Art Grind Podcast

We can all make an impact on the art world, but imagine living long enough to see that impact for yourself.  We were lucky enough to speak with 96 year old realist painting legend, Philip Pearlstein.  Pearlstein has been part of a significant moment in history, when America took the art world by storm in the 50s and 60s with Abstract Expressionism leading the way.

We contemporary artists are now so overly saturated with rapidly evolving and competing mass information, that it is hard to see what even matters these days, let alone think ourselves to be part of an “ art movement”.  First, the photograph, Disney, then Google, high speed internet, and now instagram have changed the way we make it, the way we view it and even the way we think about art.  We have become obsessed with what it means”  says Philip.”  But, painting, is a visual experience."  Join us, as Marshall and Sophia are re-contextualized in real time with Philip Pearlstein’s magnificent meanderings through the past.

Show Notes:

0:40 Intro

2:28: The beginning 

6:20: Drawing lessons in the army

9:44: Infantry causality replacements for the Battle of Monte Cassino  

16:30: Mercedes Matter’s Sunday drawing class  

19:50: Andy Warhol and 15 mins of fame

24:20: Will Burtin’s influence

34:20: Buck Minster Fuller drawings  

38:55: Teaching at Pratt Institute

42:50: Willem de Kooning’s secret career

46:40: Mondrian’s forces of the rectangles

1:01:00: The Alliance of Figurative Art   

1:19:15: Martha Mayer Erlebacher      

1:23:40: How do you know when a painting is finished?

1:28:27: Duplicating vision

1:31:42: The history of the art of the human race

1:34:18: What makes a great painting?

1:37:56: Advice for this generation of figurative painters

1:41:46: Advice on starting a new body of paintings

1:46:40: End credits

Philip Pearlstein’s website

Give us a call on our Art Grind Podcast hotline and tell us what's on your mind!
 929-267-4830

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In this episode of Art Grind, hosts Dina Brodsky, Marshall Jones, and producer Tun Myaing interview writer and entrepreneur Patrick McGinnis in New York City. Best known for coining the term “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out), McGinnis seems like an unusual guest: what could someone from the world of finance speak about on an art podcast? As an art collector, writer, and brother of a musician, it turns out that McGinnis has a lot to talk about. McGinnis not only shares pragmatic advice useful for any creative, but is a bold storyteller who respects art and culture. From travelling in South America to renegade drawing exhibitions to Harvard Business School, this episode proves, and McGinnis would insist, that there’s no room for FOMO in a creative life.

Show Notes 

0:33: Podcast introduction with post-quarantine update

10:39: What Patrick learned during Covid-19, inspired by Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

15:00: Podcast begins

15:53: How Patrick coined “FOMO” 

19:42: Patrick’s background

33:42: How Patrick almost got killed in Colombia 

55:30: Re-creating yourself to create your own system

1:01:00: Artist versus brand

1:10:10: The Drawing Room 

1:17:57: “Go sit in Washington Square Park”

1:21:30: The challenge of time

1:24:42: “FOBO:” Fear of a Better Option 

1:32:40: How Patrick views creative industries

1:35:22: Freelancing versus owning your art and Art Thinking by Amy Whitaker 

1:39:06: Mike McGinnis 

1:40:40: Indistractible: How to Control Your Attention & Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

1:41:25: Nas Daily

1:51:30: Art’s role in Patrick’s life

1:57:02: End credits

Learn more about Patrick McGinnis by visiting his website: https://patrickmcginnis.com/

Follow Patrick on Instagram: @patrickjmcginnis
Follow Patrick on Twitter: @pjmcginnis

Listen to Patrick’s podcast, FOMO Sapiens, here: https://fomosapiens.com/ 

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In this episode of Art Grind, hosts Dina Brodsky, Marshall Jones and producer Tun Myaing reunite for the first time since March, and talk about art and life in quarantine.

It Calls Me by Hazmat Modine, courtesy of Wade Schuman

Give us a call on our Art Grind Podcast hotline and tell us what's on your mind!
929-267-4830

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In this episode of Art Grind, hosts Dina Brodsky, Marshall Jones, and Tun Myaing road trip to interview artists Alex Kanevsky and Hollis Heichemer in New Hampshire. With the faint sound of crickets setting the stage, Alex and Hollis speak about their different paths to becoming artists and how thought, experience, memory, and painting converge—usually as the same thing. Though Alex paints more representationally and views painting more as investigation, whereas Hollis paints more abstractly and views painting more as insight, they share their “curate[d] life” in agreement that “painting never ends.” Tune in not just for Art Grind’s first episode interviewing two artists simultaneously, but also for an episode which proves as frank as it is profound.

