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We are back with a new season and new year of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast! And while we were at it, we wanted to talk to someone who was also celebrating some newness in 2021. We called up our friend Andrew Hosner, co-owner of Los Angeles-based gallery Thinkspace Projects, who recently himself opened a sprawling new space in LA. But of course, the caveat: nothing is really open right now, especially in California, and Hosner is on a bit of delay of that celebration; yes, a mega group show inaugurated the space, but we are all just waiting for that moment. when we can get together and properly kick this party off. 

Yet, there is still so much to talk about with Andrew Hosner, who has been at the helm of Thinkspace for over 15 years now, and taken what was a small space into a major player in the New Contemporary movement (a little more on that name in the podcast) and pushing a slew of artists in the institutional conversation. His gallery continues to embody an element of Los Angeles that was a major part of the origins of Juxtapoz. And coming from the world of collecting himself before Thinkspace, he still gets excited about so many part of the process and the world he supports.
In this emotional  conversation, we speak to Hosner about the evolution of LA's art scene, what made it so special in the early 00's and community-building in such a competitive landscape. We talk about the gallery's stance during last summer's activist renaissance, what better steps the art world can make towards a more inclusive future. He gives artists and collector insights on making the right decisions for a sustained career, and how he hopes Thinkspace can be that bridge to museum success.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 062 was recorded via Skype from Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, January 15, 2021. 

It seems apt that in a year of so much turmoil, angst and chaotic worry that we would end 2020 on a street corner in Bronx, NYC. Much of Radio Juxtapoz' year took an interesting turn in NYC in March, as suddenly a pandemic had taken hold of the city while co-hosts Doug Gillen and Evan Pricco were producing podcasts for Armory Week. For what the world has gone through, and for what NYC endured in those early months, to be here talking to Steven Sweatpants as he was finishing up a photoshoot with the NY Knicks felt like we came to an incredible full circle odyssey.

Steven "Sweatpants" Irby had one of those years that you talk about decades later. Already one of the editors of the wildly popular Street Dreams mag, he, like most of us, thought his 2020 would be on permanent pause. A few shoots, maybe, but nothing like what we saw this summer across America. With the George Floyd murder sparking protests in almost every city, Steven was assigned by the New Yorker to capture images of protests on the streets of his hometown of NYC, delving in as both a photojournalist, an activist and a man himself. His incredible photos were of someone embedded but with an eagle eye, participating himself but also capturing the mood of Black America and also of a unity that became the calling of many for the rest of this year. His work continued with the Washington Post, New York Magazine, and we at Juxtapoz featured him as both an artist and documentarian in our Winter 2021 issue.

In this candid talk, Steven talks about his start in photography, his family and deep roots in NYC, how to be present and active during a protest, his particular camera toolkit, exuding confidence and the moment he knew he captured one of the great photos of 2020.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 061 was recorded via Skype from NYC, San Francisco, London, December 11, 2020.

There was a moment in the new short documentary film on Fintan Magee, shot by Radio Juxtapoz alum Selina Miles, where he sums up 2020 quite perfectly. “There is too much chaos this year to string any common narratives, or maybe just chaos is the common narrative," he said on the precipice of opening his new solo show Nothing Makes Sense Anymore at Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne. 

On the 2-year anniversary of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we wanted to talk to our good friend Fintan Magee about that chaos. For years, he has developed into one of the world's premier social realist muralists, and with the absence of lives being lived in public spaces over the last 9 months, Magee's practice had to change. We found him after his longest stint in the studio ever, as he normally spends months on the road away from home on mural projects and exhibitions. He hunkered down in Sydney with no plan, a show on the horizon... and just got to work.

What we had was a deeply frank and personal conversation about changing methods, working alone, not criss-crossing the globe, maturing as an artist and rethinking what it means to be in a muralist in such a new atmosphere. Fintan spoke of how well Australians handled the pandemic, and at times felt like he was watching chaos from afar, as an observer. Even that observational scope made it into his studio life like never before. In a year where our lives have become more like Black Mirror than we ever thought possible, Fintan found a sense of domesticity and humanity in his routine. As we celebrate two years and 60+ episodes of Radio Juxtapoz, these conversations with friends, distant but still sharing, are what it's all about. 

