Craig Thomas Gallery is pleased to announce its much-anticipated 5th anniversary celebration with Coming of Age, a group exhibition featuring painting, sculpture and installation by fourteen Vietnamese artists.

Since its founding in 2009, Craig Thomas Gallery has been dedicated to nurturing talented young Vietnamese artists and giving them the opportunity to develop a practice over the years, with solo and group exhibitions curated by the gallery and accompanying publications. CTG has also participated in the on-going development of the local art scene and has helped both international and local collectors become better acquainted with Vietnamese contemporary art.

A fifth anniversary is a significant milestone for an art gallery; for us both an arrival and a point of departure.  CTG looks back with satisfaction over the progress of the past five years as the gallery has grown in professionalism and in the quality of art that has been exhibited. More importantly, however, we look forward to the next five years for which we have ambitious plans to continue the gallery’s evolution and expansion.  

Throughout the years, CTG has seen artists such as Lim Khim Ka Ty, Luong Luu Bien and Lieu Nguyen soar to new heights, holding exhibitions with galleries in Singapore and Hong Kong. In its past two years, CTG has also cemented relationships with established Hanoian artists, such as Pham Huy Thong, whose powerful practice tackles significant social issues pertaining to his country and the region. Bui Thanh Tam, whose oeuvre references the vices of the Hanoian new riche population, has also proved popular abroad and is preparing for a solo exhibition in Hong Kong this year.

2014 also marked the first time the gallery has joined an international art fair. CTG participated in the Affordable Art Fair (AAF) in Hong Kong in March, an event that gave the gallery the opportunity to meet and establish contacts with a new network of collectors and galleries, as well as to introduce artists that have never before been seen outside Vietnam on an international stage.

Coming of Age is an eclectic mix of painting, sculpture and installation works realised specially for the 5th anniversary of the gallery. The artists on show include those who have been with the gallery since the beginning, such as Lieu Nguyen, Lim Khim Ka Ty, Tran Quoc Tuan, and Bui Tien Tuan, those who have joined later like Pham Huy Thong, Bui Thanh Tam, Nguyen The Hung, Ngo Van Sac and Tran Minh Tam, and those with whom CTG will be working in the near future, such as established sculptor Bui Hai Son, expressionist painter Doan Hoang Lam and digital painter and illustrator Khoa Le.

*image (left)
© Liêu Nguyễn
courtesy of the artist and Craig Thomas Gallery