Image Culture

EP 036: Catherine Opie Apr 14, 2021

Few have had such an impact on contemporary art as American photographer Catherine Opie. Her decades of work have helped redefine our conception of American identity, landscape, and culture. In this episode of Image Culture, William Jess Laird talks with the artist about her recent work photographing the sites of Confederate monuments throughout the United States and its relationship to Catherine's early photographs.

In collaboration with Lehmann Maupin, Opie kept a travel log of her recent journey that can be seen at https://www.lehmannmaupin.com/viewing-room/catherine-opie

Stay in touch!

EP 035: Dan Thawley, EIC of A Magazine Curated By May 26, 2020

This week I’m sharing a conversation with Dan Thawley, Editor in Chief of A Magazine Curated By. The magazine is unique in the landscape of fashion publications. The project was started in 2004 with the concept that each issue would be guest curated by a fashion designer, who would be given free rein over the content of the magazine.

“Each issue celebrates a designer’s ethos: their people, passion, stories, emotions, fascinations, spontaneity, and authenticity.”

The magazine presents an opportunity for designers to get beyond just fashion, and show the broader context of their work. The reader is invited to see the world of collaborators, references, and inspirations that contribute to a designer’s perspective. We get to understand the unique point of view of each designer who curates an issue, and, as you get to the final pages, you realize that you’ve had a truly intimate experience.

I’m talking to Dan on the occasion of the release of A Magazine Curated By’s 21st issue, curated by Lucie and Luke Meier, the creative directors of fashion house Jil Sander. In our conversation Dan and I talk about his 10+ year history with the magazine, how he became Editor in Chief when he was just 20 years old, and the process behind the scenes of working with the designers. Over the years, Dan has developed a unique perspective on how visual culture influences clothing design.

A Magazine Curated By has a great website where you can get a peak into iconic past issues with designers such as Martin Margiela, Thom Browne, Yohji Yamamoto, Simone Rocha, Jun Takahashi and many more. You can find this archive at amagazinecuratedby.com or on Instagram @amagazinecuratedby

Dan Thawley is on Instagram @danthawley

I want to thank Dan Thawley, and the whole team at A Magazine Curated By, as well as the Lucie and Luke Meier for putting together such a beautiful, timely issue.

Get your copy of A Magazine Curated By Issue No 21 online at amagazinecuratedby.com .

Our show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. Find us on Instagram @image.culture or @william.jess.laird

EP 034: SCOTT STERNBERG May 14, 2020

On the show today I’m sharing a conversation with fashion designer Scott Sternberg, who founded the cult classic label Band of Outsiders in 2004, and, most recently, a new brand called Entireworld in 2018.

We go back through the origins of Band of Outsiders, looking at Scott's idiosyncratic way of creating clothes, to see how this hugely influential brand was created. Scott tells me that the ethos of Band of Outsiders was an idea of making preppy clothes that were about preppy clothes. This sense of meta-narrative and playfulness in design always gave Band of Outsiders a unique point of view.

Scott’s new project Entireworld focuses on the basics. He talks about approaching the brand as building a system for dressing, starting with the essentials, socks, underwear, and t-shirts. The brand's monochromatic sweats in myriad of bright primary colors have been a quick hit. It's an interesting opportunity to hear Scott reflect on his 11 year arc with Band of Outsiders, and how he's applying those lessons to Entireworld.

You can follow Entireworld on Instagram at @entireworld and visit them online at theentireworld.com . Scott is on Instagram @scott.sternberg

Our show is produced by Sarah Levine, and our music is by Jack and Eliza.

You can find us on Instagram @image.culture and @william.jess.laird

We'll be back next week!

EP 033: MADELINE HOLLANDER Apr 22, 2020

Artist, choreographer, and dancer Madeline Hollander has a unique way of looking at the world. While creating her performances she never invents new movements. Instead, she’s always pulling from what she observes in the world. She has the amazing ability to isolate the ways we move our bodies in very specific contexts and use these movements as the building blocks for a sequence. For instance, she talks about the specific way our body twitches when we’re playing a pinball machine, the ways we’ve learned to interact with a touch screen, or even the set of movements required to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Beyond that, she also looks at the way our movements manifest themselves in larger systems, such as traffic patterns in New York or the motion of tug boats along the Hudson River. These things have their own ebbs and flows that she samples in her work and applies on a human scale.

One of the most interesting aspects of Madeline’s practice is its diversity. She can be found staging performances with LA Dance Project or showing an installation of programmed car tail lights at Bartolami Gallery or even serving as the moment director on Jordan Peele’s latest film Us.

Her way of understanding human movement is something that crosses traditional boundaries within the art world. The sensitivity of her eye for body language and gestures coupled with her background in traditional ballet makes her a unique voice working today.

