VISITING MUSEUMS: MET & WHITNEY BIENNIAL

If some of you follow my Twitter (@ArtOtter) then you know that I recently went to New York to visit the Met and the Whitney Biennial. There is a ton of stuff going on that you don't want to miss out on so let's start with the Met. 

If you've ever been to the Met then you know of the amazing collection they have there. Vast as that collection is they have some special shows going on currently that push it further. Historic Photographs (salt prints, daguerreotypes, albumen prints) are currently on view as apart of their Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris exhibition. Now as long as I've been studying Photography I've still never seen a daguerreotype in person. They have 2 on show and they are fascinating and amazing. A picture really doesn't do it justice until you are standing in front of it and just in awe of the beautiful silver reflections. Now that exhibition is only up until May 4th so hurry over. It's quite a beautiful collection.

Charles Marville, Rue de Constantine, 1865, Albumen silver print from glass negative

Another quite special thing going on at the Met is their William Kentridge installation, The Refusal of Time. This piece has moving sculptures and 5 channel video projection. As you get closer to this piece you can only hear it. Then once you get into the space, it's really quite amazing how you're fully embedded into the piece itself. At first it can be uneasy but once you start to look at everything you will realize how beautiful and mesmerizing it is. That's all I'll say about this piece because you really just have to see it in person.
Other exhibitions worth checking out at the Met are: The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (AMAZING artist who can portray torment and realism through his flawless sculptures, paintings, and drawings) and many more

Now moving on to the Whitney Biennial... I've never been to the Whitney before so I absolutely had to see this last biennial before they move. I had heard from previous years that it was mainly focused on performance and just really strange art, so going into it I really didn't know what to expect but to keep my mind open. The pieces that were included in this Whitney, I thought were amazing. I had barely any problems with the works I saw. I actually thoroughly enjoyed majority of it. I felt inspired and I understood what was trying to be portrayed. Some of my friends on the other hand had a completely different experience. They didn't know what was going on, they didn't consider it art, and they were very unhappy with the show. Now I truly don't know what show they saw but I saw something completely different. With that I'll explain which pieces I really loved.

Karl Haendel. wow. I am hugely in awe of Robert Longo's work as a whole and now seeing Haendel's work I am a huge fan of his as well. An entire wall dedicated to a truly talented draughtsman with amazing sense of composition and positive negative space. His drawings go from fully rendered to black void spaces, but yet feel complete. I could go on and on about him but I'll save that for another post. 

Karl Haendel, Theme Time - Presidents Day, 2013, pencil on paper 69"x52"

Keith Mayerson's large salon style collection of paintings included images from a guy jerking off to a family portrait. The range of styles and images was really awesome and it was almost overwhelming with the amount of paintings that covered the small room. It really takes a long time to get through the room. 
Paul P.'s Untitled small ink drawings were really ghostly and beautiful. The small collection was all you needed because of the detail and control in which he used. More of a classical style but definitely delicate and gorgeous. 

Paul P., Untitled, ink on paper, 2013, 11 3/4" x 8 1/2"

There also were a few interesting installation pieces. One being by Valerie Snobeck and Catherine Sullivan and the other being by Bjarne Melgaard. Snobeck and Sullivan's piece was very inventive and beautiful, including ghostly blueprint images and suitcases. On the other hand, Melgaard's included pillows the shapes of penises, and violent scenes being projected on the walls of a gaudy and sexual themed plush room. I've got to say, I can see where some people will obviously be upset about Bjarne Melgaard's piece but when I was in the room there was an older couple and they were not upset or running out of the room. It spoke a lot of animal instincts and tension along with the need to hold back and show restraint. I actually felt that the message was good and as if this is what could happen if people didn't restrain themselves and how dystopic that would actually be.
There are so many other artists that are worth discussing but I don't have the time/space to keep writing about the Biennial. I will continue on about some other pieces though during the rest of this week, so stay updated!

Citations:
Charles Marville: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville
William Kentridge: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/william-kentridge
Met Exhibitions: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions
Karl Haendel: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2014Biennial/KarlHaendel
Paul P.: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2014Biennial/PaulP
Bjarne Melgaard: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2014Biennial/BjarneMelgaard