Paddy Johnson (note her new masthead by John Michael Boling) reviews the Whitney Biennial 2008 at The L Magazine. This blog seconds the inappropriateness of the Park Armory as a satellite space for contemporary art installations. The high, wood paneled walls bedecked with oil paintings of obscure military men dominate much like the American army of the 19th Century, swallowing up the downtown hipsters and their feeble efforts like indigenous peoples fleeing the cannon. At the same time, it's a slum (with uncharacteristic viciousness the Times' Holland Cotter called it a "moldering pile") in terrible need of some wealthy patrons to fix it up and restore it to its authentic period. It looks like something from the era of NYC mayor Abe Beame, when the city lost the fight against entropy in every neighborhood, including the Upper East Side.