Tuesday, May 8, 2012

At least it's not one of those boring annual things

My loyal commenter (one day I will figure out your secret identity, Anonymous!) suggested I do something fun or interesting this weekend in order to have something to write about this week. I made a good faith effort, but I can't in all honesty say I was entirely successful. I had been meaning to check out the Whitney Biennial because even though I didn't particularly like the last one, something about a show only happening once every two years makes it instantly more appealing. I actually liked this year's show a little more than the last one (I think partly because my expectations were pretty low). Also, my friend who lives near Brooklyn Kolache Company brought me a couple of those bad boys which I ate later in the Whitney cafe. So that obviously helped.

I'm attaching a couple of choice shots from the exhibition, although honestly I think they speak more to the quality of the photographer (not me) and his medium (an iphone from 2009) than the quality of the art. Is that too harsh? Do any Whitney artists read this? Nevertheless, I stand by my statements. Unrelated to the Biennial, I may be too much of a prude for the Whitney curators, but I found the exhibit on Forrest Bess could have used a few more warnings before subjecting viewers to photographs of the artist's self-inflicted genital "surgeries." Props for featuring a Texas artist though...I guess.

I don't remember what was actually on the screen, but I think this photo came out really cool. Well done, photographer! Well done, iPhone. 

She kind of reminds me of E.T. There's some artistic merit there.

This was a cool painted staircase thing with nifty gold thread curtains around it. I'm not sure what it meant, but at least it was cool aesthetically, which is the most I was really asking of the Whitney. Does this mean I just don't 'get' it?

This isn't actually from the Biennial at all (hard to tell...I know). After the Whitney, we went downtown to watch the Kentucky Derby at an Irish pub with some friends. (Side note: my horse Hansen lost kind of badly, which the experts attribute to the Kentucky heat being too hard on him. "He looks almost pink out there" was the actual quote.) Anyway, I thought this image of the in-progress Freedom Tower extending into the mist was cool. As of sometime last week (or possibly the week before) it surpassed the Empire State Building to be the tallest building in the city.

For my next attempt at doing something fun, I will go to a museum I actually like, I think. I'm also planning to dye my hair (for the first time ever!!) in the next couple of days. So stay tuned for a self-indulgent post about that.

2 comments:

  1. I picked Hansen in solidarity. Since my horse never wins, I may have jinxed you.

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  2. I don't blame you; I blame the heat of Kentucky. But the good good thing about him being the only white horse was that it was so easy to pick him out during the race.

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