Show Notes:

1:15  A word from our sponsor: New York Academy of Art -  Peter Drake (Provost) & John Volk (Director of Continuing Studies) 

13:14: Show begins

16:20 : Hollis’ background

19:00: Alex’s background

35:20: How Alex & Hollis function as an artist couple

38:05: What motivates Hollis to paint

45:30: What motivates Alex to paint

52:30: Alex on artist statements

1:02:30: A typical day in the studio

1:09:00: How Hollis’ paintings become her own

1:10:50: How the outside world influences Alex & Hollis

1:16:05-1:16:15: Break

1:16:20: Alex on deconstruction in his work

1:24:50: Hollis on what makes a good painting

1:26:50: Hollis on J.M.W. Turner & Mark Rothko

1:31:10: Alex on models as studio company

1:35:45: Alex’s satisfaction with his work

1:36:34: Hollis’ satisfaction with her work

1:39:55: Hollis’ advice to young artists

1:43:10: Alex on William Carlos Williams

1:45:55: Alex & Hollis on the Charles DeMuth Museum

1:49:00: Dina on The Waking by Theodore Roethke

1:55:12: End credits


Learn more about Alex Kanevsky by visiting his Website or by following him on Instagram

Learn more about Hollis Heichemer by visiting her Website or by following her on Instagram


Alex Kanevsky’s Recent/Upcoming Exhibitions:

Scrambling for Grace,
The Dolby Chadwick Gallery
October 1st-31st, 2020

Hollis Heichemer’s Recent/Upcoming Exhibitions:

Happenstance, 
Hollis Taggart
 April 4th-May 4th, 2019

Lonely Man by Hazmat Modine, courtesy Wade Schuman

Give us a call on our Art Grind Podcast hotline and tell us what's on your mind!
929-267-4830

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What’s the difference between an artist, an engineer, an architect, and a contractor? For Nicolas Holiber, there isn’t one! Nicolas is a compelling sculptor and painter whose practice blurs the lines between the two using mediums such as acrylic paste, tar, oil paint, plaster, reclaimed wood, hardware, and even beeswax. He not only plays with the technicality of surface, but the idea of surface itself. His love for materiality and experimentation focuses on merging his tactile interests with content and narrative packed full of thought provoking ephemerality. Listen in, and let Nic's tranquil composure give you an idea of who “The Bird Guy” really is.

"Art is the only thing that makes me feel unstable; but it’s also the only thing that really makes me feel like I have a purpose; that gives me that sense of life.” -Nicolas Holiber

Show Notes:
1:30 - Artist to look out for: Matthew Monahan, Mark Rothko, Marisol Escobar, David Altmejd, Thomas Houseago, Huma Bhabha
16:23 - Painting is an artifice
20:55 - Nicolas’ work
24:30 - Birds on Broadway
29:27 - Difference between an artist, an architect and a contractor.
40:27 - Hooded Merganser
43:45 - Quality
51:49 - Double crested Cormorant
53:30 - New York City Audubon
58:50 - Alice Waters interview

1:04:06 - BREAK

1:05 - Nico Handmade Stretchers - Use the promo code GRIND to receive 10% off the entire order

1:06 - Buzzsprout Start your own podcast with Buzzsprout and get a $20 Amazon gift card after you sign up for a paid plan. Use this link

1:10:00 - Painting from a sculptor’s point of view
1:24:45 - Failing to win
1:28:29 - Henry Darger
1:32:50 - Paralegal to artist
1:51:44 - Huma Bhabha 
1:53:03 - Thomas Houseago
1:54:03 - Glitter and Doom exhibition

Bonus Questions
1:55:43 - Is Ultramarineblue cool or warm?
1:57:27 - What makes a great painting?
2:04:45 - Messages from our listeners

Nicola's Current/Upcoming shows:
“Keep for Old Memoirs” at Young Space. Curated by Kate Mothes (founder Young Space) and Celine Mo (VICTORI+MO Gallery).
21 May - 7 June, 2020

“Drawn Together” at Unit London. 4 June - 12 July, 2020

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In this Episode of Art Grind, Marshall, Sophia, and Dina join forces to interview an exceptional watercolorist, Frederick Brosen. Fredrick grew up in 1960’s New York, and found his home and identity in the city through its spaces, architecture, and culture. We talk about the ever changing art world, technique, and the studio as a sanctuary where an artist can maintain their integrity and authenticity. We also talk about the idea of mastery. Whatever your medium, style, or interest; mastery seems to be something that is earned through hard work, and always demands respect if not affection. Join us and stay inspired!

Show notes:

6:45 - Street kid
9:55 - Rijks Museum trip
14:50 - Smart Realist
17:07 - Smoking with Jimmy Hendrix
18:00 - Matisse’s model
22:02 - G.I. Bill
24:29 - Great Masters of watercolor
25:50 - BREAK
29:42 - Vermeer’s View of Delft 
32:27 - Great Art now - Antonio Lopez 
33:00 - Great Art now - Israel Hershberg
35:00 - Great Art now - Zoey Frank
43:55 - EFB School of painting
52:35 - Walton Ford Show
56:14 - Fredrick's opening at Hirschl & Adler  
1:00:30 - Draftsmanship 

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In this episode, Marshall and Sophia speak with Seattle based painter Aleah Chapin. Aleah’s ability to paint so candidly about the natural and intimate relationships she witnesses in her life is profoundly multidimensional. She is an incredible technical flesh whiz with a contemporary edge that gives her portraits and figures of women a sense of vivid presence and beauty. Aleah was extremely generous and open with us about her life, process, technique, and her experiences in the art world. Listen in as we speak with her about a creative journey toward letting go and trusting her own intuition.

