Tapestries

Continuing to use woven photographs, Lê will present a new body of work that reflects his thoughts on the current situation in Vietnam, where the artist lives and works. Using flowers as the main motif, Lê interweaves symbols of mourning and celebration, crisscrossing wreaths with bouquets. Lê offers this work as a study of a country in repair and concentrates on the renewing energy of life after years of loss.

Dinh Q. Lê has been using the photoweaving technique for over ten years. In this exhibit, Lê makes a departure from his well known work of the Cambodia and Vietnam series, as he this time focuses much more on the formal aspects of the weavings, and as he plays with the patterns and textures of the material. His virtuosity takes center stage as the images become complex and abstracted representations of the history of Vietnam past, present, and future. Lê feels that this series pertains to Vietnam in the present, at once looking back at war and the loss of life and simultaneously to the promise of the future.

Dinh Q. Lê was born in Ha-Tien, Vietnam in 1968, just miles from the Cambodian border. In 1979 he and his family immigrated to California. Lê received a BFA from the University of California (1989) and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts (1992). In 1998, Dinh Q. Lê re-established his permanent residence in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

In the Fall of 2005, Dinh Q. Lê had a one-person show at the Asia Society entitled "Vietnam: Destination for the New Millennium." His work was also a major component of "Permanent Vestiges: Drawings from the American-Vietnam War" at the Drawing Center. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 2003 in "Delays and Revolution." This Spring he will have work in "Infinite Painting: Contemporary Painting and Global Realism," curated by Francesco Bonami and Sarah Cosulich Canarutto. The exhibition takes place at the Villa Manin Centre for Contemporary Art, April 9th through September 24th, 2006 in Milan.