Danh Vo
06 Apr - 13 May 2011
Torch sway in 50 mph wind: 5 inches (12.7 cm).
Number of windows in the crown: 25
Number of spikes in the crown: Seven rays of the diadem (7 oceans of the World)
Hand with which Statue holds tablet: Left
Inscription on tablet: “July 4, 1776” (in Roman numerals)
Day of America’s Independence from Britain: July 4, 1776
Height from base to torch (Bartholdi’s design): 151’ 1” (46.50m)
Height from base to torch (1984 Survey): 152’ 2” (46.84m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (Bartholdi’s design): 305’ 1” (92.99m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (1984 Survey): 306’ 8” (93.47m)
Heel to top of head: 111’ 1” (33.86m)
Length of hand: 16’ 5” (5.00m)
Index finger: 8’ 0” (2.44m)
Circumference at second joint: 3’ 6” (1.07m)
Size of fingernail: 13”x10” (33x25.4cm)
Weight of fingernail: About 3.5 pounds. (1.5 kg)
Head from chin to cranium: 17’ 3” (5.26m)
Head thickness from ear to ear: 10’ 0” (3.05m)
Distance across the eye: 2’ 6” ( .76m)
Length of nose: 4’ 6” ( l.48m)
Right arm length: 42’ 0” (12.80m)
Right arm greatest thickness: 12’ 0” (3.66m)
Thickness of waist: 35’ 0” (10.67m)
Width of mouth: 3’ 0” (.91m)
Tablet, length: 23’ 7” (7.19m)
Tablet, width: 13’ 7” (4.14m)
Tablet, thickness: 2’ 0” (.61m)
Height of granite pedestal: 89’ 0” (27.13m)
Height of foundation: 65’ 0” (19.81m)
Weight of copper used in Statue: 179,200 pounds (81,300 kilograms)
Weight of steel used in Statue: 250,000 pounds (113,400 kilograms)
Total weight of Statue: 450,000 pounds (225 tons)
Thickness of Copper sheeting: 3/32 inch (2.37mm)
“ The bodies of Nature, particularly solid bodies, are the origin of the fundamental concepts of Geometry.
First we distinguish volume, that is to say the portion of space or the extension occupied by the body. To give it a concrete representation,one can imagine the body be replaced by a thin envelope, which exactly reproduces the exterior form, and thus the volume would be measured by the quantity of liquid this envelope would be susceptible to containing. The first abstraction made by Geometry consists therefore of retiring from the body its own material and leaving only the place it occupies in space. Contrary to Mechanics, within the phenomena of translation, it neglects the form of the body and retains only the mass. Geometry ignores the mass and only retains the form, which it supposes to be invariable after the disappearance of the matter. This abstraction seems to us very simple because we have been accustomed to them at an age where we usually accept them without too much thought on the basics of the learned material. But it is one of the boldest [abstractions] one can make, and it requires a very great effort of imagination. We need to withdraw from a body, what it is constituted of, that which by it exists, and speculate on a sort of phantom.”
Charles de Freycinet, De l’expérience en Géométrie, Gauthier-Villars, 1903, pp. 13-14.
“ Bartholdi hoped to author a colossal sculptural punctuation to Lesseps’s out- sized engineering feat. The sculptor’s plan for an immense statue of an Egyptian peasant woman to serve as a lighthouse at the entrance of the Suez Canal stems from his first visit in 1856, although he did not officially propose the sculpture, grandiosely titled “Egypt Bringing Light to Asia,”until his return to Egypt in 1869 just prior to the celebratory opening of Lesseps’s canal. The Egyptian leader Ismail Pasha rejected Bartholdi’s plan. Disappointed but typically undaunted, Bartholdi recycled the colossal female sculpture six years later when he planned a 151-foot-high Statue of Liberty to overlook New York City’s harbor. Egyptian peasant and Republican Liberty shared the same form and purpose, but Bartholdi consistently attempted to repress his later statue’s origins. ”
Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. “Geometry/Labor = Volume/Mass?”, October, Vol. 106 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 8-9
The first exhibition of Danh Vo at the Douane / Galerie Chantal Crousel is the first stage in a series of exhibitions the artist has dedicated to an exceptional project focusing on the Statue of Liberty.
For his upcoming solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum at Kassel (October 2011) at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris (2012 - 2013), Danh Vo has imagined to reconstruct the statue of liberty of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi to the same scale as the one in New York. It doesn’t entail a renewal of the statue, but the reconstruction of all the elements, while keeping loyal to the technique and aesthetic, and to present it fragmented in the exhibition. The elements, rarely identifiable, will be dispersed on the ground as if this universal symbol was suspended to an abstracted concept.
For this colossal production, Danh Vo wishes to preserve the original technique of the Ateliers Gaget, Gauget et Cie at the end of the 19th century, notably the technique of copper repoussage. This consists of hammering the copper on a finely sculpted wood sculpture with the intention of espousing its contour. It is anticipated that the final appearance of the statue is in a raw state, without finishing work.
Danh Vo has had several solo exhibitions in prestigious institutions: National Gallery of Denmark (2010), Kunsthalle Basel (2009), Stedelijk Museum (2008), Bergen Kunsthall (2006). His works are also part of several important public collections : Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York), MNAM/Centre Pompidou (Paris), National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis).