You can see more of Madeline’s work at www.madelinehollander.com

Her installation Heads/Tails can be viewed at www.bortolamigallery.com/exhibitions/heads-tails/

You can find more information on Madeline’s work and performance at The Whitney at https://whitney.org/watchandlisten/44000

EP 032: SARA CWYNAR Apr 15, 2020

This week I’m talking to the artist Sara Cwynar, whose work, in both photographs and films, examines capitalism and the aesthetics of desire. Sara’s new show Marilyn is currently on view at The Approach in London. Due to Covid-19, all works in the show, including Sara’s newest film Red Film, are currently available to be viewed online at theapproach.co.uk until April 30th. You can find more work at saracwynar.com & on Instagram @cwynars

EP 031: SERBAN IONESCU Apr 07, 2020

On the show today is the artist Serban Ionescu whose work blurs the line between sculpture and design. His newest work, the large scale “Chapel for an Apple” will debut this summer. You can see more of Serban’s work at www.serbanionescu.com .

EP 030: F TAYLOR COLANTONIO Mar 31, 2020

This week I’m talking with the furniture, object, and interior designer F Taylor Colantonio. F Taylor’s current project, The Primavera Playlists, is a music-sharing project through the global lockdowns of Spring 2020. You can find the playlists, along with more of F Taylor’s work at https://ftaylor.co/pages/primavera as well as on Instagram @ftaylorc

You can find Image Culture on Instagram @image.culture and William @william.jess.laird

Thanks for listening!

EP 029: JARRETT EARNEST Oct 18, 2019

On the show today I’m talking with writer, curator and critic Jarrett Earnest, whose 2018 book What it Means to Write About Art assembles his conversations with thirty of the most influential American art writers. Jarrett’s interviews with figures ranging from Rosalind Krauss to Dave Hickey, Roberta Smith to Kellie Jones, and Jerry Saltz to Hal Foster trace a path through art criticism from the 1960’s up to the present moment. His subjects remind us of the diversity of thought that has defined modern art criticism. It’s truly a rare thing to find a book that offers such a plethora of ideas about how we think about and relate to art.

You can find more of Jarrett’s work at www.jarrettearnest.com and on Instagram @jarrettearnest

EP 028: ISRAEL LUND Apr 17, 2019

My guest today is the painter Israel Lund. Israel is interested in images, the way they are reproduced, transmitted and passed through digital and analog systems. His early experiences as a teenager making zines and posters for local punk shows introduced him to a visual culture that thrived on the copy, and motivated him to introduce CMYK screen printing techniques into the realm of painting. The aesthetic of his work falls somewhere between abstraction and a glitchy computer screen. Through it all, there is a constant examination of how the information of an image is determined by the system it’s put through, be it a Tumblr page, a photocopier, or one of Israel’s screens.

I’d like to thank Israel, as well as Olivia Smith at Magenta Plains and David Lewis. I’d also like to send a special thank you to Alex Bacon who wrote an excellent piece on Israel’s work in The Brooklyn Rail that I referenced frequently in preparation for this show.

You can find that article HERE:

Remember you can see my portrait of Israel in his studio at williamjesslaird.com/imageculture as well as on Instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture

Our show is produced by Sarah Levine. Our music is by Jack & Eliza.

Thank you so much for listening.

Check out Israel’s Tumblr page at https://israellund.tumblr.co m

EP 027: VIRGINIA LEE MONTGOMERY Mar 12, 2019

My guest is Virginia Lee Montgomery, whose new solo show Pony Cocoon is up now at False Flag in Long Island City though March 24th. The show is titled after her new film, following the birth of a Luna moth from a disembodied blonde ponytail, a frequently used symbol in Virginia’s practice. Her films are diffused with these repeated visual motifs. Dripping honey engulfs an object; a power drill bores a perfect hole through the surface of an image; a narwhal’s horn pierces the Arctic water. Images become like recurring characters through her films, which unfold like a surrealist mind-map attempting to make sense of free-associative thought. Concurrent to her art practice, Virginia works as a graphic facilitator, meaning she travels the country diagramming the flow of ideas and concepts for a variety of corporate clientele. The influence of this work is clearly felt in the way she edits her films, taking seemingly disparate ideas and finding the ways they’re interconnected.

We’d like to thank Virginia Lee Montgomery as well as Edwin Lewis, Alexander Heffesse, Jon Huddleson, Whitney Smith, and Mel Hyde at False Flag. You can see my portrait of Virginia in her show at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture as well as on instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture

You can see Virginia Lee Montgomery’s work at www.virginialeemontgomery.com and you can find the press release for Pony Cocoon at www.false-flag.org

This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza.

EP 026: ADAM CHARLAP HYMAN Feb 22, 2019

My guest is Adam Charlap Hyman, principle at the architecture and design firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero, which he cofounded in 2014. Adam’s work is grounded in a deeply considered approach to all aspects of the built environment, creating spaces imbued with a rich sense of history and narrative. His work ranges from residential interiors to art galleries, furniture, opera sets, and a new collection of abaca rugs, wallpapers, and fabrics in collaboration with Schumacher and Patterson Flynn Martin.

