The Artist

1981 Ha Tay Vietnam

Thong’s early works were simple portraits or self-reflecting paintings, mostly made in lacquer. Unique and creative in their technique they were acknowledged as a new way of working with lacquer but the artist soon moved on to more serious topics utilizing other mediums such as printmaking and oil on canvas that were more immediate in their execution and more suitable to express his free-flowing energy and passion.

Thong’s first solo exhibition was a one-room installation in 2006 that depicted rain and people running underneath it trying to hide themselves from a common threat, instinctively and creatively showing their own individual ways to try and stay dry. His second solo show Updated was not the artist’s most popular series, but it showed his biggest leap forward, talking about politics and society more directly and wisely. It used paintings that were appropriations from Dong Ho traditional folk prints, depicting village life from centuries ago, but recreated them with modern life issues. By imposing modern life on the foundation of old prints, the artist was able to criticize current phenomenon in a context of societal history. Thong continues to provoke and prod into societal issues, and simply the notion of being human. He uses a variety of mediums to convey his messages.

Pham Huy Thong graduated in graphic arts from the Hanoi Industrial Fine Arts College in 2004. He has exhibited extensively in Vietnam and also internationally attending workshops and exhibitions in China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the USA, and Singapore. His works are in the collections of prestigious collectors; Witness Collection UK, Institute of Vietnamese Contemporary Art, Rimbun Dahan Collection and the Jaya Prakash Collection, Indonesia and the Dogma Collection, Vietnam.

Portrait 17, 2004 is an early work in Thong’s unique lacquer style, this portrait is of a beloved teacher Nguyen Cam from Paris who taught a workshop at the Vietnam Fine Arts University in 1997 that Thong attended.
Portrait 18, 2004 depicts a classic village woman whose beauty belies her time worn face.