National Weather Center Biennale
3 p.m. Sunday, April 19
Through June 14
National Weather Center | Norman
“How about that weather outside?” It’s the smallest of small talk, the one thing that bonds us all. Oklahomans, well, we tend to go apeshit over it. Can you really blame us? What Miami is to douchebags, we are to weather phenomena. We treat weatherman like deities, the Anchorman news team dynamic flipped on its head. Through April and May, our eyes are glued to weather coverage like a Thunder NBA championship (which is the only one we’ll get to see this year …), if our feet aren’t kicked up on a lawn chair outside for a front row seat. Hell, the National Weather Center is located right smack dab in the center of the state in Norman.
So it only makes sense to craft an entire art exhibit around the idea, the vastly different range of experiences with it — awe, beauty, tragedy and everything in between — lending itself to the interpretations of artists working in a variety of different mediums. This is the second year of the National Weather Center Biennale, an international, juried exhibition that debuts this Sunday at the National Weather Center. Curator and Houston conceptual artist Mel Chin selected 88 pieces submitted from across the world for this year’s biennale, one of which will be awarded a $10,000 Best of Show prize.
Here’s a sampling of some of the pieces that will be on display:
“This is My Boomstick” by Trent Lawson
“Winter’s Thaw” by Tom Berenz
“Insignificant” by Michael Mezeul II
“Scape – LXXX” by Douglas Shaw Elder
“La Canicula” by Ricardo Ruiz