Born in 1986, Aleah Chapin grew up on an island north of Seattle, Washington. She received her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in 2009 and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2012. Aleah has attended residencies at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany and the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Recent exhibitions have included the 2016 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York; The Ingram Collection: Bodies, Woking, UK and a solo show, Within Wilds at Flowers Gallery, London. She has been a recipient of the Willard L. Metcalf Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Posey Foundation Scholarship, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, a Postgraduate Fellowship from the New York Academy of Art, and won the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2012.

Show notes:

2:15 - BP Portrait award
2:45 - What Happens at the Edge
6:15 - We Held the Mountains on Our Shoulders
11:30 - The (Un)fair Art Show
17:22 - The Overstory
38:07 - And it Caught Fire
40:07 - A Painted Life
43:03 - Scale
58:11 - BREAK
59:00 - Baba Yaga
1:33:00 - Remains
1:39:00 - Natropath
1:42:00 - Gus Storm
1:45:35 - Our Shouts Were Drowned In The Stars

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You paint an eye. Is this the eye that everybody sees? Or is this the eye that only you see, and to you it means eye. All painters hope to become visual listeners with intuitive clarity.  Benisadr has a special ability to listen to his paintings in a way that not many people can. Synesthesia is a neurological ability to process data in the form of several senses at once. When Ali made the decision to make work based on sounds he heard in color, he found a sort of freedom in meshing overwhelming sensations of rhythm, energy, time, and tones into a meditative experience that felt more real than anything else he’d ever done.  Join in on this conversation as Marshall, Sophia, and Ali Benisadr talk about what it means to listen to an image and trust your inner knowledge as process no matter where it takes you.

Show notes:

07:23 - Gustave Courbet painting - The Painter's Studio
17:50 - Garden of Earthly Delights
24:50 - Rumi
39:01 - 8 years war
44:54 - Barry McGee 
55:13 - Synesthesia
56:59 - Kandinsky's book
1:01:08 -The last judgement
1:01:50 - Bosch & Banisadr

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Humanist, Feminist, Hedonist, Painter!  Anastasiya Tarasenko asks the hard brazen questions. Her thickly painted oil on copper paintings are unique and provocative. She employs a personalized and undeniable symbolic imagery that shares a simultaneously dark and humorous, specific yet universal, reduced yet refined commentary on existence. 

Her fascinating vacillation between the macro and micro world views allows her to both appreciate and reconcile the ultimate dichotomy- That to exist- Is to live in contradiction with ones self. 

Listen to this candid conversation as Marshall and Sophia and Anastasiya delve into all of the juicy stuff- sex, religion, morality, capitalism, and of course art!

Check out her solo show in Boston right now until the end of February 29, 2020 at Steven Zevitas Gallery

Anastasiya Tarasenko website: Atarasenko.com


Show Notes:
Intro: 01:20
Jenny Saville: 16:16
Dicks in paintings: 25:50
Karl Marx: 39:40
Break: 44:27
Objectum Sexuality Documentary: 46:49
Bret Easton Ellis - White :  54:06
Everyday Feminism: 56:21
Is this created by a woman?: 1:08:52
Ben's notes: 1:08:52
What makes a good painting?: 1:18:18
Copper surface: 1:19:54
Problems never really end: 1:31:16

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Bonus episode of interviews from gallery openings in Chelsea.

Shout out to Fredrik Björeman the developer of Podcast Chapters who's helping me bring you images with each chapter on the podcast so you can see the artwork that's discussed in the episode with links.

Episode notes:
Noho M55 Gallery "Made in Japan 2020" Curated by Arisa Itami Feb 4-15, 2020
Balla Kouyaté
Davidson Gallery "Under a Concrete Sky" by Purvis Young. Feb 6 - Mar 21 2020
Laurence Miller Gallery "Body Of Evidence" Feb 6 - Mar 21 2020
Onishi Gallery "Kaede Five Winds" Feb 4 - 11 2020
David Krut Projects "SEED" by Judi Harvest - Feb 6 - Mar 20, 2020
Judi Harvest
First Street Gallery "Semantic Net" by Kyung Tae Kim Feb 6 -Feb 22, 2020
Fergus McCaffrey Gallery "Mercer Street" Feb 6 - Apr 25, 2020
Shigeko Kubota "Duchampiana: Bicycle Wheel One, Two, and Three, 1983"
The Phenomenal Rug (not actual title) by Marcia Hafif
Greene Naftali Gallery "The Fairy Godmother" by Mathieu Malouf "Feb 6 - Mar 7, 2020
Mark Miller Gallery "Tell Them Stories" curated by Marshall Jones and Tun Myaing 

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