The Pittsburgh Biennial has ventured out from the Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Pittsburgh Center of the Arts since 1994 to the Carnegie Museum of Art. The Pittsburgh Biennial 2011 features Pittsburghian artists; Peggy Ahwesh, Stephanie Beroes, Brandon Boan, Lenka Clayton, Ed Eberle, Fabrizio Gerbino, Jamie Gruzska, Zak Prekop, and Frank Sontoro. This group of artist had a wide range of mediums, consisting of photography, film, painting, drawing, sculpture, and comics.
At a quick first glance the Pittsburgh Biennial is very subtle and monochromatic mirroring the pittsburgh weather. However there is a different energy in all the pieces that demand attention and focus, making one feel the need to stop and take their time with the artwork.
Dan Byers, the curator of the Pittsburgh Biennial, decided on these artists with a more personal touch to them. Being in the Pittsburgh art world, he had a sense of which artists he had a sense of which artists to choose to represent Pittsburgh. However from the few artists he had chosen, he picked a couple more by talking to this his colleagues and in a more personal level. He got to choose artists that really were really active art community in Pittsburgh, staying true to the Pittsburgh Biennial theme.
Dan Byers did an interesting job with the layout of this exhibition. He greets the viewers from both entrances with a buzz of the video. Each entrance room has the feeling of an installation as there is a maze-like quality where one must move around the room to see all of the artworks. And as the viewer slowly finishes the maze they walk across the hall divided into five rooms. The viewer slowly transitions from paintings and sculptures in to the room in the middle. While the other rooms have a harmonious vibe the middle room has a clash of concept versus publication. Then the next room is filled with additional harmonious paintings and then greeted by more buzzing of video art.
From the artists point of view, how did they feel about the layout? Jamie Gruzska says that he had handed Dan Byers a stack of his photos and Byers weeded out half of them and then proceeded to put them up in what Byers felt was a nice layout while Gruzska watched. When asked if he was okay with this, he said yes and that he was thankful for Byers to put his own thought in to it. There was a trust between the artist and the curator. And through Byers decisions the viewers are able to go through this exhibition feeling like there is a theme although when individually closely examined there really is no main theme other than Pittsburgh that ties them together.
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