Dang Xuan Hoa (b. 1959) Self PortraitDang Xuan Hoa (b. 1959)Self Portrait 1995signed and dated HOA 2195oil on canvas27 by 22 cm.10 5/8 by 8 5/8 in.ProvenanceGallery Vinh Lo, Ho Chi Minh City Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1995 Private collection, Washington DC, USA鄧春和 自畫像 1995年作 簽名：HOA 2195（左下） 油彩畫布 來源 胡志明市Vinh Lo畫廊 現藏家得自上述畫廊 美國華盛頓私人收藏Born in 1959, Dang Xuan Hoa is considered one of Vietnam's most important artists of the late 20th century. Graduated from Hanoi University of Fine Arts in 1983, Hoa is a member of Gang of Five, a group of Hanoi painters who gained prominence in Vietnam's post-Doi Moi era in the early 1990s. He was the first Vietnamese artist invited to visit the United States under the Indochina Arts Project's visiting-artist programme after the lifting of the American embargo in 1994. Dang Xuan Hoa makes self-portraiture a central theme of his work by incorporating his own subjectivity with formal experimentation. Self Portrait, which employs vivid colours and emotive brushwork, is imbued with an evocative intensity. As the artist says, "I paint what I feel, not what I see." Hoa's artistic practice, which reflects his spiritual journey, is concerned with expressing true emotions and cultivating the ability to foster an intimate connection to self and to the viewer.