The Conversation Art Podcast

By Michael Shaw

What's The Conversation Art Podcast about?

A podcast featuring both one-on-one and three-way roundtable conversations with contemporary artists, dealers, curators, and collectors--based in Los Angeles, but reaching nationally and internationally.

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The Conversation Art Podcast episodes:

04.06.2024
Journalist Bianca Bosker: a ‘normie Philistine’ dives into the art world working for artists, dealers and as a museum security guard in attempt to unravel its mysteries
Bianca Bosker, journalist and author of Get the Picture, talks about: The genesis of her deep dive into the art world - working with gallerists and artists, doing art fairs and galleries with collectors, and doing a...
02.24.2024
Valerie Werder turns her intense years working for a blue-chip gallery into an inspired novel, Thieves
This episode features the 1st half of the full episode. To get the full version, please visit: Patreon.com/theconversationpod The Conversation Art Podcast | creating a podcast that goes behind the scenes of the art worlds | Patreon ...
01.27.2024
Epis. 357- Seattle artist Debra Broz on her studio routines, love of work as well as successfully navigating "the feel bad machine" that is Instagram
Seattle-based artist and restorer Debra Broz talks about: Living in Seattle, where she moved to from Los Angeles a year and a half prior to our call; how Seattle is full of rule-followers who are also...
12.02.2023
Zombie Formalism, Debt aesthetics, and AI & Art: New Yorker writer/critic Chris Wiley
Chris Wiley- Artist, New Yorker photography critic, and contributing editor at Frieze - talks about: His fleeing upstate to the Catskills during the pandemic, and what his relative disconnect from the art world and the city...
10.14.2023
Epis: 354- the Art Thief, the remarkable story of art history's most prolific stealer, with author Michael Finkel
Michael Finkel discusses the remarkable story of Stéphane Breitwieser, the subject of his recent book, The Art Thief, including: The genesis of the book project, starting with a three-paragraph article, and eventually turning into a 10+ year-project; the style and...
09.02.2023
Epis. 351- veteran co-host Deb Klowden Mann joins to discuss Money on the Wall, an epic profile of dealer Larry Gagosian
This special episode features return-guest-but-more-co-host Deb Klowden Mann to discuss the recent New Yorker profile of mega-dealer Larry Gagosian. Deb starts us off by updating us on her closing of her eponymous gallery due to multiple health issues,...
08.05.2023
Epis: 349- Narsiso Martinez on his epic story from Oaxaca to California, from picking produce in the fields to becoming a full-time artist
Long Beach-based artist and former produce field worker Narsiso Martinez talks about: Growing up in a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico (Santa Cruz Papalutla), with several brothers and sisters, and a mom and dad who were often on...
07.01.2023
Epis: 347- Alexis Rockman on 'owning' natural history
Connecticut- and New York City-based artist Alexis Rockman talks about: His semi-exodus from Manhattan, where he’s lived his whole life, to a fairly rural part of Connecticut called Warren; leaving his Tribeca studio of 33 years and building a new...
06.04.2023
Epis: 345- House-hunting with a Billionaire
Hungarian billionaire Gabriela and artist and architect Andi Schmied talk about: Andi’s residencies, across Asia and Europe, as well as the Triangle Arts residency in DUMBO, Brooklyn, where she first connected with her fellow Hungarian, the billionaire...
05.26.2023
Art Adivisor Lisa Schiff- a Re-Release of Episode 99 from 2015
Art Advisor Lisa Schiff has been in the news over the last two weeks, because of lawsuits being filed against her by clients who weren't given the artworks they paid for, and Schiff has subsequently filed for bankruptcy. How...
05.06.2023
Epis: 343- Flora, Public Art and loving New York even if NY doesn’t love you back: Brooklyn-based artist Nancy Blum
Brooklyn-based artist Nancy Blum talks about: Her relationship with Judaism, both growing up and as an adult, where her exploration of healing and self-soothing from generational trauma, which ultimately connects with her art; her alternative interpretation of the...
04.22.2023
In-Between Episode including fresh OLD NEWS
In this in-between (342 and 343) episode, I talk about the new Bonus Episode with Stefanie Kogler-Heimburger (for subscribers only), and recent OLD NEWS including a photo contest winner who used AI to generate his image and subsequently withdrew his...
