About Thu 

Light, reflections, and the painting techniques behind them are the central themes in Thu Do’s work. Her canvases are rather sparse and dark; often, only a streak of light or a fragment of a flower is visible. Yet she deliberately wants to keep the image just recognizable enough to remain figurative. In her earlier work, she also painted people within these empty spaces, but over time the emptiness itself has increasingly become the subject.

The focus now lies entirely on the interplay of light and the techniques used to capture it. She consciously chooses a dark green tone as a base, both to create depth and because it enhances the effect of yellow light. Sometimes she incorporates fingerprints into the paintings as a subtle way of suggesting human presence.

Thu Do’s oil paintings are based on photographs she takes in various locations where she encounters a striking incidence of light-moments she wishes to preserve by translating them into paint. The dark green tones she uses evoke a sense of space within the canvas. She works in two different formats: the smaller paintings convey a greater sense of immediacy and spontaneity, while the larger works invite the viewer to almost step into the scene.

Credit: Marjolein Sponslee