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 060 was recorded via Skype from Melbourne, San Francisco, London, December 2, 2020. Nothing Makes Sense Anymore is on view at Backwoods, Melbourne through December 20, 2020. 

Over the course of our almost two years of bringing you the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, the core is looking at the stories and characters that have help shape the past, present and future of graffiti and street art. From Shepard Fairey, Martha Cooper, Felipe Pantone, Hyuro, Craig Costello, REVOK, Cleon Peterson, Dan Witz, Ron English, ESPO, Swoon... what all these episodes have in common in many ways is today's guest, curator Roger Gastman. For over 20 years, Gastman has been at the forefront of documenting, publishing and creating historical overviews of the history of two of the most popular art forms we cover. That graffiti and street art still resonates with audiences so deeply decades into their existence is, in part, a celebration of Gastman's work.

In 2018, Gastman started Beyond the Streets, an exhibition that helped create a more linear narrative to what is an often complicated and storied history of art in the streets. Not only were the shows highlighting the graffiti and street artists that we have come to know today, but the show provided an opportunity to show just how widespread and impactful the vandal element of those forms has influenced contemporary art and culture. From Takashi Murakami, Guerrilla Girls and the Beastie Boys, you began to see how Beyond the Streets was more encompassing than past graffiti and street art shows. With exhibitions in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn in 2018 and 2019, Gastman was looking to take the show to new markets when the pandemic put a pause on everything.  For 2020, Beyond the Streets is a virtual art fair, streaming on the NTWRK APP December 5th & 6th, 2020, a two day art fair with  exclusive paintings, sculptures, editioned prints, skate decks, drawings, exclusive drops, and "thought-provoking discussions and panels though a series of videos curated by culture historian Roger Gastman."

On this episode of Radio Juxtapoz, we get our own history of Gastman's love and interest in graffiti culture, how he grew to understand the often merging world of street art and how many pivotal moments over the past 50 years have allowed for a major pop-culture interest in Beyond the Streets. From his early days in Washington, DC, his work in publishing and now looking to expand BTS to international markets, this is just the beginning of Gastman's vision to keep graffiti and street art global. 

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 059 was recorded via Skype from Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, November 27, 2020. Beyond the Streets will be streaming on the NTWRK APP on December 5th & 6th, 2020.

It is, indeed, still life. Life is happening perhaps in new ways, and sometimes it seems like it's moving at a weird pace and a new anxiety may exist, but it is indeed, still life. Jillian Evelyn gave her newest solo show at Subliminal Projects one of the best titles of this crazy year (It's Still Life), and it may be her best body of work to date. Her characters feel more mature, each color and line choice so purposeful, and her take on minimalism has equated to a richer and full canvas. These works feel alive. Every angle and awkward pose, each vantage point and mundane gesture comes across as an artist working with directness and a fresh set of aesthetic tools at her disposable. Evelyn has proved that, even when our lives may technically have gone on pause, she is, indeed, still creating with a sense of vitality.

We have been wanting to have Jillian on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast for years; she has been part of our Juxtapoz Clubhouses in Miami, been featured in our print edition and just all around fits into fine art we love to cover. It's Still Life feels like a maturation, a culmination of her unique and clean style mixed with art historical references and use of the female body throughout art history. From her days as a designer in footwear to her beginnings as a painter and muralist to now being able to fully spread her wings in Los Angeles, it's been a busy journey for Evelyn, and one that keeps evolving.

In episode 058 of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we talk to Evelyn about how It's Still Life came to be and how many years it was in the making, growing up in Michigan, working as a designer in Boston, becoming a full-time painter in Los Angeles, deciding against grad school, the challenge of murals, and the new confidence she is finding in her practice. And... we have a Radio Juxtapoz first! Jillian's mom stops in for a quick update on how moms think of nudity in art and a little body humor. 

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 058 was recorded via Skype from Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, November, 62020. It's Still Live is on view at Subliminal Projects via appointment through December 20, 2020. Follow her at @jillian_evelyn

We often have those moments, the ones we literally denote as those where history stops for just one second to rewrite and reinvent itself. In America, you talk of 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Kennedy and MLK being shot, the night Obama was elected. This past Saturday may have been another, where the media call that Biden had won the electoral college sent seismic waves throughout the world. Those are instantaneous moments of history, where in a second, life is different. They are the rarest of times.

