Is Danh Vo a Vietnamese Artist?

This talk will pose the following questions: If Danh Vo was born in Vietnam, does his work readily fit the category of “Vietnamese art?”; If not, what is Vietnamese art and who is a Vietnamese artist? In examining Danh Vo’s work within the context of Vietnamese art history and other Vietnamese artists, this talk will engage in a discussion about ethno-national labels in art history while deconstructing the category of Vietnamese art. Far from forcing the label of Vietnamese on the artist and his work, rather, this discussion aims to critique the enduring legacy of the association made between Vietnam, the country, and Vietnam, the war in the United States. Taylor specializes in Vietnamese modern and contemporary art and is the author of Painters in Hanoi: An Ethnography of Vietnamese Art (Honolulu 2004 and Singapore Press 2009) Is Danh Vō a Vietnamese Artist?: lecture