Recently Adam designed an exhibition at Friedman Benda Gallery entitled Blow Up in which he and curator Felix Burrichter transformed the gallery into a life-sized dollhouse, creating architectural elements through scaled up prints of Adam’s watercolor illustrations. The imagined spaces were then furnished with the work of a dreamlike roster of contemporary artists and designers.

At the center of Adam’s work is the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art. He has a unique way of understanding interiors that goes far beyond the decorative. Instead, his spaces feel as if they are part of an ever-expanding narrative, often funny, full of twists, and always fascinating.

I’d like to thank Adam Charlap Hyman as well as Andre Herrero, Alex Charlap Hyman, Juliet Breza, Felix Burrichter, and Friedman Benda. Remember, you can see my portrait of Adam on Instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture as well as at our website williamjesslaird.com/imageculture This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. Thanks for listening.

Find Charlap Hyman & Herrero at www.ch-herrero.com and on Instagram at @ch_herrero

EP 025: MICHAEL HALSBAND Jan 15, 2019

On the show today is the photographer Michael Halsband, whose work I first saw in Surf Book, a collaborative project with legendary surfer Joel Tudor examining surf culture through the people who built it. From there I began exploring his extensive body of portraits of artists and musicians from Klaus Nomi & Bernice Abbott to David Byrne & James Brown. After studying photography at SVA, Michael got the chance to photograph Keith Richards for the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, after which he joined the Stones on their 1981 Tattoo You tour. Upon returning to New York, Michael made what was to become his most famous photograph, one that I imagine many of you have seen. The 1985 portrait of Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat wearing boxing shorts and gloves, arms crossed, looking straight into camera against a clean white background. Originally created as a promotional poster for a collaborative show between the two artists, it became the iconic image of one of art’s great partnerships.

I got to sit down with have tea with Michael in the same studio where that photograph was made. You can also see my portrait of Michael in the studio at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture as well as on Instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture

This show is produced by Sarah Levine, our music is by Jack and Eliza. If you like the show help us grow by leaving us a rating and sharing it with a friend. Thanks for listening.

You can see much of Michael’s work at his website michaelhalsband.com

EP 024: WENDY GOODMAN Dec 06, 2018

My guest is the iconic writer and editor Wendy Goodman, whose new book May I Come In? is out now with Abrams Press. Having spent her career at publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times Magazine, House & Garden, and most recently New York Magazine, where she has served as Design Editor since 1997, Wendy has profiled a most interesting group of individuals through their private homes. She lives by the idea that a house never lies and that few things are more fascinating than the opportunity to see how people live during their private hours. From Gloria Vanderbilt to Richard Avedon, Tony Duquette to Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Turner and Valentino, the new book is a retrospective of her work, and, as she puts it, an ode to the golden age of magazines. Profusely illustrated with work from an exceptional group of photographers, it offers a rare glimpse into some extraordinary lives. But ultimately, what makes the book so compelling is how personal it is. It’s a book of relentless search, full of risk and anxieties, and at the end we see how perfectly a space can serve as metaphor for the self. It’s much more than just a book of interiors.

I’d like to thank Wendy Goodman, as well as Lauren Starke, Gabby Fisher, and the entire team at Abrams and New York Magazine. This show is produced by Sarah Levine. Our music is by Jack and Eliza. Remember to head over to williamjesslaird.com/imageculture to see my portrait of Wendy as well as my photographs of all our guests. You can also find them on Instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture . If you like this show help us grow by leaving us a rating, writing a review and sharing the show with a friend. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of May I Come In? availablewherever you buy books. It makes a great gift for the holidays. Thanks so much for listening!

Find May I Come In? online at https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/may-i-come-in_9781419732461/

EP 023: CAMILLE HOFFMAN Nov 20, 2018

My guest is the artist Camille Hoffman. In her work Camille rethinks the narratives embedded in traditional American landscape painting. She points out the political motivations of the romantic landscape, it’s enforcement of ideas of Manifest Destiny and Western Exceptionalism, and, in doing so, she begins a conversation about the monolithic history of painting. Looking closely at this history motived Camille to focus on her materials. In addition to traditional oil paint, she uses printed matter collected from her daily life, ranging from holiday themed plastic tablecloths to discarded medical records, from plastic bags to nature calendars. The resulting works reimagine what a landscape painting can be, and point out how charged the medium has always been.

I had the chance to photograph Camille in her recent installation Rockabye My Bedrock Bones at False Flag Projects, in which she covered the exhibition space in a massive wall painting using tones derived from her own skin. You can see the photograph at our website www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

You can see Camille’s current show Excelsior: Ever Upward, Ever Afloat, in which she remixes the allegorical figures in the New York State Seal, now at the Queens Museum. It’ll be up through Fall 2019.

I’d like to thank Camille Hoffman, as well as False Flag Projects for hosting our talk. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack + Eliza. Remember to leave a rating and review and subscribe to hear all of our episodes. Have a great week!

