From the category archives:

Explain Me

Explain Me: The New Museum Triennial—Two Critics Perform Their Own Acts of Sabotage

by Paddy Johnson on April 18, 2018

In this episode of Explain Me, Paddy Johnson and William Powhida discuss the New Museum Triennial. Both Johnson and Powhida agree this show has more of its fair share of bad art but only Powhida sees this as a dealbreaker. Debate ensues. The ad in which Pepsi and model Kendall Jenner create world peace gets a mention.

Thanks to Explain Me sponsor, Superfine

Lydia Ourahmane, “Finitude, 2018, Courtesy of the Artist

Chemu Ng’ok Image via: Hyperallergic

Anupam Roy installation view

Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude, The New Zimbabwe (2018) at “2018 Triennial: Songs

Manolis D. Lemos, dusk and dawn look just the same (riot tourism), 2017 (still). Courtesy of the artist and CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery, Athens

Haroon Gunn-Salie “Senzenina” (2018), an installation by the South African artist Haroon Gunn- Salie, memorializes the 2012 police massacre of striking miners in his homeland.

Hardeep Pandhal, Pool Party Pilot Episode, 2018, 4K animation, color, sound; 8:10 min. Hardeep Pandhal.

Tomm El-Saieh

Tiril Hasselknippe, installation view

PRONOUNCIATION GUIDE

Gary Carrion-Murayari

** Carry-on Mur-uh-yar-ee

Tomm El-Saieh

** El-say

Lydia Ourahmane

** Oura-ha-mane

Chemu Ng’ok

** Chem-oo Nuh-gok

Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude

** Tap-ee-wa Naw-u-deh

Manolis D. Lemos

** Man-o-lis Lem-os

Tiril Hasselknippe

** Tir-ill Has-ul-nip

Hardeep Pandhal

** Pand-al

Haroon Gunn-Salie ** Sal-ley

Anupam Roy

** A-new-pam

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Explain Me: The Spring Break Art Show Part One and Two With Pictures!

by Paddy Johnson on March 17, 2018

Last week William Powhida and I spent an enormous amount of time at the Spring Break Art Show. We had so much to say about the show we produced two podcasts and discussed many booths at length. In the first podcast, we give the lay of the land in art fair world (we discuss the character of other fairs, and SPRING/BREAK), identify themes, and get the bad art out of the way. We also collect a few pitches from those in booths, so those who couldn’t attend the fair could get a sense of what it was like. In the second podcast we go deep on a few booths and try to give a more thorough analysis of what we saw.

There are however some limitations to what we can do with a podcast, and one of them is visuals. Handily, Art F City manages those just fine, so in this post I assemble images of a lot of the work we discuss so that listeners have a few cues. That said, a disclaimer needs to be made: some of these photographs suck. I’ve tried whenever possible to use press images, but in some cases, I wasn’t able to make that happen. You’ll know the difference, and I’m sorry.

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Explain Me: The Stink of Met Admission Hikes Endures

by Paddy Johnson on February 21, 2018

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.

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Explain Me: What Curators Really Think—A Cringe Worthy Report

by Paddy Johnson on December 29, 2017

On this episode of Explain Me we discuss a disastrous curator conference at SVA titled “Curatorial Activism and the Politics of Shock”, the Miami art fairs, and three shows— “Talon Rouge: Six Mexican Artists Revisit José Juan Tablada and His New York Circle” at PROXYCO, “Johnny Abrahams: Threnody” at The Hole and “Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: Learning Artist” and “Maryam Hoseini Of Strangers and Parrots” at Rachel Uffner.

Links and show images mentioned in the discussion below:

CAFKA
TJ Clark – Farewell to an idea
PROXYCO
“Johnny Abrahams: Threnody” at The Hole
“Molly Zuckerman-Hartung: Learning Artist” and “Maryam Hoseini Of Strangers and Parrots” at Rachel Uffner

Installation view, Johnny Abrahams “Threnody”

Installation view, Maryam Hoseini, Of Strangers and Parrots, Rachel Uffner Gallery

Installation view, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Learning Artist, Rachel Uffner Gallery

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Gentrification, Income Inequality and Donald Trump Baby Turds

by Paddy Johnson on November 24, 2017

In this episode of Explain Me William Powhida and Paddy Johnson talk about the 450 million dollar Leonardo Da Vinci of disputed authenticity and the Boyle Heights activists who follow artist Laura Owen’s from L.A. to New York to protest her non-profit 365 Mission while she visited The Whitney. Activists believe the presence of her gallery will lead to displacement. Additionally, we discuss the exhibitions listed below.

Listen to us on iTunes and Stitcher.

Didier Williams

Tiger Strikes Asteroid: Didier William, “We Will Win“. Review: A Haitian Artist’s Mesmerizing Eyes

Paddy Johnson failing to hula hoop and draw at the same time.

The Museum of Human Achievement (in Austin TX)

Nicholas Cueva at Five Miles

Five Miles: Nicholas Cueva, “The People Games Play”

Tracing Trajectories at Trestle Gallery – Installation view.

Trestle Projects: Tracing Trajectories/Selections from the Hoggard/Wagner Collection

From “Anteroom”, by Anita Thacher, 1982, 35mm color slide projection, brass doorknob and plate, sound, 108 x 144 x 3 inches – Image courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery

Microscope Gallery: Anita Thacher, “Anteroom”

Rachel Rossin, Installation view at Signal Gallery

Rachel Rossin Aquarium detail

Signal Gallery: Rachel Rossin, “Peak Performance”

Installation view at Present Company

Myeongsoo Kim at Present Company

Present Company: Myeongsoo Kim and Jessie Rose Vala, “Dusk to Dust”

Future Retrieval at Denny Gallery, Installation view

Denny Gallery: Future Retrieval, Permanent Spectacle

Derek Eller Gallery: Whiting Tennis

Whiting Tennis, The Vegetarian, at Derek Eller

Whiting Tennis at Derek Eller, Installation view

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Explain Me with Kenny Schachter: How Trumpian is the Art World?

by Paddy Johnson on November 7, 2017

This week on Explain Me, William Powhida and I talk to Kenny Schachter about the art world and it’s problem with truth. In addition to a bunch of talk about the upper tier—Schachter’s speciality—we grill him on the troubles of the middle tier, which he mostly describes as cyclical and thus not as bad as they seem. Tune in for the back and forth on this—we disagreed. We also discuss the market for Yayoi Kusama, Joe Bradley, Israel Lund, and a slew of unnamed middle tier artists trying to make a go of it in an unfriendly market environment.

You can always find the podcast on Art F City, but remember we’re also on iTunes and Stitcher. Also, we have another bonus episode slated to run at the end of the week filled with reviews and news, so look forward to that.

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The New “Explain Me”s: Monsters and Monstahs in the House

by Paddy Johnson on October 18, 2017

The new Explain Me podcasts have dropped! This week William Powhida and I did more than we anticipated, so there are two podcasts. The first is a discussion with L.A.Times Staff Writer Carolina A. Miranda (also known as @cmonstah on Twitter) about what David Geffen’s $150 million donation to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art means to the institution. We get into the politics of architecture and discuss speculation over where Geffen’s own collection will land. Later we discuss the recent anti-gentrification protests in Boyle Heights, and how their take-no-prisoners approach has forced one gallery, PSSST to close. Long story short, when it comes to the LA art scene, Miranda is pretty much the most informed human being on the planet. So, we had her on the show. Listen to the podcast below, on Stitcher, and on iTunes.

In part two, “Making Monstrosity Visible in Three Parts”, Powhida and I get to discussing some art. We talk about the Trevor Paglen exhibition at Metro Pictures, which is creepy as fuck. (We also take issue with New York Magazine critic Jerry Saltz’s review on the subject.) We look at Ellie Ga at Bureau, who sensitively touches on the horror of the Syrian refugee crisis. And finally, we take a look Omer Fast show at James Cohen gallery, which is currently at the center of controversy. Numerous protestors have taken issue with Fast’s decision to transform the gallery into a Chinese bus station, and have accused the artist of yellowface. We take a look at the protestors message, Fast’s installation and videos and try to identify where things went wrong. It’s a great discussion and one I hope you’ll tune into. Listen to this podcast below, on Stitcher and on iTunes.

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Explain Me

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