Whitney Biennial 2012

We are lucky that there are places like the Whitney collecting and displaying art that is thought provoking, conversational and conversational.  The Biennial is about artists.  Artists who are using their imagination to create works that represent something that have come from within them. 

Did I enjoy the Biennial?  Not really.  Do I get it?  Sure.  The show was curated to be not contemporary or modern but a statement of work that represents all the different mediums from video to collage to sculpture to performances etc that are not for the every day consumer of art. 

Personally art speaks to me aesthetically which is why I enjoy collecting.  I live among the works and I appreciate what each artist has created.  Many times, if I am lucky, I get to meet the artist and have even a stronger connection to the body of work that they have created.

After the Armory Show last week, we went to see the Hort Collection.  A private family collection that has been assembled of emerging artists for over the past twenty years.  Many of the pieces in their home were not something that I could necessarily live with like the Whitney show.  What I loved is that they opened their home to the world.  It was like walking through a museum which my guess is something that they have thought about opening one day. 

It is people like the Horts and the many boards of the Whitney who have collected art that might not be beautiful, per se, but work that forces everyone who sees it to think, ponder and wonder.  That is exatcly what Biennial is about.  Didn't visually enjoy it but am very glad I went.