This week on Explain Me William Powhida and Paddy Johnson chat with Los Angeles Times staff writer Carolina Miranda about David Geffen's $150 million donation to LACMA and the questions surrounding the gift. Will he bequeath his collection to the museum? Later, we discuss the recent gentrification wars in Boyle Heights, a rather strange description of the non-profit 365 Mission and solicit Miranda's advice on must-see LA shows!

The Turd of Gentrification Floating in the Pond of Urbanism

Politics, art, and a general disappointment with how things are going.

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Even when the A.I. chatbot ChatGPT gets everything wrong, it still sounds right. And that's some uncanny valley right there. 
In this episode of Art Problems, I talk about ChatGPT and the larger A.I. field, some of the ethical issues involved, and see just how much the bot knows about the art world. Spoiler alert: it still can't write your artist statement. Boo.

The Uncanny Valley of Art World ChatGPT

What does contemporary kitsch look like? In this episode, Paddy and William use a discussion of the art fairs and New York gallery scene to lead a defining of the term. From its generic definition of objects described to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, to the current nostalgia driving a tasted for recycled art movements, all kitsch lacks in originality. 
Listen in for the whole conversation. 
 
THE INDEPENDENT
Kenny Schachter at Allouche Benias Gallery 
Renate Druks at The Ranch, 
Olivia Reavey at Helena Anrather
 
1-54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART FAIR
Sanaa Gateja at 50 Golborne
WonderBuhle at BKhz Gallery
 
VOLTA
Michael Foley
 
GALLERIES 
Judith Linhares at PPOW 
JTT Gallery Anna-Sophie Berger and Sam McKinniss
Sky Hopinka at Broadway Gallery 
Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Bortalami 
Nora Turato at 52 Walker Gallery
 
ARTICLES
The Downward Spiral: 59th Venice Biennial by Dean Kissick

Defining Contemporary Kitsch: Part 2 of The New York Art Fairs

Art media does a great job at looking forward to art events, yet rarely looks back to reflect on what these happenings say about the cultural moment. In this episode of Explain Me, co-hosts Paddy Johnson and William Powhida do a deep dive into the fairs to discuss the deeply conservative sales landscape we've been sinking into over the past ten years.  
ARTISTS DISCUSSED
Carlos Jacanamijoy’s 2020 ab ex painting “Carminos de Luz” at Harper’s
Laurie Reid’s “Ballast” at Et Al. Gallery
The Baboon Chair by  Margaux Valengin at Pact
Paul Gabrelli’s “Everyday Objects” at New Discretions
Elliot Reed at Anonymous Gallery
Dan Colen at Gagosian
Al Freeman at 56 Henry
Tessa Lynch’s text-based compositions at Patricia Fleming Gallery
Scott Lyal at Migeul Abbreu Gallery
Aaron Garber-Maikovska
Casja von Zeipel’s Celesbian Terrain  
Kevin McCoy’s corporate-sponsored display of Quantum and some generative artworks by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. 
Pedro Reyes, Alex da Corte, Nayland Blake, Alex Katz, Matthew Wong,

What The New York Art Fairs Tell Us About Art

We're baaaaack! After a four month break William and Paddy return with some big news about the podcast and an in depth conversation on The Whitney Biennial. We do the full dive here: What are the themes? How is it organized? Is it worth seeing? Is it too cautious? Who are the notable omissions? Why do these omissions matter?  
 
Artist discussed:
Cy Gavin
Rebecca Belmore
Guadalupe Rosales
Lucy Raven
Kandis Williams
Raven Chacon
Na Mira
Alex Da Corte
Trinh T. Minh-ha
Coco Fusco
Dave McKenzie
Jacky Connolly
Alfredo Jaar
WangShui
Daniel Joseph Martinez
Jason Rhoades
Rick Lowe
Pao Houa Her
Nayland Blake
Awilda Sterling-Duprey
Matt Connors
Leidy Churchman
Monica Arreola
James Little
Ralph Lemon
Jane Dickson

Whitney Biennial Report: Care and Caution

How many times have we seen artist-centered communities lose their grass roots identity when they buy property? High profile organizations that have shed their founders vision as they gained visibility such as the New Museum and Meow Wolf serve as cautionary tales. The quality of the work they produce suffers and their poor treatment of employees makes headlines. That's to say nothing of personality-less art complexes like The Shed, which cement the wealth of their funders while meagerly contributing to the city's cultural life.
But these types of cultural outcomes are a choice and not an inevitable destiny, a reality made clear in this episode's interview with Flux Factory's Nat Roe. In his role as residency Executive Director, Roe recently secured $5 million from the city to purchase the building the organization has been working out of since 2009. Additionally, the organization will now operate a new satellite location, Flux IV, a the 3000 square foot ground floor gallery space on the ground floor of Gotham Point’s South Tower building. At no point in our discussion did we talk about significant changes that needed to be made to Flux's DNA to make this acquisition happen. Rather we talked about the importance of sound proofing their building so they don't disturb the neighbors.
In the midst of LIC, a homogenized tech-enclave for Manhattan commuters, this grass roots artist organization and residency program will now serve as a permanent beacon of creative energy for the community.
Can the DCLA support other smaller arts organizations in New York by helping them purchase real estate? Nat Roe gives us the skinny, going full wonk on city policy, while offering a history of Flux Factory and its place in the New York City arts landscape.

 
SHOW LINKS
 
Help Launch Flux Factory's new venue, Flux IV 
 
The Western Queens Community Land Trust—artist Jenny Dubnau is a co-chair of the board. 
 
NY Times Tribeca Art Galleries, June
 
NY Times Tribeca Art Galleries, October article 
 
How many times have we seen artist-centered arts organizations lose their NYC Club Scene debt? New York Times
 
Secret Project Robot 
 
NYC Commercial Rent Law

The Turd of Gentrification Floating in the Pond of Urbanism

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