Born in 1971 in Hanoi, Minh Thanh graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 1996. 

He belongs to the first generation of Vietnamese avant-garde artists who experimented with the less traditional methods of art-making such as performance and installation in the 1990s and 2000s, and later played an influential role in nurturing and shaping the subsequent development of contemporary and experimental art in Hanoi. Intrigued by Buddhist concerns of attachment and escape, and using mainly Chinese ink and watercolour on handmade Vietnamese dzo paper, Thanh’s melancholic portraits are the results of his meditative and spiritual search for beauty, harmony and tranquility.

Having been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, Thanh’s work is included in numerous public and private collections, such as the National Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, the World Bank Art Program, and the Post Vi Dai Collection of Contemporary Vietnamese Art.