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News & ArtsWednesday, December 21, 2011
Visual Art Once Again, the Whitney Biennial Has Not Heard of the Northwestern Part of the United States
Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 2:06 PM
The leaked list of artists for the 2012 Whitney Biennial is tedious. It includes Werner Herzog and Vincent Gallo, it's dudecentric, and it doesn't even make an attempt to include the Northwest. (The last attempt involved a single, weak Portland artist.)
The Whitney Biennial's list is always a thud of an announcement. The show, which happens every two years and is supposedly a survey of contemporary American art, is usually instead a survey of already-minted art-world darlings from New York with a handful from LA, and occasionally a bone thrown to San Francisco and Portland. This year, I believe SF has three artists included. Portland, zero. Oscar Tuazon is originally from Indianola, on the Kitsap Peninsula, and he lived for a time in Tacoma (after which his daughter is named), but even during his Seattle coming-out party, he was stationed mostly in Paris.
It's a drag, really, because nobody is doing a contemporary American survey. Also, WhiBi curators make a big noise out of traveling all over the country—"I still remember the I still remember the buzz (shock?) when Shamim [Momin] waltzed into @stephenplatform gallery years ago," William Powhida Tweeted today, about the WhiBi curator's stop in Seattle's Pioneer Square a few years back (she still didn't pick a Seattle artist)—but then pick what you'd have expected them to pick if they hadn't gotten up from their New York desks, as Kriston Capps in D.C., another chronically underrepresented area, points out this morning.
The state of surveys in the Northwest took a blow this summer: The Portland Art Museum's Contemporary Northwest Art Awards this year were freaky-bad.
At least Tacoma Art Museum's Northwest Biennial is coming up; it looks promising. The artist list is decently well-rounded, from Gray & Paulsen and Wynne Greenwood to Matt McCormick, Harrell Fletcher, Paul Pauper, and Matika Wilbur. It opens a month from today.
1
maybe it's a mistake to pretend that this provincial part of the country has any cultural relevance in a national or global scale?
3
There are probably artists with NW ties, i.e. people that left to go to NY or elsewhere. Not too many supremely talented artists stick around the NW. So find out who is from the PNW.
7
@2: Right this minute and off the top of my head from Seattle I'd add Jenny Heishman, Free Sheep Foundation, Amanda Manitach, Jeffry Mitchell, Dawn Cerny, Sol Hashemi, Matt Browning, Carolina Silva, Alwyn O'Brien...
9
Hey, it's not like the West is 50 percent of the US GDP or has more than 25 percent of US population ...
Oh.
Wait.
Oh.
Wait.
11
Yes @4, Oscar Tuazon. And I'm not sure which Portland artist you consider "weak," Jessica Jackson Hutchins or Storm Tharp or MK Guth? Or Maybe Harrell Fletcher? All in recent Biennials. So much is overlooked by every Whitney Biennial. You're right to point out their dumb Dudism. But I don't think geography is the worst or principal blinder here.
12
@7 and thats EXACTLY why nobody's been chosen. It brings to mind the line from one of my favorite movies"that's your best?!?"
13
I wouldn't see the artists in your NW list as good enough to be in the Whitney Biennial - they are not making work that is nationally significant. Of course the same criticism could be leveled at many of the artists in the actual Biennial, so is the problem that our artists are as mediocre as theirs? Nothing really worth complaining about - how about we focus on why most NW artists are not making work that counts? After all they rarely 'compete' on anything beyond a regional level - Tacoma/Portland Biennial, Seattle Public Art, hotel rooms in Miami, etc?
14
Correct Matt and incorrect Jen... The last WhiBi had 2 Portland artists and one of them Jessica Jackson Hutchins, pretty much dominated the critical attention for the show. Down here in Portland we aren't so desperate for validation because we get it all the time from institutions all over the world... that's why famous artists and curators actually move to Portland as well as recent MFA'ers too.
As for the TAM biennial. I don't have a tremendous amount of faith (and I'm in it) in any NW institution's ability to do a strong group show... the politics are too claustrophobic ( http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2011… ) to expect them to hang very strong work across from another strong idiosyncratic piece. Maybe TAM will surprise us? All I can say is my work will have "teeth" but I'm uncertain about the rest of the show, I expect not. We shall see...
As for Portland we don't measure our scene by the Whitney's yardstick. The world is bigger than that yard.
-jeff jahn
As for the TAM biennial. I don't have a tremendous amount of faith (and I'm in it) in any NW institution's ability to do a strong group show... the politics are too claustrophobic ( http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2011… ) to expect them to hang very strong work across from another strong idiosyncratic piece. Maybe TAM will surprise us? All I can say is my work will have "teeth" but I'm uncertain about the rest of the show, I expect not. We shall see...
As for Portland we don't measure our scene by the Whitney's yardstick. The world is bigger than that yard.