04.08.2023
Epis. 341: Class Issues- artists and class with Berlin artist Norbert Witzgall
Berlin-based artist and co-curator of the exhibition ‘Class Issues: Art Production in and out of Precarity,’ Norbert Witzgall talks about: The term/phenomenon of “Hope Labor,” which drives the economy of fine art and is based on the presumption...
03.26.2023
The Conversation MIDWAY- Bonus episode announcement, plus a rant on the art services industry
In this Conversation MIDWAY - between epis. 340 and 341 - I talk about the bonus episode for Patreons, featuring Blum-Weinberg-Keinholz-Rottweiler, as well as talk about the art services industry via the Worst Job Posting Ever Created, the Nan Goldin documentary,...
03.09.2023
Epis. 340: Veteran art handler Bryan Cooke on 50+ years in the art handling business, including several brushes with death
Episode 340- Veteran art handler and preparator Bryan Cooke talks about: Cooke’s Crating, the business he started back in 1975, and how it’s essentially a service business, one that has grown with the art market, particularly in the...
02.26.2023
Preview/Teaser for Epis. 339A- Art Can Kill: The Art World's Crooks, Clowns & Connossieurs
In this Teaser for Episode 339A, which is only available to Patreon supporters of the show, we talk about becoming a supporter of the show, read from a bit of the intro to the book Art Can Kill, and talk...
02.11.2023
Epis. 338: Former pro surfer and current arts writer Jamie Brisick on why success is its own form of failure, and Raymond Pettibon, Paul Chan and Francis Alys, among others
Arts writer and former professional surfer Jamie Brisick talks about: w hat it was like being on the pro surfing tour back in his late teens and early 20s, and how he developed his Plan B career initially as...
01.28.2023
Epis. 337: Art & Politics- how can they co-exist? The Conversation's 14th Virtual Cafe
n the 14th installment of the podcast’s Virtual Café, we take as our prompt a Dec. review by NYTimes art critic Holland Cotter about politics in art: About 10 artists in the Virtual Café (including past...
01.07.2023
Epis. 336: on The Death of the Artist, a frank conversation with writer and cultural critic William Deresiewicz
Writer and cultural critic William Deresiewicz, author of The Death of the Artist, talks about: His motivations in writing the book, largely motivated by dispelling the myth that this (our current internet/social media era) was the greatest time ever to...
12.25.2022
Epis. 335: Mashed potatoes hurled at Monet, Artists being replaced by AI Robots, a Bad Studio Visit cartoon, and new email etiquette for the Uffizi Gallery, with a very special guest-host
For this latest roundup of OLD NEWS stories, we’re joined by a very special guest, to talk about: The MASS MoCA union; the new monument to the Central Park 5; the debate about bringing attention to the climate crisis by...
12.10.2022
Epis. 334: The challenges in green-lighting public art that’s actually good- curator and arts administrator Zoë Taleporos
Oakland-based curator and arts administrator Zoë Taleporos talks about: Her straddling independent curating and government-supported public art curating/administrating in her role working for the City of Berkeley; how her curating is more about bringing artists in, as artist outreach, but...
11.25.2022
Epis.#333- Tjebbe Beekman, Amsterdam-based artist on how a major life turning point became a turning point for his art
Amsterdam-based artist Tjebbe Beekman talks about: His show in New York at GRIMM gallery (which just opened when we spoke); his 9-year stint living in Berlin, before moving back to Amsterdam at the time his son was beginning school, and...
11.12.2022
Epis. 332: U. of Michigan art historian/scholar Joan Kee on Korean contemporary art, emojis, and going through law school & corporate law on her way to becoming an art historian
Joan Kee, University of Michigan art historian and current Ford Foundation Scholar in Residence at the Museum of Modern Art, talks about: Her residency at MoMA, where she has been looking into expanding their programming to include art that...
10.30.2022
ICA San Diego director Andrew Utt: on the curatorial process, and how to increase the art reputation of a city not known for its art world
ICA San Diego director Andrew Utt talks about: Moving back to San Diego, where he grew up, after years away in the Bay Area and South America, and why he did; why San Diego’s art community/culture isn’t known as an...
10.15.2022
Epis.330: Cole Sternberg, from painting with the elements to his Free Republic of California project to moving to a farm during the pandemic