Find more of Camille Hoffman’s work at http://www.camillehoffman.com/

Find her show at the Queen’s Museum HERE

Camille is on Instagram @camillehoffmanstudio

EP 022: VICENTE MUÑOZ Nov 08, 2018

Today on the show I’m talking with photographer and sculptor Vicente Muñoz, whose work I’ve found uniquely resonant in its engagement with architecture and optical phenomena. He has a new book out now entitled Virtual Transparency, which gathers a body of work originally started in 2015. The book focuses on the glass curtain architecture that defines New York City’s skyscrapers. Working at extremely long focal lengths, Vicente photographs the reflections of one building in another, however, much of his attention is on the glass itself. Specifically, he focuses on an optical phenomenon caused by imperfections in the manufacturing process known as roller-wave distortion, which creates unexpected bends and diffractions of light. The resulting photographs are abstracted to the point that, at first, I thought they might be illustrations. After spending some time with this book, I started seeing these distortions everywhere.

I photographed Vicente one day on the roof of his studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In the photograph you can see him handling a set of concrete blocks in different colors. These objects were cast as part of his body of work Beton, which examines the legacy of Brutalist architecture. You can see the portrait on our website at williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or at our Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

You can find Vicente’s new book Virtual Transparency on Amazon at the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Transparency-Vicente-Munoz/dp/0692763627

I’d like to thank Vicente and Audrey Rose Smith. I’d also like to thank Paul Knox, who wrote the titular essay in Virtual Transparency. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza.

See more of Vicente’s work at: http://vicentemunoz.xyz/#/

EP 021: RANDALL POSTER Oct 30, 2018

My guest is Randall Poster. If you don’t know the name, I guarantee you’ve heard his work. Randall is a music supervisor. He’s responsible for creating the soundtracks and overseeing the scores of some truly iconic films. Among his many credits is a 20 year collaboration with director Wes Anderson, crafting the musical profile of all his films dating back to 1996’s Bottle Rocket. From Rushmore’s sound of the British Invasion, to the Portuguese covers of David Bowie in Life Aquatic, from the music in the films of Satyajit Ray for The Darjeeling Limited, and the Eastern European Folk Music of The Grand Budapest Hotel, there’s always been a new stone to turn behind one of the most fruitful collaborations in cinema.

In addition to his work with Wes, Randall has had longstanding collaborations with great directors such as Richard Linklater, Todd Haynes, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, and Harmony Korine.

Behind all of his work, it’s clear to see a genuine love of music and film that’s persisted through a long career. I photographed Randall at his office in New York and you can see the portrait at our website at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird and @image.culture

Thank you to Randall Poster, as well as his entire team at Search Party Music. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. If you enjoy this show, help us grow by leaving a rating, writing a review, our sharing us with a friend.

As always thanks for listening!

EP 020: LONN TAYLOR Oct 16, 2018

Those of you that listen to the show regularly probably know that my partner and I frequently travel down to Marfa, Texas. If you’ve never been, I really can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s my opinion that seeing Donald Judd’s work permanently installed at the Chinati Foundation is one of the most pure experiences you can have seeing a work of art. But here’s the thing, there’s also a lot about Far West Texas that’s interesting for reasons entirely separate from Donald Judd. This brings me to my guest, writer, curator, and historian Lonn Taylor. Lonn is a bit of a local celebrity in Marfa. His books Texas, My Texas, Musings of the Rambling Boy, and, most recently, Marfa for the Perplexed are my first recommendations to anyone interested in the region. That’s because Lonn’s writing offers a most insightful and unique view into the lives of some of the most eccentricTexans. Reading Lonn’s essays, many of which were originally published between the pages of the Big Bend Sentinel, has opened up a world of stories, both big and small. They make a real case for why we should all read a bit of history, and, for me, they’ve changed the way I think about a place I’ve loved for a long time. If you thought you knew all there was to know about Marfa, I guarantee Lonn will show you something new.

For someone so influential in Marfa, Lonn actually lives one town down the road in Ft. Davis, where he retired after a 20 year career as a curator at the Smithsonian. He’s completed major projects on the history of furniture in Texas and New Mexico, the myth of the American Cowboy, as well as a landmark book on the Star Spangled Banner. We had our conversation one afternoon at Lonn’s desk looking out at the mountains which surround the town. You can see them in the portrait we shot together, which you’ll find at our website www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

Finally I just wanted to say a quick word about another legendary Texas resident, Boyd Elder, who passed away last week. I met Boyd when I was a kid, the first time I ever came to Marfa with my family. It’s funny that I just had this conversation with Lonn, because his work is really about exploring the exceptional people that make a place special. Boyd was certainly one of those people. I’ll miss him, I know many will. Rest in peace Boyd.

I’d like to thank Lonn and Dedie for having us by their home. I’d also like to thank all the staff and volunteers at the Chinati Foundation, Jenny Moore, Caitlin Murray, Tim Johnson, Robert and Rosario Halpern, Buck Johnston, Camp Bosworth, Elise Pepple, and Marfa Public Radio. Of course a final thank you to Boyd Elder for everything you gave to Marfa.

