Whitney Biennial 1985
Mar 13–June 9, 1985
The Whitney Biennial 1985 was curated by Richard Armstrong, John G. Hanhardt, Barbara Haskell, Richard Marshall, Lisa Phillips, and Patterson Sims.
View the full exhibition catalogue at the Internet Archive.
Artists
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Jane Aaron
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Gregory Amenoff
4 works in the collection
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Charles Atlas
3 works in the collection
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John Baldessari
40 works in the collection
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Ericka Beckman
6 works in the collection
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Dara Birnbaum
2 works in the collection
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Robert Breer
2 works in the collection
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James Casebere
15 works in the collection
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Sarah Charlesworth
8 works in the collection
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Douglas Davis
5 works in the collection
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John Duff
2 works in the collection
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Carroll Dunham
68 works in the collection
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Eric Fischl
18 works in the collection
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Holly Fisher
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Morgan Fisher
3 works in the collection
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Charles Garabedian
1 work in the collection
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Jedd Garet
1 work in the collection
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Nan Goldin
24 works in the collection
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Jack Goldstein
24 works in the collection
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Larry Gottheim
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Group Material
1 work in the collection
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Doug Hall
1 work in the collection
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Gary Hill
6 works in the collection
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Jenny Holzer
35 works in the collection
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Robert Hudson
1 work in the collection
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Bryan Hunt
9 works in the collection
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Ken Jacobs
1 work in the collection
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Jasper Johns
212 works in the collection
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Joan Jonas
11 works in the collection
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Donald Judd
59 works in the collection
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Mike Kelley
27 works in the collection
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Jon Kessler
4 works in the collection
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Mel Kendrick
8 works in the collection
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Barbara Kruger
6 works in the collection
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Robert Kushner
6 works in the collection
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Sherrie Levine
26 works in the collection
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Kim MacConnel
2 works in the collection
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Frank Majore
5 works in the collection
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Robert Mangold
14 works in the collection
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Sandy Moore
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Elizabeth Murray
49 works in the collection
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Bruce Nauman
51 works in the collection
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John Newman
8 works in the collection
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Tom Otterness
28 works in the collection
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Ed Paschke
3 works in the collection
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Richard Prince
57 works in the collection
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Susan Rothenberg
16 works in the collection
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David Salle
23 works in the collection
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Kenny Scharf
2 works in the collection
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Cindy Sherman
25 works in the collection
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Laurie Simmons
39 works in the collection
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Ned Smyth
2 works in the collection
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Warren Sonbert
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James Surls
2 works in the collection
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Robert Therrien
6 works in the collection
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Woody Vasulka
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Bill Viola
1 work in the collection
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Terry Winters
92 works in the collection
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Joel-Peter Witkin
1 work in the collection
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David Wojnarowicz
48 works in the collection
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Robert Yarber
1 work in the collection
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Doug Anderson
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Juan Downey
1 work in the collection
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Robert Ashley
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Lyn Blumenthal
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Lizzie Borden
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Ed Emshwiller
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Jill Giegerich
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Rodney Alan Greenblat
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Perry Hoberman
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Pooh Kaye
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Ken Kobland
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Sheila McLaughlin
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Liz Phillips
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Dan Reeves
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Peter Rose
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Elisabeth Ross
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Lynne Tillman
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TODT
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Bruce Yonemoto and Norman Yonemoto
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Jo Anne Carson
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Peter Hutton
1 work in the collection
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Ken Feingold
1 work in the collection
Installation Photography

Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: David Salle, B.A.M.F.V. (1983); Jedd Garet, Two (1984); Kenny Scharf, When Worlds Collide (1984); center: Tom Otterness, The Old World (1985); Jedd Garet, To Rule the World (1985); David Wojnarowicz, Science Lesson (1982–83). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Bryan Hunt, Stillscape II (1984); Bryan Hunt, Stillscape I (1984); Robert Mangold, Four Color Frame Painting #9 (1984); Robert Mangold, Four Color Frame Painting #8 (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Eric Fischl, Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man (1984); Eric Fischl, Power of Rock & Roll (1984); Joel Witkin, Harvest, Philadelphia (1984); Joel Witkin, Portrait of Nan, New Mexico (1984); Joel Witkin, Boy with Four Arms (1984); Joel Witkin, The Result of War: Cornucopian Dog, New Mexico (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Laurie Simmons, Coral Living Room (1983–84); Laurie Simmons, Tourism: Barcelona-Gaudi (1984); Laurie Simmons, Tourism: Eiffel Tower (1984); Sherrie Levine, After El Lissitsky (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Charles Garabedian, Ulysses (1984); Charles Garabedian, Five Figures in a Landscape (1983); Susan Rothenberg, Green Ray (1984); Susan Rothenberg, Mondrian Dancing (1984–85). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Jed Garett, To Rule the World (1985); Jenny Holzer, Unex Sign #1: Selections from Survival Series (1983); Tom Otterness, The Old World (1984); Robert Kushner, Two Roberts and Violet (1983). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: John Baldessari, Various Shadows (1984); John Baldessari, Black and White Decisions (1984); Joel Witkin, Boy with Four Arms (1984); Joel Witkin, The Result of War: Cornucopian Dog, New Mexico (1984); Sarah Charlesworth, Red Mask (1983); Sarah Charlesworth, Figures (1984); Bruce Nauman, Human Nature/Life Death/Knows/ Doesn’t Know (1983). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Jack Goldstein, Untitled #87 (1983); Barbara Kruger, Untitled (1985); Barbara Kruger, Untitled (1985); Barbara Kruger, Untitled (1985); Barbara Kruger, Untitled (1985); Barbara Kruger, Untitled (1985); Jedd Garet, Two (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Ed Pasche, Donadio (1984); Ed Pasche, Marquesa (1984); Cindy Sherman, Untitled (1984); Cindy Sherman, Untitled (1984); Jack Goldstein, Untitled (1984); Dara Birnbaum, Damnation of Faust (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: Mike Kelley, Infinite Expansion (1983); Mike Kelley, Abe’s Log Cabin and His Most Alluring Feature (1984); Doug Anderson, I Conquered Weakness by Giving In to It (1984); Doug Anderson, Be Brave (1984). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements


Installation view of the 1985 Biennial Exhibition (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 13–June 9, 1985). From left to right: John Newman, Nomen est Numen: Naming is Knowing (1984); John Newman, Slow Commotion (1984); Carroll Dunham, Inset (1984); Carroll Dunham, Fourth Pine (1982–83). Photograph by Geoffrey Clements

In the News
“. . . the show has been very well installed. The good things (and some of them are very good indeed) take their place in a major museum by right. No imaginable visitor could like everything that is on view, but then this is not that kind of show. It is a representative show, not a quality show, though attempts have been made to get the best available examples of whatever has been chosen.” —The New York Times
“For most of the artists in this exhibition, especially the painters, there seems to have been a need to handle their chosen medium with a high degree of irony, as though they could not quite believe in it.” —The Burlington Magazine
“The Biennial’s commitment to the new is reflected in its increasing attention to the experimental art forms of independent film and video.” —The New York Times
“Wowingly Manhattanesque—fashionable, fast and sometimes naughty-naughty—it is just the right exhibit for the out-of-town customer. Its flashy art may not survive two years out there in the market. See it while you can.” —The Washington Post
“The exhibition brings together paintings and drawings by seven, very different artists who are not out to paint what they see but rather to accommodate the American tradition of landscape painting to the demands of the present.” —The New York Times
“Some of the most innovative works of art in the current Whitney Museum Biennial exhibition aren’t to be found under the spotlights of Frank Lloyd Wright’s bright and spacious galleries, but in the dark of the second-floor film and video theater.” —The New York Times
More from this series
Learn more about the Whitney Biennial, the longest-running survey of American art.