Image via Jerry Saltz’s instagram.

Artists Leah Dixon and Lauren Christiansen are taking issue with Jerry Saltz’s Instagram feed because they think he’s too interested in vaginas. They’ve titled their social media post, “The Donald Trump of Art World Social Media” and have dedicated themselves to ranting about Saltz’s obsessions. [No link.] “It only takes thirty seconds on Saltz’s instagram to see how destructive and trivial his interests are.” they write. “How he is using his power to openly fetishize female bodies, in lieu of actually presenting valid cultural critique. Honestly, one out of every three of his posts is a vagina.”

The post goes on to complain that Trump’s horrifying sexist remarks and scandals hadn’t drowned out Saltz’s obsession, quote Saltz’s love for women and complain about other critics who dare defend him.

I get that Saltz’s instagram isn’t for some. It’s not for me. Too often, he often indulges in purile sexist cliches that do little to advance social and economic equality for both genders. But as I see it, the purpose of the project is more about using art to push the boundaries of Instagram’s community standards than it is an archive of male desire (though, it is both). Comparing them to Donald Trump’s bragging of habitual sexual assault on women doesn’t make sense. One asks followers to re-evaluate their comfort zones. Another condones the abuse of women, actively works to dismantle democracy, and incites violence.

The problem with Dixon and Christiansen’s rant isn’t just that it seeks to alter a perceived abuse with another, but that it’s ineffective at doing anything other than commanding attention. And the fact is, visibility and a bullhorn don’t translate to equality or power, a reality we see laid bare every time we see female celebrities trolled online. To make real advancements we have to be civil enough to actually talk to one another. That means dropping the Donald Trump comparisons and addressing each other with respect.

Outside the Trump Tower

• Jerry Saltz discusses Andreas Gursky’s “Amazon”, a photograph taken inside an Amazon warehouse in Phoenix, as it pertains to the election. Saltz describes the photograph as depicting the “almost-unknowable patterns of contemporary mass consumption and the hyper-distribution of goods.” Seems like this photograph really has scale going for it. It’s 81.5 × 160.25  inches. [Vulture]
• Retail sales on 57th and 5th street are way down thanks to the Trump Tower security for the president-elect’s family—which is now advertising the security as a draw. That means galleries in that neighborhood such as Tibor de Nagy, Marian Goodman and Mary Boone  are all being effected. Nobody is happy. [Artnet news]
• Naeem Mohaiemen, in a piece illustrated with Hans Haacke’s photos from Saadiyat Island, writes about the efforts of the Gulf Labor Coalition. From the text: “Defiance is welcomed when it is sanctioned and staged as art. Drill a crater in the floor, flood a gallery, embalm an animal, smash an object, stage a pitiful death—critics hail these gestures as having the power to “shape worlds.” But when artists sit down at a conference table with museum administrators and read from a list of demands for labor rights, this work—involving conversation, negotiation, research, protest—suddenly becomes illegible to the same museum. The artists whose projects were previously praised as stretching boundaries are now tagged as maverick spoilers.” [The Walker Art Center]
• Josh Baer says Brett Gorvy, the Chair of Contemporary and Post War art at Christie’s will be leaving to join the gallery Dominique Levy. [Baer Faxt]
• Does the Oakland Warehouse Fire “mean the end of these spaces in the Bay Area and with it the last vestige of any kind of affordable artists community?’” asks artist Aaron Muszalski. No real answer here, because once you make a warehouse space legal for residence the rents go up. [The New York Times]
• The Art Newspaper’s full coverage of the Art Basel Miami here. [The Art Newspaper]

Paintings such as this one, by art therapy patient Ria Pratt, are now being used by fake news websites as “proof” of the #pizzagate conspiracy theory, which seems especially unethical.

• The #pizzagate trolls are trying their tiny hands at art criticism. Here’s one of several fake news articles examining the murals inside Comet Ping Pong for some nefarious symbolism. We would like to point out that the real murals at Comet Ping Pong are by Arrington de Dionyso, and that most of the images used in this article are from the website of art therapist Kim Noble, and were produced by trauma victims. Also, LOL, this “article” is written by “Liberty Belle” ….ugh, the alt-right has the worst drag names. [Fury News]
• Following the deadly fire at Oakland’s Ghost Ship, artist-run spaces nationwide are in crisis. We’ve been getting calls from friends in various cities who’ve had fire inspectors show up at warehouses and tell them they have 30 minutes to grab their stuff and get out. Let’s not let this be the end of an era for counterculture. Now, more than ever, these places are so necessary. [The New York Times]
• Just prior to the eviction of Denver’s artist-run space Rhinoceropolis, musician and urban planner Michael Semen discusses how important DIY spaces are to cities and what local governments can do to protect them. [Westword]
• Meanwhile in Baltimore, the city has condemned the artist-run space The Bell Foundry, citing safety concerns. Imagine if we lived in the kind of society that went around giving poor people sprinkler systems instead of eviction notices? [The Baltimore Sun]
• A massive profile on Jerry Saltz by Kenny Schachter appears in British GQ this January and in Artnet news. There have been a lot of profiles on Saltz over the years, but this one manages to shed new light on the critic, exploring his early home life and then beginning to track his career closely from 2010 on, with his appearance as a judge on Work of Art and a burgeoning social media star. [Artnet news]
• Is History Painting making a small, international comeback? K.P. Reji, Michael Armitage, and Daniel Boyd are “de-colonizing” the genre with dreamy, politically-charged illustration-like works. [Artspace]

• Tomorrow is Canada’s 150th anniversary. July 4th’s coming up too, but we’re a little less excited about celebrating that this year given the healthcare debacle and this muslim ban bullshit. [The Internet]
• Curator salaries are increasing according to a new survey conducted by the Association of Art Museum Directors. So too are the salaries of COOs. [artnet News]
• Acute Art has enlisted a bunch of A list artists to try out their new VR headset. Apparently it’s not very realistic, but the article still ran with a title suggesting the software could change the art world. Given that we’re looking at a bunch of stars promoting a product sounds like the art world is just the same. [Jstore]
• Amtrak is making repairs which means Penn Station is going to be more of  a world of hell than it already is. Hard to believe that station could be any worse than it already is. This explainer post is useful but also filled with some amazing pictures. [Curbed]
• OMG this Times video on the Carsten Höller show at Gagosian is HILARIOUS. It talks about how playful the art is, but it’s narration is slow and plotting and comes across as the most pretentious thing you’ve ever heard—all while watching kids run through his sculptures. [The New York Times]
• Jerry Saltz reviews “Wrong Side of History” at Bullet Space, a group show addressing Trump’s America. The show gets a good review, but it and its essays are mainly used as vehicle to take a jab at the art world’s predictability. “I love the art world; great art is getting made and shown. Art will live, as always. But we all have to admit that the art world isn’t the definition of radical right now.” [Vulture]