Untitled Document

Old Woman

Nguyen Minh Thanh paints beautifully rendered portraits usually in ink and watercolor on traditional hand made rice paper. Thanh's earlier work focused on self-portraits combined with images of objects laden with cultural meaning such as ties, bricks, umbrellas, eggs and plants. His self-portraits combine his likeness and these other elements in a myriad of compositions. These paintings give the viewer the dual sense of the simplicity and the complexity of human identity. In 1997 Thanh painted the last of his self-portraits and now chooses to make portraits of the people around him including old women and close friends.