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.

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, their significance not immediately obvious. However, such ambiguity at play throughout openly invites viewers to weave individualities into these psychedelic backdrops, at the same time hints at the inevitability of universal history repeating itself.

Lang states, “Practicing art is an excitement. There is always spontaneity, accidents and elements of surprise that go beyond my imagination. Emotion is a necessity to an artist. It needs to be captured and flourished. An uncontrollable burst of energy is always my creative premise. Ideas and images will eventually take place. Painting remains as a mysterious language, full of energy, and has profound content and philosophy”