Dinh Q. Lê: After the War
© Dinh Q. Lê, Fallen Angels, 2006, C-print and linen tape, 70 x 48-1/4 inches, collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn, Scottsdale, Arizona
Dinh Q. Lê: After the War, an exhibition of photo-weavings, opens on Friday, February 1 and runs through Saturday, March 1 at the San Diego State University Art Gallery. Visiting artist Dinh Q. Lê will present an illustrated lecture on Friday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 100 of SDSU’s Nasatir Hall in conjunction with the exhibition and a reception will follow from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the University Art Gallery. Both the lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
The exhibition, organized and curated by Tina Yapelli, director of the University Art Gallery at San Diego State University, features ten large-scale photo-weavings completed by the artist in 2006 and 2007, as well as a four-channel video installation created in 2006. The photo-weavings examine the quickening pace of change in Vietnam, as the country negotiates between developing a free-market society and maintaining a socialist ideology. In these works, corporate logos and commercial packaging from a variety of Western products, now ubiquitous in Vietnam, infiltrate iconic documentary images from the Vietnam War. Lê’s video installation The Imaginary Country, produced in collaboration with artists Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Ha Thuc Phu Nam, juxtaposes two generations affected by the Vietnamese Diaspora: the older generation of Lê’s parents, which made the difficult decision to leave everything behind for the possibility of a better future in a foreign land, and the younger generation of the artist himself, which is returning to live in Vietnam.
The gallery is open and free to the public Monday through Thursday and Saturday from 12:00 to 4:00 pm. Click here for directions and for additional information, contact the gallery at (619) 594-5171.