Cole Sternberg, artist and creator of the Free Republic of California, talks about: His painting process, which involves exposing his paintings to the elements, including in extreme form, starting with his (and his team’s) 22-day-long journey from Japan to the...
10.01.2022
Epis.329: Ben Davis on the Ordinary World Record Egg, what to do when Apple co-opts your artwork, and where high art meets immersive art
In part 2 with ArtNet News critic Ben Davis, we talk about: environmentalism and our approach to the climate, as well his emphasis on finding a good middle ground between overly dire and overly sugar-coated perspectives on the conversation; Christian...
09.17.2022
Epis.328: Ben Davis, National Art Critic for Artnet News and author most recently of Art in the After-Culture
Ben Davis, Artnet News's National Art Critic and author most recently of Art in the After-Culture, talks about: Cultural Appropriation in its many forms, including in the context of Dana Schutz’s controversial “Open Casket” painting; Conspiracy Theory culture, including...
09.03.2022
Epis.327: Val Zavala on the Extinction Circle, Death Cafes and the New 10 Commandments for Future Generations
Val Zavala, former anchor/reporter for the long-running KCET (L.A. PBS station) series SoCal Connected and Life & Times talks about: The ‘Extinction Circle’ group that she was part of for a couple years, meeting once a month to discuss likely...
08.20.2022
Epis.326- NYC art appraiser David Shapiro: from valuing a work of art to shifting from his own art career
New York-based art appraiser David Shapiro talks about: What he does as an appraiser, whether in-person inspections or putting together reports using photographs at the computer; his involvement with the Detroit Institute of Art’s collection appraisal, which was connected to...
08.06.2022
Immersive art installations: who visits them, why, and where they're headed...with Kate Sharkey, painter and a 'host' at ARTECHOUSE
New Jersey-based painter and immersive art museum ‘host’ Kate Sharkey talks about: Transitioning from being a preparator (at MoMA) to getting a job as a ‘host’ at the immersive art museum ARTECHOUSE, where she also does AV/tech work w/the projectors;...
07.23.2022
Epis.#324- Maria Brito, her path from emerging singer to corporate lawyer to art advisor; and how she scored a Banksy for a client
Maria Brito, art advisor, entrepreneur and author of How Creativity Rules the World talks about: Giving up on her teenage ambitions to become a singer because of the restrictive culture she grew up in; how from there she wound up...
07.09.2022
Epis. 323, Dave Kinsey: post-graffiti, post-illustration, post-skate art, and the BLK/MRKT gallery scene in the early-to-mid-2000s
Vista, CA-based artist Dave Kinsey talks about: The gallery BLK/MRKT, that grew out of a design studio he co-ran, and launched as a gallery early in the 2000s in Culver City; his coming from a design and skate and graffiti...
06.27.2022
Episode 322- Profound effects on the art market, ‘Rich-Kid’ art, and a painting of a polar bear
In this OLD NEWS-oriented episode of the show, I talk about: Immersive art exhibits, which are booming, much to my chagrin; a follow-up on the art world’s ‘ponzi-like scheme' involving a new participant, “Rich-Kid art,” effects on the art market...
06.11.2022
Epis. 321: Working as an artist's assistant, learning to pay attention, and dedication to the process- James Griffith, part 2
In the 2nd part of our conversation, James and I talk about: working as an assistant for various artists, including making large-scale paintings for other artists, and wanting to be credited for his work, with a title such as “lead...
05.28.2022
Epis. 320: James Griffith, L.A.-based painter, on painting with tar, and re-building his home, studio, and outdoor amphitheater- part 1 of 2
Altadena (in L.A. County)-based artist James Griffith talks about: Discovering the town of Altadena, where they first bought a house, and then a studio building, formerly Altadena’s fire house, back in 1999, and fixing them both up from tear-down conditions;...
05.14.2022
Epis. 319: Sarah Thibault, S.F.-based artist, on residency hopping, conversing with ghosts, and being the last artist in San Francisco (or so it seems)
San Francisco-based artist Sarah Thibault talks about: How she’s the last artist in S.F., or at least so it seems; a ghost encounter she experienced in Edinburgh (Scotland), as well as her engaging in Tarot cards and other new-age spiritual...
04.30.2022
Epis. 318: Andrew Russeth- art writer formerly in New York, now living in Seoul, South Korea
