Born 1976, Nam Định, Vietnam
College of Arts Nam Định (1997–1999)
BFA (2005) and MFA (2010), Hanoi University of Fine Arts
Lã Bá Quân’s work reflects on the emotional and psychological residues of war as well as the universal experience of aging. A long-running series of impasto portraits, begun in 2005, draws inspiration from his father and the endurance of his parents’ generation. Painted directly from the tube with a palette knife onto large, textured canvases, these portraits confront the viewer with expressive faces rendered in vigorous, tactile strokes, charged with psychological intensity.
His view of Vietnam, where poetic and intellectual figures like Bùi Giáng embody both idealism and disillusionment, is at once ambivalent and ironic. Influenced by the stark realism and emotional gravity of German New Objectivity painters such as Max Beckmann and Otto Dix, his art is characterized by expressive distortion and sculptural brushwork.
Over the past decade, his work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Hanoi, London, Tel Aviv, The Hague, Brussels, Hamburg, and New York, and presented at art fairs including Art London and Art Asia Miami.