Reading the Art World

For the 20th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Susan Davidson, author of “Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting,” published in August by Hatje Cantz.

Susan’s work is an in-depth study of the renowned Abstract Expressionist known as a deeply intellectual painter, brilliant theorist and articulate spokesman for the movement alongside Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. The book accompanies the exhibition Susan curated of Motherwell's painting at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth this summer. From October 12th through January 14th, 2024, you can see the show in Vienna at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien. Contributing writers to “Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting” are Jennifer Cohen, Simon Kelly, Monica McTighe and Sarah Rich.

As an art historian and curator, Susan Davidson is an authority in the fields of surrealism, abstract expressionism and pop art. In her previous role as senior curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Susan oversaw the stewardship of the institution's collection, in addition to organizing notable exhibitions that include Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, John Chamberlain, Jackson Pollock's Paintings on Paper and Peggy and Kiesler: The Collector and the Visionary.

Previously, Susan was collections curator at The Menil Collection in Houston. She served as the curatorial advisor to Robert Rauschenberg and a board member to the Rauschenberg Foundation, and her numerous exhibitions and publications on Rauschenberg include exhibitions at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the 2016 retrospective at the Tate Modern in London and MoMA in New York, and with Walter Hopps, the definitive Robert Rauschenberg retrospective for the Guggenheim.

Susan holds advanced degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute London and George Washington University in Washington, DC.

"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications.

Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com and subscribe to our new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

Purchase "Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting" at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth  and at Hatje Cantz

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

For the 19th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Amy Whitaker and Nora Burnett Abrams, authors of the new book, “The Story of NFTs: Artists, Technology, and Democracy,” published by Rizzoli Electa and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, exploded into the art space last year, raising curiosity, conversation, creativity and confusion. The authors explore the basic concepts of NFTs and the underlying technology of blockchain, including their origins, their surprising connections to the history of artmaking and art collecting, and their potential to radically reshape the art world.

In addition to the authors’ extensive knowledge, the book draws on a wide range of interviews with leading contributors to the NFT story. The many intersecting stories of NFTs in this book — knowledge stories, artist stories, democracy stories — center how we know what is true in an age of digital records and how we build collaborative and equitable structures for the future.

Amy Whitaker is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts Administration at NYU's Steinhardt School. Amy is a prolific writer, speaker, and thinker who is focused on the relationship between art and markets and the impact that emerging technologies are having on the art market. Amy holds a BA from Williams College with honors in political science and art, an MFA in painting, an MBA, and a PhD in political economy.

Nora Burnett Abrams is the Mark G. Falcone Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. She's among the youngest museum directors in the country, coming to that role after nearly a decade as the museum's lead Curator and Director of Planning, organizing over 30 exhibitions. She's written and spoken about the relationship between NFTs and conceptual art in the 1960s and '70s. Nora earned her BA at Stanford University, her MA at Columbia, and her PhD at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts.

"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and former President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com and subscribe to our new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly.

Purchase "The Story of NFTs" at Rizzoli USA or at MCA Denver.

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

For the 18th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Daniel Weiss, author of "Why the Museum Matters" published in 2022 by Yale University Press.

"Why the Museum Matters" offers Daniel Weiss's unique perspective as both a museum leader, art historian, and cultural thinker. Reading this book leaves you newly inspired by how our museums can enrich all of us individually and expand the minds and worlds of our communities and future generations.

There is currently a moment of reckoning for many museums, in which they're asked to respond to questions about diversity and inequality, their funding sources, their collections, exhibitions and programming, and how to meet the changing expectations of their audiences and communities. In his book, Dan makes a powerful case for why museums will continue to be essential to any society, why they matter as stewards of culture, places to generate new ideas, to build communities, advanced learning and understanding, and create spaces of beauty and permanence.

Dan Weiss is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was previously President of Haverford College and Lafayette College. Dan holds an MBA from Yale University and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, where he was Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He received his BA in art history and psychology from the George Washington University. Author of seven books and numerous articles, Dan Weiss was previously a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York.

"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications.

Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com and subscribe to our new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

Purchase "Why the Museum Matters" at Yale University Press. 

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

Renowned curator, scholar, and author Ruth Fine takes us behind the scenes of the creation of Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, 1960s to the Present, an exhibition and catalog that analyzes the impact of the African-American, New York-based photographer known for capturing jazz artists in their element.

Join art advisor and Reading The Art World  host, Megan Fox Kelly, as she sits down with longtime friend Ruth Fine to discuss the first complete monograph and retrospective on the sixty-year career of Frank Stewart. If you want to learn about books and authors reflecting on the art world, don't miss an episode!

Purchase “Frank Stewart’s Nexus” at Rizzoli or Amazon. 

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

How are museums physically adapting to a fast-paced, globally-minded world? Join art advisor and Reading the Art World host, Megan Fox Kelly, as she sits down with András Szántó, cultural strategy advisor and author of Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects. In this book, Szántó hosts conversations with 21 innovative building designers and surveys the thinking in the field, engaging not only architects who have built some of the world's most iconic institutions, but also members of an emerging global generation that is destined to leave its mark on the museum of the future. If you want to learn more about books and authors reflecting on the art market, don't miss an episode.

