Art from the Outside

This episode we are thrilled to be talking with the incredible artist Nadya Tolokonnikova.

Nadya is the creator of Pussy Riot, a global feminist art movement. In 2012 she was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance Punk Prayer. Punk Prayer was named by The Guardian among the ‘best art pieces of the 21st century’.

Tolokonnikova's Putin’s Ashes art installation at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in January 2023 propelled her into a new criminal case and put on Russia’s most wanted criminal list. On June 21st, 2024 her debut museum exhibition RAGE, opened at OK Linz, Linz, Austria, and shortly after she performed the piece at the Neue Nationalgalerie on July 4. 

Tolokonnikova's work is held in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Art and Design, and American Folk Art Museum, among others.

Some artists discussed in this episode:

You can read more about Nadya's show with Jeffrey Deitch in Los Angeles here:

https://deitch.com/los-angeles/exhibitions/pussy-riot-putin-s-ashes

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram!

This episode we are thrilled to be talking with the Brazilian born artist Alexandre da Cunha. 

Based between London and Sao Paulo, Ale has referred to his practice as ‘pointing’ as opposed to ‘making’. By ‘pointing’ at existing objects in plain sight, he highlights new and unexpected meanings within the objects he chooses. 

Grounded in material aesthetics, Ale creates monumentally scaled sculptures and playfully constructed wall-mounted work using metamorphosed everyday and found objects. Given their renewed possibility and playing with the visual language of art historical movements such as Arte Povera and Tropicália, Ale’s sculptures inspire lush potential, elevating our everyday encounters with ordinary materials to sociocultural events.

Ale’s work has been widely exhibited around the world. He’s had solo exhibitions at the Brighton CCA, the Royal Society of Sculptors in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Centro Cultural São Paulo, Brazil - among many others. 

Ale’s work is included in major private and institutional collections including the ICA Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Tate, and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil, just to name a few.

Ale is represented by Thomas Dane Gallery, Galerie Luisa Strina, and James Cohan Gallery.

This episode, we are hugely excited to be joined by the artist Igshaan Adams.

Born in Bonteheuwel, a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa in 1982, Igshaan draws upon his background to contest racial, sexual and religious boundaries. This intersectional topography remains visible throughout his practice. Speaking about his work, Igshaan has said: "I’m interested in the personal stories recorded on the surface. What is recorded is not necessarily always a factual account but can be what is imagined – a combination of myth-making and meaning-making."

Igshaan has had solo exhibitions around the world, including at The Art Institute of Chicago, the Hayward Gallery in London, and the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, just to name a few. Plus, this June, we can look forward to a new solo exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield (which, as someone from the UK, Will is especially excited about).

Igshaan has also participated in numerous international group shows, including the Islamic Arts Biennale (2023) in Jeddah, the Venice Biennale, and – where Will had the pleasure of getting to meet Igshaan in person, the São Paulo Bienal. He is also included in the show Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican Gallery in London. It will run from the 13th of February to the 26th of May 2024.

Igshaan is represented by blank projects, Thomas Dane Gallery, and Casey Kaplan.

https://blankprojects.com/Igshaan-Adams

https://www.thomasdanegallery.com/artists/363-igshaan-adams/profile/

https://caseykaplangallery.com/artists/igshaan-adams/

This episode we are thrilled to be joined by the trailblazing artist Shahzia Sikander.

Originally from Lahore, Pakistan; Sikander works across a variety of media including: paintings, video, and most recently, sculpture.

She is best known for subverting Central and South-Asian manuscript painting traditions and launching the form known today as neo-miniature.

Sikander earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore; and a Master of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design.

Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in New York and Abu Dhabi - among many others.

In addition, Sikander is the recipient of numerous honors including the Pollock Prize for Creativity, the Asia Society Award for Significant Contribution to Contemporary Art, and a MacArthur Fellowship - just to name a few

Enjoy!!

Some artists, poets, and writers discussed in this episode:

You can learn more about Shahzia's residency at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute here.

https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/alan-kanzer-artist-residence

Shahzia is represented by Sean Kelly gallery.

https://www.skny.com/artists/shahzia-sikander

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/artfromtheoutsidepodcast/

This episode we are thrilled to be joined by the artist P Staff. 

Born in Bognor Regis in the UK and now living and working between Los Angeles and London, P’s work draws from a wide-ranging assortment of inspirations, materials, and settings to emphasize the processes by which bodies – especially those of people who are queer, trans, or disabled – are controlled by society. 

P works across multiple media, including installation, film, and poetry. In their 2019 installation On Venus at the Serpentine Gallery in London, P used mirrored floors, yellow lights, and warped footage to explore the exchange between bodies, ecosystems, and institutions from a queer and trans perspective. P went on to present a version of this work at the Venice Biennale last year.

And in their exhibition this summer at the Kunsthalle Basel titled In Ecstasy (or alternatively In Ekstase), P used materials including electric nets, architectural interventions, and holograms to consider how bodies are disciplined in a society defined by capitalism and its brutality. 

Among a host of venues worldwide, P has had solo exhibitions at institutions including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Chisenhale Gallery, London (which is actually run by Zoe Whitley, a guest from Season 1 of Art from the Outside).

