The 2017 Whitney Biennial and the 2017 Venice Biennale: A Comparison
The 2017 Whitney Biennial is one of the most recognized events in the world as several artists tend to display their work in which people from different parts of the world tend to view. The shows are different from other arts presented in the museum since the main aim of the event is to enlighten the society about various challenges that the world is facing. As such, the work of the artist tends to portray such information through those painting. For several years, many people have criticized such types of painting as they argue they tend to portray the society negatively. However, it is important for people to be aware of such social challenges even if it focuses on specific people. The 2017 Whitney Biennial is established to be much bigger compared to the previous Biennial. It covered two floors plus the entrance of the museum was structure with different types of lighting that would attract the attention of the audience.
The Theme of Politics
The theme of the artist works in the 2017 Whitney Biennials was politics. This means that most of the works presented in the museum showcase some of the ways in which the politicians misuses their positions instead of helping the community that elected them. The 2017 Venice Biennale is another major international show of Contemporary Art. The show attracted artists from 85 different countries who showcase their talent. As such, many people around the country attended that event making it one of the memorable events in the history. This paper will compare and contrast the two shows, the 2017 Whitney Biennial and the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Similarities Between the Shows
One of the similarities between the two shows is the fact that the types of arts work presented were very different from the once found in the museums around the country. For example, Carrie Moyer, Glimmer Glass is one of the most unique pieces of arts that were presented in the 2017 Whitney Biennial (HOFFMANN, 2017). The artist was from Italy who wanted the audience to learn about the cultural identity of the people from a certain small group. The art is about a structure of a person which is formulated by different types of painting. The way the artist combined those colors makes it more attracted and also presents the skills that were used in that work. The same applies to 2017 Venice Biennale in which the artist from different parts of the world used art works that showcased their cultures. Another similarity is the structure of the museum as it was decorated in an unusual way due to the large number of people who were likely to visit that place. To protect the work of the artist, large rooms were selected in which the art work was displayed in strategic places. Unlike other museums, the art were displayed at the top of the walls in which the audience could not be able to tamper with them. Also, the art were covered in a certain manner for the purpose of protecting them. Since many people attended, two large floors were selected to be used for that purpose. Another similarity between the two shows was the number of audience who attended. It is estimated that over 1000 people from different parts of the world attended that two events. This is one of the largest numbers for a showcase in the museum. The walls of both events were painted in white which helped in reflecting lights into those arts. As such, the rooms were bright in color making it to be more presentable.
Differences Between the Shows
In terms of differences, the 2017 Venice Biennale was different from the other show based on the fact that it displays arts from 85 different countries. There was a lot of culture that were showcased in that art as most of the artist wanted the audience to grasp something about their cultures. On the other hand, the 2017 Whitney Biennial majorly focused on the arts from within the country. In that case, the arts focused on the several issues that the people from the United States were expecting (MCQUILTEN, 2017). For example, Tala Madani, Shitty Disco, was one of the arts works that showcased how young children are focusing on contemporary things that do not benefit them in any way. The artist was from the state of Chicago in which children are facing various social challenges due to technological innovation. Most of the children are more likely to attend parties in which they will engage themselves in different types of harmful activities. With such type of art, it helps parents to be enlightened on the way they should protect their children from such trends.
Another major difference between the two shows was the theme. The main theme of the 2017 Whitney Biennial was politics. This means that most of the arts that were presented in the show focused on how politicians have misused their powers instead of benefiting the people. In that case, the arts display various ways in which the political arena including the movement has failed. For example, Kerry James Marshall's painting was about the police beating up a person who seemed to be innocent. The construction does not allow the police to use excessive force to anyone unless the person is harmed. With such information, it shows that the people who are in authority are using it for the wrong reasons. Another type of painting by Cauleen Smith was about the way the society lacks proper development due to poor management of resources. For the painting, the audience could relate to the way the society is decorating due to the lack of good leadership. Also, with such information, it is certain that parents are also failing in their aspects of taking care of their children (Wendl, 2017). On the other hand, the 2017 Venice Biennale focused more on the culture of the artist. The shows displayed paintings from almost 85 countries in which 87% of the painting was about the cultural activities of the painters. As such, the audience could learn several issues about the culture of the people from the 85 countries. For example, Greek blacksmith presented the activities of the people in terms of sports. The art was very large that it was put in one of the largest rooms on that floor (Wendl, 2017).
Matthew Carasella is one of the paintings in the 2017 Venice Biennale that was about the culture of people from Africa. The artist was from Colorado in the U.S. The painting showcased the way most of the African tend to prepare their meal. It is very different as the painting had different types of cooking methods that some of the people from the western world have never seen. Also, the painting displayed some of the colors that most of the African could relate. The painting was different from Mark Bradford: Tomorrow Is another Day, which was a painting of the skin of an animal. The painting was designed in such a way that it had different types of colors. The way the colors were matching makes it very different from the others ones (Wendl, 2017). The audience is another major difference between the two shows. As much as many people attended the two shows, it is reported that 2017 Venice Biennale had more people due to the types of paintings that it displayed. Based on the reports, 2017 Venice Biennale was more likely to attract more people because it had paintings from 85 different countries. This means that people around the world would attend compared to the 2017 Whitney Biennial, in which most of the audience was from within the country (Wendl, 2017).
Conclusion
In general, 2017 Venice Biennale was a much better show than the 2017 Whitney Biennial due to its diversity. By portraying the arts from different countries, the audience can learn more about those displays. Also, the decoration of the show was different as it included other types of decors from different parts of the world. The 2017 Whitney Biennial was believed to focus more on the issues that affected the people from the U.S., while the 2017 Venice Biennale was more educative in nature as it presented generalinformal from different cultures around the world.
In conclusion, both the 2017 Whitney Biennial and the 2017 Venice Biennale were one of the major events in the country. It is certain that such types of shows tend to promote the work of the artist in which it influences other young people to use their talents to earn a living. With such shows, people from different parts of the world could learn from the artist on how to improve on their talents. Also, the artist utilizes such platforms to market their product, which is very important for their business.
References
Hoffmann, J. (2017). Show Time: The Most Influential Exhibitions of Contemporary Art. Thames & Hudson.
McQuilten, G. (2017). Art in consumer culture: mis-design. Routledge.
Wendl, N. (2017). Introduction. In Contemporary Art About Architecture (pp. 23-56). Routledge.
