seeing things differently . . .

the title of this post was appropriated from the guggenheim museum blog about danh vo’s work; in addition the text below is an excerpt from the same blog:

exhibition curator katherine brinson describes vo’s oeuvre as “predicated on a belief in the incommensurable vagaries of lived experience and the flickering instability of the self.” it’s possible to view that philosophical stance as being rooted in vo’s biography, especially given the way he weaves his life into his work. when vo was four, in 1979, his family fled vietnam and settled in denmark. vo grew up in the scandinavian country and has since lived in germany and mexico. his classic immigrant story has often been used to explain his work in easy terms, yet the way he invokes that narrative, and other personal biographies, is anything but cliché. working without nostalgia, but with a keen eye for cultural contradictions and a sense of humor, he presents objects -collected, collaged, reimagined- that carry a multiplicity of meanings, and he invites us to form our own relationship with them.