Longevity in the art world is something we take for granted, whether it's Juxtapoz at 28 years old or printmakers who perfect their craft for decades. It was refreshing to speak with Spoke Art Gallery and Hashimoto Contemporary's Ken Harman on his 10-year anniversary as a gallery owner, just as he opened a gallery in his third city in America. Now with spaces in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, with a roster of artists that stretches across the world, it's been a busy decade for Harman and his team, and the pandemic only expanded what his gallery reputation means to his collector and artist roster. We sat down with Ken to talk about that relationship with his artists, the growth of company, and how his roots with the Obama art era in 2008 to his Bad Dads-Wes Anderson inspired shows as Spoke Art allowed his to grow as Hashimoto Contemporary. Now that Los Angeles has opened this Fall, Harman told us about the complexities and excitement of running 3 spaces as well as how much his gallery team has empowered the direction of the gallery. With shows recently with Jillian Evelyn, Pat Perry, Joel Daniel Phillips and more, Ken has his finger on the pulse. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 075 was recorded via Skype in Margate, England and NYC in early October, 2021. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz

Radio Juxtapoz

075: Ken Harman on 10 Years of Hashimoto Contemporary and Spoke Art | Radio Juxtapoz

When Houston, Texas-based band Khruangbin came onto the music scene over the last decade, the breath of fresh air that came along with the trio was felt on the international stage. Their instrumental music was a combination of funk, soul, psychedelia and a bit of dub created an entire universe of visual aesthetic, and Laura lee, Mark Speer and DJ Johnson Jr were the faces of a whole new era of world music sound. Their albums, The Universe Smiles upon You, Con Todo el Mundo and Mordechai and Texas Sun with Leon Bridges have been on a constant stream in the Radio Juxtapoz universe, and with a release of Mordechai remixes this past week, we had a chance to chat with the band. Khruangbin comes with a visual sound, a throwback and future leaning type of identity that is rare in today's streaming culture. When Radio Juxtapoz's Doug Gillen sat down with the band for episode 074 of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, he found a band that has expanded its palette and understanding of their own music but of the growing potential of where their sound can go. And of course, the visual culture that is associated with the band and how their identity is tied to the classic combination of music's relationship to art. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 074 was recorded via Skype in Margate, England and Houston Texas in late July, 2021. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz

074: Khruangbin is the Future Sound of Soul

We often talk about artists as storytellers, moving from painting to painting like authors of their own universe. If you have met or seen the works of Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based Umar Rashid, formerly known in art circles as Frohawk Two Feathers, it's almost a disservice to call him a storyteller. And trust me, I accidentally have. Yet, he is such a profound thinker of history, creating alternate storylines to what might have appeared as minor changes in the historical lineage for which he works. Through writing, painting, drawing, sculpture, Rashid expands and contracts history into somewhat of an accordion of time and space. In this conversation on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast... we go everywhere with Umar. Born to playwrights and parents of the theater stage in Chicago, Rashid was born to look at how we treat metaphors and allegories into our daily lives. Performance is a word that may not come up in this podcast, but we look at the performance of history, where Rashid sees moments to engulf himself in and make entire years of his life dedicated to them. We speak about his artwork (and yes, his recent successes and participation in the MADE IN LA, but we delve deeper into the ways in which he thinks and approaches making art. But we also get to the heart of the matter of history: what happens when we begin to look at humanity as both flawed and romantic? Or beautiful and horribly brutal? What happens when, in the face of strive, we poke fun at power? And what happens that in moments of pure joy we look at the darkness of our past? The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 073 was recorded via Skype in Manchester, England, San Francisco and Los Angeles on May 27, 2021. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz

073: Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) and the Art of Synchronicity | Radio Juxtapoz

It's hard not to find a bit of pop-cultural appropriation in the roots of street art. There has always been artists who take from Disney, Hollywood, politics, and remix it into stencil art, wheat-pastes and murals. But there has been a trend over the last decade, as Big Muralism has become the trend, where we have begun to toe the line toward cultural appropriation in ways that have become insensitive and uneducated. Predominantly, we see this in depictions of Asian woman and culture, where Geishas pop-up in far away cities without context and often over-sexualized by a male artist. In this short report from Radio Juxtapoz, Doug Gillen speaks with artists Hueman and Sheena Liam about this conversation about depictions of Asian culture in street art, their own experiences and how nuanced conversations are not being had or understood for a better and broader dialogue.  The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 072 was recorded via Skype in London, Penang and Oakland in early May, 2021. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz

072: When does Street Art become Cultural Appropriation?| Radio Juxtapoz

There's probably a good chance that you heard the news that BEEPLE, the graphic artist born as Mike Winkelmann, had just sold the third most expensive piece of artwork for a living artist and thought to yourself, "WTF is a BEEPLE?" Or if you were me you said just a plain "WTF?"  Sure, you probably knew a little bit about NFTs (Winkelmann had only just started working with NFTs in October 2020), but the fact that someone had paid $69,346,250 on March 11, 2021 for his work  Everydays: the First 5000 Days, the massive JPEG collage of images from his Everydays series, kind of felt like either a game-changer, an insane hedge, a turning point, a blip, a hero moment, an insider moment, a gross use of money or a smart investment of someone who saw a landmark moment in digital art. Whatever it was, you had a reaction. Many were mad. Many in the establishment almost cried out that it was the end of art as we know it. To be honest, it all felt a little silly. Everyone ran to NFTs for some of that million dollar energy, and some of it worked, some didn't. Winkelmann himself was new to the platform of selling his images this way, but had already accumulated a massive audience for this Everydays series, creating a digital work and posting it everyday since 2007. Regardless of what the market did, of what his impact on NFTs has been just in a few short months, Winkelmann just makes art everyday. It's kind of his thing. On this episode of Radio Juxtapoz, we talked to BEEPLE about just that: making art everyday. We of course talk about the landmark auction and his thoughts on NFTs and his quite interesting advice to everyone joining the medium. We talk about the sudden criticism, what the media seems to have surmized about him from this sale, and what it means to have an audience before the wider public knew BEEPLE. He gives his insights about how artists will help make NFTs more environmentally friendly just through their desire and awareness that it needs to change. But like any disrupter of the art market and art consciousness, we just wanted to talk to BEEPLE about his craft, practice, humor and where he thinks this is all going.  The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 071 was recorded via Skype in London, San Francisco and Charleston on April 16, 2021. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz

071: BEEPLE is Just Making Art, Everyday | Radio Juxtapoz

We have come to know Action Bronson as many things; a hip-hop artist with impeccable sampling taste and delivery, a celebrity chef, a VICE host, an author, a spokesperson, a body boarder (something we learned on his social channels these past months), graffiti artist and now... a painter. It makes plenty of sense if you look at the broader view of Action Bronson and his taste. He is always exploring unseen or unfound pieces of culture, much of it to do with his Queens upbringing and the diversity one understands and immerses themselves in the various cultures of the great Borough. NYC can be many things, but for the man born Ariyan Arslan in 1983, he channels a special energy of nostalgia with a very in-the-moment sense of self and what he loves to do. So painting comes at an interesting time for Action. He has always dabbled, but he took a more honest and serious approach just before the pandemic struck so when it came time to hunker down for 12 months, he got to work. And there are a lot of paintings! Like his new workout regime, he is dedicated... but the main thing is that he is having fun. Fun with exploring a new way of communicating, finding parts of himself in the works that he can't articulate in his music and food and new sense of freedom. The works have both the making of childhood memories and abstract musings, not quite unlike how he approaches music, but in a way, more personal. Once a song is released, it's for everyone, stream after stream. Once a painting is made, that personal relationship is something different, something only the artist can really have in themselves. We talk about that difference and special connection to this personal output in our newest Radio Juxtapoz podcast with Action Bronson. We talk about how he started painting, how it relates to his creative outputs of the past and why it seems to have resonated with him so deeply. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 070 was recorded via Skype in London, San Francisco and Brooklyn on April 02, 2021.

