March 1st, 2007
by Joe Walentini, New York Views is published twice monthly.

Another Milestone

As of May Abstract Art Online will have been in existence for 7 years. I find this amazing and just a bit disturbing because it doesn’t seem possible it could really have been that long. (Where did the past 7 years go?) Overall it has been quite a journey not to mention a rich education for me. I’ve honed the skills required for analyzing art, writing reviews and essays along with addressing the technical challenges presented in structuring the layout, formatting and publishing it all to the web.  It’s amusing to look back at the first few issues compared to how the site functions now.  The navigation was clumsy, the layout was amateurish and the images were fewer.  But I find the writing then to be strong (in my humble opinion) when I re-read the reviews and essays now. Yet I also think the writing and everything else has gotten much better since.

But the real milestone I refer to is not measured in years but rather has to do with the number of reviews that have been published since the start.  As of the February 15th column the 400 mark was exceeded.  The metrics I keep reveal that out of those reviews around 37% have been of female artists.  It’s important to understand that I do not choose which shows to review based on gender; it is the art that draws me in. Having said that, there are always many more fine exhibitions out there then are possible for me to review, abstract or otherwise. But as an un-scientific poll of a niche population represented by exhibited abstract artists, it does say something about a shift in gender and the art market over the last several years.

Baker Overstreet, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery

Joan Snyder, Betty Cuningham Gallery

Uwe Kowski, Mary Boone Gallery

I have also learned some important things about art during this time which I’ve mentioned in the past.  The most important of these is that to write reviews, even in an environment where you get to publish everything you write, personal taste cannot be a sole arbiter.  My taste is reflected in work that is painterly, colorful and abstract; this much is evident from my own paintings. By necessity I’ve had to learn how to appreciate work outside of these parameters. The bizzaro version of my taste is represented by flat