An exhibition called "Mirage" featuring new oil paintings by Pham An Hai, the Vietnamese artist best known for his abstract work, opens this Saturday at Bangkok's Thavibu Gallery.

Also an excellent painter of figurative subjects, Pham started out doing expressionistic paintings and later gravitated towards abstraction, producing larger and bolder oil-on-canvas works as the years went by, increasingly layered and richly textured.

His paintings are inspired by landscapes, cityscapes and nature, but he offers his own interpretations of these familiar themes.

In this exhibition, he focuses on a single flower, justifying his interest, thus: "The lotus is beautiful and full of emotions. It has a delicate, classy beauty and also evokes harmony and is a symbol of Hanoi. I am not describing the lotus literally in my paintings, but rather the emotions it evokes in me."

The 45-year-old has exhibited his work all over Asia and also at shows in the US, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Dubai and Australia.

"Mirage" is due to run until Oct 13. The gallery is located on the third floor of Silom Galleria and is open daily, except Sundays, from 11am to 7pm.