14-year-old art sensation Xeo Chu: ‘I kind of keep it hidden from friends’
When Xeo Chu was four, he had a figurative period. “Ears are very difficult to do,” the 14-year-old Vietnamese art prodigy tells me at his first solo exhibition in London, as we examine his first painting, a portrait of his mother.
Nguyen Thi Thu Suong is a fitting first subject for the artist. She owns two galleries in Ho Chi Minh City and encouraged Xeo and his two brothers to take drawing lessons not long after they could walk.
“Without mum, of course, I would be, like, nothing. I certainly wouldn’t be here talking to you.” He bows sweetly and takes my hands. “Not that that’s a bad thing.”
The story his mum tells me is that Xeo Chu would beg to be allowed to attend art classes with his older brothers. So she gave him a pencil and an eraser and let him attend lessons after school. His brothers gave up the lessons, but Xeo Chu had found his passion. “I love painting. Even if I am sometimes