-jeff jahn
16
Yes, down here in Shmortland we are obliged to read SLOG for any news of the world. Occasionally our overlords at The Mercury deign to repost the latest revelations on their repost service, BLOGTOWN. Strangely, Jen's posts aren't picked as often as Paul Constant's or Eli's. Jen, is something amiss with your contract? I'd love to see more of your posts down here. I'd love to see you cover Portland. We could use it!
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"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately." ~ A.A. Milne
18
Yes Jen, it's interesting that you shit on the Whitney for ignoring NW artists, yet Portland seems to be very much rrecognized. And why is it we don't hear more about these artists from you in your quest to put us "on the map"? Dont they give you enough"love" down there big fish?
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@18, somehow you manage to make it all so ugly. Just to clarify, I like Jen's work, it's been a great addition to the mix in Portland, when it's in the mix. I want more, and I want it researched and detailed. I'm also making Quixotic, repeated efforts to get The Mercury to discuss and hopefully reverse it's policy of filler-ing BLOGTOWN with slightly tweaked re-posts from Seattle. The other day we got Eli's pithy "Could a Korean Missile Hit Seattle?" tossed back up on BLOGTOWN as "Could a Korean Missile Hit Portland?" Why would Eli care? In any case, hooray Jen! And booooo lazy franchising-out of generic SLOGishness to the rest of us.
20
Matthew: Hi! The "weak" artist I'm thinking of is MK Guth, but I agree that JJH is strong; I had forgotten her. (This isn't a new slam/praisefest—I've written all this before.)
It's bizarre that the Merc picks up some posts but others. I actually didn't know that. I will ask around and try to figure that out. We don't have contracts as writers here, so it's nothing to do with that, as far as I know. Probably more to do with the fact that art writing is just less popular. But -- an interesting question would be, how would my Slogging change if I thought of myself as writing for both Portland and Seattle? That hasn't been in my brain, but maybe it would add a dimension. In some ways, I'm not poised to be a regional critic -- just don't spend enough time on the road, and there's no budget for that. But...it definitely gives me something to think about.
It's bizarre that the Merc picks up some posts but others. I actually didn't know that. I will ask around and try to figure that out. We don't have contracts as writers here, so it's nothing to do with that, as far as I know. Probably more to do with the fact that art writing is just less popular. But -- an interesting question would be, how would my Slogging change if I thought of myself as writing for both Portland and Seattle? That hasn't been in my brain, but maybe it would add a dimension. In some ways, I'm not poised to be a regional critic -- just don't spend enough time on the road, and there's no budget for that. But...it definitely gives me something to think about.
22
To me, what's interesting about this Biennial is how short the artist list is: 51, down from over 100 some years. And many of the artists on the list are performers or filmmakers, who will share a single large space hosting their performances and screenings. This means that the few artists presenting work in the museum will have a lot more space. Bad for artists in general--fewer made the cut--but great for viewers who want to get a sense of any particular artist's work from the show.
Including Vincent Gallo in any show other than one titled "Raging Narcissists in Film, 1985 to present," however, is inexplicable.
Including Vincent Gallo in any show other than one titled "Raging Narcissists in Film, 1985 to present," however, is inexplicable.
23
Artists do not represent geographic areas like politicians. If you want better representation for artists from your corner of the world then make some noise for them you idiot. Regardless of whether there are great artists working here the scene itself is anemic. Anyone who has traveled around just a little could see this. Whiner.
27
One of my favorite artists in the world is performing and making wildly free, intimate, personal sounds and other creations out of rural Maine. Another such visual artist is deep in the hills of western North Carolina. Talk about regions ignored by the likes of the Whitney.. And selfishly I hope these particular artists never become discovered by the Whitney and its ilk (they're not exactly "trying" to get there).. because what makes these artists so inspiring to me personally, is how very free their work is, how they're able to create exactly what they want... with their own "symbols and magic".... how could the Whitney not, to some extent, replace such worlds with its own mark and context?
I'm asking what the WhiBi is a measure of, why it matters to so many of us as artists.. and I feel it's certainly no measure of the intention behind an artist's work.
I'd also suppose that the recognition of Seattle art beyond Seattle might be proportionate to the Seattle community's effort to engage outside itself.. This is mere personal impression, but I've been really aware of my status as an outsider in Seattle's artworld- in a way that I haven't been in other cities where I've worked/lived. That's not to say there aren't some good conversations here that I'd love to have. I respect your list in comment #7.
I'm asking what the WhiBi is a measure of, why it matters to so many of us as artists.. and I feel it's certainly no measure of the intention behind an artist's work.
I'd also suppose that the recognition of Seattle art beyond Seattle might be proportionate to the Seattle community's effort to engage outside itself.. This is mere personal impression, but I've been really aware of my status as an outsider in Seattle's artworld- in a way that I haven't been in other cities where I've worked/lived. That's not to say there aren't some good conversations here that I'd love to have. I respect your list in comment #7.
28
Eric F, Vincent Gallo work is not self glorifying. His film characters are not winners or heroic. He simply does most tasks required to make a film himself. You're confusing a self made, independent, extremely hard working and self sufficient man with a narcissist. He should not rub you the wrong way unless you are suffering your own complexes.
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