Purchase "Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects" by András Szántó at Hatje Cantz or Amazon.

To learn more about András's work, go to andras-szanto.com.

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

Join art advisor and Reading the Art World host, Megan Fox Kelly, for an in-depth interview with the Paul Mellon Director of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Courtney J. Martin. In this episode, they discuss Cecily Brown, one of the most influential painters of our time. The 2020 book, Cecily Brown, is the first major monograph about the British-born, New York-based artist who rose to prominence in the late 1990s. Through a range of references to old master paintings, Abstract Expressionism, and popular culture, Brown's symbolic language, exuberant brushwork, rich palette, intense energy, and embrace of the erotic have redefined some of painting's historical canons.

Purchase “Cecily Brown" by Courtney J. Martin at Phaidon. 

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

For the fourteenth episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Jerry Saltz, author of “Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night," published November 1, 2022 by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Pulitzer Prize winning art critic, "New York Times" best selling author and self-described "failed" artist with over 1 million followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, Jerry Saltz has been the voice of the art world and of culture since the 1990s. In his writings for "The Village Voice," "Vulture," "New York Magazine," "The New York Times," his lectures, talks, videos and posts, Jerry champions artists who have been too-long overlooked as well as long-celebrated artists, and he doesn’t hesitate to call out the most pressing political, societal and cultural crises of our times. The through line in his writing is art — and the ways it can inspire and change lives.

This interview was recorded before the passing of fellow art critic Peter Schjeldahl.

Purchase “Art Is Life” by Jerry Saltz at Penguin Random House.

Music composed by Bob Golden

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

For the thirteenth episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Michael Findlay, author of The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty. Lately, so much of the conversation around art and collecting and the art market is about value — value in terms of price and investment return. But Michael talks about value in terms of the inherent value of the art itself, and he gives us thoughtful perspective on not merely the financial but the emotional. The book abounds with anecdotes of collectors and artists from the 19th century through today and what those stories tell us about investing, collecting, amassing and loving art — with updated sections on NFTs and digital art. If someone thinks this is just an investment guide, they’ll be pleasantly surprised that it is not.

As director of Acquavella Galleries in New York, Michael has been a private art dealer for over four decades. He was also International Director of Fine Arts at Christie’s auction house. The book draws on Michael’s life experiences as an art lover, collector, auction house specialist and art dealer. He has experienced extraordinary growth in the market over the last several decades and his insights on art and his work with artists and collectors inform this book. In addition to “The Value of Art,” Michael wrote “Seeing Slowly: Looking at Modern Art,” a book I recommend to so many of my collectors.

Purchase “The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty” by Michael Findlay at Prestel. 
 
Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden

For the thirteenth episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Michael Findlay, author of “The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty,” published by Prestel. This 2022 book is a new and expanded edition of Michael’s original book, published in 2012, which has been translated into German, Spanish, Japanese and Korean, and which ARTNews hailed as “one of the best books ever published on the art world.”

A director of Acquavella Galleries in New York, Michael has been a private art dealer for over four decades. He was also International Director of Fine Arts at Christie’s auction house. The book draws on Michael’s life experiences as an art lover, collector, auction house specialist and art dealer. He has experienced extraordinary growth in the market over the last several decades and his insights on art and his work with artists and collectors inform this book. In addition to “The Value of Art,” Michael wrote “Seeing Slowly: Looking at Modern Art,” a book I recommend to so many of my collectors.

Today, so much of the conversation around art and collecting and the art market is about value — value in terms of price and investment return. But Michael talks about value in terms of the inherent value of the art itself, and he gives us thoughtful perspective on not merely the financial but the emotional. The book abounds with anecdotes of collectors and artists from the 19th century through today and what those stories tell us about investing, collecting, amassing and loving art — with updated sections on NFTs and digital art. If someone thinks this is just an investment guide, they’ll be pleasantly surprised that it is not.

"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications.

Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

For more information, visit: meganfoxkelly.com.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly, and Twitter: @mfkartadvisory.

Purchase “The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty ,” by Michael Findlay at Prestel. 

Music composed by Bob Golden.

For the twelfth episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Gareth Harris, Chief Contributing Editor of “The Art Newspaper” and the author of "Censored Art Today" (Lund Humphries, 2022), which provides a careful and informed discussion of the various ways in which the centuries-old issue of censorship seems to be only increasing in recent years, and of the surprising and not-so surprising ways that artistic expression is being suppressed. The book, out now in the U.K., will be published in the U.S. in December 2022.

Purchase “Censored Art Today” by Gareth Harris at Lund Humphries: https://www.lundhumphries.com/products/censored-art-today

Music composed by Bob Golden.

SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:

For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.

Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly

"Reading the Art World" is a podcast featuring live interviews with leading authors and writers on important new art books. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.

Music composed by Bob Golden