Sir Daniel K. Winn is a Vietnamese-American artist, curator, and philanthropist. His work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Winn now lives in Orange County, California, and is the CEO of Winn Slavin Fine Art.
Winn was born in Biên Hòa, Vietnam, and lived there until 1975 when his family escaped to California, during the Fall of Saigon. His family settled in Greater Los Angeles where Winn eventually attended the University of California, Irvine, earning a Bachelors of Science. Winn then began medical school at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine with an intended focus in reconstructive surgery but left to pursue a career in art.
After leaving medical school, Winn began producing paintings and sculptures and
opened a small frame shop and gallery in Southern California. By 1997, Winn owned galleries in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. That same year he founded Masterpiece Publishing and spent the next 20 years
mentoring and promoting blue-chip artists, curating exhibitions throughout North America and China. During this time, Winn continued to refine his own artistic style, which he dubbed, “Existential Surrealism.” Since 2016, Winn's sculptures and paintings have been exhibited in
the United States, Spain, China, and Vietnam.
Existential Surrealism is an artistic style developed by Winn which draws on his life experiences as a child refugee of war and the dichotomy between integrating into a strange new country while maintaining a sense of ancestral heritage. Existential Surrealism uses a surrealistic style and subject matter to encourage the viewer to examine the nature of existence, often through dreams. There are technical and symbolic parallels between Winn's work and that of the surrealist master, Salvador Dalí. In 2019, the Shanghai Art Museum held a joint exhibit featuring the works of Winn and Dalí.
A lifelong philanthropist, Winn has raised over $2 million for charities in the US and Asia. In 2001, Winn helped establish The Academy of Fine Art Foundation, a public charity dedicated to using art for the benefit of humanity. The charity focuses on underprivileged children and families in the US and Vietnam. In 2018, Winn was knighted by Prince Waldemar of Schaumburg-Lippe in recognition of his philanthropic works.
Since 2016, Winn’s paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in art shows such as Red Dot Miami, the LA Art Show, Art Marbella, Intersect Palm Springs, and the Shanghai Art Fair, as well as locations such as the Jane Kahan Gallery, the Coral Spring
Museum of Art and the Shanghai Art Museum. No stranger to accolades, Winn was recognized by members of the California Legislature in 2009 after winning the 2009 Asian Business Association of Orange County award for Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2014, Winn was a California Senate Resolution recipient as a Publisher for Contemporary Arts. In 2019, Winn won
the International Gold Medal for Best Sculpture from the Grand Jury de Mondial Art Academia, and again, in 2020, won the International Gold Medal for Best Painting and the International Silver Medal for Best Sculpture from the Grand Jury de Mondial Art Academia.
The indefatigable Winn continues to balance leading roles at both Winn Slavin Fine Art and Masterpiece Publishing while simultaneously creating award-winning art in multiple mediums. Now, with Winn Slavin galleries in Beverly Hills, Shanghai, and Ho Chi Minh City, Winn Slavin looks to continue to expand their art empire and position themselves as one of the premier galleries in the world.