It's that time of the even numbered year for the Whitney Biennial. Yes, that's right! I know, I can hardly contain myself... seriously! I love this show! It opens on March 6 and runs until June 1.
Anyways, there seems to be nice roster of artists including Ellen Harvey, whom I adore and she is so sweet with her sexy British accent. She spoke at UArts a year or so ago–brilliant artist! (The video is available in the library) Check out her New York Beautification Project. She's going to be doing drawings of 100 Biennial visitors, in which afterwards you fill out a questionnaire asking if it was a successful drawing or not. More here about that event and everything else pertaining to the Biennial.
Also, here is a link to the Whiteny Biennial 2008 press release.
And one more thing, you can pre-order the catalog at Amazon cheaper than buying it at the museum (although it's also good to buy stuff there because supposedly the money goes back the museum, but we all know how poor college students are right?). So, click here to go straight to the catalog page. But it won't be released until March 17.
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To add to Lee's info on the Biennial...Charles Long and Phoebe Washburn are also exhibiting in this year's show. Both were visiting artists at UArts in the last two years.
JoAnne
Okay, so, this past Saturday I had a chance to check out the Whitney Biennial 2008. I was super excited, because this is the one show that I'm always looking forward to seeing every (other) year. Approaching the Whitney, we see NPR (Neighborhood Public Radio) broadcasting from one of the nearby building fronts. As we near the Whitney, I see this huge birds nest perched on top of the entranceway, and it is very eye-catching and fun! Adding to the bird's nest are other habitats that are constructed to show which animals lived here before the Whitney (and other buildings) occupied the space. Not sure if this was part of the Biennial, but it should be, because there wasn't very much good stuff inside. So Lisa and I get there about 1:30/2pm and are forced to wait in a short line. Going in, we see Jason Rhoades' "The Grand Machine/THEAREOLA." Now, I have to admit, I didn't listen to the entire audio guide, nor did I read much up on each artist exhibiting their work. So, I am relying solely on my instincts (ideas are subject to change). Rhoades' piece was a big waste of space. Something about karaoke and female genitalia. It wasn't a great start for me and it didn't get any better as I continued on to the second level. I was confronted with these awful paintings by Mary Heilman. Trust me, they look a lot worse in person. Then to the room on left is the work of Karen Kilimnik. Maybe her installations are better ( I sure hope so). These are just horrible small paintings. I don't get them at all. I thought Elizabeth Peyton's were bad enough, but these are even worse! I feel horrible saying all this horrible stuff with not much to back it up, but these are my honest opinions. Not much has been intriguing me, but then I am confronted with my good buddy John Baldessari's work on the second floor. I love John! He's so refreshing! So, I don't know if I think his work belongs in the Biennial, but after the experiences I was having with the other work, I'll take it! There is a lot of video work in this year's Biennial. I think everyne has an opinion on videos in exhibitions. It's just so difficult to watch them all, especially all 4 hours of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke." (Thank God he released it on DVD... put it on your Netflix list!) Which is what the other video artist should do in my opinion. Put it all on DVD, or stream it over the Whitney's website. The small amount of videos I saw were fantastic! Javier Tellez's "Letter on the Blind, For The Use of Those Who See," was brilliant and moving (I only saw the elephant part), and Olaf Breunning's "Home 2," was downright hilarious and such an outsider's interaction with foreign cultures (reminded me of Tom Green a bit). As always, Ellen Harvey's work makes me smile. Her "Museum of Failure," may not be my favorite, but I am a little biased, and really enjoyed it. I met Ellen 2 years ago when she spoke at UArts, and she has been a favorite since. I was lucky enough to be 1 of 100 participants in her performance at the Armory on Park Ave. (where the Biennial extends to this year). So, I had a chance to speak with her again (and meet her husband and son), as well as have my 15 minute portrait drawn by her for "100 Biennial Visitors Immortalized." What is also cool, is that I will have an original Ellen Harvey drawing! So excited! I'm going to skip past a bunch of stuff, because it is getting late, I can't remember where what was, and frankly, I'm getting tired of referencing the catalog for the artist's names and the titles of their work. But. I will say that the last floor (or the top most floor) of the show was the best. After finishing, Lisa and I got on the elevator and I was ecstatic to see Bert Rodriguez's "The End." The text of the same name was written in the cinema script which follows the happy ending of the early-mid 20th century black and white films. Along with the script, I heard the ending credits/theme of Indiana Jones and was very pleased and excited as I hummed along (while Lisa looked at me weird... she has never seen Indiana Jones before!!!) This was probably one of my favorite pieces in the show, and I was glad to leave on a good note.
Epilogue: The question is, "Will I go back to the show on the 18th when I go back up on a bus trip with BU?" I can't answer that question right now. I would like to see more of the videos shown, as well as read some or all of the essays from the catalog and research some of the artists. Maybe I will appreciate the ones I didn't like a bit more. Plus, I wouldn't mind getting one of Jeff Koons' GAP collaborative t-shirts from the gift shop. It has a deer head on it, and they were sold out... bummer.
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