Phạm Huy Thông was born on 25 October 1981, in Hà Tây province, close to Hanoi. With journalists as parents, Thông grew up with a keen interest in social issues, often discussing the day’s news and social concerns around the family dinner table. After commencing his studies at journalism school, he soon switched to the arts and graduated from the Hanoi Industrial Fine Arts University in 2004. He lives and works in Hanoi, where he experiments with different media, including oil, acrylic, lacquer and print-making.

Thông has taken part in overseas and local group exhibitions and residencies in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, China, Malaysia and the USA and has also had several successful solo exhibitions, including ’Updated’ at the French Cultural Institute, l’Espace, in Hanoi in June 2009 and ‘Strange Dreams’ at the Ernst & Young Gallery in Singapore from January-April 2012. Thông’s paintings keenly demonstrate his observations of contemporary society as well as his interpretation of Vietnamese culture, history and social affairs.