After several five-minute bursts of thinking, I have my picks for the Bucksbaum Award. Since I am (clearly) not a juror, these choices are of absolutely no consequence, which is why I am sharing them with y'all. These do not necessarily reflect my favorite artists in the Biennial - that award goes unequivocally to Zoe Strauss - but rather a completely arbitrary mix of whose work I like in and out of the show, who I think might have a chance of winning, who I think will be a fancy famous artist someday, and, most importantly, who I think could have a decent exhibition in the sort-of-crappy lobby gallery at the Whitney.
They are, in no order:
Mark Bradford
Otabenga Jones & Associates
Cameron Jamie
I hate to admit it, but they are all dudes! In fact, Otabenga is actually FOUR dudes.
Runners up included Trisha Donnelly (whose work until yesterday I wasn't even sure that I liked), Anthony Burdin (who I think is amazing but doubt will win), Marilyn Minter (like they're going to give to someone who actually paints nice pictures), Paul Chan, Ann Collier, Jutta Koether, Dorothy Iannone, and Billy Sullivan (he actually was not a runner up but I added him to the list just now because I actually stood through the whole slideshow yeaterday when I was giving a "tour" to Chris-n-Chris and it was just super, high-quality solid super, not trendy or achingly innovative or anything, but great juxtapositions of goregeous photos accompanied by reasonable music and the satisfying click of slide projectors. I was close to tears several times and I barely even recognized any celebrities [that's probably why I liked it so much, I just thought they were regular people])
I sort of have my heart set on Otabenga, maybe a little bit because of diversity but probably just because I think they ROCK and would like to see what they would make for a new show, and if it would involve any Nichiha. I don't think Mark will win because he already had a show at Altria and Cameron loves in Paris (loves was a typo but I'm keeping it) so I think they'll avoid all the post-America bullshit if they don't pick him.
If someone else wins, I am positive that I left them off the list accidentally because I am tired and stressed out 'cause my day just had surgery (he's okay, I hear, don't worry).
