ABOUT THE ARTWORK
In "Light," Tran Van Thao organizes the painting's surface using large horizontal color bands, primarily ivory white, earthy brown, and grayish yellow, creating a space that is both flat and feels like it has accumulated many layers of time. Against this rough material background, short black streaks, scratches, and vertical patches of color appear as disjointed signs, creating a rhythmic break between areas of light and shadow.
Light in the work is not depicted as a specific source of illumination but appears through vertical white spaces, pale areas of color, and contrast with solid black areas. The viewer is placed in a state of slow viewing, where light seems not to cover the surface but is silently seeping through thick, old layers of material. Through the contrast between light and darkness, covering and revealing, the work evokes a sense of enduring, fragile yet unextinguished energy, like the ability of light to exist even in the deepest, most tranquil layers.
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PARTICIPATED EXHIBITIONS
21 Years of Gallery Quynh
118 Nguyen Van Thu, Ward DaKao, District 1ABOUT THE ARTIST

Trần Văn Thảo
(1961 – )Trần Văn Thảo (b. 1961) is a pioneering and influential abstract painter from Southern Vietnam. Renowned for his energetically vibrant and rhythmically expressive practice, his work embarks on a profound journey to explore emotional structure through abstract color space. His distinctive oeuvre consistently delivers powerful and unique visual experiences to viewers.
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