Dang Xuan Hoa is one of the most high profile Vietnamese artists in the Post-Doi Moi (Renovation; or Renewal). In his book on Hoa, the critic Phan Can Thong wrote: "Hoa's paintings are a process of spiritual development in which love and respect of life help him better understand himself." The intricate portrait features a wide eyed and self-assured gentleman holding a cigarette. Hoa's emergence started after he graduated from the Hanoi College of Fine Art in 1983. His first solo was held overseas, in Massachusetts in the United States, at the Berkshire Community College, in 1994, under the Asian Cultural Centre's Indo-China art programme. His first home solo was at the Mai Gallery in Hanoi in 1997, followed by another in Singapore (2007) and Ho Chi Minh city (2011). He was selected for the Havana Biennale, Cuba, in 1989, the Art Miami from 2005-2007, and took part in exhibitions such as Poetic Reflections and Ascending Dragons, both in New York, in 1999 and 2000 respectively. He also took part in the 2009 exhibition in San Francisco, USA, titled Tradition And Change: Vietnamese Art Today.