Saltz worked briefly at Jan Cicero Gallery before co-founding, with Barry Holden and artists from the Art Institute of Chicago, N.A.M.E.

[1][6] In an article in Artnet magazine, Saltz codified his outlook: "All great contemporary artists, schooled or not, are essentially self-taught and are de-skilling like crazy.

[8] In Seeing Out Loud, his collection of Village Voice columns published in 2003, he said he considers himself the kind of critic that Peter Plagens calls a "goalie," someone who says "It's going to have to be pretty good to get by me.

[13] He has expressed doubt about art critics' influence as purveyors of taste, saying they have little effect on the success of an artist's career.

"[15] That same year, Saltz reviewed American-Canadian artist Carole Freeman's exhibit featuring portraits of little known Americans who bring to light current socio-political issues.

[16][17] Saltz wrote: "These transporting portraits are beautiful meditations in paint... Each is rendered lovingly and intensely; the works impart that the chariot to greatness comes in many forms and that every artist is also one of these mighty figures, laboring with passion in private shadows.

"[18] Saltz uses Facebook more actively than many other art critics, posting daily questions and diatribes to his audience of friends, which numbered 94,039 people in December 2020.

His posts are less polished and restrained than his writing for New York Magazine and vulture.com, and he has shared personal matters including family tragedies, career bumps and his diet.

[21] In an interview with Artinfo, Dalton said of the work, “I became interested in Jerry Saltz's Facebook page as an amazing site of written dialogue and as a place where culture is being created on the spot.

I think my piece, and Jerry Saltz's Facebook page itself, tells us that a lot of people in the art world crave dialogue and community, and when a space is welcoming enough people really flock to it.”[22] In 2010, Saltz asked his Facebook friends about art studio (or office) door signs—and then later sought someone to compile the replies.

[25][26] Saltz served as a judge in the Bravo television series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist which ran from June 9, 2010, to December 21, 2011.