Nguyen Minh Thanh
Born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1971. Graduated from the Hanoi Fine Art University in 1996.
Lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Nguyen Minh Thanh is one of Vietnam’s most important young artists. One of the few artists to stand up to government censorship of exhibition spaces, Thanh’s own moral and creative strength have always provided strong examples for today’s young Vietnamese artists. Always pushing the boundaries of what is expected from Vietnamese art, Thanh’s work investigates notions of individuality and spirituality in the rapidly changing climate of present day Vietnam.
Not only known for his work on Do paper, silk and lacquer he has also created a number of very successful and innovative installation pieces. Thanh’s work achieves a delicate balance between Vietnamese traditional values and Western Conceptualism.
Thanh achieved early international recognition in the late 90’s as part of the triad of artists Nguyen Minh Thanh, Nguyen Van Cuong, Nguyen Quang Huy exhibiting together in Japan, Australia, Germany and the USA. In 1999 Thanh was invited to participate in several important international art exhibitions, the Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane for which he created a monumental conceptual work, Mother and Son, the Triennial of Asian Contemporary Art, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan as well as exhibitions in Tokyo, Japan and the Casula Power House in Sydney, Australia.
Greatly influenced by his teacher, the internationally well-known conceptual artist, Truong Tan, Thanh continues to artistically express his feelings of the dilemmas and contradictions of human existence. Currently seeking a more contemplative, meditative life in nature, Thanh’s works emanate a sense of calm and peacefulness.
Thanh’s works are in the public collections of the Singapore Art Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan, the World Bank and numerous prestigious private collections throughout the world.
2013 Tôi – Me – Moi, The East Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2012 Unspoken Words (Lời chưa nói), Eight Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City
2011 Cloud of the Old Days (Đám mây xưa), New Space Arts Foundation, Hue, Vietnam
2007 Earth and Ink, Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2006 Happy Citizen, Mai Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2005 Please Give Me One Object of Yours, in the “Tree Project” of Veronika Radulovic, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2005 Playing Cards, Hanoi Fine Art University, Vietnam
2004 Small Fish, Ryllega Experimental Contemporary Art Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2003 Silence, Art Vietnam Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2000 The Party, Nha San Exhibition, Hanoi, Vietnam
1999 Letters for my Mother, Gallery of Artist Unlimited, Brelegeld, Germany
1999 One Road, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
1998 My Face, Gallery Witrevin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1997 My Face, Vietnam Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
1997 A Story Like Another, Gallery L’Atelier, Hanoi, Vietnam
1996 First Solo Exhibition, 29 Hang Bai, Hanoi, Vietnam
2011 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, The Bui Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2007 Meditation in Ink, Tama Gallery, New York City, USA
2006 Il Dragon e la Farfalla, Arte Contemporanea in Vietnam, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy
2005 The Ten Courts of the Kings of Hell, Bankside Gallery, London, England
2005 Lotus Flower – Art from Vietnam, Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki
2005 Waino Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku; Hameenlinna Art Museum, Hameenlinna, Finland
2005 The Afternoon is Full of Signs, L’Espace, Hanoi, Vietnam
2004 Vietnam Today, Galerie Amber and Galerie Caro, Leiden, The Netherlands
2004 A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
2003 Contemporary Vietnamese Painting, The Ace Gallery, Bermuda
2003 Green, Red and Yellow, Goethe Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
2003 Subverted Boundaries, Cross-Bike-Airplane, Sculpture Square, Singapore
2002 Installation and Performance, Nha San, Hanoi, Vietnam
2000 Group Exhibition, Pacific Bridge Gallery, Oakland, New Zealand
1999 GAP Vietnam, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
1999 Triennial of Asian Contemporary Art, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
1999 Memory-Spirit-Pollution, Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1999 Nine Lives, Casula Power House, Sydney, Australia
1999 Night Watch, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
1999 Mother and Son, Third Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia
1998 Clocks, Salon Natasha, Hanoi, Vietnam
1998 Vietnam Express, Travelling Exhibition, Norway
1998 Spirit of Hanoi I and II, BAU Gallery, Helsinki and Gallery of the Art Association of Oulu, Finland
1998 Printemps Vietnamien – Paris Hanoi Saigon, Pavilion des Arts, Paris, France
1998 Plastic Waste, Asia-Pacific Artist Solidarity, Centre of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
1998 Vietnam Today, Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, San Francisco, USA
1998 3 aus Hanoi, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany
1997 Artists Calendar, Salon Natasha, Hanoi, Vietnam
1997 Spring Color, Blue Space Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
1997 Parcours, Alliance Française, Hanoi, Vietnam
1997 Tour Japan, Mizuma Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1996 Drawing and Words, Hanoi Fine Arts College, Vietnam
1995 Young Artists – New Paintings, Salon Natasha, Hanoi, Vietnam
1995 Safe Distance, College of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam; travelled to Substation (Singapore), Kunsthalle Bielefeld and Städelschule Frankfurt, Germany
1995 Escape, Paul Ricard, Paris, France
1994 Students of the Fine Art University Exhibition, German Embassy, Hanoi, Vietnam
2006 ACC Residency in Tokyo, Japan and Queens, New York, USA
2003 Visiting Arts / Delfina International Fellowship, Oct. 2003 – June 2004, London, England
1996 Grant from the Vietnamese and Swedish Culture Promotion Foundation
2006 Curator of “Ceremonial Paintings of Northern Ethnic Minorities” for Dongson Today Foundation, Hanoi Fine Art University
2001 Director of Production Design for Vietnamese film Mùa / Bride of Silence, directed by Doan Minh Phuong
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Ace Corporation, Bermuda
World Bank
France, Germany, Holland, USA, Japan, Bermuda, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam Intercontinental Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam Post Vidai Collection of Contemporary Vietnamese Art, Switzerland
