line with the I Ching, The Book of Changes. He comes from a very artistic family, his father, Le Nguyen, is a known writer and poet and his mother, Do Phuong Thao, the first female cinematographer in Vietnam. Cuong studied from 1985 to 1990 the majors of staging and the art of animation at the National Film College. He then developed a passion for teaching the Tay Tang Doctrine, a Vietnamese version of the philosophy of Tibetan Dzogchen. His devotion to these studies and his meditation have had a profound effect on his work.

Cuong’s work reveals the impermanence of all things, highlighting the values of simplicity and compassion, as protection against the risk of everyday life and suffering. He met with resounding success in his first solo exhibition abroad in 1995, The Quiet Road in Singapore and Hong Kong. He has since exhibited in Europe and the United States and is considered one of the major creative forces in Vietnam.

Night in the Village 1995

This early work is signature Cuong in its simplicity, medium and message with its simple outline of shape in a silent countryside village.