Exquisite Corpse: Contemporary Conversations

In episode 2, Enrique Chagoya NA and Titus Kaphar NA connect on their passion for arts education outside of the traditional education system, creating politically charged work that sometimes receives violent reactions, and the materiality and varied mediums of their work.

In episode one, Director of Programs and podcast host Adrienne Elise Tarver is joined by the Chief Curator and Director of National Academician Affairs at the National Academy of Design, Sara Reisman. They discuss why the podcast was named after a surrealist collaborative drawing technique and question the type of audience it may attract and exchanges it may enable between Academicians. They also touch on what topics Sara hopes to hear about, as well as the role that collaboration could play.

In the third episode of this season of Exquisite Corpse, we hear from two visual artists, Lorraine Shemesh and Frances Barth. Though the two artists have very different visual styles, their background and interest in dance and movement in their early careers heavily influenced their work and visual language, and sensibilities. They discuss their working-class upbringing, painting as women in New York for decades, and the gender biases that continue to pervade the art world and culture in general. Both artists connect on the compulsion to make art, the difficulties in but ultimate importance of their educational opportunities.

Frances discusses her recent work Dreaming Tango, a film that explores Argentine Tango in the lives of six people. Lorraine talks about her ceramics and their impact on her work in paint. And despite all their differences, they connect over many similar experiences in their long and varied careers during which both artists worked in many different media and dealt with the challenges that presented. Finally, they explain what it means to them to be inducted into the National Academy by their peers and how difficult it is sometimes to connect with other artists.

The final episode of Exquisite Corpse’s second season features a conversation between LA-based architect, Michael Maltzan, who chose to speak with an artist who had an impact on his work, Mary Miss, who is based in New York.

Mary speaks about her early career as an artist during the 1960s, the influences of minimalism and landscape on her practice, and how these influences pushed her closer to architecture. The two National Academicians discuss the ways in which their work is, in part, concerned with the interaction between a viewer and the work itself. They both discuss the psychological concerns of this interaction between the viewer and the work and what impact this has on their respective practices.

Michael probes a constellation of ideas—timescales, permanence, ephemerality—and how their respective practices are often quite different in this regard. Both examine the paths their practices have taken toward the impacting social change, and Mary considers participation and the notion of the “expanded field” working as an artist out in the world as an architect does.

In the first episode of Season 3, previous guest Frances Barth chooses to speak with painter William T. Williams. They discuss their 50-year friendship, reminiscing about influences and interactions throughout their accomplished careers like working at Skowhegan, being neighbors, and their shared communities of artists. They discuss the mentors that were a part of their artistic development and how they help students and the next generation develop their own work. In the growing age of social media and miscellaneous distractions, both National Academicians share their advice for emerging artists to remain centered and focused.