This show is produced by Sarah Levine, our music is by Jack and Eliza.If you like the show it makes a big difference if you subscribe, leave a review, or give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. See you next week.

EP 019: IN GOOD COMPANY W/ FERNANDO MASTRANGELO Oct 03, 2018

In this bonus episode of Image Culture, Fernando Mastrangelo gives a walkthrough of In Good Company 2018, co-curated with senior design writer at Architectural Digest, Hannah Martin.

You can follow along with images of all the works in the show at www.fernandomastrangelo.com/collections/in-good-company

Find Fernando on Instagram @iamfm

Find Hannah Martin @_h_mart_

In Good Company

@william.jess.laird

@image.culture

EP 018: FERNANDO MASTRANGELO Oct 02, 2018

Sculptor and designer Fernando Mastrangelo was raised in Monterrey, Mexico and received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Upon arriving in New York he landed a job working in the studio of the artist Matthew Barney, whose work would prove a lasting influence. An early sculptural work using sugar as a primary material was a major step for Fernando. His use of natural, granular materials cast in resin would become the foundation of his practice as both a sculptor and a furniture maker.

In the wake of this first piece Fernando began a series of ambitious works experimenting with material as well as exploring, often controversially, his status as as a Latino artist. Avarice, a scale replica of an Aztec calendar, was cast out of Mexican white corn. Another work, Felix, a figurative sculpture of a coca-farmer was cast out of Cocaine. Further works drew on materials such as gunpowder, concrete, human ash, salt, and sand, always selected for both their formal and metaphorical qualities.

In 2012, prompted by a large scale commission by Sean Parker, Fernando made a critical move away from figurative, narrative sculpture back towards abstraction. It was the beginning of an expansion of his practice into making functional design. Fernando’s work in furniture draws upon the processes he pioneered as a sculptor. His method of binding loose granular materials with an imperceptible layer of resin grant his objects a kind of surrealist quality. One can’t quite figure out how they remain solid. Recent work has focused on environmental issues and the expression of landscape through furniture. Additionally, Fernando’s non-profit In Good Company is dedicated to showing work by emerging designers and sculptors through an annual exhibition, the second installment of which is on view at his studio in East New York through mid October.

I’d like to thank Fernando and his entire team at the studio, Michelle Rosique, Anna Karlin, Brian Caverly, Loie Hollowell, as well as all the participating artists and designers of In Good Company. Special thanks to Hannah Martin, senior design editor at Architectural Digest, who co-curated the show with Fernando.

You can see my portrait of Fernando, shot with a body of work made in collaboration with Anna Karlin, at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture. You can also find it on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

To see more of Fernando’s work head over to www.fernandomastrangelo.com or find him on Instagram @iamfm

You can also see images of all the works in “In Good Company 2018” at www.fernandomastrangelo.com/collections/in-good-company

Thanks for listening!

EP 017: TUNJI ADENIYI-JONES Jul 10, 2018

Today I’m talking with the artist Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, whose paintings address the ancient history of West Africa and its associated mythology. Born and raised in England to Nigerian parents, Tunji studied art at Oxford University before moving to the United States to pursue his MFA at Yale, an experience that he describes as a culture shock and which had an immediate and profound effect on his work. It was in the US that he was first exposed to painters like Bob Thompson, Barkley Hendricks, and Kerry James Marshall, whose influence you can feel in his work right alongside British painters like Lucian Freud and David Hockney. We spend a lot of time talking about the differences between British and American painting, especially when it comes to representations of the black body. His recent solo show ‘Flash of the Spirit’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery takes its name from Robert Farris Thompson’s landmark 1984 book examining the influence of West African aesthetics on the modern diaspora. Seeing the eight works in the show all together is to see the development of Tunji’s language as a painter. His large scale works are inhabited by cast of richly colored, androgynous figures suspended against lush, compressed backgrounds, the forms echoing from one canvas to another. I’ll be looking forward to his upcoming solo show ‘A Place to Belong’ which will be at Hunter Harrison in London.

I photographed Tunji in his Brooklyn studio surrounded by a new body of work. You can see the portrait at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

I’d like to thank Tunji Adeniyi-Jones as well as the team at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. Thanks for listening.

http://www.tunjiadeniyi-jones.com/

https://nicellebeauchene.com/artists/tunji-adeniyi-jones/

EP 016: WILLIAM MIDDLETON Jun 26, 2018

My guest is William Middleton, author of the new biography Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John De Menil, out now through Knopf.

