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Ladies Only: Dispatches From The Last Of The Grand Brucennials

One of 600+ artworks on view at the show. Images courtesty of the BHQF. 

It’s the end of an era: tonight, the Bruce High Quality Foundation opens the doors to “The Grand Finale,” the last in a series of blowout art shows called Brucennials—Whitney-lampooning festivals which regularly feature exclusive works from hundreds of artists and friends of the Bruce High Quality Foundation. 

Says the oft-anonymous collective:

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“[Since its 2008 inception] the Brucennial has expanded into larger spaces including hundreds more artists from all over the world. But the spirit of the show remains the same. It’s not a curated group show or an anointment ceremony into the art market or a ‘taking of the temperature’ or a codification of style. It’s a celebration of, and catalyst for, an ever-widening community of artists.”

It’s a fond send off to the festival of their namesake, so that the collective can better dedicate their resources to their burgeoning free art school in the East Village, the BHQFU

The Last Brucennial Trailer #1 from Bruce High Quality Foundation on Vimeo.

This year’s Brucennial tackles a major issue in contemporary art: the overlooking and underrepresentation of female artists at major fairs and festivals. While less than one-third of the artists at this year’s Whitney Biennial are female, in traditional ham-egg-and-cheese-fisted form, the BHQF have comprised the last Brucennial exlusively of female artists; this means the only Schnabel work at tonight’s Vito Schnabel-presented opening will come from artist and auteur Julian’s daughter, Lola

Says one of the Bruces, “I hear there’s a Whitney Houston Biennial in Brooklyn.” [Editors note: There is]

The Last Brucennial Trailer #2 from Bruce High Quality Foundation on Vimeo.
The Last Brucennial Trailer #3 from Bruce High Quality Foundation on Vimeo.

The Last Brucennial opens tonight, March 6, and will be on view from March 7 – April 4th, 2014 at 837 Washington Street in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Subscribe to the BHQFU mailing list (scroll to the section marked ‘Updates’) for more info on exclusive events taking place over the course of the monthlong show.