Comments on: Jerry Saltz Fires Back at Yau, “How Very Dickish”

By: On Jerry Saltz and dickishness « BK MFA

On Jerry Saltz and dickishness « BK MFA — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:03:50 +0000

[...] what douchey collectors do when they buy his stuff? Then Saltz writes on facebook, “How very dickish of John Yau.” And then (THEN! such drama!), Saltz posts this open letter on facebook, doing [...]

By: tskross

tskross — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:27:05 +0000

I think what I find a bit strange or even disturbing on some level is Jerry’s reaction. To me Yau was really criticizing Saltz’s idea that ‘puppy’ was a characterization of America first and everything else was secondary to this point. Sure he did call him out, but it didn’t seem all that personal to me. I suppose Jerry’s facebook page is really a ‘personal’ forum for him where he gets to make these posts that I doubt he would feel too good about putting into the Village Voice or NY mag (mostly) but still it seems to reveal a kind of narcissism that bugs me, and even though I can tell myself ‘yeah its just his facebook page’ I do find it influencing the way I read his other writing, and liking it less. But I suppose that is a matter of personal taste…
By the way Yau didn’t criticize ‘Puppy’ directly, he criticized Koons and his body of work as a whole (and as Hrag mentioned above, mostly in relation to Jerry’s characterization of it as being emblematic of a certain time).

By: Jersi

Jersi — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:53:27 +0000

I was really surprised to see this scuffle emerge; in particular to hear Yau’s criticism being described as such. In addition to being one my favorite poets, I’ve always been struck by the clarity of his art writing. I’ve always found his work to be more or less empty of the kind of hyperbole that bogs down so many critics (in particular in his books on Warhol and Johns, both of which offer very nuanced, level-headed and admittedly subjective looks at these two seemingly unimpeachable and big-to-the-point-of-irrelevance artists) and is always a joy to read.

By: Zachary Adam Cohen

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:34:17 +0000

lolz, just saw that!

By: Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine Art Critic Keeps Getting Into Trouble

Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine Art Critic Keeps Getting Into Trouble — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:44:24 +0000

[...] York Magazine’s chief art critic is having a helluva time of late. And now the guy is making entire pieces of art shed tears under his onerous investigations. Next [...]

By: Jim VanKirk

Jim VanKirk — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:45:18 +0000

How can you not like Jerry? He plays to the crowd and to sympathies like a virtuoso vaudevillian. “I made a little girl cry. Please tell me I’m O.K.” There is a great deal of truth in each criticism on this page. The problem as I see it is that we have the recent history and a fawning over post modernism that we’ve been given over the past 30 years now how do we get back out of it. Those years are gone and like it or not they are the history of our time. Sort of like the Bush years… undeniably American certifiably unsavory.

By: Matt Held

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:30:39 +0000

Mr. Yau’s intent behind the article was nothing more than to challenge Saltzs’ stance that Koons work “embodies our time and our America: it is big, bright, shiny….” I am sorry Mr. Saltz, but Koons does not embody my American sensiblities. He is nothing more than a Thomas Kinkade for the Upper East Siders. His laborers do all the work and he takes all the credit, much like corporate America. In that respect, maybe Saltz is correct, he does embody America. As far as Mr. Yau not seeing Puppy, well, once you have seen one Large blue diamond, one large pink heart, one puppy covered in flowers, you have pretty much seen them all. No need to see it again.
Jerry’s reply shows the world that he is the critic who cannot take criticism. His retort aimed at Mr. Yau was nothing more than a kindergarten schoolyard comeback. As someone who dishes out his fair share of criticism, one would think that he would be able to handle some himself. It makes one wonder, if you disagree with Saltz, watch out! He will attack with claws bared. How many artists that were given negative reviews by Saltz have wanted to publically declare that Saltz is “Dickish”? If they were to take a stance like that, on a public forum, how long would their careers last? Probably not past the show that was reviewed.

Like my momma always said “you wanna dish it out, you better learn to take it.”

By: Rant of the Week: Art Critics Suck D*&%K Edition : Bad at Sports

Rant of the Week: Art Critics Suck D*&%K Edition : Bad at Sports — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:59:48 +0000

[...] any more successful at taking the high ground when his turn comes. On his Facebook page, Jerry calls Yau “dickish” and “a terrible art writer” (I think that particular entry has since been removed, but I found a screenshot preserved for [...]

By: david - Long Island City

david - Long Island City — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:04:30 +0000

Its simply this : Mr Yau called him on it. He called him on it.
Like Jon Steward did with a recent Kieth Olbermann. He called him on it.

its ridiculous to put Koons, in the same food group as ” emblematic” and “our american”.
We know the problem is not with Koons, (He,s the donald trump of New York art , a designer designing products, initially a stock-broker).
its jerry , what happened !
if the text is wrapped with shinny irony , its still dick-sucking so to speak.
I like Jerry . I just thought he,d know better. But he,s human and this maybe
illustrates the distance between “the ground” and “the club”

Shit! (here,s a thought) maybe with my next piece I,ll have a critic glue something
in (flower in paw). Then maybe too , I,ll be “beyond criticism”
Love it.

What American likes/respects the best is the authentic.

David
Artist
Long Island City

By: Ronna Lebo

Ronna Lebo — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:06:54 +0000

You obviously haven’t read enough Yau if you call him a shallow art critic. Jeez…I guess Yau is the art-criticism-Koons-Puppy now…let’s all trash art critics before we’ve actually read enough of their work to make intelligent comments.