Whitney Biennial

I was at the press preview for the Whitney Biennial. This post is going to highlight some of the work on display at this important show of American artists.

Co-curator of this year's biennial, Francesco Bonami, welcoming visitors.

An installation by Robert Grosvenor

Portraits by Storm Tharp

Below are James Casebere's photopgraphs of tabletop models that he constructed from Styrofoam, plaster and cardboard

An installation by Jennifer Jackson Hutchins

A painting by George Condo

Photograph by Pae White

Paper folds by Tauba Auerbach

In stark contrast to the above photographs, a fashionable visitor in a n ostrich feather coat

Trapped in the Urban Jungle

Doug Aitken had a recent exhibition in 2 distinct gallery spaces by 303 in Chelsea. The common theme of the show was the space, or habitat, we live in and our interaction with it.

The first piece was a video installation, called Migration, projected on three billboard size screens that showed wild animals outside of their natural habitat, filmed in roadside motel rooms. The video below is an excerpt from this installation that shows a fox entering a motel room and interacting with the space. Other segments (not shown) were filmed with a buffalo, a tiger, an eagle, a sable (in the bathtub), among others.



It is interesting to watch the animals try to adapt to their surroundings. You feel their frustration and helplessness having been taken out of their natural habitat and being trapped in small quarters. The spare, non-descript furnishings add to the feeling of desolation of the animals that are used to roam the wilderness.

The gallery's other exhibit space nearby had a white circular room with Aitken's futuristic watercolor paintings. The abstract depictions of streetscapes contrasted with the minimal room for an interesting sensory effect.



In the back of the exhibit space there was an illuminated photograph of an urban landscape (LA?) that made up the word "Star". The night time city scape could also be taken for space with distant stars and planets.

The Bailout

This is a mural of a rat painted on the side of a building at Broadway and Howard streets in Soho, NYC. A rat running away with cash, with blood on his hands. A reminder of Wall Street greed that is the cause of the economic collapse. The image is attributed to the famous street graffiti artist Banksy.

Black Cloud

I'm reaching into "the archives" to show an exhibit from November 2007, Mexican artist Carlos Morales' show Black Cloud at Yvon Lambert Gallery in Chelsea, New York. The show had an installation of paper moths cut out from black paper covering the gallery walls and ceiling.



It was captivating. The piece plays with dark fantasy and optimism, butterflies taking over your surroundings and leaving you haunted. It is both unsettling and comforting at the same time.



A close-up of the moths is below.



There was also a spooky video, a segment of which i was able to capture on my camera.