This is a giant Thomas Houseago sculpture, 'Baby,' of plaster, hemp and wood. EDIE GROSS/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Art is in the eye of the beholder

Visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial is quite the fresh canvas for art and people watching

Date published: 3/14/2010

BY EDIE GROSS

NEW YORK CITY

I'd wandered into this particular exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art four different times.

Each time, I'd hoped that by entering from a different direction or standing against a different wall, I'd finally unlock the secret artistic message hidden within the room-size installation.

Museum literature assured me that the artist "develops a kaleidoscopic world view out of deeply personal episodes and a hypothetical mapping of the universe" and went on to discuss the artist's recent obsessions with doughnuts and hemorrhoids.

But in the end, what I saw was a random collection of found objects. And I just didn't get it.

Also, my feet hurt. Wearing high heels to the Whitney Biennial's art exhibit had been a tactical error.

I was here on opening night because my best friend since college, Stephanie Sinclair, had been invited to exhibit some of her news photographs at the Biennial, an event that showcases up-and-coming artists every two years.

As a group of us tumbled from the cab at 75th Street and Madison Avenue that evening, I was surprised to see that the line to get in stretched around the block.

"You know this is like the Oscars of the art world," said an artist-friend, who'd actually been to the Whitney before.

I hadn't known that. What I knew was that after tromping around places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia with a camera for most of the last seven years, Stephanie had finally given up her apartment in Beirut and moved to New York City, where I could safely hang out with her.

The Whitney event was simply a good excuse to do that.

REACTION TO PHOTOS INTERESTING TO WATCH

Had I known how many people would be there and just how big the Whitney was, I probably would've ditched the heels.

By the time I managed to wobble around the block and through the front doors of the storied museum, the place was so packed that reaching the elevators was impossible.

So I hoofed it up to the fourth floor, where Stephanie's photographs were posted in an alcove with one of those "parental discretion is advised" warnings.

The Whitney Museum of American Art 2010 Biennial is open until May 30 at the museum, 945 Madison Ave. in New York. It features works by 55 artists. Works from the previous eight decades of Biennials are on display until Nov. 28. For admission information, visit whitney.org on the Web.

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Date published: 3/14/2010