Freelance art writer (often for the New York Times) and past guest royalty Andrew Russeth talks about: Why he moved to Seoul, South Korea, where he’s expanded his freelance writing opportunities; a book on Chris Burden’s unrealized sculpture projects, which...
04.16.2022
Epis. 317: museums’ Invisible Labor, and how exhibition rooms are suspensions of common sense- Fernando Dominguez Rubio, part 3
with Fernando Domínguez Rubio, author of Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museum, he talks about: Storage- how much it takes to maintain it; how museum curators put the longevity of artworks in the context...
04.02.2022
Epis. 316: Why MoMA goes to great lengths to recreate what's dying or only existing in the past- Fernando Dominguez Rubio, part 2
In part 2 with Fernando Domínguez Rubio, a professor of communications at UCSD and author of Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museum, he talks about: The astonishing resources that go into some museum artworks,...
03.19.2022
Epis. 315: What goes on behind the scenes of a museum (specifically MoMA), and why it matters, with Fernando Dominguez Rubio, author of Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museu
In the first of several parts with Fernando Domínguez Rubio, a professor of communications at UCSD and author of Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museum, he talks about: How he got started with the...
03.07.2022
Epis. 314: Oligarch Shortage, SuperBlue Indictment, and the Cinema of Transgression: the Guest-Less Episode courtesy OLD NEWS
In this guest-less episode, we ( that is to say 'I') talk about: a new OPEN CALL for future guests of this podcast; the opening reception and the show 'It's My House!,' a group show in Ojai that I'm in;...
02.19.2022
Epis.313: Sam Francis- king of desire,
In Part 2 with writer Gabrielle Selz, author of Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis, we talk about Sam Francis as he: Settles into his compound at West Channel Road in Santa Monica, and became the...
02.05.2022
Epis.312: Writer Gabrielle Selz on Sam Francis, an abstract painter who broke all the rules
about: the important first phase of Sam’s long art career, in Paris, where he started working on a big painting from his bed in a tiny hotel room he shared with his girlfriend Muriel; how he was a shrewd businessman...
01.22.2022
Epis. 311: Sydney Croskery, part 2 of 2-
In part 2 of 2 with Los Angeles-based painter Sydney Croskery, she talks about: connecting with a gallerist -- who has come to represent her – on Instagram, synchronistically; the benefits and travails of her day job as a server,...
01.08.2022
Epis.310: Sydney Croskery, Los Angeles artist
In part 1 of 2 with Los Angeles-based painter Sydney Croskery, she talks about: transitioning from representation to abstraction during pandemic lockdown; transitional imagery which included using buffering Instagram screen shots as a source for her painting; making it OK...
12.25.2021
Epis.309: Running a gallery, creating community,
In part 2 of 2 with multi-hyphenate and Artist Decoded host Yoshino, he talks about: Working through an art-like writing phase, in which he does a mix of automatic writing and poetry, as a counterpoint to his existential crises; NohWave,...
12.13.2021
Epis.308: Yoshino of Artist Decoded (the podcast), part 1 of 2
In the 1st of two episodes, visual artist, writer, entrepreneur and host of the Artist Decoded podcast, Yoshino talks about: how he shortened his name to the iconic ‘Yoshino,’ thanks to an existential crisis involving leaving the commercial and fashion...
11.26.2021
Epis.307: a Spanish painter (Antonio Murado) goes to New York City-
Antonio Murado, a New York City-based painter originally from Spain, talks about: His background in Spain, including several years in the Madrid art scene, before moving to NYC, which he began with a Spanish grant; the commissions that he’s done-...
11.13.2021
Episode 306: Collector disconnect, enjoying without owning, and
In the final episode with Hannah Wohl (Bound by Creativity), we talk about: her experiences with mega-collector couple Sherry and Joel Mallin, who have an impressive collection and are known as being philanthropic in their approach to helping artists, including...
10.30.2021
The challenge of describing contemporary art (even for a writer):
In my penultimate conversation with sociologist Hannah Wohl (author of Bound by Creativity) she talks about: the cynicism of sociologists, particularly when theorizing about art (and in relation to the sculptor St. Clair Cemin in particular); the emergence of the...

