In the last few years, though, we have seen retrospectives for Yayoi Kusama, Agnes Martin, Carmen Herrera, Alma Thomas, Marilyn Minter, to name a few. While women may not yet have achieved parity with men, it is promising that artists Vija Celmins, Adrien Piper, Sally Mann all have major retrospectives scheduled for 2018.

On the flip side, male artists and men of power in the art world are being called out for misogynistic behavior and sexual misconduct. The long list of male celebrities accused of sexual misconduct in 2017 is depressing, and the art world is not excluded. Two weeks ago, painter Chuck Close apologized (sort of) after facing allegations from several women that he sexually harassed them when they came to his studio to pose for him. The Chuck Close incident came on the heels of Knight Landesmen, the publisher of Artforum, stepping down after accusations of sexual harassment from 9 women.

Of course, misogyny in art is also not unique to 2017. Back in 2013, artist Georg Basilitz told a reporter from Der Spiegel that "Women don't paint very well." In a 2015 interview with the Guardian, he doubled down claiming "the market doesn't lie," leaving us with no doubt of his backward, sexist stance.

If the positive attention being brought to female artists could potentially increase the value of their work, how will the negative attention earned by some male artists potentially impact the perception of their work both culturally and economically? I don't think it can be positive based on how we have responded to top performers, actors, and musicians like Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, and others. Whether you or I agree or disagree with devaluing art for it either being perceived as misogynistic, racist, lewd, insensitive, or offensive, it is already happening. Look at these stories from 2017:

Of course it needs to be said that freedom of expression, fighting censorship, and addressing difficult subject matter are some of the most important functions of art in our society. Equally important is the public response, which sometimes includes protests and public outrage, as it should. Without public response, positive or negative, art risks getting locked in a dangerous self-indulgent echo chamber. The art-loving public are engaging, and are pushing back against the display of work they feel is either cruel, insensitive, or does not reflect the world they want to live in. I predict now more than ever, pressure on artistic institutions and collectors driven by a more participatory "social" media will increasingly reshuffle who we value and how we value art and artists.

#2 Consolidation of the online art market