When Toan turned thirteen year old, like most males in Vietnam, Toan became very interested in football. It was because of this passion for football that his father, concerned about his future, sent him away to the northwestern part of Viet Nam where he was to live for the next ten years. While in Son La Province Toan developed a close relationships with many members of the minority groups including the Black Thai, Hmong, Dao and Ha Nhi. These relationships, combined with the local traditions, landscape, handicrafts and life-style, that was to become the strongest influence on Toan's work as an artist.
"The time in Son La was the turning point in my life and played a very important role in my art. At the time I had no idea about it but only later discovered this influence in my art."
In 1972, Toan returned to Hanoi and in 1973 entered the Hanoi Industrial Arts College majoring in ceramics but left in 1977 before graduating. It was not until several years later when he met the then director of the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts, Mr. Nguyen Van Y, and was asked to make reproductions of many of Vietnam's ancient ceramics, that Toan returned to his art.
In 1994 Toan lived with is family in a small room in Hanoi and stored many of his ceramics and paintings under his bed. It was in bringing them out to show his friends that he began to observe not only the importance of each object but also their relationship to each other. This, combined with the desire to work larger, has lead him into the world of installation art.
"When I began to place objects on my floor to show friends I also began to realize how important each object became and especially their relationship to each other. I didn't think of this as installation art but rather just a new art form for me. Of course I also continued to paint and do my ceramics to support my family. It is impossible to make a living as an installation artist."
Toan's second installation done in 1998, focuses on the mid July festival in Viet Nam.
"The mid July festival has good human feelings. Every year during the mid July festival people burn offerings for the dead. Every family member must buy paper objects, place them on the altar, and then burn them for their ancestors use. What is important is that the living and thinking about the dead."
In Toan's installation we can clearly see his understanding of Vietnamese culture especially that of the ethnic minority groups he spent much of his childhood with. He has lovingly used materials like the string people tie around their waist at funerals and papers burned along with ceramic and wooden statues of "ancestors" to create a stunningly powerful experience for the viewer.
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