070: Action Bronson, the Painter | Radio Juxtapoz

In a new work by Lagos, Nigeria-based painter, Chidinma Nnoli, a woman stands and looks through to the viewer, or maybe she's even looking at a mirror and back to herself. The arches look familiar, a cross is in her hands, the gaze strong and knowing. The work is called did you sin today (pink walls), and in a slight moment, you could see the figure maybe smiling,  as if, yes, I have sinned and it's our little secret. In each of Nnoli's newest works for her debut solo show, To Wander Untamed, on view with Rele Gallery in Lagos at the time of this conversation, there is a coming of age story engrained in the figures. Nnoli said that with these works, “I just want to escape the conditioning." A powerful sentiment that is both so universal and so personal.    In the newest episode of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we speak to Nnoli about that escape, from Catholicism, art historical narratives, to the complicated history of power and authority in Nigeria. We speak about what it is to be a feminist in Nigeria in the 21st century, how the potential of social hierarchical evolutions are seen in her work and her own love of both traditional painting and contemporary abstraction. As the works themselves carry a powerful sense of mystery, Nnoli opens up about her own personal histories and how, at the young age of 22, her work is resonating on an international level that shows what feels like a personal escape is also one of the most universal feelings one can capture. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 069 was recorded via Skype in London, San Francisco and Lagos on March 25, 2021. Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast HERE

069: Chidinma Nnoli and the Great Escape | Radio Juxtapoz

They may be faceless, but they are definitely not nameless. The works that painter, illustrator, designer and digital artist Melissa Koby has been shared, seen and loved without you maybe even knowing she was the artist behind the work. The Jamaican-born, Tampa, Florida-based artist has created an aesthetic so universal and so universally hers, she has created a collective spirit that she notes is a "safe space" in her bio, but feels almost like an international space of power and community. In a time of collective unease, with so many conversations coming to the forefront and at times, being had in such public manner, there is a something fascinated about speaking to an artist that is about creating in a time of social chaos, and being one of the synonymous with having people think outside of themselves. But of course, things haven't been all that smooth. Working with these bodies, she has had to emphasize and re-emphasize to clients the importance of her content and position POC in her works in that universal spirit. On the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, this isn't a conversation we have had over the past few years; how does an artist confront expectations in commercial while simultaneously owning her unique aesthetic. In this conversation, we learn a lot about those times when Koby's had to fight back on commercial work, how she is trying not to pigeonhole herself as a self-proclaimed "moody" artist and how to navigate the fast-paced and nonstop 21st century media ebbs and flows. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 068 was recorded by Doug Gillen via Skype in London and Florida on March 17, 2021. Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast HERE. 

068: Melissa Koby's Universal Safe Space | Radio Juxtapoz

There are those moments in an interview where you know as soon as the subject has said something profound that it will become the centerpiece of their spotlight. In our conversation with Milwaukee-born, NYC-based painter Khari Turner, the Radio Juxtapoz team kept finding so many incredible words, messages, thoughts on art and life with Turner that it's almost impossible to give you one simple summary. He's a throwback in a lot of ways, but a fresh face on the contemporary art scene. His earliest influences were from his grandfather, who turned an art degree into a trade with his skill, and that allowed Khari to see that art could be an option as a career; just perhaps not fine art. But that is just the beginning of the journey. From a botched financial aid mishap to a scholarship and being a cheerleader at Austin Peay, working as one of those incredible high-flying stunt slam dunkers with the Milwaukee Bucks, to Columbia in NYC and now an emerging art career, these are just a few of the incredible stops along the way for Turner. But it was over the past few years, exploring the history of water as both an art material and historical signifier and means of transportation and navigation, Turner has created some of the most powerful paintings we have seen over the past 12 months. At first sight, they are stunning and moving, literally and figuratively. Dig deeper and Turner is working on something personal and universal, speaking about family and names, identity and home. On this episode of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, Turner tells us of the unique route to his now burgeoning career, what he learned in art school, what he sees in water, growing up on Lake Michigan, how a residency in Venice Beach changed his trajectory, and the art of knowing how to fall. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 067 was recorded via Skype in San Francisco, London and NYC on March 4, 2021.

067: Khari Turner Knows How to Fall | Radio Juxtapoz

We don't often have a guest on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast who is days away from opening a comprehensive survey of their work in a museum where they grew up. That is where we found Melbourne-based artist RONE this past week; prepping, experimenting and reminiscing while putting the final touches on his museum show at Geelong Gallery. Who wouldn't want to catch up with an artist on the week of a major milestone?    RONE has been at the forefront of new muralism movement of the 21st century with big, bold and highly detailed works that also translated into his studio paintings. In recent years, RONE has experimented with experiential installations, combining site-specific work with photography and narrative-based creations that audiences could walk into, touch and feel. Built around ideas of beauty and decay, RONE always captures a sense of physicality and scale, and speaks to our enduring relationships with the past while he consistently expands where his art can go next. On episode 066 of Radio Juxtapoz, RONE talks about the Geelong show, his pivot from murals, a new grant he was awarded and what that may mean for his dream projects. (hint, think a ghost town).    The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 066was recorded via Skype in San Francisco, London and Melbourne on February 10, 2021.  

