 Senior Art Critic for the Village Voice, Jerry Saltz has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism three times. In 2000 he was named a Finalist in this category, a rare honor indeed. He was the sole Advisor for the 1995 Whitney Biannual, and is currently also a Visiting Critic at Columbia University and Yale University . Known for his passionate opinions, lively, no nonsense writing, and insights about Contemporary Art, and the art scene in general, Saltz is an extraordinary speaker. Having been part of the New York art world for more than two decades, he knows the ins and outs, what's good, and what's not. Better yet, he's not afraid to say what he thinks. His slide lecture, The Good, the Bad, and the Very Bad: A Year in the Life of an Art Critic is a rousing 90 minute look at where contemporary art is now, how it got here, and where it might be going. Saltz shows slides, not only of paintings and sculptures, but of art openings, after parties, and other scenes less seen by the general public. Saltz is articulate, funny, and speaks in a way that everyone can understand. Saltz is a unique, inspirational speaker, as witty and irreverent as he is respectful and in the know. New Yorker art critic, Peter Schjeldahl has written that Saltz "is the best informed and hair-trigger liveliest of contemporary art critics, tracking pleasure and jump-starting intelligence on the fly." Confirming the adage 'first thought best thought,' Saltz's fast takes stand up better in retrospect than other people's long views. He preserves the crunch and heat of art's collisions with life in these times." Francesco Bonami, Curator of the 2003 Venice Biennale, and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago , has written that "Saltz's writing is overwhelmingly passionate, yet without sentimentality. His words pierce the content and beauty of each work of art to test its endurance in time and memory." Saltz has lectured at Harvard, The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the St. Louis Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center , the Art Institute of Chicago, and many others. In 2003 Seeing Out Loud: The Village Voice Art Columns, 1998 - 2003, a collection of Saltz's Village Voice columns, was published by The Figures Press.
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