Born in 1986, Do Thanh Lang received his Bachelor of Fine Art from the Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Art in 2011. The fact of belonging to the generation of young Vietnamese born at the turn of Đổi Mới and coming of age into a brave new open-market economy, has impressed itself on Lang’s artistic practices, particularly his featured themes of freedom and transgression.

Approaching art practice with a rare instinct — visible through the craggy edges of his canvases, or the occasional insect fossilized by his resin pour — Do Thanh Lang is aptly positioned to extract lightness from a dire situation. Drenched in blazes of bold shapes and colors, Lang’s paintings involve faceless figures and hypnagogic settings evocative of Italian giallo films. The situations and actions depicted range from being unsettling to downright grotesque, while the ambiguity at play throughout openly invites viewers to weave individualities into these psychedelic backdrops and at the same time hints at the inevitability of universal history repeating itself. In all their hazy strangeness, his artworks are akin to pieces of a memory — a visual journal of altered consciousness.

His work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in Vietnam and across the region, including Displacement (Gallery Rhim, Seoul); Salt of the Forest (Korea Foundation Gallery, Seoul & CUC Gallery, Vietnam Women's Museum, Hanoi); Modern Wind (Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association); My Sister (Sàn Art, HCMC); Fall (Cafe Trầm, HCMC); Falling from the Sky (Sao La, HCMC); March: Art Walk (various venues, HCMC); and the series mù dạ quang, Dăm Kết Mặt Trăng, Bồi Tích, Cicada Song in a Summer of Poppies, Lò Cò, and NGUCHONOBAY (curated by Sao La) at Galerie Quynh, HCMC.

He also participated in Spot Art Singapore 2014 (ARTrium @ MCI, Singapore) and the Brownian Motion artist residency at Heritage Space, Hanoi.