Some artists and thinkers discussed in this episode:

P is represented by Commonwealth and Council in the United States and Galerie Sultana in Europe.

https://commonwealthandcouncil.com/us/patrick-staff/biography

https://galeriesultana.com/artists/p-staff

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram. Enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/artfromtheoutsidepodcast/

This episode we are hugely excited to be joined by the artist Tiona Nekkia McClodden!

Tiona is a visual artist, filmmaker, and curator whose work explores and critiques issues at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and social commentary. 

Born in Blytheville, Arkansas and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Tiona weaves narratives through archives, memories and objects, integral to her past and present, that shape her broader practice. 

In 2022, Tiona’s exhibitions at The Shed and 52 Walker alongside her year-long installation at MoMA in New York, garnered significant acclaim, prompting The New York Times to identify Teeona as “one of the most singular artists of our aesthetically rich, free-range time.”

Her work have been shown at Kunsthalle Basel, the Institute of Contemporary Art-Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art (New York); the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) ; the New Museum (New York); Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) – Berlin, among many others.

And, just in September, Tiona opened up the installation Tiona Nekkia McClodden: Play Me Home at the Baltimore Museum.

Some artists and institutions discussed in this episode:

Tiona is represented globally by White Cube gallery.

https://www.whitecube.com/artists/tiona-nekkia-mcclodden

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram. Enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/artfromtheoutsidepodcast/

SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE!!

In this special episode, we host a conversation with artist John Edmonds and Guggenheim curator Dr. Ashley James and to discuss the Guggenheim's new exhibition, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility.

The exhibition presents works of art that feature partially obscured or hidden figures, thus positioning them at the “edge of visibility.” In this art context, the common phrase going dark is understood as a tactic whereby artists visually conceal the body to explore a key tension in contemporary society: the desire to be seen and the desire to be hidden from sight.

Among a host of incredible artists, Going Dark also includes two Art from the Outside guests: Ming Smith from Season 3, and Tiona Nekkia McClodden, an upcoming Season 4 guest.

The exhibition is on view at the Guggenheim New York from October 20, 2023 - April 7, 2024. The museum is located at 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128 (Between 88th and 89th Streets).

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/going-dark-the-contemporary-figure-at-the-edge-of-visibility

Welcome to season 4 of Art from the Outside!

This episode we are thrilled to kick off the season with the artist Zadie Xa. Born in Vancouver in 1983 and now based in London, Zadie has developed an expansive practice that addresses the nature of diasporic identities, global histories, familial legacies and interspecies communication. Working across painting, sculpture, textile production, and performance, she draws upon her Korean heritage as she seeks to elevate narratives that have been erased or repressed by the West and occupying powers.

Her work has been presented at venues around the world, such as the Whitechapel Gallery in London, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada and Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland. In 2019, Zadie was invited to contribute to the performance program at the 58th Venice Biennale, which was also curated by Ralph Rugoff and Aaron Cezar - another Art from the Outside guest.

In July Zadie opened the exhibition Nine Tailed Tall Tales: Trickster, Mongrel, Beast at Space K Seoul, South Korea.

Some artists discussed in this episode:

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram. Enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/artfromtheoutsidepodcast/

This episode, we are thrilled to be joined by the visionary collector, philanthropist, Pamela Kramlich. Over the last 35 years, alongside her husband Richard Kramlich, Pamela has built one of the most distinguished and expansive collections of time-based media art. The collection, which includes over 200 works of film, video, slide, and installation, as well as more than 250 works of photography, sculpture, painting, and drawing is predominantly located in their home in Napa Valley California, where they commissioned Herzog and de Meuron to design a residence and exhibition space.

Pam is also the founder of the New Art Trust, one of the most important nonprofits leading the conversation around conservation, presentation, and public education for “new media” art. This incredible organization has been instrumental in building new practices around how we view, maintain, and think about art work today.

In addition to that, Pam is a distinguished philanthropist, sitting on the board of SF MoMA in addition to many other organizations.

Some artists discussed in this episode:

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram. Enjoy!

This episode we have the privilege of speaking with the legendary photographer and artist Ming Smith.

During a career spanning almost six decades, Smith has documented everyday moments while pushing the limits of photography as a medium. Her distinct style combines a deliberate blurriness with experimental post-production techniques including double exposure, collage, and painting to amplify the works’ dream-like qualities.

Well known for her in-action portraits of notable cultural icons - from James Baldwin to Grace Jones - Smith’s ethereal compositions celebrate the richness of Black culture and the African diaspora. In 1972, Ming joined the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of Black photographers established in New York City.

Born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith earned a Bachelor of Science from Howard University before moving to New York in the early 1970’s, where she now lives and works.

Smith’s work has been exhibited in critically-acclaimed exhibitions including MoMA’s ‘Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography’; Brooklyn Museum’s ‘We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85.’ and one of my personal favorites - ‘Soul of a Nation’ which opened at Tate Modern, and traveled to Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges and The Broad.

In addition, Smith’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. - just to name a few.

Some artists and individuals discussed in this episode:

For images, artworks, and more behind the scenes goodness, follow @artfromtheoutsidepodcast on Instagram. Enjoy!