cover image WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2004

WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2004

Chrissie Iles, . . Abrams/Whitney Museum of American Art, $50 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-87427-139-3

This two-part catalogue accompanying the Whitney Museum of American Art's showcase of new American art exudes energy. The first of these two volumes consists of an 11¾"×11¾" book that includes essays by two of the biennial's three curators (and an introduction by all three), as well as terrific commissioned essays on recent aesthetics by the likes of Wayne Koestenbaum ("Fag Limbo") and Artforum International 's Tim Griffin, juxtaposed with previously published works by writers and artists, illuminating the biennial's emergent themes of nostalgia, the American Gothic, pop sensory overload, gender identities and politics in (and as) art. The 108 artists get short bios with one illustration each; it's disappointing to be confronted with small reproductions and with artworks that are not necessarily included in the show. The second volume, however, consists of a box filled with limited-edition commissioned works (some credited, most uncredited) by each artist, who were asked to work in one of several formats: the bumper stickers, postcards, filmstrips or mini-magazines are flip yet irresistible, giving the sense that the '60s and '70s' legacy—questions of how to diversify who is making art and what art is made of—are yielding new and lasting results. (June)