Do happy artists produce better work than gloomy artists? Renee Cox contemplates her own work and says yes. I say: Beethoven. We considered the matter at the Interntional Print Center in conjunction with their exhibition Black Pulp. The featured musical performer was Norris Bennett of the Ebony Hillbillies, whose work made me so joyful … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Art
Episode 147: Katherine Bradford
If an artist begins a work not with an abundance of ideas or an outpouring of emotion but only in puruit of a paycheck, is the work doomed? Painter Katherine Bradford took up this question at Planthouse Gallery with sharp analysis and grim personal experience – my favorite combination. Plus astute remarks about Philip Johnson … Continue reading »
Episode 132: Rick Moody and Fred Tomaselli
If we decline to buy an iPhone or a pair of sneakers made under miserable working conditions, how should we respond when a band leader brutalizes his musicians? Artist Fred Tomaselli and writer Rick Moody took up that question, praised the bleak arid landscapes of the Southwest and had some hard words for gulls when … Continue reading »
Episode 120: Gregory Crewdson
Photographer Gregory Crewdson takes pictures much the way a director makes movies: working with a crew, including a DP, and never touching a camera. The results are haunting and beautiful. We convened at Planthouse Gallery with musical guest Paul Grimstad. PERSON: his father, Frank Crewdson PLACE: Upper Goose Pond THING: a Fender Stratocaster guitar … Continue reading »
Episode 97: Barbara Bloom
Internationally known for her installations – at MOCA, MOMA, the Venice Biennale, The Stedelijk in Amsterdam – she does work that often has a kind of implied narrative: you get the previews, the posters, the ads, but not the movie itself. This was the first in a series of shows at Glenn Horowitz Booksellers. … Continue reading »
Episode 77: Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl came to fame in the New York art world of the nineteen-eighties (well yeah, not the eighteen-eighties) – in every era a cultural ecosystem inhabited by artists, art lovers, galleries, museums, and critics. This remixed episode includes a bonus segment from art-critic power couple Roberta Smith (New York Times) and Jerry Saltz (New York … Continue reading »
Episode 76: Robert Mankoff
He is the former cartoon editor of the New Yorker, whose own cartoon, captioned, “How about never – is never good for you?” is the magazine’s most frequently reprinted. He might be tired of talking about his greatest hit, but I think it places him among the immortals Photo: Davina Pardo PERSON: his mother, Mollie … Continue reading »
Episode 72: Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith is the senior art critic for the New York Times; her husband, Jerry Saltz, is the senior art critic for New York magazine. They stride across the art world like colossi or perhaps colusses, depending on your preference—astute, eloquent, wedded colussi. They joined us for a rare joint appearance on stage at the … Continue reading »
Episode 59: Alison Bechdel
The number of people who can currently see their lives enacted on the musical stage is, I believe, three. Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys, that scary witch in Wicked—but she might be fictional—and Alison Bechdel, whose graphic memoir, Fun Home, is the basis of the hit show at New York’s Public Theater. She draws, she … Continue reading »
Episode 36: Roz Chast
Born in Brooklyn, Roz Chast is best known for her cartoons for The New Yorker, many other magazines, and more than a dozen books. We note with pleasure how much she sounds like a Roz Chast cartoon: smart, funny, just a bit fretful, and thoroughly appealing. Maybe that’s because her cartoons have taught us to … Continue reading »
Episode 28: Al Jaffee
Cartoonist Al Jaffee is the creator of the Mad Magazine Fold-In and Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. He waas 92 when recorded this conversation, the magazine’s longest-running contributor, partly explained by his remark, “Serious people my age are dead.” PERSON: Harvey Kurtzman PLACE: The Muthaiga Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya THING: A MAD fold-in Continue reading »
Episode 15: Maira Kalman
One of America’s most beloved illustrators, Maira Kalman has drawn for children, with Max Stravinsky, the poet-dog; for adults, in the New Yorker; and for dancers, who share qualities of both, in creating sets for Mark Morris. She’s illustrated the new edition of The Elements of Style, been a “visual columnist” for the New York … Continue reading »