A Wolf Portrait 3

Building on the momentum of her 2024 "Pretty as a Sheep" exhibition organized by Asian Art Bridge at the Palais Royal in Paris, Duong Thuy Duong now turns her gaze inward with a new portrait series that reaches for the most vulnerable dimension of her subject. By moving in close—so close that the boundary between observer and observed seems to dissolve—she lets emotion rise unfiltered, tender, and immediate.

Technically, this series marks a profound evolution. Working with oil on paper, Duong pushes the medium to its limits, coaxing from it a richness and depth typically associated with oil on canvas. The pigments saturate the fibers, spreading in unexpected ways, yet holding the luminosity and weight of traditional oil painting. This tension between fragility (paper) and intensity (oil) creates a surface that feels both intimate and monumental.

Her brushwork—refined through more than two decades—moves between intuitive, sweeping gestures and whisper-soft strokes that barely graze the page. Layers of color breathe into one another, forming textures that pulse with life. The interplay of control and spontaneity becomes a quiet choreography, one that pulls the viewer into a space of stillness, closeness, and emotional resonance.

These portraits transcend likeness. They capture presence—moments where vulnerability, serenity, and inner depth converge—revealing the emotional landscape that has always quietly guided Duong Thuy Duong’s artistic practice.