Whitney

Now at the Whitney

Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar thru June 24, 2007
For this project, artist Taryn Simon (b. 1975) assumes the dual role of shrewd informant and collector of curiosities, compiling an inventory of what lies hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines a culture through careful documentation of diverse subjects from across the realms of science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion.


Lorna Simpson thru May 6, 2007
One of the leading artists of her generation, Lorna Simpson is well known for her photographic and film works, which often examine racial and gender identity. In works such as Call Waiting (1997), she depicts people of color engaging in intimate yet incomplete conversations that elude easy interpretation but seem to plumb the mysteries of identity and desire. Organized by the American Federation of Arts, this comprehensive first mid-career survey will feature her image and text works, serigraphs on felt, film installations, and a selection of recent work.


Gordon Matta-Clark thru June 3, 2007

During the brief but highly productive ten years that he worked as an artist, and even more so since his death, Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) has exerted a powerful influence on artists and architects who know his work. This retrospective brings together the breadth of his practice to reveal the unique beauty and radical nature of his punnings, plans, performances, and interventions evident in the many media in which he worked: the sculptural objects (most notably from building cuts), drawings, films, photographs, notebooks, and documentary material.

Click here to listen to a podcast about Gordon Matta-Clark and his work.


Terence Koh thru May 27, 2007
For his first solo museum show in the United States, Terence Koh is creating a new installation for the Whitney's Lobby Gallery. In Koh's immersive, typically monochromatic environments -- in which minimalist and baroque aspects of his sensibility vie for dominance -- a seemingly unknown ritual is about to take place, where a sense of loss simultaneously suggests regeneration. From drifting powder silencing rooms, and constellations of cryptically linked objects that move from literally disjunctive realms (upstairs/downstairs, inside/outside, dark/light) as well as more conceptual ones, to pristine, perfectly crafted containers that become coffins for shattered glass and mirror, the glitter of black beads, burnt objects, residing within -- Koh's gestures evoke isolation and secrecy, but also protection and ecstasy.