SN35, Sumi ink on paper, by Roland Flexner
This year’s Whitney Biennial exhibition is a disparate collection of contemporary work. I appreciate the lack of any discernible curatorial agenda, as the individual works then have a chance to stand for themselves rather than representing some theme imposed by a curator. I found much of the work in the show, to put it kindly, uninspiring, especially almost a whole floor of bland, hackneyed video projection pieces, but there’s also a lot of great work to see. Here are four artists whose work I found particularly engaging.
Roland Flexner shows a wall of small abstract dream landscapes (such as the example pictured above) made by a sumi ink marbling technique manipulated by handwork and blowing.
Aurel Schmidt has a magical life-size drawing of a bison-man, his body constructed out of cigarette butts, beer cans, flowers, stars, flies, worms, and other elements, all rendered with exquisite detail and texture.
Storm Tharp shows several big, haunting mixed-media portraits, the faces made with a perfectly calibrated bleeding ink-wash technique.
Dawn Clements has a wall-sized panoramic ballpoint pen drawing derived from a lush, moody interior seen in a 1945 movie.
The 2010 Whitney Biennial features fifty-five artists selected by curator Francesco Bonami and associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari. It’s on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York through May 30, 2010.
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I really like Aurel Schmidt ..soft & sppoky, nice and dirty.. well one piece inparticular.. it offers a nice dicotomy of materials..and dicotomy of images with in all of it.my .02 at the moment
Amy:-)
Her work is just fantastic. Aurel Schmidt is a real up-and-comer now!
Hi Fred, holy cow… long time no talk.I had no idea that I had a facebook account. If I signed up I totally forgot. I'm not really sure how it works and what to do with it.I had to sign up this morning because I promised my students that I would try out farmville. They're all on it and one kid said, "farmville changed my life."I'm still seeking change. If farmville is good enough for a kid then it's good enough for me.
Mary George is me… Barbara.I can't figure out how to change the name.
Fred, I recently had company and they loved your drawing that I have up. I seek more. Can I work for art?Serious update… I took Joey to court, got him out of the appartment, and have a 2 year order of protection against him. It got very bad.
Please communicate by phone
Barbara, I'll phone you.
The Aurel Schmidt drawing is creative and intricate. Perhaps it is a variation of what little boys are made of from the nursery rhyme: frogs and snails and puppy dog tails; beetles and moths and cigarette butts…
Too bad that doesn’t rhyme.
The Aurel Schmidt piece that is actually in the Biennial is pictured at this link. Unfortunately the reproductions are too small to show the amazing level of detail. Speaking of “what little boys are made of” you’ll notice that the life-sized bison-man in “Master of the Universe/FlexMaster 3000″ features a literal abdominal “six-pack”!
I got your phone message, I'll call tomorrow. Not doing anything Easter today.
Thanks for introducing me to Picks of W.
Works are wow, but the interviews on the links struck me as rather sophomoric… although then when I think of it, at my age, most interviews strike me that way! -grin-
Jim, I’m scheduled to be interviewed at my May 1 opening. Rather than sophomoric, I’ll try to be freshmanic! (That’s fresh + manic.)
Roland Flexner’s sumi ink drawings are very impressive. And Aurel Schmidt’s work too.
But I’m sorry to hear that the Whitney Biennial is a bit disappointing. Can’t say I’m surprised, though. That video floor sounds awful!
I still plan to see it, but I will have your honest, reliable assessment, Fred, in the back of my mind when I do go.
Let’s see the Picasso exhibit at the Met together in April, and “cleanse” ourselves!
Claudia
The Whitney Biennial is definitely worth seeing, Claudia, and it’s “pay what you wish” on Friday nights. If there’s a contemporary art show and you like everything in it, well, then it’s not a contemporary art show! And there is some very good stuff in the 2010 biennial. I liked it much better than some of the biennials back in the 90′s.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Picasso show with you!
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