Nguyen Manh Hung
Born in 1976 in Hanoi, Vietnam
Lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
When Nguyen Manh Hung’s career began many considered him to be the Edward Hopper of Vietnam. Today he has truly evolved into his own unique artistic style which evokes Hopper’s realistic recapitulations of machinery but introduces a profound sense of playfulness, humor, and Vietnamese absurdity. His recent work reflects the contradictions and ambiguities that are so tangible in the rapid development of his home country.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, Hung is equally at ease painting as he is creating large-scale installations or exploring performance art. His particular realist style encompasses a distinctive sense of playfulness and humor that sets him apart from previous generations of artists. As the son of a jet fighter pilot, he draws on the personal in his paintings of aircraft. Depicting military planes laden with oversized grocery items, or else soaring across the sky with bushels from the rice harvest, Hung’s surreal scenes humorously morph a symbol of destruction with conduits of hope, benevolence and joy.
As one of Vietnam’s most recognized emerging artists, Nguyen Manh Hung continues to gain international attention. His work was featured in the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2012 at the QAG/GoMA in Australia. Over the years, Hung’s work has showed at ifa Galleries Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany; Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden; Stenersen Museet Oslo, Norway; Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco; Jeonbuk Museum of Art, South Korea. Hung has participated in several residency programs at Art OMI NY in USA, Asian Cultural Council NYC in USA, Musee D’Art Contemporain Du Val-de-Marne (MACVAL) in France, and the Cleveland Foundation, Ohio, USA.
Hung is also known as former art director of Nha San Studio (from 2008 to 2011), known now as Nha San Collective, the first nonprofit artist led art space for contemporary art in Hanoi since 1998. He supports young artists as a mentor and to realize their work at Nha San.
2002 BFA, Vietnam Fine Art University, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Somewhere Out There, Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Farmers’ Got Power, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2015 Where Is The Enemy, Negative Space Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2014 L’avventura – Lãng Du, MAC/VAL Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris, France
2013 One Planet, Manzi Art Space, Hanoi, Vietnam
2013 One Planet, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2011 Living Together in Paradise, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2010 Oil Paintings, Marena Rooms Gallery, Turin, Italy
2005 Conductor, installation art, Ryllega Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2002 Come With Me, oil paintings, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2002 Trousers and Shirts, installation art, Nha San Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Vietnam Eye Exhibition, Casa Italia, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Be Open / 30 Years of Fine Art After Doi Moi, Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Asia Young 36 / Asia Contemporary Art Exhibition, Jeonbuk Museum of Art, Korea
2016 Into Thin Air / Off Road, public art project, Hanoi, Vietnam
2015 Miền Méo Miệng / Contemporary Art from Vietnam, Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
2014 The Clouds Will Tell, Nha San Collective, Hanoi, Vietnam
2014 Vietnam Now, Kunstrai, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014 Onward and Upward, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2012 Queensland Art Gallery (QAGOMA), The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7), Australia
2012 Art HK 12, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong
2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, The Bui Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2011 Skylines Without Flying People, Rory Fine Art Gallery, London, UK
2011 Norwegian Constitution Day, Melia Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam
2010 Connect – Kunstszene Vietnam, ifa Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany
2010 TamTa, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2009 Connect – Kunstszene Vietnam, ifa Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2009 Lim Dim, Vietnamese Contemporary Art, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway
2009 Shabu Shabu, Ethan Cohen Fine Art Gallery, New York City, USA
2008 10+, group exhibition, 10th anniversary of Nha San Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
2008 Strategies From Within, Ke Center, Shanghai, China
2008 Asian Contemporary Art Fair, New York, USA
2008 Power of the Brush, Ethan Cohen Fine Art Gallery, New York City, USA
2008 Mekong Art & Culture Project, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam
2008 Exhibition at Location 1, New York, USA
2007–2008 transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix, traveling exhibition in Korea, Australia, Japan, Vietnam, and USA
2007 Asian Contemporary Art Fair, New York, USA
2007 Thermocline of Art – New Asian Waves, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
2006 Saigon Open City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2006 Flight with Bradford Edwards, Studio Anh Khanh, Hanoi, Vietnam
2006 Resident, Art OMI International Arts Center, New York, USA
2005 Out of Context, Huntington Beach Art Center, California, USA
2004 Gap Hanoi, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2003 Green, Red & Yellow, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2000 S.E.A, Hanoi Fine Arts University, Hanoi, Vietnam
2014 Petite and Smooth, improvisation music live concert, Nha San Studio, Hanoi
2013 Hanoi New Music Festival, live concert, Hanoi Cheo Opera, Hanoi, Vietnam
2012 Domdom – The Hub for Experimental Art & Music, live concert at Youth Cultural Hall, Hanoi, Vietnam
2010 Dai Lam Linh, live concert, Cheo Opera House, Hanoi, Vietnam
2009 Hanoi New Music Meeting, Youth Theatre Hanoi and Conservatory, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2009 Dai Lam Linh, live concert, Hanoi Opera House, Vietnam
2008 3 Days – 3 Artists, L’Espace (Alliance Française de Hanoi), Vietnam
2008 From Cricket to Airplane, Roulette / Location 1, New York, USA
2007 Sound From Apartment Blocks, Asian Arts Mart, Singapore
2007 Hanoi Moving, L’Espace, Hanoi, Vietnam
2006 Sound From Apartment Blocks, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2005 Stories of Us, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Sai Gon, Vietnam
2005 Fête de la Musique, L’Espace (Alliance Française de Hanoi), Vietnam
2005 Stories of Us, Hanoi Opera House, Vietnam
2004 Street Symphony Vol. 2, Hue Festival, Hue, Vietnam
2004 Fête de la Musique, L’Espace (Alliance Française de Hanoi), Vietnam
2003 Movies in Our Head, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2003 Legend Retell & Street Symphony, Hanoi Opera House, Vietnam
2003 Room-Zoom (Nowhere Folk), Nha San Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
2002 Window to Asia, Contemporary Art Center, Hanoi, Vietnam
2015 Artist-in-Residence, Creative Fusion, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2014 Artist-in-Residence, Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL), France
2007 Artist-in-Residence, Location 1, New York, USA (sponsored by Asian Cultural Council)
2006 Artist-in-Residence, Art OMI Center, Ghent, New York, USA (sponsored by Dongson Today Foundation)
All under Nha San Studio
2011 Morgan O’Hara – residency program and open studio
2010 Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn – sound installation, performance by Tran Luong
2010 Unsubtitled – solo video installation by Nguyen Trinh Thi
2010 Tree – site-specific installation by Nguyen Phuong Linh
2010 GAP – solo video installation by Nguyen Tran Nam
2010 3 Perimeters – group performance by Nguyen Huy An, Hoang Minh Duc, Vu Duc Toan
2010 Rain – solo installation by Bopha Xorigia (Le Huy Hoang)
2010 Entertainment 2010 Hanoi – event by Rodney Dickson
2009 Giao Chi – rock concert, 11th anniversary of Nha San Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
2009 Longan – solo exhibition by Hoang Minh Duc
2009 In Transit – performance by Kimbal Bumstead
2009 The Last Holidays – art project by Truong Thien
2009 A Gap Between Two Houses – group exhibition by Karine Fauchard, Lazar Lyutakov, Michael Weidhofer
2009 Scarf – solo exhibition by Bopha Xorigia (Le Huy Hoang)
2009 Where We Meet – solo exhibition by Jim Elniski
2008 10+ – 10th anniversary of Nha San Studio, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Francis J. Greenburger Collection – New York – USA ARTOMI – New York – USA GT Art Holding LLC New York – NY – USA Valentine Willie Fine Art – Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia Alessandro Marena Project collection – Torino – Italy Private collection of Calvin Lam & Hai Yen – Hochiminh – Vietnam
