Carnegie International 1999/2000

while in pittsburgh, i went to the Carnegie to see the International. I always credit their biennial exhibition as being the impetus for my major in art history, but it's probably more my senior year art history class as a whole. The International that year was pretty amazing, though, and has definitely had a huge influence on my tastes and opinions. Look at these participants:

Franz Ackermann Germany (b. 1963)
Matthew Barney USA (b. 1967) - didn't see Cremaster (sometimes I feel like my life has revolved around not seeing it) but was aware of it - probably a more enjoyable state.
Janet Cardiff Canada (b. 1957) - very cool installation piece. I feel like I actually did it, but maybe I'm making that up.
John Currin USA (b. 1962) - his pieces blew me away. so surreal, creepy, and fascinating. extremely sexy.

Hanne Darboven Germany (b. 1941)
Thomas Demand Germany (b. 1964) - dark and impressive. loved him.
Mark Dion USA (b. 1961)
Willie Doherty Northern Ireland (b. 1959)
Olafur Eliasson Germany (b. 1967, Denmark)
Kendell Geers South Africa (b. 1968) - actually didn't like this one. i haven't seen an artist yet who could properly use the Carnegie's staircase... this year was no exception.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres USA (b. 1957-1996, Cuba) - ehh.
Ann Hamilton USA (b. 1956) - i like her a lot, looking at her picture makes me want to be her friend. this wall impressed me with its technical aspects.
José Antonio Hernández-Diez Venezuela (b. 1964)
Pierre Huyghe France (b. 1962)
Alex Katz USA (b. 1927) - i love Katz's flatness, and i love his works whenever i see them BUT i'm getting over being impressed with his talent. that wasn't the case when i saw them in 99, i'm sure i fell for it immediately..
William Kentridge South Africa (b. 1955) - this piece is at the International Center of Photography now. i skipped it this time (it's pretty heavy and once was enough), but definitely an extremely talented artist. i remember really being wowed by the amount of work that went into it.
Bodys Isek Kingelez Democratic Republic of Congo (b. 1948) - neat, sort of psychedelic, would have been more interesting had i smoked weed back then.
Suchan Kinoshita Netherlands (b. 1960, Japan)
Martin Kippenberger Germany (b. 1953-1997) - i can't believe i don't remember this, because it looks awesome. the plastic chairs look familiar but i think not being allowed to participate with the work inhibits the response.

Kerry James Marshall USA (b. 1955)
Takashi Murakami Japan (b. 1962) - he was about to become a(n almost) household name with his Louis Vuitton purses, and I had read a lot on him around then, but as a hater of anime, his models both irritated and perturbed me.
Shirin Neshat USA (b. 1957, Iran) - blah blah woman walking. the Carnegie loves using that room for that purpose.. but it still gets boring.
Ernesto Neto Brazil (b. 1964) - mmm... so much better than anything else i've seen with nylon (see Sarah Lucas and that shit this year at the International).
Chris Ofili England (b. 1968) - this was seriously exciting, as Sensation happened that year. i remember being shocked at how beautiful his pieces were and that's why i hate Rudy Guiliani. It's so great to have seen Ofili get the recognition he so rightfully deserves, i.e. he's in the MOMA.

Gabriel Orozco USA (b. 1962, Mexico) - barf. i can't stand ping pond table... well, it was fun to play, but i don't like it anyway. it's a very popular piece, unfortunately, so i've seen it in articles about a hundred times.
Markéta Othová Czech Republic (b. 1968)
Laura Owens USA (b. 1970) - lovely lovely stuff. her depth and youth make an interesting contrast with Katz.

Edward Ruscha USA (b. 1937) - blech. i'm 50/50 with Ruscha. this stuff was attractive but i could have done without the text - and so could the paintings. i JUST saw a piece in ArtNEWS yesterday and the difference of text on realism as opposed to plain old figurative work was tremendous. so no to CI99/00, but I won't write off Ruscha yet, esp. since he was picked to represent the good old usa at the Venice Biennial. i'm going to withhold my extremely important judgement till i see the latest.
Gregor Schneider Germany (b. 1969)
Ann-Sofi Sidén Sweden (b. 1962)
Roman Signer Switzerland (b. 1938)
Sarah Sze USA (b. 1969) - delicate pieces that everyone should adore.
Sam Taylor-Wood England (b. 1967) - god, she's so cool and her work is so good and i want to have her life. please. seriously, i think the works in the CI that year justified the White Cube hype.

Nahum Tevet Israel (b. 1946) - looks awesome, don't remember him.
Diana Thater USA (b. 1962)
Luc Tuymans Belgium (b. 1958) - no.
Kara Walker USA (b. 1969) - i remember her a lot of attention being paid to her works. the display of them was very well-done, they circled the upper level of the open space. i spent a lot of time trying to make up stories about the figures - i don't know if she has done this or not, but a picture book of her shadow figures would make my day.
Jeff Wall Canada (b. 1946)
Jane and Louise Wilson England (b. 1967)
Chen Zhen France (b. 1955, China)

[[this killed me, i honestly let out a groan of pain. Dave Hickey, MacArthur fellow and author of Air Guitar, one of my all-time favorite books, gave a talk at the 2000 International and I missed it]] that's almost as painful than missing the Faint by two hours.

i remember coming out of there with a whole new appreciation for contemporary art. it seemed so new and exciting to me at that point. i had never been so interested in any kind of art to that degree - i felt like i had found what made me tick. i'm not so sure that's still the case, but a flood of nostalgia for the way i felt then has just rushed in.

i began this planning on critiquing the current show. another day.