Saul Ostrow is an American

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

and

art curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

Biography

In 1972, Ostrow received his MFA in art from the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

. He has taught at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

, Cleveland Institute of Art,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Parsons The New School for Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

, School of the Visual Arts and was acting head of MFA studio program at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, Director of the Center for Visual Art and Culture at The University of Connecticut, and Chair of Visual Arts and Technologies, The Cleveland Institute of Art. Since 1985, Ostrow has curated more than 60 exhibitions in the US and abroad. These include such exhibitions as ''Working Digitally: no Websites Please'' (2001, 2005) at The Center For Visual Culture,

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

and ''Modeling the Photographic: The Ends of Photography'' (2006) for the McDonough Museum of Art located in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

. Both of these focus on current art practice and included such internationally recognized artists:

James Welling James Welling (born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist, photographer and educator living in New York City. He attended Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied drawing with Gandy Brodie and at the University of Pittsburgh where ...

, Barbara Probst, Fabian Marcaccio,

Joseph Nechvatal Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom computer viruses. Life and work Joseph Nechva ...

, Curtis Mitchell, Matthew Buckiam and Penelope Umbrico. Saul Ostrow was the editor of the book series ''Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture'' published by Routledge in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and is the Art Editor at Large for ''

Bomb Magazine ''Bomb'' (stylized in all caps as ''BOMB'') is an American arts magazine edited by artists and writers, published quarterly in print and daily online. It is composed primarily of interviews between creative people working in a variety of discipli ...

''. He was also Co-Editor of ''Lusitania Press'' from 1996 to 2004.) In a 2011 interview with Brian Sherwin for ''FineArtViews'', Ostrow declared that

art criticism Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is quest ...

is important because it helps to establish the concept of the "collective self". Ostrow suggested that criticism is important because it helps to address the "contradictions and dichotomies inherent in our social and cultural lives". In the interview, Ostrow shared his experience as Art Editor for ''Bomb'' magazine and his insight into the "changing landscape" of art criticism due to the advent of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

and art blogs. When asked about sexism, ageism, and racism within the contemporary art world, Ostrow suggested that all three exist because all three exist in larger society."FineArtViews Interview: Saul Ostrow -- Art Critic and Art Editor for ''BOMB Magazine'' by Brian Sherwin"
ww.com/fineartviewsRetrieved 20 May 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrow, Saul American art critics American art curators Living people Year of birth missing (living people)