Number 1: The Fifth Floor
Number 2: The 2000 Biennial
The first and best reason to visit the Whitney is the Fifth Floor.  Over a year ago administrative offices that had occupied the space were relocated to create the Leonard and Evelyn Lander Galleries.  With the Biennial dominating the lower levels, now is one of the best times to go; and not in least because the art there is superior.  It is also quieter and less crowded than the lower floors.  You�ll want to see the Biennial (we tell you why below) but start here first and work your way down. Besides seeing the best first, there is the sweet tingle of shock in moving from a quiet genteel space to the frenzied comic opera that awaits you below.

The Fifth Floor
Within these galleries is housed the museum�s excellent permanent collection of modern painting from 1900 to 1953. The work surveyed is a contained and intimate presentation of American art over that period. There is a small sub-level space devoted to Calder�s circus and other sculpture by the artist plus a separate gallery for changing exhibitions.  Despite anything shown in the main lower rooms this collection is worth the price of admission alone. The galleries are organized by theme and present a variety of artists working within the same style and period.  As you wander through it is easy to make comparisons so that each room becomes a work in and of itself.  The work is sensibly organized and exhibited in ways that the Biennial curators should have considered.

Within this wonderful presentation two separate exhibitions distinguish themselves.  One is a mini-retrospective tucked in amongst the other rooms that is devoted to the loose and borderline abstract paintings of John Marin.  There are about ten paintings that range from 1910 to 1951. It is a

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 well-presented and uncrowded survey of the artist�s work. There is enough shown here to comfortably move you through an informative timeline of the artist�s oeuvre.  The other standalone show is located in the lower gallery next to Calder and features the museum�s recent photography acquisitions.  Mirroring the painting galleries intimacy and historical range, this show offers photographs beginning with Alfred Stieglitz and moving on through to Cindy Sherman.

The Biennial
The easy and predictable thing to do with the Biennial is to bash it - a tiresome ritual offering a recurring litany of complaints.  Curiously though, even that seems to be subdued this year. While there is certainly much to justify dismay, it needn�t be exclusively viewed from this perspective.  A different mindset is required in which the Biennial is not given the drop-dead seriousness it projects (and perhaps really delivered on in years past).  No, a better approach is to go in with very low expectations and a willingness to being gently amused.

A lot of it is pretty funny too, such as Yukinori Yanagi�s presentation of Jasper John�s three flags painting as an ant farm.  Here the image slowly disintegrates as the ants toil away most likely unaware of the effect they are causing.  On the opposite side of the panel holding the flags is another ant farm composed of multiple dollar bill images.  Both pieces are clever and glib; in seconds you get the point, the joke, and are briefly entertained - time to move on.  Next consider Kim Dingle�s MG sports car (is it me or is there a requirement somewhere that every Biennial must include at least one automobile?) done up as a sex object with the   

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