© Mickalene Thomas, courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Mickalene Thomas, "Portrait of Qusuquzah" (2008)

Edward Steichen Cindy Sherman Cao Fei Hank Willis Thomas Richard Avedon Barbara Kruger Wangechi Mutu Lorna Simpson

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Of the 34 artists from 11 countries to be included in the global survey, 24 — or 70 percent — are women. For comparison's sake, take a look at the last Whitney Biennial, which included 48 men and 35 women, for a 57/43 percent split that really, in the grand scheme of things, isn't too bad, particularly in light of the most recent gender debate to rock the art world, Jerry Saltz's attack on New York's Museum of Modern Art, launched primarily on Facebook. "Of the 383 works on the 4th & 5th flrs. of MoMA's perm. coll., only 19 are by women (4%)," the critic wrote, sparking a heated debate both on and off the Web site about gender imbalance in museums and what can be done about it.

So, 70 percent women? The number is shocking. Perhaps the tipped balance has something to do with the triennial's theme? Titled "Dress Codes," the exhibition is an exploration of fashion "as a form of social communication" in which artists "use costume, clothing, and disguise to created a rich visual language filled with specific references to history, culture, gender, and geography." (Not that fashion, long dominated by male designers and photographers, necessarily provides a progressive model.) The second triennial, in contrast, which bore the title "Ecotopia" and offered "new perspectives on humanity’s increasingly fraught relation to the natural world and to the planet that sustains us," included only 11 women among its 43 artists (some of which worked in collectives).

"We looked at work by hundreds of artists in the course of researching the exhibition and selected the most compelling new work dealing with fashion, style, and self-presentation," said associate curator Kristen Lubben, one of the exhibition's organizers, along with other ICP curators Christopher Phillips and Carol Squiers and photography critic Vince Aletti. "We did not set out with the intent to include a particular proportion of women artists. However, it is perhaps not surprising that some of the more interesting work being done on this theme is by women and queer artists, since it is raises issues of gender and identity."

Included in "Dress Codes" are a range of identity-exploring artists from American fixtures like Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman to newcomers like China's Cao Fei (born 1978); Sweden-born, Berlin-based Nathalie Djurberg (born 1978); and Turkish-born, Brooklyn based Pinar Yolaçan (born 1981). Standout men rounding out the program include Germany's Thorsten Brinkmann and American Kalup Linzy. Linzy, along with Alice O'Malley and Jeremy Kost, is notable for his explorations of gender identity — he often performs in drag.

Also included in the exhibition is a robust selection of work that takes on race, from such leaders in that area as Wangechi Mutu, Lorna Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas, and Mickalene Thomas.

One has to wonder — and it's not hard to anticipate the backlash here — if the reason why women (and minorities) still remain in short supply in so many museum collections and exhibitions is because themes such as those explored here aren't of interest, or in vogue? Is it because more personally calibrated work tends to sell for less at auction? What is it? Because it seems there's no shortage of compelling work.

"Dress Codes" rounds out the ICP's Year of Fashion, which included surveys of work by Richard Avedon and Edward Steichen and selections from the archives of Condé Nast and from today's fashion photographers. It opens October 2 and runs through January 17, 2010.