Danh Vo Exhibition Opens at the Guggenheim on March 15

An exhibition of the work of artist Danh Vo (b. 1975, Bà Ria, Vietnam), winner of the Hugo Boss Prize 2012, will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, March 15-May 27, 2013. Vo, whose work illuminates the entwined strands of private experience and collective history that shape our sense of self, is the ninth artist to win the prestigious biennial award, established in 1996 by HUGO BOSS and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo is organized by Katherine Brinson, Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Emerging from a process of research, chance encounters, and delicate personal negotiations, Vo's installations unearth the latent connotations and memories embedded in familiar forms. The title of his Guggenheim exhibition, I M U U R 2, is derived from a formulation used by the artist Martin Wong (1946-1999) on his business cards and stamps. Vo has long been fascinated by the life and work of Wong, a visionary painter and beloved figure of New York's downtown art scene of the 1980s and '90s. After acquiring one of Wong's works, he struck up a correspondence with the artist's mother, Florence Wong Fie, and eventually visited her home in San Francisco. There, he discovered a remarkable collection of objects ranging from curios and tourist souvenirs to rare antique ceramics and scrolls of calligraphy, interspersed with numerous examples of Wong's paintings and works on paper.