The book follows the lives of the celebrated art collectors, who over the course of the 20th century forever changed the cultural landscape of their adopted home, Houston, TX. William spent 15 years between Paris, New York, and Houston researching and writing. When you hear him speak about their lives, you can feel the enduring nature of his interest. That may be because the de Menil’s offer a kind of model of civic engagement. They represent the idea that, given the opportunity, we have an obligation to invest in the places we find ourselves. Heirs to the massive Schlumberger oil fortune, Dominique and John relocated from France to Houston during the turmoil of World War II. Over the coming years they would champion the city, creating lasting institutions such as the Menil Collection, the Rothko Chapel, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, and the Cy Twombly Gallery. They were also outspoken supporters of the civil rights movement, funding key scholarship and exhibition of African American Art at a time when it was seldom granted institutional support. William’s expansive biography considers the impact art can have on society through the lives of two of its most devoted members.

I photographed William at his apartment in New York, surrounded by more than a decades worth of photographs, exhibition catalogues, letters, and manuscripts used in research for the book. His french bulldog Hubert makes an appearance as well. You can see the photograph at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

I’d like to thank William Middleton as well as Katie Schoder and the entire team at Penguin Random House. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. Thanks for listening.

EP 015: DAN RILEY Jun 12, 2018

My guest is author Dan Riley, whose debut novel Fly Me was recently released to critical acclaim. Fly Me, set in a fictionalized Manhattan Beach, California in 1972, follows the story of Suzy Whitman, a young stewardess at Grand Pacific Airlines who soon finds herself in the midst of a drug trafficking scheme taking place in the skies. It’s a real page-turner, but somehow still takes its time to revel in the peculiarities of the early 70’s, surf culture, and “stewing” as Suzy calls it. Well researched and perfectly paced, if you’re looking for a great summer novel, I highly recommend it.

I photographed Dan at the offices of GQ Magazine, where he also serves as the Features Editor, and you can see the portrait at williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

I’d like to thank Dan Riley, Sarah Goulet, and the teams at Little Brown and Company and GQ Magazine. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. If you like the show leave us a review, a rating, or share it with a friend! Thanks so much for listening. See you next week.

You can read more of Dan’s work at:

http://danielvriley.com/

EP 014: ROBERT BUCK Jun 05, 2018

In 2008 Robert Beck became Robert Buck. He did this in response to an idea that in a state of hypermodernity the status of the Name-of-the-Father had been fundamentally shaken. In its absence as a universal, he says, each of us must invent our own, be it knowingly, explicitly or intuitively. Robert changed his by the exchange of a single vowel. It was a work that marked a major turning point in his life and practice.

I met with Robert at his studio in New York on the occasion of his recent back to back solo shows at Ulterior Gallery. The first, Vestige, premieres a collection of staged Kodak Instant photographs made in the early 80’s during Robert’s first years in New York. The second show, entitled Second Hand, presents Buck’s ongoing series of amended thrift-store paintings, a body of work he began to coincide with the changing of his father’s name.

You can see my portrait of Robert in his studio at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture as well as on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

You can find more information on Robert Buck at https://www.robertbuck.net/ and http://www.ulteriorgallery.com/

Special thanks to Takako Tanabe and the team at Ulterior. This show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza. If you like the show consider leaving a rating, a review or sharing it with a friend. Thanks for listening.

EP 013: EILEEN MYLES May 29, 2018

My guest is Eileen Myles, whose works of poetry, fiction and criticism have profoundly impacted a generation of writers thinking about narrative, sexuality, and feminism. Eileen came to New York in the early 70’s and became associated with the St. Marks Poetry Project, of which they would eventually be named director. Their iconic 1994 novel Chelsea Girls reflects on this time and, in the process, redefined both the queer novel and autobiographical fiction. They are the recipients of both a Creative Capital Grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship and have published over 20 volumes of poetry and writing.

I spoke to Eileen one morning at her house in Marfa, Texas. You can hear the birds in the background. We made a photograph there and you can find it at williamjesslaird.com/imageculture or on Instagram @william.jess.laird

I’d like to thank Eileen Myles, Mary Farley, as well as Caitlin Murray and Tim Johnson of Marfa Book Company.

EP 012: GIDEON JACOBS May 08, 2018

My guest is Gideon Jacobs. In 2016 Gideon staged a social media performance piece in which he went on a month long virtual road trip from New York to California. Using other people’s photographs geotagged to his corresponding itinerary and writing fictitious captions that recounted his days spent on the road, he built an extended narrative capturing an acute feeling of self discovery. Of course, none of it really happened. Gideon writes that the work might remind us that we don’t just go places and photograph what happens, but what happens is a function of what we photograph. Gideon’s work exists at the intersection of writing, art, and performance, but what connects the disparate parts of his practice is a continual preoccupation with narrative, with the ways it can seduce, inform, and mislead. This has a lot to do with photography, something that’s always been central to Gideon’s work. He formerly served as Creative Director of the storied photojournalism agency Magnum Photos, and regularly contributes writing on photography to publications such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, VICE, and Bomb Magazine. His fiction, much like the writing in #INSTAROADTRIP2016 is highly experimental, often manifesting in extremely short works that can be read on a single page or screen. It’s a way, he says, of pushing back against more established modes of writing and tailoring work for a new kind of consumption. It’s through thinking about the ways we’ve built narratives in the past, either through photography or the written word, that Jacobs finds new ways to consider how narrative functions today.

