2006 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art 11/24

Feeling a little like I had visited the Oprah set with the big “O” sticker used for admission, I took on the California Biennial that is now, a few weeks later, at the end of its run. It is always a big trek to head down to Orange County and I generally do so with a great amount of trepidation, knowing that if the show that I have gone to see is unsuccessful, then I feel as if I have wasted my day. The Biennial made for a satisfying day out. Packed wall to wall and in the lobby area as well, the work within the show seem to put forth a level of inquiry, formal structure and positivity. It was as if OCMA had taken all the best gallery shows of a year and crammed them into a museum setting.
I do not know what qualifies (or disqualifies) one for this particular show, but there were definitely no artists over the age of 40. Perhaps this is in part what caused the enthusiasm that seemed to be the undercurrent for the work, the energy manifest in the layers and intricate detail in painting and sculpture and the performance in the new media work. Or perhaps that is just the current thing for visual media. Either way, I walked away feeling good about art.
Of particular note out of the large list of artists were Christopher Ballantyne’s paintings of virtually uninhabited landscapes that border on a film set anticipating action to come. These scenes are painted upon wood panels that are never disguised. The wood grain always seeps through and brings back the materiality of the surface. On the video front Marie Jager’s oblique narrative of a societal disaster made with cutouts created a must watch Lynchian quality not often seen in the gallery setting and Goody-B Wiseman’s reflections on the implied fictions of 70’s album covers was such a guilty pleasure I stayed and watched the entirety of all 3 parts within the series.
These artists are just a small sampling of the work on the display, and many other names could be mentioned just as easily. I look forward to trying to track these artists as they progress further in their careers and see if the maintain the quality and enthusiasm displayed at OCMA.