About the artwork
JZ / KU - With a background in Social Realism, Van Tho often combines traditional and modern painting aesthetics to depict solemn and figurative subjects. Due to Van’s preference of alternative tools like trowels, the paint application is raw and highly gestural. In ‘A Mother Carrying Her Baby’, Van addresses the symbol of ‘Mother and Child’, a timeless subject in the canon of art history. The pair become the focal point of the work and almost meld together as one entity. The exaggerated facial features and uncovered bosom recall African tribal masks and Primitivism which captivated the nineteenth century Post-Impressionists.
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.