NY Times Art Critic William Zimmer at NAP - P.A.W. Print

The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently felt a shot of New York Times criticism. Leading art critic William Zimmer took his adult art criticism workshop participants to the Manet show as a site visit. The 12-member workshop Zimmer hosted this spring in the New Art Program (NAP) in Kutztown, Writing and Understanding Art Criticism, was a forum to increase dialogue between the arts and the public.

A New Mexico native, Zimmer instructed these residents of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Lancaster, and Berks counties in the techniques he has honed during his journalism career. The participants e-mailed him drafts of their criticism, but they also met on location. Visits to the Freedman Gallery at Albright College in Reading, and the touring of galleries in Chelsea in Manhattan kept the group busy. Zimmer guided the participants through the format he has developed. The participants wrote short pieces about exhibitions viewed during the field trips.

"How do I do it?" he asks. "It's become second nature. Each review is like starting over. It's like you never write perfect reviews. You want to be fair to the art and the artist, but you also want to be readable."

A thirty-year resident of the Noho section of Manhattan, Zimmer describes how he fell into arts journalism in 1975. "I came back to NY [following undergraduate work at Columbia University in English] after getting an art history degree at the University of Texas. I saw a sign for Arts Magazine. They needed reviewers so I went to them and they said, 'What have you written?' so I said, 'Nothing.' They gave me the size and the length of the review and said, 'Come back'. They liked what I wrote."

In 1977, Zimmer was hired by The Soho News, a now-defunct rival paper to the Village Voice published in Lower Manhattan. The artistic climate of the locale enabled Zimmer to become the first critic to review Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Keith Haring and other burgeoning artists of the 1980's.

"First I see the stuff, then I figure the context for it. What I tend to do is describe things, say what the art [is]... Anyway, the reader will get it, and then instead of citing the evidence of what the words I use, is--- if I like [the exhibition], I mainly go to events I [know I] will like. I only have a limited amount of space. I think I'd rather praise something than go around knocking it."

In 1981, The New York Times phoned Zimmer to offer him what remains his current beat, twenty-three years later: art commentary on the regional sections of New York, including Connecticut, Westchester County, New Jersey, and New York City.

"The arts scene has extended in those places. There are more college galleries-in some ways it's better. When you are away from New York, you can hang something in a different way. Place a painting next to another in a way you could never do in New York. You can do things that people want to do in New York," Zimmer details.

"I reviewed high-end places from the Pace Gallery to the gallery around the corner. I went there every month like a doctor making house calls." A lilt appears in Zimmer's voice, indicating a smile.

His tone darkens as he discusses editorial changes. He confides, "I have to say they [The New York Times] have cut back on the coverage. They used to want something all the time. It goes in cycles-they want more things. I've been there so long I've been through so many editors."

Zimmer supplements his journalist work with creating critical copy for catalogues and brochures. His more creative writings are not seen beyond his Noho home.

"I write creatively--but it's not published. I don't make art at all which is interesting. A lot of critics do, but artists who make art tend to favor art that looks like what they do. If you don't make it, like me, you're more open to whatever."

In addition to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which Zimmer praises, he describes his taste in art fare. "I like big, alternative spaces, like this place that's in Chelsea called Exit Art--- gigantic, rambling shows. They send out an international call for artists. I like that kind of energy."

"It's a strange field. There are so many words that nobody else gets. Then there are moments when you feel you've gotten the right take on something, it's really a nice feeling. Occasionally, you get a thank you letter."

Zimmer will jury the All-Florida Exhibition at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida in May. Additional information about NAP can be obtained by e-mailing napconn@aol.com or calling, (610) 683-6440.