About the artwork
Beginning his career as a social realist, Van Tho often combines traditional and modern painting aesthetics to depict solemn and figurative subjects. Instead of brushes, Van opts for alternative tools like trowels, placing cool and warm colours side by side to create visual contrast. Colours are used effectively to define form as seen in the way Van has sculpted the man’s facial features and hand. He typically hints at the setting using blocks of colour and line, imbuing the scenes with a humble mystique and ambiguity.
About the artist
Van Tho was born in 1938 in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam. He graduated from the Hanoi Fine Arts University, and is a member of the Vietnamese Fine Arts Association and the Hanoi Arts Association. Notable for his large-scale lacquer and oil paintings, Van Tho combines traditional and modern painting styles, employing line, shape, bold contrasting colours and abstract forms. He foregoes brushes and instead uses a trowel to paint. Starting out as a social realist, his works retell tradition and often depict human figures in solemn places.