About the Whitney Biennal published in Dossier Journal
http://dossierjournal.com/events/whitney-biennial-2010/trackback/
Seated in front of the gargantuan Julian Schnabel painting Hope from 1982 Francesco Bonami, co-curator of the 75th Whitney Biennial, says, “We wanted to mark a moment in time. We didn’t look for a theme. But we wanted less macho, less bombastic art. Less imperial art.” Then, pointing to the canvas behind him, says, “Not this.”
After the laughter dies down he continues, “It says it is from an anonymous donor–I don’t know if he is ashamed he bought it or what, but it does mark a moment in time. When I came to New York it was ‘82 and this was it and we thought it was forever. Themes change, there are fluctuations.”
Perhaps that is why the curators have chosen to display, as an adjunct to the main show of new work by 55 contemporary artists, pieces from the Whitney’s permanent collection that were featured in Biennials past. This Collecting Biennials works as a sort of reminder of the fickle trends in art–a considered backdrop for the new show simply titled 2010.
Included in Collecting are works from every one of the hot shots you can name, from Ruscha to Hopper to Rothko to Rauschenberg to… you get it… and even that hideous Schnabel thing. But there are pieces by artists whose names are not household handles anymore and Bonami is quick to reassure the artists in 2010 that their entry into the show is by no means a coronation. “It is just about what is right now, not what will be. You can see the artists who showed in other Biennials and we don’t even know their names now.”
Much of the new work–as does much of contemporary art–treads lines between genres: sculpture mingled with performance; video woven into dance; performance playing with drawing. The decision by Bonami and his curating partner Gary Carrion-Murayari to go with a less imperial art is perhaps the reason there are, for the first time ever, more female artists in the show. And while all the artists in the Biennial may not live in America–or even be American–the curators insist they all “digest American culture to tell an American story.”
So maybe we can call this show the best less-imperial, American-ish art. For now.
The 75th Whitney Biennial runs from February 25th to March 3oth.
This entry was written by Chris Wallace, posted on February 2, 2010 at 7:18 pm, filed under Art, Events and tagged Whitney Biennial. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
Seated in front of the gargantuan Julian Schnabel painting Hope from 1982 Francesco Bonami, co-curator of the 75th Whitney Biennial, says, “We wanted to mark a moment in time. We didn’t look for a theme. But we wanted less macho, less bombastic art. Less imperial art.” Then, pointing to the canvas behind him, says, “Not this.”
After the laughter dies down he continues, “It says it is from an anonymous donor–I don’t know if he is ashamed he bought it or what, but it does mark a moment in time. When I came to New York it was ‘82 and this was it and we thought it was forever. Themes change, there are fluctuations.”
Perhaps that is why the curators have chosen to display, as an adjunct to the main show of new work by 55 contemporary artists, pieces from the Whitney’s permanent collection that were featured in Biennials past. This Collecting Biennials works as a sort of reminder of the fickle trends in art–a considered backdrop for the new show simply titled 2010.
Included in Collecting are works from every one of the hot shots you can name, from Ruscha to Hopper to Rothko to Rauschenberg to… you get it… and even that hideous Schnabel thing. But there are pieces by artists whose names are not household handles anymore and Bonami is quick to reassure the artists in 2010 that their entry into the show is by no means a coronation. “It is just about what is right now, not what will be. You can see the artists who showed in other Biennials and we don’t even know their names now.”
Much of the new work–as does much of contemporary art–treads lines between genres: sculpture mingled with performance; video woven into dance; performance playing with drawing. The decision by Bonami and his curating partner Gary Carrion-Murayari to go with a less imperial art is perhaps the reason there are, for the first time ever, more female artists in the show. And while all the artists in the Biennial may not live in America–or even be American–the curators insist they all “digest American culture to tell an American story.”
So maybe we can call this show the best less-imperial, American-ish art. For now.
The 75th Whitney Biennial runs from February 25th to March 3oth.
This entry was written by Chris Wallace, posted on February 2, 2010 at 7:18 pm, filed under Art, Events and tagged Whitney Biennial. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
Comments