The Whitney Biennial can give artists’ careers a boost, but it rarely gives them an entire secondary business. Such was the case, however, for Brainard Carey. A New York artist, one half of the installation duo Praxis, Mr. Carey first showed at the Biennial in 2002.

“Artists started coming to me after that show,” he said, “asking how I got such a coveted invitation. They’re hungry for that kind of information. I had been, too,” Mr. Carey admitted. Information, he knew, was sparse. “I’d found that other artists and would-be mentors held their cards close to their chests, as if telling me their strategies would somehow diminish or ruin what they had. After a while, I thought, ‘Why not advise in a more official way?'”