THE VILLAGE VOICE — THE OK CORRAL by Jerry Saltz

After Owens and Peyton, the most ravishing works in this show are Yayoi Kusama’s walk-in room of colored lights and Slater Bradley’s video love song to the cosmos. 

The art world is dying to like the 2004 Whitney Biennial. The opening was a love-fest. Previews in magazines and newspapers essentially implored, “Can’t we all just get along and love the biennial?” Nearly all trotted out the cliché “the show everyone loves to hate.” Disliking exhibitions is seen by some to be disloyal or obstructionist. This is traceable to the fact that in America today criticism and even civil disagreement are implicitly discouraged; people love ot hate or even demonize those whose views differ from their own. But, criticizing flawed exhibitions isn’t hating them. It’s a way of treating them with respect. Mostly, the good wishes for this show stem from the fact that everyone wants the Whitney to be great again. This OK Biennial is an excellent step.