Whitney Bi-crap-ennial
This past Friday, Dylan and I found ourselves amongst a furied sea of snobby art students, crotchey old uppersidians, couples in their mid-thirties, crying children, and massive guided tours on pay-as-you-wish night at the Whitney on the last weekend of the Biennial. It ended not a moment too soon.
The first time I wrote this entry (my computer at work has crashed three times, thus erasing my entry three times...it's horrible) I was trying to review the show, but I quickly realized that I am in no position to review this exhibit, namely because I hated it so much. (This was a big problem in college...I would have to review books we read in literature classes, and I would be so blinded by my dislike that I would completely forget and dismiss all aspects except the ones that angered me...it continues to be a problem).
But what I can do is briefly explain my distaste, and my fear for art in general. The work at the Biennial did not seem to come from any true form of art to me. Most of it didn't convey any message whatsoever, it was art based on an asthetic already done in other art. It was about as meaningful as a tshirt design featured in Delias. And the art that did convey a message did it tritely. Political art that was so general and so in your face that it was nauseating. It felt like something an unworldly college freshmen would bring in as his first project in Painting 101. And to top it off, nothing there seemed difficult to make. There was no craft involved. I don't know how pretty much any of this stuff got in, but it worries me that the work I saw actually is the best of the best out there right now. When I think about it, I haven't seen anything that really speaks to me in a long time. Where's the meaning? I guess the artists need something drastic to happen to the world to inspire them. If only someone would drop a bomb on a major building...actually, I'm getting a flashback to all of the terrible 911-inspired art and am changing my mind on that...I was thinking more V for Vendetta style. (Speaking of which: Snap, the comic book is SO much radder than the movie!) Wikipedia says of the Biennial, "The Whitney show is generally regarded as one of the leading shows in the art world, often setting or leading trends in contemporary art." God, for once, Wikipedia, just this once, I hope you're wrong.