066: RONE at His Most Comprehensive | Radio Juxtapoz

There is so much going on in the painting of Suffolk, UK-based painter, Ania Hobson. At first glance they are portraits, people posing, leaning, conversing, in bars, bedrooms and in cars. But there are escapists fantasies and sense of almost being misunderstood in each work, like a conversation gone awry or a secret being told. The colors are bold. The facial expressions are often intense or contemplative. And in the end, you are entering Hobson's world that teeters between a sense of reality and that of a distant daydream.    After winning National Portrait Gallery’s BP Young Artist Award in 2018 for her work, "A Portrait of Two Female Painters," Hobson has been on the international radar as a new voice in contemporary portrait works. Her newest solo show at Catto Gallery in 2020 captured a mood we had all been experiencing: wishing for a bit of physical interaction in a year where every intimate was taking from us.    On the newest episode of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast (and ahead of her feature in our Spring 2021 Quarterly edition), Hobson gives us the story of her earliest memories of a creative life, her almost haunted and incredible studio space in an old US army base in the countryside of England, a potential move to London, her new Polish citizenship and the stories of the people and places in her stunning works. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 065 was recorded via Skype in San Francisco and England on February 10, 2021.

065: Ania Hobson on Real Life Escapism | Radio Juxtapoz

There are people in your life you go to for some advice, some perspective, maybe even a little... real talk. Carissa Potter, the brilliant mind behind People I've Loved and a fine artist in her own right, is one of those people. Through a particularly bold vulnerability and honesty, she navigates both contemporary life and art with a sense of questioning, longing and introspection while simultaneously creating a collective sense of community with her audience. This is such a rare feat, and in a year of uncertainty and change, Potter's work spoke volumes.   In 2020, Potter help co-found If You Were Here Now, a platform that gave artists the opportunity to share their process and creative spirit when we all were looking for a little camaraderie. As Carissa and Radio Juxtapoz co-host Evan Pricco worked on a few projects over the last year, they sat down to talk about... well, what they talk about all the time together; drawing connections in art, understanding communication through the arts, those vulnerable moments of being exposed through art and just how the past 12 months have affected both their practices. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 064 was recorded via Skype in the Bay Area in January 2021. 

064: Carissa Potter and the People We've Loved | Radio Juxtapoz

It's amazing where the last year has taken us, but when we look at 12 month journey of Argentinian-born, Barcelona-based painter/muralist Franco "JAZ" Fasoli, it seems about right that we had an almost 90-minute conversation with our friend from a remote gas station/rest stop in the middle of the Argentinian countryside. Fasoli has been on the forefront of a generation of South American street and fine artists, most specifically of course, Buenos Aires artist who stormed the international scene with a unique blend of fine art muralism and bold studio works in the early years of an incredible global movement.    Now based in Spain, but in the midst of crazy year of exploration, experimentation and... being stuck, we caught up with Fasoli back in his home country on a bit of summer break. After a residency in North Carolina led to Fasoli living in Charlotte for an extra six months during the early months of the pandemic, he gave us the lowdown on living in the American south during a time of social turmoil and how it related to social upheavals in South America in his youth. We learn about his past in set design, graffiti, Tango Culture, muralism's infancy, OSGEMEOS' groundbreaking influence and why Barcelona works for him. We also get an in-depth look at Argentinian BBQ, summer in the country, the works he was able to complete at his rented studio in Charlotte and how he thinks we took our globe-trotting ways in the art world for granted. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 063 was recorded via Skype from a gas station in Argentina, San Francisco, London, February 5, 2021.

063: Franco "JAZ" Fasoli Finds His Refuge in Uncertainty | Radio Juxtapoz

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. 

062: Thinkspace Projects' Andrew Hosner is Going Big and Building a New Art Universe | Radio Juxtapoz

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.

061: Steven Sweatpants is Taking the Photos of a Generation | Radio Juxtapoz

Audio conversations with the Juxtapoz staff on all things contemporary art, culture, music, street art, graffiti, art happenings and more.

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