Greater New York

You are young. You are making new art. You are drunk with energy. You are probably an emerging artist in New York City.

"Greater New York," the current survey of emerging New York artists at P.S. 1, both praises and questions the status of new work being made in our nation's art capital. Unfortunately, the dizzying showcase is more invested in shock and revulsion than it is in showcasing some of the beautiful and challenging works being made by young New York artists today.

Despite Brooklyn's status as a world capital in the return of craftsmanship, and the returning popularity of contemporary art being made in the realms of drawing and painting, "Greater New York" focuses single-mindedly on black humor, pretension, and a disregard for execution.

All four levels of the former schoolhouse in Long Island City, Queens, are full of artists who are clearly products of the newly-matriculated millennial generation. Their self-esteem is through the roof: how else could you explain an entire room full of brightly-colored masking tape or a wall covered in painted sticks?

Of the 68 artists featured in this survey, a few are monumental disappointments and a few are quiet, intelligent surprises-- the rest are largely forgettable. Of the works which made the proceedings seem like a mockery, a few stand out. There is Sharon Haye's room full of projections of gay-rights rallies. Of course gender and sexual rights are a necessary theme in contemporary art, but by representing New York art now, P.S. 1 should be showcasing something we have not seen and which must be brought to our attention. The fact of the matter is that the relatively simple task of showing gay rights rallies is not art-- it's a current event. In 2010, it is not so different from screening a video of a Critical Mass bike ride or an urban farmer's market. There's also Elisabeth Subrin's silent 16mm "elegy" for lost Italian Williamsburg, Brooklyn. To the untrained eye, it's just a quiet video of storefronts with old-fashioned signs in the windows. But, as someone who used to live in the neighborhood-- well, she just walked a camera down Graham Avenue. Without context, the film is meaningless. And from the incredible number of visitors to P.S. 1 who haven't lived off Graham Avenue, what can be garnered from a silent video of coffee shops and bus stops?

There were a few artists who stood out, however, as being more indicative of the praiseworthy trends emerging in young New York art now. Leidy Churchman is one of very few painters in the show (a negligent oversight on the part of curator Klaus Biesenbach). Fortunately, Churchman's sweetly and forgiveably perverted paintings are a refreshing collection. As one of two figurative painters in the exhibition, he holds up his end of the bargain in acting as a representative for much of the work which was alarmingly left out. Hank Willis Thomas' "Unbranded" is also smart, succinct, and effective. Thomas collected advertisements from black interest magazines like Jet, Essence, and Ebony, starting from 1968 to today. For each of the years (beginning in '68, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated), Thomas features two advertisements from that year. These images have been wiped clean of any brand images or text, leaving behind only the pure image which was used to sell an idea or emotion to an entire segment of the population. Like Ellen Gallagher, Thomas is able to tell an incredible story by forcibly removing black culture from its original context and wisely re-framing it.

Overall, "Greater New York" is prone to leaving art-lovers worse for wear. As someone who lives in this city and loves the arts in this city, it is dismaying to see so many incredible aspects of art-making today be forgotten. These works largely pay little or no regard to the specific times we are living in and the constraints of the economy, the war, and the increasing loss of individualism. Those works which I see elsewhere which do so eloquently and beautifully celebrate our times with honesty and bravery have, unfortunately, not made the cut.

'Greater New York 2010'
P.S.1
22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
718-784-2084
Through October 18