Artist Vuong Van Thao

Artist Vuong Van Thao was born in 1969 in Hanoi, Vietnam. He received his Bachelor of Fine Art from the Vietnam University of Fine Art in 1995. He is the member of the Vietnamese Fine Art Association.

Vuong Van Thao first achieved international recognition in 2001 with his ‘Body and Dream’ series, exhibited at Salon Natasha. His first ‘Living Fossil’ sculpture series was unveiled in 2006. In it, he created a representation of one house and one power pole from each street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter and cast each one in a solid cube of composite resin. Thao was invited to exhibit this 68-piece work at The Singapore Art Museum as part of the 2007 Asia Pacific Art Awards, during which he was nominated as one of the 10 Best Artists in the region. The museum purchased the entire work for its permanent collection.

Thao has since continued exploring the ‘Living Fossil’ concept, creating sculptures of facets of Hanoi that are under threat from development, and casting them in composite resin blocks. In 2008 he fossilized the Long Bien Bridge in ten sections, most of which are in private collections around the world. He followed this with his 2013 ‘Frozen Dream’ Living Fossil series, representations of street vendors which provide a pithy social critique.

Solo exhibition:

• 2014: “Hanoi Fossil” – Casa Italy Cultural Center, Hanoi, Vietnam

• 2012: “Vuong Thao’s art” – Bookworm, Hanoi, Vietnam

• 2011: “Live Fossil – Village in the City”, French Cultural Center, Hanoi, Vietnam

• 2008: “Live Fossil” – Hanoi, Vietnam

• 2007: “Live Fossil” – Vietnamese French Cultural Center, Vietnam

Group exhibition:

• 2012: “Vietnamese – Korean Art”, Korea.

• 2009: “Asian Sculture Highlight”, China

• 2008: Installation Art “Live Fossil”, Singapore Art Museum

• 2007: “Modern trend in Vietnamese Fine Art”, St. John’s University, New York, USA

Awards:

• Bui Xuan Phai Award.

• Hanoi Fine Art Association Award.

• Installation Art Award – Vietnam Sweden Cultural Fund.

Museum collection:

• Asian Sculpture Art Theme Park – China

• Vietnam Fine Art Museum

• Singapore Art Museum