Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself
May 1–Oct 4, 2021
Dave McKenzie, still from Edward and Me, 2000. Video, color, sound, 4:29 min. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy the artist
Dave McKenzie (b. 1977) prompts observers to reconsider seemingly familiar feelings, settings, and actions. This focused exhibition presents McKenzie’s performances for the camera and documentation of his live art alongside pieces drawn from the Whitney’s collection by artists who have informed the concepts, gestures, and sensibilities in his work. The juxtaposition of McKenzie's art with that of Trisha Brown, Chris Burden, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gordon Matta-Clark, Bruce Nauman, and Pope.L connects these artists' shared awareness of a voyeuristic audience, the incorporation of architecture, risk-taking, and the emphasis on public intervention.
Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself runs parallel to the new, Whitney-commissioned performance Disturbing the View, in which McKenzie uses the Museum's facade as a canvas in a choreographed disruption of its daily rhythms. Together the exhibition and performance commission span twenty years of McKenzie’s creative output and reflect key themes of his art: endurance, exhaustion, repetition, and humor. Illuminating the seriousness of play in artmaking, McKenzie engages with and questions ideas, images, and language using his principal tool—his own body. Disturbing the View took place from May 1 through June 12, 2021, on Friday and Saturday afternoons beginning at 1 pm.
Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself is curated by Adrienne Edwards, the Engell Speyer Family Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, with Mia Matthias, Curatorial Assistant.
Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself is supported by generous funds provided by Kevin and Rosemary McNeely, Manitou Fund and by a major endowment from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, which supports Outside the Box programming at the Whitney Museum.
Audio guides
Dave McKenzie, still from Edward and Me, 2000. Video, color, sound, 4:29 min. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy the artist
Hear directly from the artist on selected works from the exhibition.
Installation photography
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Self-Portrait Piñata, 2002; Dave McKenzie, Edward and Me, 2000; Chris Burden, Documentation of Selected Works 1971-75, 1971-75; Dave McKenzie, We Shall Overcome, 2004; (from top to bottom) Pope.L, Black People Are The Smell Of Freshly Baked Bread, 2001-02; Pope.L, Purple People Bust A Nut In The Gravy And We Learn Something, 2012; Pope.L, Black People Are The Silence They Cannot Understand, 2001-02; Pope.L, Red People Are My Mother When She Sick And Visiting Me In The Hospital, 2010; Pope.L, Orange People Are the Bodies Falling Piece By Piece To The Carpet, 2012; Dave McKenzie, Drawing After Andy, 2001; Walter Gutman, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Trisha Brown Co. at the Whitney Museum 1971—The Rehearsal, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Old Man/Sarcophagus, 2013; (clockwise from top left) Bruce Nauman, Finger Touch With Mirrors, 1966-67, printed 1970; Bruce Nauman, Bound to Fail, 1966-67, printed 1970; Bruce Nauman, Coffee Spilled Because the Cup Was Too Hot, 1966-67, printed 1970; Bruce Nauman, Untitled, 1966-67, printed 1970; Bruce Nauman, Feet of Clay, 1966-67, printed 1970; Bruce Nauman, Self Portrait as a Fountain, 1966-67, printed 1970; Dave McKenzie, Edward and Me, 2000; Chris Burden, Documentation of Selected Works 1971-75, 1971-75. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, We Shall Overcome, 2004; (from top to bottom) Pope.L, Black People Are The Smell Of Freshly Baked Bread, 2001-02; Pope.L, Purple People Bust A Nut In The Gravy And We Learn Something, 2012; Pope.L, Black People Are The Silence They Cannot Understand, 2001-02; Pope.L, Red People Are My Mother When She Sick And Visiting Me In The Hospital, 2010; Pope.L, Orange People Are the Bodies Falling Piece By Piece To The Carpet, 2012; Dave McKenzie, Drawing After Andy, 2001; Walter Gutman, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Trisha Brown Co. at the Whitney Museum 1971—The Rehearsal, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Wilfred and Me, 2012; Shunk-Kender, Selections from Pier 18: “Parked Island Barges on the Hudson,” NY, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Wilfred and Me, 2012; Shunk-Kender, Selections from Pier 18: “Parked Island Barges on the Hudson,” NY, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Wilfred and Me, 2012; Shunk-Kender, Selections from Pier 18: “Parked Island Barges on the Hudson,” NY, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Self-Portrait Piñata, 2002; Dave McKenzie, Edward and Me, 2000; Chris Burden, Documentation of Selected Works 1971-75, 1971-75; Dave McKenzie, We Shall Overcome, 2004; (from top to bottom) Pope.L, Black People Are The Smell Of Freshly Baked Bread, 2001-02; Pope.L, Purple People Bust A Nut In The Gravy And We Learn Something, 2012; Pope.L, Black People Are The Silence They Cannot Understand, 2001-02; Pope.L, Red People Are My Mother When She Sick And Visiting Me In The Hospital, 2010; Pope.L, Orange People Are the Bodies Falling Piece By Piece To The Carpet, 2012; Dave McKenzie, Drawing After Andy, 2001; Walter Gutman, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Trisha Brown Co. at the Whitney Museum 1971—The Rehearsal, 1971. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). Dave McKenzie, Self-Portrait Piñata, 2002. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). Dave McKenzie, Self-Portrait Piñata, 2002. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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Installation view of Dave McKenzie: The Story I Tell Myself (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 1-October 4, 2021). From left to right: Dave McKenzie, Self-Portrait Piñata, 2002; Félix González-Torres, “Untitled”, 1994. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
In the News
"Dave McKenzie excels at opening up little rifts in daily life through which the glitter of new behavior can be detected." —The Observer