Perhaps that is why we wanted to share this conversation the week after an election and period of time that is so dominated by instantaneous social media communication. On November 21, 2020, the Toledo Museum of Art will open Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change, an exhibition that spans centuries and speaks to just how labor intensive oral history and physical storytelling can be. There is a beauty in the quilt, not only as an object of warmth and the process to create them, but as the museum notes "quilts have been used to voice opinions, raise awareness, and enact social reform in the U.S. from the mid-nineteenth century to the present." American history is so engrained in the history of quilts, from cotton production to the industrial revolution to civil rights, gender equality, queer rights, you tend to forget that these stories are not just part of an Outsider Art tradition but the very fabric of our lives. And how these two opposing words, "Radical" and "Tradition" are the hallmarks of how we grow and heal as a country in flux.

From Gee's Bend quilts, the AIDS Memorial Quilt to the contemporary works of Bisa Butler, there is a lot to understand about the dynamics of quilts and their place in the pantheon of American art. In episode 057 of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we speak with Radical Tradition curator Lauren Applebaum of the Toledo Museum of Art on how the pandemic changed her daily life at the museum, the history of Outsider traditions in institutional arts, Toledo's unique history in art and the intricacies of curating an art show on radical traditions while the country itself was going through radical changes on streets across America.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 057 was recorded via Skype from Toledo, San Francisco, London, October 27, 2020. Radical Tradition is on view at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio starting on November 21, 2020.

There is something both immediately recognizable and yet completely original in the paintings of Icelandic-born, Chicago-based artist, Baldur Helgason. For us at Juxtapoz, it's a classic style and such a fascinating new tale to tell in the world of contemporary art. Part comics but also deeply personal, Baldur is part of a new generation of painters who are both satirist and fine artists, what we noted in a feature last year as " sardonic references to modern life with both humor and a haunting hit of foreboding."

But what we learn in episode 056 of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast is how Baldur has broken tradition with the more landscape, ethereal and abstract work of Icelandic painters before him into fresh new territory that combines his childhood and his formative years in San Francisco as an art student and now Chicago-based painter. The last few years have been successful; just this year he has had solo shows in Los Angeles, Iceland and now, currently, in London at Ramp Gallery. We asked about how figurative works fit into the Icelandic art historical lexicon (yes, we asked about trolls), but also how a tiny island country has been able to support and nurture such talent with such a small population. Iceland is, indeed, a special place.

We also spoke to Baldur about how San Francisco shaped him, how COVID and being stuck inside changed his muse (its now his wife) and why he is heading back to Iceland for the foreseeable future. In a year of transitions, Baldur is making one of the biggest moves of all.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 056 was recorded via Skype from Chicago, San Francisco, London, October 20, 2020. Follow Baldur at @baldur_helgason. His solo show, Assortments, is on view at Ramp Gallery in London through November 22, 2020.

In recent weeks, and even in the hours before Radio Juxtapoz got on the phone with our friend and Nigerian-based hyperrealist artist, Arinze Stanley, we were reading and watching as peaceful protests against police brutality in Lagos and other cities had turned to turmoil and chaos as forces began attacking its citizens. In the 24 hours before we recorded this podcast, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had open-fired on protestors, resulting in death, lockdowns, curfews and more confusion and unrest.

Arinze is supposed to be celebrating a wonderful year. His solo show with Corey Helford Gallery has just opened and his following has grown exponentially since the beginning of 2020. And here we were. Not only did Arinze give us an update on the conditions right now in Lagos, but the history of government violence and social justice protests in Nigeria against SARS, and the complicated past, present and future for Nigerians as they seek reforms.

But, there is his art, and how dramatic it is. There are the technical aspects of being a hyperrealist drawer that can be both awe-inspiring and incredibly vivid. One of the traits that the genre can often lack is humanity; the skill is so apparent that the message is lost. Lagos-based Arinze Stanley is one of the great exceptions to the rules. Humanity is at the core of his work, how one sees the self and others, and as he explains it, his work is as much about the Nigerians understanding Nigerians than it is the rest of the world peeking in.   

