This year’s Whitney Biennial marks the seventy-fifth edition of the museum’s well known series, but the milestone wasn’t commemorated in any overdone way. In fact, the show that is meant to encapsulate American art at this moment in time felt austere in certain respects. Simply titled 2010, the show lacked an overarching formal theme as in years past, but the general uneasiness most Americans have felt due to the global recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be seen in several of the pieces included in the show.
Photographer Nina Berman captures the ugliness of war and the human condition in a series of photos of Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel, an Iraqi war veteran who was severely disfigured by a suicide bomber while serving. The photos capture Ty at his home, at his local watering hole, with his fiancé and on his wedding day. One photo catches Ty smiling, gazing at his soon to be wife, as she stares off into the distance, invoking feelings associated with lost girlhood dreams. The subject of the photos and the emotions they convey make up for the general simplicity of the photographs.
In Landscape with Houses (Dutchess County, NY) #1 James Casebere constructed a large, detailed tabletop model of a cul-de-sac so similar to the countless effected by foreclosures and the global recession. The artist’s photographs of the model cause the viewer to second guess the medium of the piece and the actual existence of the tiny, perfect neighborhood. Other standouts included works by Pae White and Storm Tharp.
Despite the fact that this year’s show is considered small (It includes only 55 artists – half of the 2006 show) I found it to be a balanced blend of emerging artists and more well known ones such as George Condo and Ellen Gallagher. The show does not cater to any particular medium, but the general disappointment I felt while viewing the majority of the video pieces causes me to conclude that there are more present than necessary. The real challenge of the Biennial is to sift through all the pieces, artists and ideas, and to view each with a fresh eye as its own entity.
The Whitney Biennial, 2010 is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art until May 30. Click here for more information.
Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.
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