Van Thanh Rudd

Van Thanh Rudd
Born	1973 (age 43–44) Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	Victorian College of the Arts, RMIT University in Melbourne and Griffith University in Brisbane.
Known for	Contemporary art
Movement	Political satire, performance art

Van Thanh Rudd (born 1973) is an Australian artist, activist and the nephew of Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. His artworks have created controversies due to their left-wing political content. Rudd is also a member of Socialist Alternative. He was formerly a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and contested the seat of Lalor in the 2010 federal election against Prime Minister Julia Gillard through the RSP, an unregistered party. He polled very poorly, generating 0.50% of the vote. Rudd studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, RMIT University and Griffith University.

Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland, to Malcolm Rudd (the brother of Kevin Rudd) and Tuoi, and now resides in Footscray, Melbourne. He has a partner of Chilean heritage, Tania; daughter, Loyola; and son, Manolo. Rudd says that his leftist political awakening came after meeting his partner, whose family fled Chile after General Augusto Pinochet deposed the elected socialist Salvador Allende and began violently targeting leftists.

In 2007 Rudd created an artwork depicting a large mural on a gallery wall at Trocadero Art Space in Footscray with signatories of Australians who supported a visit to the country by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. It was titled "Smells Like Sulphur: A Tribute to Venezuela and the Art of Telling Bush to Piss Off", referencing Chavez' UN General Assembly speech the previous year, when he called former US President George W. Bush "the devil".

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