Richard Streitmatter-Tran was born in 1972 in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. He received his BFA in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. For the first decade of his career Richard's artwork could be described as strictly conceptual, but after 2013 he began to focus on producing artwork that required a meticulous level of fine craftsmanship. As a result, his current body of work is both rooted in the conceptual rigor of contemporary art theory and the skills behind traditional techniques. 

His recent solo and collaborative work has been exhibited internationally including Prophilia, La Lanta Fine Art, Bangkok, Thailand (2022); We No Longer See the Stars, de Sarthe, Hong Kong S.A.R., China (2020); Setouchi Triennale, Japan (2019); Thailand Biennale, Thailand (2018); Prophilia, SPRMRKT, Singapore (2018); Departures, de Sarthe, Hong Kong S.A.R., China (2017); Perjalanan Senyap / A Quiet Journey, curated by Rifky Effendi, Orbital Dago, Bandung, Indonesia (2017); Perjalanan Senyap / A Quiet Journey, curated by Rifky Effendi, Orbital Dago, Bandung, Indonesia (2017) Marterial Relations: Continuity and Innovation in Lacquer and Silk Painting, Vin Gallery, Art Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2017); Mekong - New Mythologies, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong S.A.R., China(2017); Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2016); 2nd Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, Indonesia (2016); Secret Archipeligo, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2015); Doubt and Believe: Exhibition of Nguyen Son and R. Streitmatter-Tran, Vietnamese Women’s Art Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam (2013); Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2012); Art Domain Migration: ASEAN and China, 4th Guangzhou Triennial, China (2011); Institution for the Future, Asia Triennial Manchester, United Kingdom (2011); FAX, Para/site Art Space, Hong Kong S.A.R. China (2010); TransportASIAN: Photography from Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum (2009); Wonder, Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2008); Migration Addicts, 52nd Venice Biennale Collateral Events, Italy (2007) and Thermocline of Art - New Asian Waves, ZKM: Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2007).

His work can be found in numerous publications worldwide and is in private and public collections including the Singapore Art Museum, The Documenta Archives, RMIT University Vietnam Art Collection, 21st Century Museum Hotels, IILM Art Collection and Post-Vidai Collection.

He was an advisor to the Para/Site Curatorial Programme in Hong Kong and the San Art Artist Residency program in Ho Chi Minh City. From 2006 to 2015 he was the Senior Lecturer at RMIT International University Vietnam. Richard was an artist in residency at the NTC Centre of Contemporary Art (CCA) in Singapore in 2017.

Richard has also been an arts correspondent for the Madrid-based magazine Art.Es and the Ho Chi Minh City editor for the magazine Contemporary. He has published in several books, catalogs and journals. In 2005 he received the Martell Contemporary Asian Art Research Grant from the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong for his yearlong research project, Mediating the Mekong. He was a Teaching Assistant at Harvard University (2000-2004), conducted media arts research at the MIT Media Lab (2000) and a visiting lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 2003-2004.

Richard lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

de Sarthe past exhibitions:

Departures: Intersecting Modern Vietnamese Art with R. Streitmatter-Tran, 26 May - 8 July, 2017

We No Longer See the Stars, 18 January - 7 March 2020

Download CV