You can see more of Gideon’s work at http://www.gideon.works/ and you can see my portrait of Gideon at home on Instagram @william.jess.laird @image.culture or at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture

EP 011: JUAN ANTONIO OLIVARES May 01, 2018

On the show is the artist Juan Antonio Olivares. Juan’s highly interdisciplinary work resists traditional object-oriented art production. Instead, his work often manifests itself as video. He first studied art at Columbia University, before moving to Germany to study at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf under acclaimed conceptual photographer Christopher Williams. It was during this time that Juan began work on his film Moléculas, a 10 minute CGI animation following a one-armed teddy bear who ruminates on family, loss, and our place in the world. If it sounds strange, it’s because it is, but it was also one of my favorite works of the year, and I wasn’t alone. Moléculas was recently acquired by The Whitney and is now on view at the museum through June 10th. I encourage everyone to go see it.

I got the chance to photograph Juan at his Brooklyn studio, and you can see the portrait at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture as well as on Instagram @william.jess.laird or @image.culture

You can find more information on Moléculas here: https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/JuanAntonioOlivares

I’d like to thank Juan Antonio Olivares, John Miller, the Columbia University and Barnard College Art Departments, and the entire team at the Whitney Museum, especially to Jane Panetta and Allie Tepper. Our show is produced by Sarah Levine and our music is by Jack and Eliza.

EP 010: TIMOTHY MORTON Apr 24, 2018

My guest is Timothy Morton. Timothy’s work spans the fields of ecology, Romantic literature, and ontology, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential living philosophers. In his book Ecology without Nature he calls for us to cease considering nature and humanity as separate entities, and instead foster a kind of ecological awareness, a sense of the interdependence of all things. I met with Timothy in Marfa, Texas on the occasion of Hyperobjects the new show at Ballroom Marfa, which he co-curated with Executive Director Laura Copelin. Organized around his concept of the same name, Hyperobjects explores entities so large and complex that we lose our ability to understand our individual relationship to them; things such as global warming, plastic, and nuclear waste that have grown to such a scale as to defy comprehension. Morton argues that in order to understand such things, we have to shift the way we understand our relationship to the world. To this end, artworks in the show, including work by Tara Donovan, Postcommodity, and Emilija Skarnulyte, seek to de-center human perception and our idea of what constitutes an object.

I’d like to thank Timothy Morton, Laura Copelin and the entire team at Ballroom Marfa with special thanks to Peyton Gardner and Gabriela Carballo. You can see my portrait of Timothy at Ballroom with Tara Donovan’s work Untitled (Plastic Cups) on Instagram @william.jess.laird as well as at williamjesslaird.com/imageculture

EP 009: DUNG NGO Apr 18, 2018

On EP 009 I speak with Dung Ngo. A prolific editor, publisher, and curator, Dung began his career studying architecture at Rice University, going on to curate exhibitions on architecture and design for the School of Architecture at Rice. It was during this time that Dung began consulting on titles for a range of publishers, as well as releasing his own book Bent Ply, a history of plywood furniture. In 2005, Dung was named Senior Editor and Creative Director of Rizzoli, where he oversaw definitive monographs for many of the world’s most influential architects, designers, and photographers, including a series of books with Francois Halard, of which he is particularly proud. In 2012 Dung began his own imprint, August Editions, a niche publishing house focusing on contemporary visual culture. Their most recent title is The Women of Woodcock, a book made in collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson exploring the set and fashion of Phantom Thread as seen through the photographs of Laura Hynd. Dung also publishes the magazine August Journal, each issue of which offers a deep dive into a single city, immersing the reader in its art, architecture, and design. I photographed Dung at his home in Carroll Gardens.

EP 008: IMAN RAAD Apr 03, 2018

Iman Raad’s painted works, often made directly on the wall, draw on influences such as Persian miniature painting, truck ornamentation in South Asia, and the imagery of digital glitches. Rejecting traditional representation, Raad instead populates his works with anthropomorphized objects, animals, and plants, building complex narratives with a collapsed sense of time. Iman’s use of flat planes of primary color may hint at his early experiences working as a graphic designer in his native Iran before moving to the states to study art. In addition to his painted and sculptural works Iman has collaborated with his partner Shahrzad Changalvaee on a series of artists talks titled Two Headed Imagomancy, which examine the nature of language through storytelling. He took his MFA from Yale in 2017 and recently had his first New York solo show, Tongue Tied, at Sargent’s Daughters on the Lower East Side.

EP 007: MATTHEW LEIFHEIT Mar 20, 2018

On the show I talk with photographer Matthew Leifheit. Matthew approaches photography as both an artist and a curator. In addition to his own work he has published Matte Magazine, a journal for new ideas in photography, since 2010. Matthew also spent three years serving as the photo editor of Vice, in addition to writing for other platforms including Time and Aperture. In 2017 Leifheit graduated with an MFA from Yale where his thesis focused on a set of rejected photographs he originally took on assignment for the Yale Daily News. His work is held by ICP, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the MoMa Library among others.

