Help Jerry Saltz

Artists working for other artists is all about knowing, learning, unlearning, initiating long-term artistic dialogues, making connections, creating covens and getting temporary shelter from the storm. These mentorships and collaborations end up helping shape art and, especially in the U.S., they set up a crucial chain that enriches the art world; many of these young artists end up teaching in art schools themselves (unlike, say, the U.K., where most of the YBAs retreated into their own studios and/or material success). This percolates into real change.

Entirely on the suggestion of excellent writer Jim Lewis, I want to make a map of the Art World Family Tree, one that provides a complete picture of the many artists who have worked for another. I've assembled a quick unverified list of connections I've heard of, which you can see below. But I need your help. Please add any more that you can think of to my Art World Family Tree on the New York Magazine site: http://tinyurl.com/6chwxfv. Two quick rules for the list:

1. At least one of the names in each paring should have a modicum of recognition.


2. Please, only artists who worked for other artists, not artists who worked for galleries, dealers who worked for other dealers, or artists who worked at museums -- or DIA.*

I want this to result in a large, graphic Family Tree. (Maybe we'll ask all artists who like charts and systems to design this; William Powhida, Danica Phelps, Ward Shelley, Jim Torok, Mika Rottenberg, Lane Twitchell, Sean Landers, Adrian Piper, Raymond Pettibon, Douglas Gordon, Barry McGee, Fiona Banner, Christopher Knowles, Julie Mehretu, Benjamin Edwards, Loren Munk, etc. Where are Alfred Jensen, Ad Reinhardt, and Mark Lombardi when you need them? Sarah Sze and B. Wurtz can construct the thing. Liam Gillick can make it not make any sense but eloquently and with style. On Kawara will tally it all up.)

Here is my first stab at a list. I look forward to reading your additions (and corrections) below so I can get this project started.

Carroll Dunham worked for Dorothea Rockburne
Barnaby Furnas worked for Carroll Dunham
Christopher Wool worked for Joel Shapiro
Josh Smith worked for Christopher Wool
Annette Lemieux worked for David Salle
Jackie Saccoccio worked for Christopher Wool
Alexander Ross worked for Julian Lethbridge
Sarah Morris worked for Jeff Koons
Jennifer Rubell worked for Koons
Tony Matelli worked for Koons
Carl Fudge worked for David Reed
Matthew Weinstein worked for Ross Bleckner
Darren Bader worked for Urs Fischer
Robb Pruitt worked for Richard Artschwager
Daphne Fitzpatrick worked for Robert Gober
Robert Gober worked for Jennifer Bartlett
Banks Violette worked for Robert Gober
Margaret Lee worked for Cindy Sherman
Rirkrit Tiravanija worked for Gretchen Bender
Udomsak Krisanamis worked for Rirkrit Tiravanija
Brice Marden worked for Robert Rauschenberg
Dorothea Rockburne worked for Robert Rauschenberg
Matt Magee worked for Robert Rauschenberg
Elizabeth Peyton worked for Ronald Jones
Haroon Mirza worked for Jeremy Deller
Matt Keegan worked for Elizabeth Peyton
Gabriel Orozco worked for Antony Gormley
Alexis Rockman worked for Ross Bleckner
Mark Handforth worked for Martin Kippenberg
Jutta Koether worked for Martin Kippenberger
Susan Jennings worked for Cindy Sherman
Robert Melee worked for Marilyn Minter
Ronnie Cutrone worked for Andy Warhol
George Condo worked for Andy Warhol
Elyn Zimmerman worked for James Turrell.
Elyn Zimmerman worked for Robert Irwin
Rick Prol worked for Jean-Michel Basquiat
Keith Edmier worked for Matthew Barney
Massimiliano Gioni worked for Maurizio Cattelan
Lisa Ruyter worked for Marilyn Minter
Dave Muller worked for Mike Kelley
Collier Schorr worked for Richard Prince
Josephine Meckseper worked for Laurie Simmons
Laura Stein worked for John Baldessari
Jonas Wood worked for Laura Owens
Jonas Wood worked for Matt Johnson
Sally Ross worked for David Reed
Carl D’Alvia worked for Sean Scully
Huma Bhabha and worked together for Meyer Vaisman
Jason Fox worked for Vija Celmins
Jacob Kassay worked for Ann Craven and Josh Smith
Wayne Gonzales worked for Peter Halley
Ben Noam worked for Julie Mehretu
Lisa Ruyter worked for Mary Heilmann
Banks Violette worked for Robert Gober
Robert Melee worked for Marilyn Minter
Justine Kurland worked for Gregory Crewdson
Lisa Anne Auerbach worked for Paul McCarthy
Jennifer Bornstein worked for Sophie Calle
Jennifer Bornstein worked for Mike Kelley
Kenny Goldsmith worked for Allan McCollum
Ashley Bickerton worked for Jack Goldstein
Mike Ballou worked for Marilyn Minter
Matt Keegan worked for John Miller
Nicole Eisenman worked for David Humphrey
Inka Essenhigh worked for Gary Stephan
Merlin Carpenter worked for Martin Kippenberger
Isca Greenfield-Sanders worked for Cecily Brown
Corin Hewitt worked for Matthew Barney
Jessica Jackson Hutchins worked for Lawrence Weiner.
Jessica Jackson Hutchins worked for Joan Jonas

Who’s missing?

* Update: I am adding a #3: The chart will be all post-war artists.

JERRY SALTZ is art critic for New York magazine. This essay first appeared on his Facebook profile. He can be reached at jerry_saltz@nymag.com.