In this wide-ranging conversation, Arinze tells us of his own personal experiences with SARS, how developing and emerging technology has helped empower the youth of Nigeria, how his hyperreal works have influenced more artists in his country and how his own works have evolved. He give poignant views on America's own issues with race and how it relates to Nigeria, but also a hopeful message of staying in Lagos and completing his goal of participating in, and inspiring, real lasting change.   

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 055 was recorded via Skype from Lagos, San Francisco, London, October 21, 2020. Follow Arinze at @arinze

A few years ago when we published our first interview with East German-born, London-based painter and almost mythical figure Super Future Kid, our deputy editor Kristin Farr asked the artist what her superpowers were. We will never forget the answer: "To be incredibly childish and yet able to do all the grown up stuff." That has stuck with us. As an artist with the incredible gift of making her paintings look almost digital and yet definitely hand-painted, who has created characters with almost hype-color characteristics and unmistakable details in her presentation, Super Future Kid has carved out one of the most singular and individualistic careers in the art world.   

And yet no matter how far she goes and acclaimed she may be, Super Future Kid has a creative energy and sense of wonderment that is infectious. Born in East Germany in the early 1980s, she claims she never saw color until the Wall came down.  She says, "I spent the first eight years of my life not knowing that there was a universe of colors, toys and all kinds of fun things waiting for me on the other side of the Wall. I had a great childhood but it got a massive upgrade after November ’89!" This detail is essential in understanding the universe she has created. These characters and colors are an extension of how incredible the impression that cartoons, candy, toys, animations, films had on her at a young age. That sudden culture shock, is, what we learned in this podcast, still a major influence and driving force her work today.   

For this episode of Radio Juxtapoz, we spoke with Super Future Kid from her studio in London as she had just sent a new body of work, Seaweed Sunrise, to Hong Kong for a solo show at Over the Influence. Of course, the conversation ranged from the disappointment of not being able to attend her opening, and the challenges that Covid has had on her year. But we also dug deep into her memories of East Germany, how pop-culture surprised and inspired her works, how she was influenced by Neo Rauch and how making work under a moniker has allowed her to be even more creative.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 054 was recorded via Skype from San Francisco and London, October 2, 2020. Follow Super Future Kid @superfuturekid

It's a new season here at Radio Juxtapoz, and where we were hoping that Fall would bring back art openings and a sense of normalcy to our already tumultuous year, we are still a bit in flux. This month we released our newest Fall 2020 Quarterly edition with cover artist Bisa Butler, whose phenomenal and critically-acclaimed year has also become a symbol of the transitions Americans have experienced with social activism and social justice this past summer. The murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have sparked a worldwide movement and moment of reckoning about how society treats people of color and the dominant histories that denied Black Americans a voice for a better future.

With social media and the power of technology helping push new powerful narratives and ways to engage with the BLM movement, we look to one of the most antiquated and handmade of the arts, the quilt, as the centerpiece of this episode. Bisa Butler is a textile artist, whose quilts appear like paintings with their incredible details and patters and almost life-like features. And yet her figures and the stories she tells, from the attire of her characters to an iconic image of Frederick Douglass, are about a re-telling of American history. The people lost to our distant memories or stories never told that helped shape our society and the ways we perceive what it is to be American, Butler is literally re-stitching that history on elegant thread at a time. As Jewels Dodson so eloquently wrote in our cover story, "Bisa Butler’s work has elevated the quilt and innovated the portrait, creating a formidable seat for them at the table of contemporary art. She has brought the black historical narrative and imagery of the past back into focus. At a time where black people’s humanity can be stolen in 8 minutes and 46 seconds and broadcast for all the world to see, Butler’s work is a much needed reminder that the lives of Black people always have and always will matter."

In this conversation, Juxtapoz editor Evan Pricco and Butler discuss how a year of triumph in a year of pain has shaped the artist, how and where she sources her materials, her evolving relationship with textiles, how the pandemic changed her year, how the art world has evolved with more Black artists and just the overwhelming moment of America in transition.

The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 053 was recorded via Skype from San Francisco and New Jersey, September 7, 2020. Follow Bisa Butler @bisabutler