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Jerry Saltz Facebook-Lists 33 Notable Artists Emerging After 1999

by Art Fag City on April 22, 2009 · 9 comments

art fag city, facebook, Jerry saltz
Facebook screengrab, AFC

Last week, art critic Jerry Saltz updated his Facebook status to read as follows:

Since so many of you don't like the premise of curating a show through the lens of age, I need to know if you like younger artists at all. List three to five artists who emerged AFTER 1999 whose work you would say that you like (don't name yourself or artists no one has heard of but you)

Here’s a surprise: The critic’s Facebook page nearly exploded, and he lost over 65 comments due to heavy volume. Complaints that the shout-outs were “icky” eventually shut down the thread, but not before Saltz offered his own list of artists.

I don’t know that I have a huge problem with asking people to name their favorite artists, though often such a response is made with the hopes of influencing the critic, thus making the exercise seem slightly ego-feeding.  More important is the list Saltz published, which was the topic of conversation at many openings I attended over the weekend. “This is the tipping point!” a friend declared, challenging Sharon Butler’s assertion in the Brooklyn Rail two months ago, that it occurred when he joined.  “His lists make artist’s careers.” Indeed they do, but how influential is a list buried in a Facebook thread? Unless the social networking site introduces a comment search function, the source will be difficult to find a year from now.

Its influence will really depend on how many people email and blog this list.  Saltz sees more art than virtually anyone in the city, so  I’m publishing the list here in it’s full context. I think it’s important. POST UPDATED: For clarity purposes I’ve added the full status update.

The list of artists that I posted previously reflects my frustration/anger with curators who mainly chose artists who have already been chosen by other curators; who shun anything that is NOT installation, video, b/w late-late Conceptualism, or art that needs long labels. I love a lot of this art. Yet WAY too many curators are afraid of/hostile to anything VISUAL, MATERIAL, or PHYSICAL. Fear of the Visual.

I went through your 200 plus lists of young artists. Many artists on the lists have been in huge shows (like the Whitney Biennial). Time for me to get vulnerable. My list is in the comment below. I name ONLY women artists working in America who have never been in a Whitney Biennial (I took out a name and added a couple others).
Here goes

Jessica Jackson Hutchins
Klara Liden
Tamy Ben-Tor
Dana Schutz
Laurel Nakadate
Huma Bhaba
Juliette Aranda
Kerstin Brätsch
Liz Glynn
Orly Genger
Xylor Jane
Valerie Garlick
Lisa Sanditz
Karin Oliver
Kate Gilmore
Aki Sasamoto
Sara VanDerBeek
Leslie Hewitt
Fia Backstrom (last two in 2008 Whit. Bi.)

A FEW GOOD MEN:
Sterling Ruby
Jeffrey Wells
Ohad Meromi
Brain Belott
Robert Melee
Leidy Churchman
Peter Coffin
Alexandre Singh
Garth Weiser
Kalup Linzy
Andrzej Zielinski
Ryan Trecartin (in 2006 Whit. Bi.)

RELATED: Jerry Saltz speaks at the Studio School tonight about recession economies, weeding out crappy artists and other related topics.

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  • http://celesteh.blogspot.com Les

    Why is this list sex-segregated?

  • http://celesteh.blogspot.com Les

    Why is this list sex-segregated?

  • R

    One thing I noticed is that only about 5 of these artists have websites. So it just goes to show that either galleries prevent their artists from doing self-promotion or that if you are embedded in the art world you don’t need a website.

    One thing that Saltz misses out on is that most of these artists are unknown to the general public. They might be known by a tight circle in the art world, but aside from that the artists listed on his list are simply not known artists if you think of the bigger picture and how the internet has expanded interest in art on a global level.

    Saltz and other art critics are speaking the language of the past. They are not speaking the language of the future. Will it matter what Saltz thinks when there are artists who are embraced by the public and who have become known online rather than following a traditional path?

    There are artists who have website traffic that is higher than three galleries in Chelsea combined. The public will decide what is remembered and what is embraced. The old school traditional of carefully selected and promoted artists is old hat at best. Art critics would do well to embrace this change rather than play ball on the old field.

    Face it, there are some great artists who have not shown in any major NY galleries simply because they don’t have connections to land those exhibits. But will the NY galleries matter a decade from now? Will galleries matter at all? The art world can’t avoid the change that has been brought by the internet. In the future Saltz’s opinion will be taken with a grain of salt.

  • R

    One thing I noticed is that only about 5 of these artists have websites. So it just goes to show that either galleries prevent their artists from doing self-promotion or that if you are embedded in the art world you don’t need a website.

    One thing that Saltz misses out on is that most of these artists are unknown to the general public. They might be known by a tight circle in the art world, but aside from that the artists listed on his list are simply not known artists if you think of the bigger picture and how the internet has expanded interest in art on a global level.

    Saltz and other art critics are speaking the language of the past. They are not speaking the language of the future. Will it matter what Saltz thinks when there are artists who are embraced by the public and who have become known online rather than following a traditional path?

    There are artists who have website traffic that is higher than three galleries in Chelsea combined. The public will decide what is remembered and what is embraced. The old school traditional of carefully selected and promoted artists is old hat at best. Art critics would do well to embrace this change rather than play ball on the old field.

    Face it, there are some great artists who have not shown in any major NY galleries simply because they don’t have connections to land those exhibits. But will the NY galleries matter a decade from now? Will galleries matter at all? The art world can’t avoid the change that has been brought by the internet. In the future Saltz’s opinion will be taken with a grain of salt.

  • Art Fag City

    I think it’s a good idea to take everyone’s ideas with a grain of salt.

  • Art Fag City

    I think it’s a good idea to take everyone’s ideas with a grain of salt.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/artboy2 markcreegan

    “The public will decide what is remembered and what is embraced.”
    We already have this, its called American Idol. While I welcome the democratic process of the internet (both for my ravenous art addiction and my career), I am not willing to leave all of cultural production assessed by popular demand. Web traffic is a wonderful disseminator of the Susan Boyle virus, but I still value the analysis and selections of educated and experienced thinkers. Do I wish some of those thinkers were a bit more adventurous in where they look for talent? Absolutely. But I think we will see, and have already seen, more and more curators and dealers (especially the younger ones) venture out into the internets more and more.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/artboy2 markcreegan

    “The public will decide what is remembered and what is embraced.”
    We already have this, its called American Idol. While I welcome the democratic process of the internet (both for my ravenous art addiction and my career), I am not willing to leave all of cultural production assessed by popular demand. Web traffic is a wonderful disseminator of the Susan Boyle virus, but I still value the analysis and selections of educated and experienced thinkers. Do I wish some of those thinkers were a bit more adventurous in where they look for talent? Absolutely. But I think we will see, and have already seen, more and more curators and dealers (especially the younger ones) venture out into the internets more and more.

  • Aaronzeem

    You should have left the list out of this post. :)

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