Le Quy Tong
Lê Quý Tông (b.1977, Vietnam) is a painter who works with themes of collective memory and trauma. His more recent works involve sourcing images from mass media, which are then manipulated and abstracted with the application of paint to create multi-layered, intriguing works. Tông graduated from the Hanoi Fine Art University in 2000, and originally became well known for his allegorical paintings of Hanoi’s famous industrial landmarks. His move towards themes of protest, struggle, liberation and freedom—both in Vietnam and globally—illustrate his view of the perpetual cycle of conflict and revolution as the undercurrent of our interwoven world history. Tông has exhibited widely in Vietnam with a number of solo shows in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, as well as elsewhere in Asia and Europe.
Studio Visit with Lê Quý Tông
Quynh Nguyen, Founder of Nguyen Art Foundation, and Thy Nguyen, Project Manager of Nguyen Art Foundation, visited Lê Quý Tông in his Hanoi studio on 27 November 2020. Quý Tông shared how natural arts came to him, the source of inspiration for his practice, how his painting style was developed, his practice, the True Gold exhibition, and how the pandemic and the media affected the way he sees life.
This video is part of a series of interviews with artists in the Nguyen Art Foundation collection
Featuring: Lê Quý Tông; Quynh Nguyen (Founder Nguyen Art Foundation); Thy Nguyen (Special Projects Nguyen Art Foundation).
Direction: Ta Minh Duc, Tra My Nguyen
Research and Production: MoT+++, Tra My Nguyen, Alessandra Dias
Photography: Ta Minh Duc
Sound: Nguyen Duc Thanh
Light: Nguyen Duc Anh
Translation: Chau Hoang