San Myint

About

San Myint, also known as San Minn, is a prominent Myanmar artist recognized for his surrealist works that satirize society and politics. Born in 1951, he began painting as a boy through school art classes and was influenced by teachers like Lun Gywe. He majored in biology at the University of Yangon, where he represented the art club, graduating in 1974. Shortly after, during the U Thant crisis, he was arrested for leading art-related protests and served over three years in Insein Prison, an experience that inspired his Prison Series.[1] His artistic style evolved dramatically from Seurat-inspired pointillism and cubism in the 1970s to a mature surrealistic approach using acrylic paints from the 2000s onward, incorporating installation and performance art. Limited access to Western art due to censorship in Myanmar led him to source magazines from second-hand bookstores. Praised by fellow artist Aung Myint as essential to Myanmar's modern art history and political art, San Myint's oeuvre consistently critiques societal issues.[1] Another profile lists a 1965 birth in Gwa, Rakhine State, with studies under U Thein Han and U Lun Gywe, active as a contemporary Burmese painter.[2]

Surrealism satirizing society and politics with acrylic paints