LE THIET CUONG

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1962                 Born in Hanoi

1964-1973         Evacuated to Binh Da village to escape the American bombing of Hanoi

1973-1980         Secondary School education in Hanoi

1980-1984         Served in the army and worked as a cartographer and farmhand during the rice harvests

1985-1990         Attended the Vietnam State Film college in Hanoi. Studied set design for two years and animation in   the final three years.

1988                 Married fellow animation student, Pham Tu Uyen

1990                 Began study of Tay Tang Buddhism and produced a series of paintings influenced by its teachings

Solo exhibitions

1991                 The Pastoral, centre of Exhibition and Artistic Exchange, Hanoi, Vietnam

1995                 The Quiet Path, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong and Singapore

1997                 The Changing Eye, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong and Singapore

1998                 Vietnam Today, Gallery Andy Jilien, Zurich, Switzerland

1999                 Point of View, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong and Singapore

Group exhibitions

1996                 Vietnam-Contemporary Art, Sl Centrum, Stuttgart, Germany

1997                 View of contemporary Art, Novotel Gallery, Vientiane, Laos

From the Red River to Mekong, The new trend in Vietnam, Centre Walloniek-Bruxelles, Paris, France

1998                 A winding River - The Journey of Contemporary Art in Vietnam, Meridian International Centre, Washington D.C., USA

L'anima Soffocata, Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Three Contemporary Vietnamese Artists, cork Street gallery, London, United Kingdom

Arts Plastiques et Visuals de 1925 nos jours, Escapce meridien, Bruxelles, Belgium.

Public collections

Singapore National Museum, Singapore

Deutsche Bank AG, Hanoi, Vietnam

ABN/Amro Bank, Singapore

Le Theit Cuong was born in 1962. From 1985-90 he studied at the Vietnam State Film College Hanoi and from 1990 to now at Tay Tang Buddhism College. Since 1991, he has exhibited his works in Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Thailand, Germany, Laos, France, USA, Italy, United Kingdom, and Belgium.

Based on three basic shapes - square, circle and triangle, Le Theit Cuong is on a constant search for new modes to present his creativity. He develops interesting co-relations of the long and the short, the big and the small, the ups and the downs, the even and the odd, the many and the few … This co-relation exists not only in his shapes and lines, but also in the layout and colours. He always looks into the beauty of the balanced and the unbalanced, the harmony and the contradiction, the symmetry and the asymmetry. Graphic language in his hand turns out to be something of a puzzle.

Cuong keeps for himself a child-like view in his creations – which are full of folklore characteristics. He tends to paint images with a sense of humour. He touches upon topics which are common in Vietnam’s everyday life, such as weddings, buffalo tending, flying, skipping, chess playing, moon watching ...... using his new graphic style. His work looks surprisingly simple. At the same time, they are utterly contemporary and poetic. His success in using a new material, gouache on cheesecloth or paper, has contributed a new artistic point of view to the Vietnamese fine art scene.

(Text by Bui Nhu Huong)