Danh VO

The young Danish-Vietnamese artist Danh VO1 (b. 1975) has received double exposure in Venice this year. First, with a conceptual installation titled Mothertongue in the Danish pavilion, then at the Punta Della Dogana where he was invited by François Pinault2 to revisit some of his collection. Danh VO’s rise has been meteoric since receiving the Hugo Boss Prize in 2012. The prize came with a cheque for $100,000 and an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum (2013), and his prices rocketed in New York with his auction debut fetching more than $100,0003. Since then, he has crossed this threshold nine times and scored an auction record of $700,0004 three days after the official opening of the 56th Venice Biennale. The Pinault effect is certainly no stranger to his recent revaluation.

  1. He grew up in Copenhagen and studied at Denmark’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
  2. Exhibition: Slip of the Tongue, until 31 December 2015.
  3. Danh VO, Alphabet (M), sold for $149,000including fees, Sotheby’s New York, 14 November 2013.
  4. Danh VO, Alphabet (L), sold for $700,000 including fees, Sotheby’s New York, 12 May 2015.29
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Danh VO