Last Friday I was able to visit the Whitney Biennial (finally) and Open House: Working in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I won't comment on the Whitney, although I enjoyed it thoroughly, because so many have said so much about the show already: artnet, Jerry Saltz in The Village Voice, and Tyler Green in the WSJ.
Louise Belcourt, Hedge Painting #3, 2003
Oil on canvas
I do, however, want to share my thoughts on the Open House show. (Up through August 15 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway.) Curated by Charlotta Kotik and Tumelo Mosaka, Curators of Brooklyn Museum's Department of Contemporary Art:
This exhibition celebrates the diversity and energy [of Brooklyn artists and galleries], with more than three hundred works--all of them created since the year 2000--by two hundred artists. It brings together traditional art forms and state-of-the-art digital technologies, encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, installations, film, and video. The largest in a series of exhibitions devoted to Brooklyn artists that began at the Museum in 1985, "Open House" presents a generation of artists who shaped the art history of the twentieth century alongside emerging artists of the twenty-first century.
If you have not seen this show, PLEASE GO and see it. Having just come from a very crowded Whitney, I was disappointed to see so few people at this show. Granted, it is Brooklyn and only the die-hards make the trek across the East River, and the Whitney gets all of the hoop-la and press, but I felt that most of the art at Open House was on par with (and, in many cases, better than) the works appearing in the Whitney. My one disappointment with Open House was the installation. Too many works hung too tightly together. By the third room of the show, the art tends to blur and you have to make a conscious effort to spend time standing in front of each work to experience it without the noise of surrounding art.
For new collectors, and all collectors interested in emerging art, this show was packed with gems! Selfishly, I was thrilled to see so many of the artists I have been collecting over the years: Xu Bing, Sebastiaan Bremer, Steven Charles, Dawn Clements, Heidi Cody, Christoph Draeger, Leonardo Drew, Luis Gispert, Anthony Goicolea, Rachel Harrison, James Hyde, Robert Lazzarini, Vik Muniz, Roxy Paine, Danica Phelps, Jean Shin, and Danielle Tegeder.
More exciting for me, though, is that I came away with a list of artists to look into collecting now: Louise Belcourt (pictured above), James Esber, Jane Fine, Linda Ganjian, Colin Hunt (no link found), Karl Jensen (no link found), Lynn Koble, Carey Maxon, and Andy Yoder.
Join me in the hunt for great art... go see Open House and make a list of "artists to collect" of your own!
OK, but it's hard to get excited about a show of 2,845 artists. I mean, what can you really hope to see?
Posted by: Tyler Green | May 12, 2004 at 06:05 PM
Yes, yes, yes. I hear you and it was overwhelming! The curators did a disservice to the artists they chose buy throwing them all in and not focusing on a few. Very bad. But I really believe that even if you go and just check out only one room (of the 12 or 15 rooms total), you'll come away having seen some great art. I promise. I thought it was that good.
Posted by: Paige | May 12, 2004 at 07:51 PM
Great art... Of course, according to the standard of the day, better-than-average art goes for $104M....
Posted by: Tyler Green | May 12, 2004 at 11:46 PM
I saw the Open House show and I agree with you: it's well worth seeing!
Posted by: Tim Cone | May 13, 2004 at 12:01 PM
hello, i just wanted to let you know alot of great unknown artists got left out of this show for known artists, some just for that fact alone. Im not angry thats just the way it is. take care. If you are interested in seeking these people out, let me know you definitely will find some kick ass work if you do. thanks,
matt
Posted by: matt | July 23, 2004 at 07:43 AM