Explain Me
Paddy Johnson and William Powhida
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Top 10 Explain Me Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Explain Me episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Explain Me for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Explain Me episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
03/29/20 • 87 min
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.
The Uncanny Valley of Art World ChatGPT
Explain Me
01/29/23 • 22 min
Even when the A.I. chatbot ChatGPT gets everything wrong, it still sounds right. And that's some uncanny valley right there.
In this episode of Art Problems, I talk about ChatGPT and the larger A.I. field, some of the ethical issues involved, and see just how much the bot knows about the art world. Spoiler alert: it still can't write your artist statement. Boo.
Standing in Quicksand
Explain Me
02/12/19 • 94 min
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.
06/29/20 • 107 min
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.
09/21/21 • 119 min
In this episode artist Chloe Bass’s tweet pointing to the hypocrisy of the art world leads to a discussion of labor, the New York art fairs, and unions.
We discuss:
Max Lankin’s observations for ArtForum on the Armory Fair about how the new digs at the Javits Center improve upon the Piers, which were literally falling into the water. Funny how easy it is to forget that the Javits Center, just two months ago, served as a mass vaccination center, and the year prior a makeshift hospital for COVID victims. Mostly people were just happy to see each other again.
Dana Kopel’s piece in the Baffler Magazine, Against Artsploitation, which chronicles the unionization efforts at the New Museum, and the museum executive’s endless gaslighting of employees.
The New York Art Fairs. We talk about the art at The Armory Show, The Independent, and Spring Break. The work discussed below:
THE ARMORY SHOW
Jeffrey Gibson at Tandem Press
Wendy Redstar at Sargent’s Daughters
Tau Lewis at Night Gallery
Tony Matelli - Maruani Mercier
Theresa Chromati at The Kravets Wehby Gallery
Jennifer Bartlett at Locks Gallery
Kamrooz Aram at Green . Art . Gallery
Jose Davilas at Sean Kelly
Sara Greenberger Rafferty at Rachel Uffner
Susumu Kamijo at Jack Hanley
Hayley Barker at Shrine
Dontae Hayes at Mindy Solomon Gallery
Michael Rakowitz at Jane Lombard
INDEPENDENT
Julian Schnabel at Vito Schnabel
Sedrick Chisom at New American Painting
Jo Nigoghossian at Broadway Gallery
Erik Parker at Ross+Kramer
Amy Feldman at Galerie Eva Presenhuber
The Ranch
SPRING BREAK
Jennifer Catron and Paul Outlaw - curated by Magda Sawon
Chapel - curated by M. Charlene Stevens with work by Sophie Kahn and Colette Robbins
Outliars, curated by Elisabeth Smolarz, work by Angie Waller
Gather Rusted Satellites curated by Amanda Nedham Tristam Lasndwone, Kyle Hittmeirer
Nicholas Cueva
07/17/18 • 71 min
In this episode of Explain Me William Powhida and Paddy Johnson discuss the horrific business practices of Peter Brant and Interview Magazine, a fundraising campaign at University of North Carolina so misguided that firing is in order, and the latest headscratching Creative Time project. To help us discuss all of this, and how the new tax code will affect artists accountant and painter Hannah Cole joins us.
08/21/18 • 82 min
In this episode we talk with LoVID's Tali Hinkis about the challenges of being a mid-career artist outside of New York. We discuss how to engage a general audience to getting grants and networking. A refreshingly frank talk about what mid-career actually looks like for artists and what it takes to even get there.
The Stink of Met Admission Hikes Endures
Explain Me
02/21/18 • 48 min
Back in January, William Powhida and I recorded an episode of Explain Me on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new admission policy. Earlier that month, the museum known for housing some of the world's greatest treasures announced its admission price would no longer remain "pay-as-you-wish". As of March 1st, their suggested admission, $25 will become mandatory for anyone living outside of New York State. Children under 12 get in for free.
Given that there's less than two weeks until this policy change goes into affect, we thought it might be a good time to release our discussion and revisit the debate. Because what came out of the debate, was not a picture of an institution starving for more funds, but wealthy museum with a board and President ideologically opposed to the free admission policy. Learning this changed my position, which was one initially in support of a change the museum described as an absolute necessity, to boycotting the museum for the month of March. While the admission increase doesn't affect my cost of admission, it affects that of my family and friends from out of town. It is also entirely out of step with generosity of creative spirit that brought me to this city in the first place.
Over the course of the podcast, William and I discuss a large number of articles and the conclusions drawn by the authors. We go through the points rather quickly, so for those who want them at your finger tips, I've included them below.
Data People
These are thoughts by people we describe as "data driven".
Grey Matter's Tim Schneider. Cites studies that claim cost is a secondary factor to why people visit museums. People cite lack of time and lack of transportation as major factors. Adds the caveat that structural discrimination may account for some of these factors.
Colleen Dilen Schneider. The original blogger who sourced studies that claim cost is a secondary factor to why people visit museums. Expect a treasure trove of studies, over use of bolding and zero caveating. Read at your own risk.
Blogs
Hrag Vartanian interviews Met president Daniel Weiss for Hyperallergic. There's a lot in here, but we discuss the following points:
- Vartanian notes the museum's well-known $40 million deficit in the intro.
- Weiss says asking David Koch to pay for the Met's admissions would be inappropriate morally because the wealthy already support 75% of their budget and their current admissions is "failing".
- Claims a dramatic increase in visitors.
- Says there has been 71 percent decline in what visitors pay.
- Says the museum has close to a billion in endowments reserved for operations.
Felix Salmon at Cause and Effect. Looks at the Met's annual reports and finds that Weiss overstates the Met's visitor numbers (which increased by 11.5 % thanks to the Met Breuer opening), and misleads the public about admissions revenue, which has actually increased by 13 %. Concludes that admissions isn't the reason the museum has the deficit. Also, notes that the Met's endowment has risen $170 million a year through investments, of which, over $100 million a year can be used for anything they want. Concludes that the Met won't suffer by making $10 million a year less because they are maintaining their "pay-as-you-wish" policy.
Petitions
The Met Should Remain Free For All.
Main Stream Media
Jillian Steinhauer for CNN The Met Needs to Live Up To Its History and Its Public
Robin Pogrebin for The New York Times reports that Weiss cites the city's plans to reduce the Met's funding as one rationale for the change.
Holland Cotter at New York Times. New York residents would have to prove their residency by "carding" procedures, which he doesn't like because "it potentially discriminates against a population of residents who either don’t have legal identification or are reluctant to show the identification they have."
12/04/18 • 68 min
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
05/19/20 • 112 min
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.
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.)
#graduatetogether2020 (twitter hashtag)
Frieze Art Fair (May 8-15th)
NADA Fair (May 20-June 21)
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FAQ
How many episodes does Explain Me have?
Explain Me currently has 35 episodes available.
What topics does Explain Me cover?
The podcast is about Visual Arts, Podcasts and Arts.
What is the most popular episode on Explain Me?
The episode title 'From L.A. With Love: Thoughts on Online Viewing Rooms, Museum Layoffs, and More with Carolina Miranda and Michael Shaw' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Explain Me?
The average episode length on Explain Me is 78 minutes.
How often are episodes of Explain Me released?
Episodes of Explain Me are typically released every 38 days.
When was the first episode of Explain Me?
The first episode of Explain Me was released on Oct 2, 2017.
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