More on the Whitney Buy-ennial, and a Schjeldahl Thumbs-Up

Peter Schjeldahl lecturing last night in New York

With too much art to see at the Armory Show of contemporary art that opens today at Pier 94 in New York, how can you hone your must-see list to something manageable?

One way could be cross-referencing the list of the art fair's exhibiting artists with those with work in the current Whitney Biennial.

When I last I covered the Biennial for the mainstream media, in 2004 for the Wall Street Journal, I observed, tongue-in-cheek, that because the museum show had opened "concurrently with the Armory Show for the first time, this became the inaugural Whitney Buy-ennial: Art lovers could pick their favorites at the museum, then hop a free shuttle bus to the fair, where works by 64 of the 108 Biennial artists were up for sale."

In its publicity material this year, the Armory Show made it easy for collectors to draw such connections between the museum and the market. It helpfully listed exhibitors who were displaying artists anointed by the Whitney:

David Kordansky Gallery is devoting their entire booth to William E. Jones, CANADA is featuring a solo exhibition by Joe Bradley; and Susanne Vielmetter is featuring five 2008 Biennial artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Jed Caesar, Alice Koenitz, Rodney McMillian and Ruben Ochoa. Other galleries featuring Biennial artists include Ratio 3 with Mitzi Pederson; Galerie Dennis Kimmerich with Carol Bove; Zach Feuer Gallery with Phoebe Washburn; Arndt & Partner with William Cordova; Cherry and Martin with Amanda Ross-Ho; Wallspace with Walead Beshty; Stella Lohaus Gallery with Corey McCorkle; Praz-Delavallade with Edgar Arceneaux; Harris Lieberman with Michael Queenland; and Tracy Williams, Ltd. with Matt Mullican.

They might also have mentioned that Whitney pick Mary Heilmann was one of two artists (along with John Waters) who were tapped for special Armory Show commissions.

In case you need another Biennial cross-referenced list, Columbia University has trumpeted the names of its alumni who made the Biennial cut: Matthew Brannon, Coco Fusco, Olivier Mosset, Mika Rottenberg, Heather Rowe, Gretchen Skogerson, Mika Tajima.

No matter how much people like to second-guess the choices of the Whitney curators, it seems that everyone wants to ride the Biennial coattails. More validation came during a somewhat rambling lecture last night in New York for the American Federation of Arts' "ArtTalks" series, in which New Yorker critic Peter Schjeldahl seemed to come down more squarely in favor of the show than in his recently published review.

Last night, Peter answered an audience member's question about the Biennial this way:

I liked it. It was mild. It didn't seem strange. It seemed kind of sad and lost in a way that was touching and true to the moment. There's a new generation coming that I'm hopeful about.