What's The Conversation Art Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Conversation Art Podcast episodes:

Journalist Bianca Bosker: a ‘normie Philistine’ dives into the art world working for artists, dealers and as a museum security guard in attempt to unravel its mysteries

Valerie Werder turns her intense years working for a blue-chip gallery into an inspired novel, Thieves

Epis. 357- Seattle artist Debra Broz on her studio routines, love of work as well as successfully navigating "the feel bad machine" that is Instagram

Zombie Formalism, Debt aesthetics, and AI & Art: New Yorker writer/critic Chris Wiley

Epis: 354- the Art Thief, the remarkable story of art history's most prolific stealer, with author Michael Finkel

Epis. 351- veteran co-host Deb Klowden Mann joins to discuss Money on the Wall, an epic profile of dealer Larry Gagosian

Epis: 349- Narsiso Martinez on his epic story from Oaxaca to California, from picking produce in the fields to becoming a full-time artist

Epis: 347- Alexis Rockman on 'owning' natural history

Epis: 345- House-hunting with a Billionaire

Art Adivisor Lisa Schiff- a Re-Release of Episode 99 from 2015

Epis: 343- Flora, Public Art and loving New York even if NY doesn’t love you back: Brooklyn-based artist Nancy Blum

In-Between Episode including fresh OLD NEWS

Epis. 341: Class Issues- artists and class with Berlin artist Norbert Witzgall

The Conversation MIDWAY- Bonus episode announcement, plus a rant on the art services industry

Epis. 340: Veteran art handler Bryan Cooke on 50+ years in the art handling business, including several brushes with death

Preview/Teaser for Epis. 339A- Art Can Kill: The Art World's Crooks, Clowns & Connossieurs

Epis. 338: Former pro surfer and current arts writer Jamie Brisick on why success is its own form of failure, and Raymond Pettibon, Paul Chan and Francis Alys, among others

Epis. 337: Art & Politics- how can they co-exist? The Conversation's 14th Virtual Cafe

Epis. 336: on The Death of the Artist, a frank conversation with writer and cultural critic William Deresiewicz

Epis. 335: Mashed potatoes hurled at Monet, Artists being replaced by AI Robots, a Bad Studio Visit cartoon, and new email etiquette for the Uffizi Gallery, with a very special guest-host

Epis. 334: The challenges in green-lighting public art that’s actually good- curator and arts administrator Zoë Taleporos

Epis.#333- Tjebbe Beekman, Amsterdam-based artist on how a major life turning point became a turning point for his art

Epis. 332: U. of Michigan art historian/scholar Joan Kee on Korean contemporary art, emojis, and going through law school & corporate law on her way to becoming an art historian

ICA San Diego director Andrew Utt: on the curatorial process, and how to increase the art reputation of a city not known for its art world

Epis.330: Cole Sternberg, from painting with the elements to his Free Republic of California project to moving to a farm during the pandemic

Epis.329: Ben Davis on the Ordinary World Record Egg, what to do when Apple co-opts your artwork, and where high art meets immersive art

Epis.328: Ben Davis, National Art Critic for Artnet News and author most recently of Art in the After-Culture

Epis.327: Val Zavala on the Extinction Circle, Death Cafes and the New 10 Commandments for Future Generations

Epis.326- NYC art appraiser David Shapiro: from valuing a work of art to shifting from his own art career

Immersive art installations: who visits them, why, and where they're headed...with Kate Sharkey, painter and a 'host' at ARTECHOUSE

Epis.#324- Maria Brito, her path from emerging singer to corporate lawyer to art advisor; and how she scored a Banksy for a client

Epis. 323, Dave Kinsey: post-graffiti, post-illustration, post-skate art, and the BLK/MRKT gallery scene in the early-to-mid-2000s

Episode 322- Profound effects on the art market, ‘Rich-Kid’ art, and a painting of a polar bear

Epis. 321: Working as an artist's assistant, learning to pay attention, and dedication to the process- James Griffith, part 2

Epis. 320: James Griffith, L.A.-based painter, on painting with tar, and re-building his home, studio, and outdoor amphitheater- part 1 of 2

Epis. 319: Sarah Thibault, S.F.-based artist, on residency hopping, conversing with ghosts, and being the last artist in San Francisco (or so it seems)

Epis. 318: Andrew Russeth- art writer formerly in New York, now living in Seoul, South Korea

Epis. 317: museums’ Invisible Labor, and how exhibition rooms are suspensions of common sense- Fernando Dominguez Rubio, part 3

Epis. 316: Why MoMA goes to great lengths to recreate what's dying or only existing in the past- Fernando Dominguez Rubio, part 2

Epis. 315: What goes on behind the scenes of a museum (specifically MoMA), and why it matters, with Fernando Dominguez Rubio, author of Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museu

Epis. 314: Oligarch Shortage, SuperBlue Indictment, and the Cinema of Transgression: the Guest-Less Episode courtesy OLD NEWS

Epis.313: Sam Francis- king of desire,

Epis.312: Writer Gabrielle Selz on Sam Francis, an abstract painter who broke all the rules

Epis. 311: Sydney Croskery, part 2 of 2-

Epis.310: Sydney Croskery, Los Angeles artist

Epis.309: Running a gallery, creating community,

Epis.308: Yoshino of Artist Decoded (the podcast), part 1 of 2

Epis.307: a Spanish painter (Antonio Murado) goes to New York City-

Episode 306: Collector disconnect, enjoying without owning, and

The challenge of describing contemporary art (even for a writer):