Mahdi Abdullah is one of Indonesia’s most significant painters. He graduated from Faculty of Architecture in Banda Aceh (1988) before earning his master degree at Indonesian Art Institute Yogyakarta in 2012. His works use realism to depict his anxieties about the social reality that he has witnessed while focusing on the life of common people from his hometown. At first, the images might look calm and peaceful but there’s dualism existing in each work. “It is an introspection, an inventory of his thoughts and feelings that he found inside. Sometimes they’re dreamy, poetic, sometimes mirroring fears and terror, leaving the plane of realism and opening almost surrealist dimensions,”-quoted from art writer Anton Larenz about Mahdi’s realist approach. He has several exhibitions locally and internationally, with his works present in various collections from museums, galleries and private collectors abroad.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vin Gallery has established an active presence in art fairs across Asia by promoting cross-cultural hybridization. We aim to bring artists with critical practices to HCMC to share their work with the local art scene while simultaneously striving to discover and promote promising South East Asia artists to the international art scene. Our artists come from diverse cultural backgrounds and art educations, work with various mediums and have a spectrum of life experiences. They have strong conceptual and challenging visions, materialized in continually evolving forms which we try to foster by creating networks and collaborations with other art spaces in Asia and beyond.