Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz to Speak at UT
WHEN
Thursday, November 20, 2014 7:30pm
WHERE
University Center at University of Tennessee
WHY
A true power couple, Saltz and Smith have been married for over 20 years and have reputations as distinct voices whose writings have set the tone for art criticism in America today. During their public lecture, Saltz and Smith will survey the contemporary art scene, speak on the importance of artists developing their work critically, and reflect on the role of the critic in the digital age. The lecture will end with a question and answer session. The visit is supported by the Visiting Artist Committee (VAC), The Mildred Haines and William Elijah Morris Lecture Endowment, and the UT School of Art's Visiting Artist, Designers, Scholars Committee (VADSCO). BIOGRAPHY: Roberta Smith is a senior critic for the New York Times and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is known for her clear, insightful writing about contemporary art as well as a broad range of genres which include design, architecture and decorative arts. In addition to the New York Times, her writing has appeared in Artforum, Art in America and the Village Voice. Smith has written numerous essays for catalogues and monographs on contemporary artists, including Alex Katz, Elizabeth Murray, Cy Twombly as well as the featured essay in the Donald Judd catalogue raisonné published by the National Gallery of Canada in 1975. Smith has lectured widely and taught at the School of Visual Arts, New York and the Rhode Island School of Design. She received art criticism grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1975 and 1980. In 2003, the College Art Association awarded Smith the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism. She has appeared numerous times on Art Review’s guide to the 100 most powerful figures in contemporary art. Jerry Saltz is the senior critic for New York Magazine. He was formerly the senior art critic for the Village Voice, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism three times. Saltz has also served as a Visiting Critic at The School of Visual Arts, Columbia University, Yale University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York Studio Residency Program. Saltz is known for his accessible, candid and at times humorous writing style and democratic approach to critical dialogue. He has embraced new media and popular culture as a means to connect audiences to art. His Facebook page, which is followed by tens of thousands, has become an outgrowth of his writing and a platform for public debate on contemporary art.