Last week, curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari announced, via video (above), the 55 artists that will be included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial.
Among the distinguished roster of names are a number of CalArtians–including alumni James Casebere (Art MFA 79), Josephine Meckseper (Art MFA 92), Kelly Nipper (Art MFA 95) and Lesley Vance (Art MFA 03), Erika Vogt (Film/Video MFA 03) and faculty members Michael Asher and Martin Kersels.
The exhibit will be smaller than recent Biennials (down from 81 artists in 2008), reflecting on the world at large–and these largely recessionary times. But the art still remains center focus.
From a New York Times article:
One of the Biennial’s pleasures is discovering emerging artists, and this time there will be plenty of them, including Aurel Schmidt, a draftswoman; Jesse Aron Green, a video artist; and Leslie (sic) Vance, a painter. In the lobby gallery Martin Kersels, from Los Angeles, is creating a sculptural installation that resembles oversized furniture but that will also function as a stage for programs involving artists, writers, musicians, choreographers and D.J.’s.
In a change from past years, the curators have limited each artist to one work or series, so that the Biennial will feel more like a snapshot of the state of art rather than a succession of mini-retrospectives.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened in 1931 to the public, and the first Whitney Biennial was introduced in 1932. Since then, the Biennial has evolved into the Whitney’s signature exhibition as well as one of the most important surveys of the state of contemporary art in the United States.
The 2010 Biennial will be on view from Feb. 25-May 30.