Nguyen Manh Hung

Born in 1976, raised and educated in Hanoi, Hung makes art that reflects the comical situations arising from the rapid yet piecemeal processes of domestic urbanization and modernization. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he is equally at ease painting as he is creating large-scale installations or exploring sound art. Hung’s particular realist style encompasses a distinctive sense of playfulness and humor that sets him apart from previous generations of artists. As the son of a jet fighter pilot, he draws on the personal in his paintings of aircraft. Depicting military equipment combines with oversized grocery items or working for rice harvest, Hung’s surreal scenes humorously morph a symbol of destruction with conduits of hope, benevolence and joy.  Hung is also know as former art director of Nha San Studio (from 2008 to 2011), the first non profit artist led art space for contemporary art in Hanoi since 1998. He supports young artists to analyzie and realized their work at Nha San.