For Do Trong Quy, whose childhood in Hanoi was steeped in the vibrant currents of Vietnam's Doi Moi era, art became a conduit for navigating cultural complexities. His captivating still life paintings and whimsical toy sculptures signal a reverence for Western influences in Vietnam's early 2000s.
Quy's art is a testament to his generation's experience, caught between global pop culture and Vietnamese tradition. Like deceptively simple fairy tales, his innocent imagery often carries hidden, disruptive messages. In his work, Quy explores the relationships between cultures, creating variations in scales, sizes, and types of toys that offer a viewing experience fundamentally premised on eccentricity. Influenced particularly by American culture, he looks up to masters like Agnes Martin and Clyfford Still. Quy's creations invite observers into a world where the familiar and foreign coalesce. The playful beauty of his works possesses an introspective quality, speaking to the psychology of an artist deeply connected to generational responsibility and the evolving landscape of Vietnamese art. His journey started as an undergraduate at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts and continues with a scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his master's degree.