Born in 1979 in Thai Binh Province, Vietnam, Bùi Thanh Tâm is an artist whose practice engages the social and political conditions of Vietnam while reaching outward to broader questions of history, memory, and cultural transformation. Through human-like figures and layers of subtle irony, he constructs images that transform inherited forms into charged allegories of embodiment, rupture, and renewal. Widely regarded as one of the most important Vietnamese painters of the postwar generation, Tâm has developed a distinctive visual language that merges historical reference with contemporary urgency.
Tâm graduated from the Oil Painting Department at the Vietnam Fine Arts University in Hanoi. His solo exhibitions include Christ, Buddha, and the Jigsaw at Chillala House of Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2025); Một Mình Bao La at Gate Gate Gallery, Hanoi (2023); Encounter at Gate Gate Gallery, Hanoi (2022); Nothing Behind at Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi (2020); Abandoned By Heaven at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2017); Tam & Crazy People at Faith Art Gallery, Hong Kong (2016); There Is No Box at Thavibu Gallery, Bangkok (2015); Tâm Và Những Kẻ Điên at Faith Art Gallery, Hong Kong (2015); Crazy People at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2012); and Mona Lisa at Viet Art Center, Hanoi (2010).
His group exhibitions include Ceci N’est Pas Une Guerre – This Is Not A War at Eli Klein Gallery, New York (2025); Ten-acious: CTG 10th Anniversary Show at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2019); Asian Art Hong Kong (2019); CTG Nomad at Craig Thomas Gallery Group Show, New York (2018); Mascara at Trang Tien Plaza, Hanoi (2017); Octonary Carousel: CTG 8th Anniversary Show at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2017); ATUM ATUM at Gallery RA Foundation, Hanoi (2016); Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong (2016); The Second China–ASEAN Biennale (2016); Art Taipei, KIAF Art Seoul, and Bazaar Art Jakarta (2015); Vietnam Now: Changing Society at Canvas International, Amsterdam (2014); Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong (2014); Coming of Age at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2014); Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong (2013); Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong (2013); Parcours at Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2012); National Young Artists Festival, Hanoi (2011); Hello Tuan, Hello Tam at Viet Art Center, Hanoi (2011); National Fine Arts Exhibition, Vietnam Exhibition Center for Culture and Arts, Hanoi (2010); International Fine Arts Exhibition, Yunnan City, China (2008); Beijing–Vietnam Fine Arts Exhibition at Beijing Arts Academy, China (2007); Red River Delta Fine Arts Exhibition – Fine Arts Prize, Korean Cultural Center, Hanoi (2007); Fine Arts Exhibition of Sports, Peace and Arts, National Arts and Sports Exhibition Center, Hanoi (2007); National Fine Arts Exhibition on Military Force, Military Museum, Hanoi (2004–2009); and Red River Delta Fine Arts Exhibition, Hanoi (2001–2008).
Tâm has been awarded the Prize at the Vietnam National Young Artists Festival (2011), Fourth Prize at the National Fine Arts Exhibition (2010), Third Prize at the Fine Arts Exhibition Celebrating the 1000-Year Anniversary of Thang Long–Hanoi (2008), and multiple certificates of merit from the Vietnamese Association of Fine Arts between 2001 and 2008.
Bùi Thanh Tâm currently lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam.