Episodios

  • How Painters Today are Reframing… the Frame

    How Painters Today are Reframing… the Frame
    May 8 2025
    Almost by definition, the frame of a picture is something that you are not supposed to notice. But if you go to the art galleries to look at paintings now, you might get a very different sense of what a frame can or even should do. Weird and wild frames that very much draw attention to themselves seem to be having a moment. Recently, Artnet writer and editor Katie White penned a piece titled Bordercore: Why Frames Became the New Frontier in Contemporary Art. In her essay, she looks both at the history of framing styles, and talks to a number of contemporary painters to figure out what is causing so many to treat something that was literally considered peripheral to what they do as very much part of the main attraction. This week she joins Art Critic Ben Davis on the podcast to discuss this new frontier in art.
    Más Menos
    31 m
  • Megastar Artist Kent Monkman Is Rewriting Colonial Narratives on Canvas

    Megastar Artist Kent Monkman Is Rewriting Colonial Narratives on Canvas
    May 1 2025
    Kent Monkman is one of the most vital and provocative voices in contemporary painting. Based between Toronto and New York, and a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory, Monkman is known for his epic, genre-bending canvases that challenge dominant historical narratives and reframe them through Indigenous and queer perspectives. Monkman has developed a distinctive visual language that subverts classical European art traditions—particularly those of 19th-century and 20th-century history painting—to expose the distortions and omissions of colonial narratives. His work blends these European conventions with Indigenous histories, recontextualizing colonization while exploring themes of resilience, sexuality, joy, and identity. At the center of many of these works is Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman’s time-traveling alter ego. Clad in high heels, Miss Chief operates as both a trickster figure and a witness to colonial encounters, embodying Indigenous worldviews and queering history in a way that destabilizes settler-colonial perspectives. Through Miss Chief, Monkman reimagines historical events, placing Indigenous presence and agency at the forefront. Monkman’s large-scale commissions include mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People), a pair of monumental paintings created for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019, which directly confronted the institution’s colonial legacies. His work has been exhibited in major museums across North America and Europe, and is part of significant public and private collections. As his first major U.S. museum exhibition, "History is Painted by the Victors," opens at the Denver Art Museum, Monkman joined me to reflect on the road to this moment—a journey that spans decades of challenging entrenched narratives in Western art history. We spoke about how growing up in Winnipeg, amidst the complexities of Indigenous representation in Canadian institutions, shaped his relationship to museums; how painting serves as both a political tool and a personal method for processing historical trauma; and the collaborative energy that fuels his expansive studio practice.
    Más Menos
    36 m
  • Re-Air: How Textiles Took Over the Art World

    Re-Air: How Textiles Took Over the Art World
    Apr 24 2025
    This week we are running a re-air of an interview with the curator and writer Elisa Auther about the fascinating history of fiber art and its recent rise. The show we mentioned in the episode, woven histories, textiles and modern abstraction has arrived at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this week. And I think Auther's perspective makes a nice compliment to that important show. Contemporary art comes in many shapes and forms, but close your eyes and think of what an artist looks like and nine times out of 10, I bet you are still thinking of a painter in front of a canvas. If recent interest for museums and galleries is any indication, however, that image should be joined by another one: the fiber artist. Think of a weaver seated at the loom or a quilt-maker laboriously stitching together layers of fabric. The textile arts have experienced a quiet but steady groundswell of interest in the last decades, and recently I've noticed that it feels as if it is kicked into a new, even higher level, from the many kinds of textile based art throughout the most recent Venice Biennale to the major show "Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction," which is on a tour of some of North America's most important museums right now. As many textile scholars will tell you, tapestry was once as exalted as painting as an art form, and it may be so again. This surge of interest is bringing new audiences, new histories, and new vocabularies into the center of the action that are worth getting familiar with, and to unravel all the different threads, Art Critic Ben Davis turned to Elissa Auther, a scholar who looked at the tangled history of fiber art in her book String Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art. More importantly, she's been closely observing and encouraging the contemporary boom in textile art as the chief curator at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. This week she the podcast to discuss what's behind the resurgence of interest in this medium.
    Más Menos
    38 m
  • Trump: Cultural Offensive or Offensive Culture?

    Trump: Cultural Offensive or Offensive Culture?
    Apr 17 2025
    To say that the last few months have been chaos in the United States would most definitely be an understatement. Since Donald J. Trump's return to office in January, an angry culture war, divisive policies, and a seemingly endless barrage of executive orders has become the new normal. His office has sought to upend the relationship of government to culture, with no signs of slowing down. From cancelling humanities grants to fund a "heroes" sculpture garden, to calling for the decimation of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, to personally making himself the boss of the Kennedy Center, and shuttering DEI offices across the country, Trump is on a mission to upend the cultural landscape as we know it. It is very hard to keep up with the onslaught of changes, but one person who has is art critic and journalist Brian Boucher, who has written story after story for Artnet about the unfolding events. As we approach the end of Trump’s first 100 days at the end of this month, we asked Boucher to join us on the Art Angle podcast to discuss how this administration has, and will continue to enact changes that put the arts at serious risk.
    Más Menos
    34 m
  • The Rise of the Red-Chip Art World

    The Rise of the Red-Chip Art World
    Apr 10 2025
    In a recent essay, Artnet writer Annie Armstrong spotlighted a chaotic new force in the art world: red-chip art. It’s the brash, chrome-dipped, algorithm-boosted cousin of blue-chip art—and it’s booming. In her latest essay, Annie sketches out its archetypal collector: a guy barreling down the highway in a Cybertruck, checking his crypto wallet, queuing up a Joe Rogan episode, and racing to the next art opening—maybe an Alec Monopoly show, maybe a MSCHF drop. Red-chip art, as Annie defines it, is more than a market category—it’s a mood. On The Art Angle this week, she joins Senior Editor Kate Brown to unpack this sensibility, tracing its fanbase from crypto bros to Kanye West, and its canon from KAWS’s Companions to Daniel Arsham’s sculpture of Mark Zuckerberg’s wife in Tiffany blue. And yes, as Annie points out, red-chip art is not not related to Trumpism.
    Más Menos
    26 m
  • What’s Holding Women Back in the Arts—And How Can We Fix It?

    What’s Holding Women Back in the Arts—And How Can We Fix It?
    Apr 3 2025
    This week, we’re taking on a subject that affects the majority of the arts workforce— gender inequity in the industry. Women make up the backbone of the art world, but they continue to face barriers when it comes to work-life balance, pay, and career progression. So, what does the data actually tell us about the state of the industry? And, more importantly, what can be done to change things for the better? To answer those questions, we’re unpacking key findings from a major survey conducted by Artnet News in collaboration with the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA). More than 2,000 people responded to the call, with an additional 140 participating in a follow-up survey, ultimately providing an informative look at how women experience the art world—from hiring and pay to mentorship and bias. Joining Editor-In-Chief Naomi Rea, to break it all down is our News Editor Margaret Carrigan, who has been leading this project since last year. Margaret recently moderated a panel discussion on the topic in London with three industry powerhouses who shared their own experiences: gallerist Sadie Coles, India Phillips from Bonhams, and Clarrie Wallis, director of public institution Turner Contemporary. As the editor of our four-part editorial series on the findings, linked below, Margaret is perfectly positioned to break down the statistics and offer actionable advice on how the industry can do better for women, today.
    Más Menos
    43 m
  • Re-Air: Why Is Rococo Art Making a Comeback?

    Re-Air: Why Is Rococo Art Making a Comeback?
    Mar 27 2025
    When Madame du Barry, King Louis XV’s last mistress, pleaded for “just a little moment more” before her execution in 1793, in the throes of the French Revolution, she seemed to capture the fleeting pleasures and indulgence of the Rococo age. Artnet Editor Katie White eloquently described this moment before du Barry’s death in the opening of a recent essay, exploring how, centuries later, the aesthetic of whimsy, romance, and unapologetic luxury is making a bold return. She calls it Neo-Rococo. So what is Neo-Rococo, really? It’s a contemporary movement that merges the delicate pastels, ornamental elegance, and sensuality of 18th-century Rococo with modernist abstraction and feminist perspectives of contemporary art. Artists like Flora Yukhnovich, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, and Francesca DiMattio are key figures in this revival. They draw on the decorative roots of Rococo while addressing the complexities of today’s world. On this episode of The Art Angle, Katie joins Senior Editor, Kate Brown, to discuss this fascinating resurgence of a centuries-old aesthetic sensibility, and how it extends beyond the art world into broader pop culture. What lessons can we learn from this era of late Baroque history? Quite a few as a turns out. And some surprising ones—these artists are actually subverting the escapist art movement to draw out some interesting questions about beauty and femininity.
    Más Menos
    37 m
  • Who's Behind the Changing Tastes in the Art Market?

    Who's Behind the Changing Tastes in the Art Market?
    Mar 20 2025
    For the latest edition of the Artnet Intelligence Report, which is now free to download, Artnet columnist Katya Kazakina wrote a wide-ranging cover story about the state of play in the art industry. Titled “New Money, New Taste,” it charts a revolution that is underway in the market, amid what has been dubbed the Great Wealth Transfer. Economists, Kazakina reports, believe that $84 trillion in assets will change hands over the next 20 years—that's trillion... with a T. Gen Xers will inherit $30 trillion, millennials $27 trillion, and Gen Zers $11 trillion, according to one study. (Huge amounts of money!) She writes, "Their values, taste, and investment decisions will help determine the next cohort of top artists—who’s in and who’s out, who will endure and who will not." Could longstanding kings of auction houses, like Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso, be dethroned? Will new names—and new types of material—arise to take their place? Everyone is guessing, aiming to protect their assets while angling for business. All of this is happening against the backdrop of an art market marked by intense uncertainty, following some very tough years, as data in the Intelligence Report shows. The whole industry feels unsettled and off-kilter, and firms of all sizes are trying to figure out how to navigate the situation. This week on the podcast, Editor of Artnet News Pro, Andrew Russeth, speaks to Kazakina about her reporting.
    Más Menos
    41 m
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup