In a busy time for world flags in New York City, we managed to catch a glimpse of one more, the Vietnamese and Danish artist Danh Võ’s take on the American stars and stripes, titled “Live Free or Die.” The piece is on display at the Vilcek Foundation gallery in the Upper East Side, where it sits among a wider collection of Võ’s works. Established in 2000, the Vilcek Foundation celebrates and explores immigrant contributions to the United States, particularly in the arts and sciences. In this piece, commissioned by the foundation, Võ reimagines the American flag as a piling of ash logs in different wood tones, studded with steel cutouts of thirteen stars, representing the original American colonies. Jagged wooden edges heap together, leaving fragmented gaps between the logs, but ultimately the materials amass into a familiar image of American patriotism. The title references a decisive, almost hostile call for independence aligned with revolutionary ideals of American freedom, though best known as the infamous state motto of New Hampshire. The larger exhibit, “Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty,” also includes sculptures from Võ’s “We the People,” a collection of seemingly nondescript ridged and textured copper structures which are, in fact, pieces from an unassembled full-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty. The full series lays in metallic tatters at museums and parks around the world. At the Vilcek Foundation gallery, the single left eye and brow of Lady Liberty’s face gaze at the ceiling, in front of Võ’s choppy, earthen depiction of the star-spangled banner. As the 250th anniversary of American independence approaches, these transformative versions of iconic national symbols contextualize the rich, fragmented, and often somber arc of American history, and the prescient place of immigration and art within it.
Photos by Anna Hochman