Kari Rittenbach singles out O'Grady as a "notable without-type inclusion" and the article's online slideshow consists solely of O'Grady's past work.
by Kari Rittenbach 12/22/09
What’s Out There? A Whitney Biennial Preview
Since 1932, the Whitney Museum of American Art's biannual survey of contemporary art has been one of its most reliably exciting shows, due to its patronage of young talent and yearbook effect of collective memory. Sometimes sheltered under an umbrella curatorial, sometimes not, the biennial always seeks to identify important American art now—in other words, its proposition is as baldly general as a US institutional exhibition can get.
View Slideshow: Cutting Out the New York Times, other media, 1977; Mlle Bourgeoise Noire, performance, 1980-83, etc.
Next year's edition, simply called "2010," supposedly has no organizational theme—although it's a year that self-consciously marks the end of a rather trying decade, and is a re-arrangement of the numbers in the iconic year "2001." Published on December 11, the shortlist of 55 artists has been widely noted for its brevity (it is a significant reduction from 100 in 2006 and 81 in 2008), which is ascribed like everything to creaky market
economics.
But if maximalism and globalization are passé exhibition topics, as curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari have insisted, then the premise of "2010" may also be a chilly response to the New Museum's "Younger than Jesus" triennial earlier this year, which borrowed more than a few Whitney biennial alums (Ryan Trecartin, Matt Keegan) and its make-or break-spotlight on young people. Participating artists work in all media, range in age from 23 to 75, and some have taken part in biennials before. While a few site-specific projects are planned (Jeffrey Inaba, Martin Kersels) each individual will have only one work (or series) in the show, in what could amount to yearbook like rationing. The Park Avenue Armory, which two years ago hosted a generally well-liked annex to the Biennial, will see no spillover next year. The Biennial's, restrained selection of artists, less than hooky theme, and generally straightforward organization seem further suggestion that "2010" is an exhibition less about propelling its place in history than preserving it. . . .
© 2009 Lorraine O'Grady | All rights reserved.