Witty at the Whitney: A Most Endearing Biennial

Robert Bechtle, "Six Houses on Mound Street," 2006, private collection, courtesy Gladstone Gallery


Heather Rowe, "Something Crossed the Mind (embellished three times)," 2008, Collection of the artist, courtesy D'Amelio Terras (with CultureGrrl in the mirror)

Let's get this out of the way immediately: The pretentious, off-putting introductory wall text for the soon-to-open Whitney Biennial bears no relation whatsoever to the quality of the show (or even of the other labels, for that matter).

There's a whole lot to like, and little to shock or cause offense (although, I must admit, I didn't have time to view the videos). It's a low-key but often wackily witty sampling of the new, which seems closer in spirit to the New Museum's equally appealing Unmonumental show than to Biennials we have known (and not always loved).

There's a scrappy aesthetic afoot---made from scraps. Anything with a high degree of finish and polished technique, particularly Robert Bechtle's traditional photorealist paintings (above), makes you wonder why the curators put it there. In Bechtle's case, I think one saw his Hopper-esque renderings of buildings in residential neighborhoods in a different light after viewing the more skeletal constructions (like Heather Rowe's above) arrayed nearby. They made you peer at Bechtle's streetscapes with x-ray eyes, envisioning what lay beneath the surfaces of those comfortingly solid structures.

All is well, then, at the Whitney, until you get to the show's second venue, the Park Avenue Armory. Then you're back, alas, in the dreary Biennial realm of "What were they thinking?" We'll have to give the Armory a chance, though: It may yet become interesting, with a series of performances and events. The best use of the space, given what's currently there, may be DJ Olive's "Slumber Party": "Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets, pillows and snacks."

Several weary journalists were already taking advantage of DJ Olive's "Triage"---a white tent with cots amidst soothing ambient sounds---at the end of today's exhausting two-venue, 81-artist press opening.

To hear more from me on Biennial 2008, you'll have to wait till Thursday, when, if all goes according to plan, I'll be back again on WNYC, New York Public Radio. More on this soon.