‘Living’ is a medium size contemporary lacquer on wood figurative painting created by Vietnamese artist Truong Tan in 2008. Drawing from his own identity and exploring perceptions of homosexuality in a traditional conservative milieu, Truong Tan depicts here on a textured golden background adorned with a series of discreetly outlined men, various grouping of stylized men, some of them wearing long skirts, moving towards one another, all extending one of their arms forward in a begging / compassionate manner. The river that crosses the lower part of the composition creates the necessary contrast to allow our eye to capture the various scenes of the painting. As an openly gay artist, Truong Tan has long fought for the opportunity to exhibit his art whose overarching theme relates to his homosexuality. His unique artistic perspective is rooted in his struggles to maintain and express his sexuality in a sexually repressed society. The mix between a traditional technique, lacquer on wood, and a modern style, is intended to challenge our understanding of identity and freedom of expression. With its striking palette featuring gold, red, blue and black tones, the purity of its lines and its deep subject matter, this unframed lacquer on wood figurative unframed painting will be a strong focal point in any room, whether placed above a sofa, console table or chest-of-drawers.

Truong Tan was born in 1963 and graduated from the University of Fine Arts, Hanoi in 1989. As an artist, Truong Tan is known above all for his erotic references to his sexuality, making use of his autobiographical experiences, perceptions and feelings to mark his artistic narrative. His departure from the University where he served as a lecturer until 1997, was largely due to his challenging art that openly expressed his gayness and questioned the contradictions of the then implemented economic liberalization policy or Doi Moi. By rejecting the more conservative assumption of art that were being adopted by his peers, Truong Tan moved to Paris under a grant from the Cité Internationale des Arts. Despite his reputation as the enfant terrible of the time, Truong Tan has today emerged as one of Vietnam’s most internationally acclaimed artists with his art as part of the permanent collections of major art museums that include the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia and the Singapore Art Museum. He has been a participant of numerous biennials in Asia and Europe. Truong Tan lives and works in Paris as well as in Hanoi. Truong Tan's works were selected for an Asian exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in February, 2013.