About the artwork
Starting his career as a social realist, Van Tho often combines traditional and modern painting aesthetics in his treatment of figurative subjects. The solemn, lone male figure is a recurring subject and focal point in many of Van’s works. In ‘A Neighborhood Official’, lines are used decisively and effectively to uncouple the figure from the background. Paint is smeared on with raw energy using alternative tools such as trowels.
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.