Andrew Berardini journeys into the heart of the work of conceptual artist Danh Vo to discover how historical forces find form in our individual lives.
“A relic is what remains, what's left over.” Inspired by an exhibition never seen in Mexico City, Berardini's deeply personal investigation of Vo's work weaves one story into the other and finds along the way the clash and mesh of civilizations, a sexy Statue of Liberty, the head of a decapitated martyr, the collapse of the American labor movement, John Keats' tombstone, the holy trinity in a license plate, the ravages of war, a battered encyclopedia, a terrorist's typewriter, the history of saints in a boy's wing. In Relics, Berardini explores through Vo's work how art and poetry gives utterance to history's shadows on our lives; and through it, to make our own stories.
Second volume of “Air Mexico,” a literary series investigating art exhibitions initiated by Mousse and commissioned by kurimanzutto.
Performance art inspired
conceptual artist Danh Vo (born 1975 in Bà Ria, Vietnam) studied at the Städelschule of Frankfurt, Germany and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen, Denmark.
His work has been presented in the context of numerous exhibitions in the most prestigious international institutions including: Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York (2018), National Gallery Singapore (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2015); Nottingham Contemporary (2014); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2014); Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2013); Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York (2013); Art Institute of Chicago (2012-2013); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2012); National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2012, 2010); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2009); MoMA, New York (2009); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Nerherlands (2008); Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2006).
He also participated in the Shanghai Biennial in 2012 and the Biennale di Venezia in 2013 and 2015. He was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize 2012 and nominated for the Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art of Berlin in 2009. He also received the BlauOrange Kunstpreis der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken of Berlin in 2007.
See also
Danh Vo.
Andrew Berardini (born 1982 in California, lives and works in Los Angeles) is a writer, art critic, co-founder of the
Art Book Review, occasional editor and regular contributor to
Mousse and
Artforum.
