Whitney Biennial 2008 New York
Apr 14th, 2008 by Brad
It’s been a few days since visiting the Whitney 2008 Biennial and seeing a lot of the works there. Unfortunately much of the show is un-memmorable and or uninspiring. I guess that speaks volumes. So I’m left trying to scratch my head for my best recollections from my sparse notes just 3 days ago.
I of course missed the Armory part of the Biennial, since AIPAD occupied that space this weekend (in the next couple of days I’ll try to post about that event).
Missing the Armory part means I missed Portland artist MK Guth’s work “Ties of Protection and Safekeeping”. I heard it got a deserved amount of attention.
As far as the show at the Whitney, appropriation/assemblage sculpture and installation art seem to dominate the show. I heard Saltz termed it “Home Depot displays.†I can’t really disagree with that thought.
Since I guess about half of the artists were from from New York I guess you go to Chelsea if you want a survey of painting and photography trends. 🙂
In the show, I liked John Baldessari ‘s three works in particular “Arms & Legs (Specif. Elbows & Knees), Etc.: Elbow (Blue) with Desk” (2007). I might of thought of different work of his for the show but it still hit a chord.
Another interesting one was Mika Rottenberg’s “Still from Cheese” (2007).
This installation consisted of an awesome wooden shack with videos about woman with long hair and the making of cheese. It gave one things to think about. But one thought just kept coming into my head, it was a Pythonesque thought… “blessed are the cheesemakers?”… “Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”
Jedediah Caesar’s “Helium brick aka summer snow” (2006) was a huge polystyrene block, where resin and pigment had eaten and eroded deeply into it. I enjoyed it but wanted a lot more more.
At first glance I enjoyed the lyrical interference of Carol Bove‘s “The Night Sky over New York, October 21, 2007 9 p.m.” (2007). But honestly it was lacking some references that really let me know what it was about. A passing lecturer was talking about the work and explained the arrangements of the brass rods was in relation to a sky chart of the constellations over NYC and their relations to the buildings at the date above. Armed with this I enjoyed it even more.
I missed Omer Fast’s “The Casting” that edits between stories of soldiers. Some later told me it was a good video to see.
Overall if it is to be a survey then it also seems to be many themes common to MFA shows of late. I’m not sure all of the work engages life around it as it should. Is this a a sign of the times, or just a sign of the Whitney times?
Whitney 2008 Biennial runs through June 1 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street.