I met Matthew at his home one day in Brooklyn, and you can see the portrait we did on Instagram @william.jess.laird as well as at www.williamjesslaird.com/imageculture

You can see more of Matt’s work at www.matthewleifheit.com and you can find Matte Magazine at MoMa PS1, Printed Matter, and ICP.

EP 006: SAM STEWART Mar 13, 2018

On the show today is the artist Sam Stewart. Sam’s sculptural work resembles household furniture and domestic objects. Drawing on his observations of everyday design ranging from subway seating to exercise equipment, he creates works that play with the condition of design itself, often subverting the intended use of the items the work references. For his current solo show Cryptid at Fort Gansevoort, the artist has installed a new body of work in an apartment leased by the gallery. Zoned for residential use, the space is required by the Department of Buildings to include a shower, a sleeping surface, and a working kitchen among other prerequisites for daily living. Reflecting on these codes and their distinctions from commercial space, Stewart has created a series of objects that imagine the personal affects of a mythical occupant. Through his synthesis of disparate aesthetic tropes, accidental uses of household objects, and their psychological associations, Stewart considers how, through successive rationalizations, mythologies gain momentum and permanence.

EP 005: JERRY SCHATZBERG Mar 06, 2018

On the show today is the photographer and film director, Jerry Schatzberg. Jerry started his career in the late 50’s, shooting fashion photographs for magazines such as Vogue, McCall’s, and Esquire. Many of his most iconic photographs were made during this time, perhaps most famously his portrait of Bob Dylan for the cover of Blonde on Blonde. In 1970 Jerry made the transition to film with his first feature, Puzzle of a Downfall Child, starring Faye Dunaway as a model on the verge of a nervous breakdown. His follow up film, The Panic In Needle Park, a gritty, realistic look at two heroin addicts in New York starred Al Pacino in his first major role. The film earned Jerry the first of his four Palme d’Or nominations, including one win for 1973’s Scarecrow. Jerry just celebrated his 90th Birthday and I was happy to visit him and make a portrait at his apartment on the Upper West Side. Here I am with Jerry Schatzberg.

EP 004: VICTORIA SAMBUNARIS Feb 27, 2018

Each year, Victoria Sambunaris structures her life around a photographic journey through the American landscape. Using a large format 5x7 camera she searches for the intersection between the natural and the manmade. In her own words she has “an unrelenting curiosity to understand the American landscape and our place within it.” Her work has brought her to the farthest corners of Alaska and across the entire length of the US-Mexico border. A recent project has focused on the intersection of geology, industry and culture encompassing the petro-chemical and shipping industries around the Gulf Coast. Sambunaris’ monograph Taxonomy of a Landscape was published by Radius Books in 2014 and was one of Time Magazine’s best photo books of the year. She earned her MFA from Yale in 1999 and is represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York.

EP 003: LIZ NIELSEN & CAROLINA WHEAT Feb 13, 2018

Image Culture in conversation with artists and curators Liz Nielsen and Carolina Wheat. Together Liz and Lina operate Elijah Wheat Showroom. In their own words, “Voices embodied at Elijah Wheat Showroom are socially conscientious, politically engaged and reflective of a creative community striving to cultivate interactions outside the status-quo. The Showroom represents artists & curators that enjoy instigating conversation beyond a commercial focus.” (Elijah Wheat Showroom) In her own practice Liz Nielsen “replaces the traditional negative with hand cut collages comprised of different colored gels. She projects her forms on to chromogenic paper creating bright and luminous abstractions. As the paper she uses is a negative rather than a positive paper, the colors of the gels are reversed often creating surprising new combinations where Nielsen’s compositional control comes face to face with the magic of photographic chemistry.” (Danziger Gallery)

EP 002: LOIE HOLLOWELL Jan 30, 2018

“Loie Hollowell (b. 1983, Woodland, California) earned a BFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Originating in autobiography, her paintings explore themes of sexuality, often through abstractions of the human body and an emphasis on female forms. With strong colors, varied texture, and the symmetry of sacred geometry, her works evoke bodily landscapes and allude to iconography such as the almond-shaped mandorlas found in medieval religious painting. Hollowell was the recipient of a 2011 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Award. She lives and works in New York.” - Pace Gallery

EP 001: SUSAN YORK Jan 17, 2018

York's site-sensitive installations of graphite forms, both sculpted and drawn, engage the existing architecture of a chosen site: a room, a wall, or a piece of paper. Her studies in graphite are a reverent homage to subtlety, with irregularities interrupting otherwise austere geometric forms and producing results that are perhaps more felt than seen. In the exhibition catalogue, Susan York: 3 Columns, Lucy Lippard wrote, “This nuanced fusion of the intellect and sensual experience is precisely what York achieves. In doing so, she takes Minimalism past the post, and into a realm of her own”.

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