Number of windows in the crown: 25
Number of spikes in the crown: Seven rays of the diadem (7 oceans of the World)
Hand with which Statue holds tablet: Left
Inscription on tablet: “July 4, 1776” (in Roman numerals)
Day of America’s Independence from Britain: July 4, 1776
Height from base to torch (Bartholdi’s design): 151’ 1” (46.50m)
Height from base to torch (1984 Survey): 152’ 2” (46.84m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (Bartholdi’s design): 305’ 1” (92.99m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch (1984 Survey): 306’ 8” (93.47m)
Heel to top of head: 111’ 1” (33.86m)
Length of hand: 16’ 5” (5.00m)
Index finger: 8’ 0” (2.44m)
Circumference at second joint: 3’ 6” (1.07m)
Size of fingernail: 13”x10” (33x25.4cm)
Weight of fingernail: About 3.5 pounds. (1.5 kg)
Head from chin to cranium: 17’ 3” (5.26m)
Head thickness from ear to ear: 10’ 0” (3.05m)
Distance across the eye: 2’ 6” ( .76m)
Length of nose: 4’ 6” ( l.48m)
Right arm length: 42’ 0” (12.80m)
Right arm greatest thickness: 12’ 0” (3.66m)
Thickness of waist: 35’ 0” (10.67m)
Width of mouth: 3’ 0” (.91m)
Tablet, length: 23’ 7” (7.19m)
Tablet, width: 13’ 7” (4.14m)
Tablet, thickness: 2’ 0” (.61m)
Height of granite pedestal: 89’ 0” (27.13m)
Height of foundation: 65’ 0” (19.81m)
Weight of copper used in Statue: 179,200 pounds (81,300 kilograms)
Weight of steel used in Statue: 250,000 pounds (113,400 kilograms)
Total weight of Statue: 450,000 pounds (225 tons)
Thickness of Copper sheeting: 3/32 inch (2.37mm)
“ The bodies of Nature, particularly solid bodies, are the origin of the fundamental concepts of Geometry.
First we distinguish volume, that is to say the portion of space or the extension occupied by the body. To give it a concrete representation,one can imagine the body be replaced by a thin envelope, which exactly reproduces the exterior form, and thus the volume would be measured by the quantity of liquid this envelope would be susceptible to containing. The first abstraction made by Geometry consists therefore of retiring from the body its own material and leaving only the place it occupies in space. Contrary to Mechanics, within the phenomena of translation, it neglects the form of the body and retains only the mass. Geometry ignores the mass and only retains the form, which it supposes to be invariable after the disappearance of the matter. This abstraction seems to us very simple because we have been accustomed to them at an age where we usually accept them without too much thought on the basics of the learned material. But it is one of the boldest [abstractions] one can make, and it requires a very great effort of imagination. We need to withdraw from a body, what it is constituted of, that which by it exists, and speculate on a sort of phantom.”
Charles de Freycinet, De l’expérience en Géométrie, Gauthier-Villars, 1903, pp. 13-14.
“ Bartholdi hoped to author a colossal sculptural punctuation to Lesseps’s out- sized engineering feat. The sculptor’s plan for an immense statue of an Egyptian peasant woman to serve as a lighthouse at the entrance of the Suez Canal stems from his first visit in 1856, although he did not officially propose the sculpture, grandiosely titled “Egypt Bringing Light to Asia,”until his return to Egypt in 1869 just prior to the celebratory opening of Lesseps’s canal. The Egyptian leader Ismail Pasha rejected Bartholdi’s plan. Disappointed but typically undaunted, Bartholdi recycled the colossal female sculpture six years later when he planned a 151-foot-high Statue of Liberty to overlook New York City’s harbor. Egyptian peasant and Republican Liberty shared the same form and purpose, but Bartholdi consistently attempted to repress his later statue’s origins. ”
Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. “Geometry/Labor = Volume/Mass?”, October, Vol. 106 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 8-9
The first exhibition of Danh Vo at the Douane / Galerie Chantal Crousel is the first stage in a series of exhibitions the artist has dedicated to an exceptional project focusing on the Statue of Liberty.
For his upcoming solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum at Kassel (October 2011) at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris (2012 - 2013), Danh Vo has imagined to reconstruct the statue of liberty of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi to the same scale as the one in New York. It doesn’t entail a renewal of the statue, but the reconstruction of all the elements, while keeping loyal to the technique and aesthetic, and to present it fragmented in the exhibition. The elements, rarely identifiable, will be dispersed on the ground as if this universal symbol was suspended to an abstracted concept.
For this colossal production, Danh Vo wishes to preserve the original technique of the Ateliers Gaget, Gauget et Cie at the end of the 19th century, notably the technique of copper repoussage. This consists of hammering the copper on a finely sculpted wood sculpture with the intention of espousing its contour. It is anticipated that the final appearance of the statue is in a raw state, without finishing work.
Danh Vo has had several solo exhibitions in prestigious institutions: National Gallery of Denmark (2010), Kunsthalle Basel (2009), Stedelijk Museum (2008), Bergen Kunsthall (2006). His works are also part of several important public collections : Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York), MNAM/Centre Pompidou (Paris), National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis).