Explain Me – Details, episodes & analysis

What does contemporary kitsch look like? In this episode, Paddy and William use a discussion of the art fairs and New York gallery scene to lead a defining of the term. From its generic definition of objects described to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, to the current nostalgia driving a tasted for recycled art movements, all kitsch lacks in originality. 

Listen in for the whole conversation. 

THE INDEPENDENT

Kenny Schachter at Allouche Benias Gallery 

Renate Druks at The Ranch,

Olivia Reavey at Helena Anrather

1-54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART FAIR

Sanaa Gateja at 50 Golborne

WonderBuhle at BKhz Gallery

VOLTA

Michael Foley

GALLERIES 

Judith Linhares at PPOW 

JTT Gallery Anna-Sophie Berger and Sam McKinniss

Sky Hopinka at Broadway Gallery 

Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Bortalami 

Nora Turato at 52 Walker Gallery

ARTICLES

The Downward Spiral: 59th Venice Biennial by Dean Kissick 

Art media does a great job at looking forward to art events, yet rarely looks back to reflect on what these happenings say about the cultural moment. In this episode of Explain Me, co-hosts Paddy Johnson and William Powhida do a deep dive into the fairs to discuss the deeply conservative sales landscape we've been sinking into over the past ten years.  

ARTISTS DISCUSSED

Carlos Jacanamijoy’s 2020 ab ex painting “Carminos de Luz” at Harper’s

Laurie Reid’s “Ballast” at Et Al. Gallery

The Baboon Chair by  Margaux Valengin at Pact

Paul Gabrelli’s “Everyday Objects” at New Discretions

Elliot Reed at Anonymous Gallery

Dan Colen at Gagosian

Al Freeman at 56 Henry

Tessa Lynch’s text-based compositions at Patricia Fleming Gallery

Scott Lyal at Migeul Abbreu Gallery

Aaron Garber-Maikovska

Casja von Zeipel’s Celesbian Terrain  

Kevin McCoy’s corporate-sponsored display of Quantum and some generative artworks by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. 

Pedro Reyes, Alex da Corte, Nayland Blake, Alex Katz, Matthew Wong, 

In this episode of Explain Me, critic and curator Antwaun Sargent joins us to discuss the effects of the pandemic and Alex Greenberger's Zombie Figuration, a confusing essay that appeared earlier this month in ARTnews. In the first half hour we discuss the disparate effects of the pandemic and general politics. Then we move on to art, zombies,  race,  and why art has limits. 

BIOGRAPHY

Antwaun Sargent is an art critic and a writer who has contributed to The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vice and more, as well as essays to multiple museum publications. His first book, “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” (Aperture) is out now. In April he announced a new partnership with Gagosian that will include working on four exhibitions and contributing features to their magazine.  Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. 

LISTENER ADVISORY: In this episode, Paddy Johnson occasionally repeats Antwaun Sargent's words when his audio cuts out. This leads to periodic moments when Johnson and Sargent speak at the same time. 

LINKS

• First There Was Zombie Formalism, Now There is Zombie Figuration
• Met Apologies to Glenn Ligon
• Noah Davis
• Barkley Hendricks
• Kehinde Wiley 
• Cinga Samson
• Peter Saul 
• Alice Neal
• Jordan Casteel
• Jordan Casteel at the New Museum

EARLY WHITNEY BIENNIAL REVIEWS 

• Paddy Johnson
• Andrew Russeth
• Linda Yablonsky

Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts

Artist Nayland Blake joins the podcast to discuss the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer, mass protests, and the resurgence of COVID as the backdrop for public art and how museums are addressing diversity.  Spearheaded in large part by Blake, we discuss all of these issues  through the lens of what people need and how art makers, art workers and arts institutions answer that need. 

We started the conversation with Blake's recent twitter thread on art criticism. 

"Art criticism is the activity of thinking with and through art objects," they wrote. "If you constantly reach for the same few objects to think with, you stagnate as a critic and simply reinforce your own bias." 

Other relevant links mentioned in the show: 

• Nayland Blake's website
• Julie Mehretu's Goldman Saks mural
• Mark Bradford
• Social Abstraction
• What is the Boogaloo movement? 
• Dread Scott's Rebel Reenactment
• Marblecake Also the Game
• Gamergate Explainer

Support Explain Me by becoming a member on Patreon. 

This week on Explain Me, co-hosts William Powhida and Paddy Johnson talk to arts organizers and activists Heather Bhandari and Nikki Columbus about the challenges for mothers during the pandemic, and the challenges for arts workers seeking to make changes to a system that no longer works for them. 

Of the family-focused topics discussed we take on pandemic screen time for kids (Bhandari describes DinoTrux as terrible for kids, but a necessary evil), what to do if your toddler licks a bodega door, and disrupted schedules that make it impossible to find or look for work and require long and often unusual hours. 

On the subject of organizing we discuss several projects spearheaded by Bhandari and Columbus respectively designed to pave actionable paths for artists. 

Finally we discuss Frieze New York, and contrast their dubious charity efforts during the fair to the more collective NADA art fair model that works towards a sustainable model for everyone. Show links below. 

The Art World Conference 

Forward Union 

Art/Work, Heather Bhandari and Jonathan Melber 

N+1, Free Your Mind, by Claire Bishop and Nikki Columbus

Art+Work+Place, Emergency Session I, Veralist Center

Art+Work+Place, Emergency Session II, Veralist Center

Museum transparency Newsletter (Read about all the layoffs and other bad news that’s happening in the museum world right now—of which there is a ton.)

The Model Model: Ethical Actions by Arts Organizations in the time of COVID-19 (Read about the good news and exemplary work by arts organizations.) 

Obama Commencement Speech

#graduatetogether2020 (twitter hashtag) 

Frieze Art Fair (May 8-15th) 

NADA Fair (May 20-June 21)

Serkan Özkaya's Proletarier Aller Länder (Workers of the World) 1999, Image via Postmaster's Gallery.

In this episode of Explain Me, hosts Paddy Johnson and William Powhida talk to Magda Sawon of Postmasters Gallery in New York, and Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO and founder of Atelier4, an arts logistics company based out of New York. The discussion includes stories and conversations you won’t find anywhere else. 

Schwartz reports that at least one logistics company is currently breaking the law to ship art, and that Fedex trucks are in short supply because they’re being used to transport the dead. 

Magda describes the challenges for galleries which range from financial burdens to the need to better consider the online art environment. 

William and Paddy discuss the financial precarity of artists, writers, and educators. 

As a group we talk about what needs to be done to respond to the crisis and what is being done. We also make the mini announcement that we will be launching a Patreon for Explain Me in the next week or two. More details on that soon!

We’re looking at a radical shift in opportunity, so this conversation includes a fair amount of debate. We’re also doing it over zoom, with William on the phone due to an internet connectivity issue. This isn’t the best recording quality we’ve ever produced, but it might be the most important episode. Please tune in.  

COMING UP: Resources for freelancers and art organizations. What relief is available and how long it will take to get to the people who need it.

Welcome back to Explain Me! In an effort to produce content a little more regularly we're trying something new: no editing. This means a little more baseless speculation, and off the cuff commentary, in return for actual podcasts! Yes! In this episode we discuss news, art, and trends seen at The Armory, Spring Break and The Independent. Highlights include: The Armory

• News! They're moving to the Javits Center! Speculation about what that means.
• Adrian Wong with animal spiritual guide Lynn Schuster at Carrie Secrist Gallery
• Austin Lee at Jeffrey Dietch
• Kumasi J. Barnett at Ryan Lowell Projects
• Dominic Chambers at Anna Zorina Gallery
• Matt Bolinger at Zurcher 
• Hannah Wilke and Cassils at Feldman Gallery

Spring Break

• Gallery Cubed's Nathan Sinai Rayman
• Emily McElreath and Evan Pepper's show of work by Jeila Gueramian
• Chambliss Giobbi’s A Room with a View
• Carlos Rosales-Silva

The Independent

• Galerie Jocelyn Wolff's Miriam Cahn
• Various Small Fires's Jessie Homer French
• Andrew Edlin Gallery
• Colored pencil and pastels

We cover a lot of ground in this episode of Explain Me. That ground looks something like this: 

• The Velvet Buzzsaw is a bad movie.
• Mary Boone is still awaiting sentencing for falsifying tax documents—a whistleblower could get as much as $300,000 in reward for the tip.
• Dawn Clements is remembered at Pierogi.
• Dana Schutz's first show since the controversy over her painting of Emmitt Till at the Whitney Biennial.
• Chelsea is more woke.
• W.A.G.E. is asking artists to withhold their art from the Whitney Biennial until the museum adequately address the issue of their board chair selling tear gas used on children at the border.
• Amazon is reaching out to artists in attempts to buy their support. Listeners who want to organize against this kind of practice should attend the next Artist Studio Affordability Project meeting. Contact the organization for details. 

Donna DeSalvo assembles some of Andy Warhol's greatest work for his retrospective at the Whitney Museum, while revelations that Whitney Vice Chair Warren B. Kanders owns a company that sells tear gas used at the border shake museum staff. Soul of a Nation at the Brooklyn Museum looks at the history of political activism, while Jack Waters offers a mix of bag of awe inspiring abject art paired with groan inspiring sculptures and paintings. Jack Whitten at the Metropolitan Museum dazzles, Art and Conspiracy flops, and Amazon is going to drive us all out of our homes. Relevant links below. 

Andy Warhol at The Whitney Museum

Whitney Museum Vice Chairman Owns a Manufacturer Supplying Tear Gas at the Border, Hyperallergic

Whitney Museum Staffers Demand Answers, Hyperallergic 

Soul of a Nation, Art in the Age of Black Power at the Brooklyn Museum 

John Waters: Indecent Exposure at the Baltimore Museum of Art 

Jack Whitten at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Closed Dec 2)

Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amazon Headquarters Will Come to Long Island City: Curbed Explainer

ASAP Pledge Not to Take Crumbs from Amazon