Danh Vo, Take My Breath Away (Installation View), via Art Observed

Currently on view at The Guggenheim, artist Danh Vo’s major retrospective invites a swirling, multi-faceted experience of the world and its political/social hierarchies over the past 40 years. Investigating moments and memories from the artist’s own life in Europe after his family fled Vietnam in the wake of the war during the mid-1970’s, his pieces move between assembled objects (documents, photos and journals) from participants in various parts of the war era, other iterations and moments of conflict and co-existence between Asia and the West, and his own memories and experiences. Presented here, the exhibition offers a striking opportunity for the viewer to explore a wide body of the artist’s output, which only amplifies his creative and political vision.

Danh Vo, Take My Breath Away (Installation View), via Art Observed (more…)

Artist Danh Vo has left Bortolozzi Gallery in the midst of appeals for his case against collector Bert Kreuk.  As a result, Vo has appointed a new lawyer in his case, Maarten Haak, who replaces Gert-Jan Van den Bergh.  “In the appeal case the interests of the artist and his [former] gallery may be different,” Haak says. “This was a pressing reason for Van den Bergh to withdraw from representing both parties in the appeal.” (more…)

In response to a court order compelling Danh Vo to create an “impressive” installation for collector Bert Kreuk, the artist has issued a letter to the collector telling him in no uncertain terms to “shove it.”  “This whole case is so bizarre it is unbelievable,” Kreuk has responded. (more…)

Danh Vo, We The People (2010-2014) at Brooklyn Bridge Park

This summer, Vietnamese artist Danh Vo is paying his homage to the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of American legacy with a group of installations on view at City Hall Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park.  From May 17th to December 5th, the public will be able to see We The People, a life-sized replica of the Statue of Liberty separated into 250 copper parts that Vo created using the same processes used on the original statue. (more…)

Danh Vo – We The People (detail) – Gallery Chantal Crousel, all photos by G. Hansen for ArtObserved

Copper – tarnished, polished, battered, and even mailed FedEx packages (as with Walead Beshty’s piece at Regen Projects) seemed to make an appearance in many places at Art Basel Miami Beach this year. One amazing example was Danh Vo’s curving, paneled “We The People” at Galerie Chantal Crousel, also perhaps the largest copper piece at the show.

Daniel Buren – Bortolami Gallery

(more…)

The Hugo Boss Prize has been awarded to Vietnamese-born conceptual artist Danh Vo, 37, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced today. The award, founded in 1996, grants $100,000 to the winning artist. Mr. Vo’s family fled South Vietnam at an early age and he was raised in Denmark. (more…)

The Hugo Boss Prize dinner at the Guggenheim scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, but the committee will announce the winner tomorrow regardless. The 2012 nominees are Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Monika Sosnowska, Qiu Zhijie, Danh Vo and Tris Vonna-Michell. (more…)