By Taliesin Thomas
I have been visiting the Whitney Biennale since the mid-1990s. During the years I didn’t make the show in person, I read the reviews published in magazines such as Art in America and ArtNews. Over the decades I have observed a certain predictable trope: the show tanks—either conceptually, physically, or spiritually. Nevertheless, the show must [...]
(Or Why Dana Schutz’s Painting of Emmett Till Goes Far Beyond Freedom of Expression)
By Paco Barragán
The recent controversy about Dana Schutz’s painting Open Casket (2016) at the Whitney Biennial is reminiscent of similar incidents in the United States that keep popping up with frenzied fury.
In this case, the attack came from [...]
By Kristina Olson
Like the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse in the Coen brothers’ film Raising Arizona, the first Whitney Biennial in the spacious, Renzo Piano-designed building, while impressive, is hard on the little things. Small-scale works like Matt Browning’s collapsible wood grids and Ulrike Müller’s modest, enamel paintings and works on paper [...]
Since 2002, Angela Strassheim’s photographs have probed female identity, family, religion, and memory with unflinching grit. Her inclusion in the 2006 Whitney Biennial: Day For Night was a break-out moment that launched her career and a media buzz about her work. Her photographic prints have been featured in half a dozen other museum [...]
Whitney Museum of American Art - New York
The First Rule of the Biennial is You Don‘t Talk About the Biennial
By Stephen Truax
It’s impossible to write a straight review of the 2012 Whitney Biennial when it is being actively picketed. One must consider the political/economic context that may occlude any effective discourse or artistic [...]
The 2008 Whitney Biennial had me prowling the large halls of the Park Avenue Armory and participating in a performance while sipping absinthe. The upcoming 2010 biennial promises to be less sprawling and perhaps, in tune with the economic crisis that has erupted since, a bit more sobering. It also simply might be the case [...]
