The Carla Podcast

L.A. based artist Maysha Mohamedi’s abstract paintings are flurries of colors, lines, and shapes imbued with energy, sensation, and meaningful intention. She often paints with her hands and talks about both visible and invisible marks that go into the making of her work. She discusses her process, her use of language, the movements and gestures that define her work, and how the making of abstraction can be a privilege. 

“It does feel like a privilege for a person of color to engage in creativity abstractly. It feels like a privilege to spend time thinking about our feelings and expressing them, and having emotions that are carried out in a visual way like that.”
– Maysha Mohamedi

Host and Producer: Lindsay Preston Zappas
Engieneering: PJ Shahamat
Production assistance: Alitzah Oros
Theme music: Joel P West
Sponsored by: Paradise Framing and Parrasch Heijnen Gallery

L.A. based artist Patrick Martinez’s artistic practice takes many forms. An observer of the city, his work illustrates the ever-changing urban landscape and the beauty that can be found within the diverse and layered aesthetics of our streets. Martinez discusses his role as an observer, the importance of recovering and documenting erased histories, and how his art serves a social purpose, communicating the most pressing social issues of our time. 

"It's also about observation too, right? And reacting to the changing landscape, the disappearing landscape or land, businesses, surfaces, colors, it’s all of that really. And trying to kind of merge those things together to create something that can speak to how fast everything is moving and just you know, how things are in transition and they aren’t cemented and they’re in this kind of mixture of things right now." –Patrick Martinez

Host and Producer: Lindsay Preston Zappas
Engineering: PJ Shahamat
Production assistance: Alitzah Oros
Theme music: Joel P West
Episode Sponsor: Odd Ark LA

L.A. based artist Naotaka Hiro talks about the exploration of the “unknown body” in his multi-media practice. The Osaka-born artist, who works across painting, drawing, video, film, and sculpture, often puts constraints on his body as he works, embracing his own limitations and failures. In this episode Hiro gives listeners intimate insight to his nuanced process, and the private performance that goes into making his work. He also talks about how 2020’s pandemic and unrest directly impacted his recent exhibition, Armor.

“I think that making failure is to show myself, like a raw myself.. Not pretending or dont try to be pretty like something extra. I always have the tendency to make it neat and nice, but having a failure kind of pulls me off from that.”
–Naotaka Hiro

Host and Producer: Lindsay Preston Zappas
Production and engineering: PJ Shahamat
Theme music: Joel P West

L.A. based artists Amanda Ross-Ho and Erik Frydenborg talk about shifting focus and priorities after a year of the pandemic. As teachers, the two discuss what it’s been like to work with students over the last year, and they also find common threads across their art practices: attention to detail, engaging with time and archival material, and inviting the viewer into an open-ended dialogue.

“The craft element was not just about a well-made object, but a way to see other objects with precision and close attention to form. Like reading the contexts in which objects come into the world, and where they’ve been—I think of craft as being not just a tool, but a way to respect materiality. It’s a respectful ceremony for objecthood, so thereby it entends to other things in the world that you have not made… For us it’s also like a church of—it’s devotional. It’s totally ritual, devotional, it’s reverence, it’s a world view.” –Amanda Ross-Ho and Erik Frydenborg

In this episode, host Lindsay Preston Zappas talks to L.A. based artist Simphiwe Ndzube. Ndzube talks about his childhood growing up in South Africa and how as an artist he uses his Magical Realist style to blend past experiences with fantasy. Ndzube talks about following his inner child as an intuitive guide to his art making which blends sculpture, painting, and assemblage. Ndzube discusses art-making as a tool for unpacking traumas, and how he uses his own practice to process past experiences. 

“The work is so much based on the openness. I do not judge my work. I bring to it what comes naturally, and I allow it as the finish goes to be whatever it’s going to be. And I think what ends up happening is there is something that comes naturally without dictating and controlling it and wanting to say a specific thing or be a specific thing.” –Simphiwe Ndzube

Simphiwe Ndzube  (b. 1990, Cape Town, South Africa) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. Ndzube’s work is characterized by a fundamental interplay between objects, media and two-dimensional surfaces; stitching together a subjective account of the black experience in post-apartheid South Africa from a mythological perspective. Recent exhibitions include INXS: Major Never Before Seen Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, and Zhou Yilun, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2020); Hollywood Babylon: A Re-Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Nicodim, Jeffrey Deitch, and AUTRE Magazine, Los Angeles, USA (2020); Where Water Comes Together With Other Water, The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019); People, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, USA (2019); In the Order of Elephants After the Rain, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania (2019, solo); and New Acquisitions, The Rubell Museum, Miami, USA (2018). His work can be found in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France, and the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, among others.

Adapting performance work for Covid-19 safety — How performance operates without an audience present — How writing, sampling, and sound play in performance work — How the pandemic has shifted the way we we think about institutional support and artist communities

In this episode, I talk to three artists in The Hammer exhibition, Made in L.A. 2020: A Version, which is on view but still not open to the public due to Covid-19 restrictions. Harmony Holiday, Aria Dean, and Jaqueline Kiyomi Gork all had planned performance works for the biennial exhibition and had to shift their artworks to accommodate for Covid-safety. We discuss the process of adapting their initially envisioned work, how performance becomes altered without audience participation, and how other disciplines like writing, sculpture, and sound play out in each artist’s work. Together, the artists muse on issues that the pandemic has brought to light. How might alternative platforms privilege community and care for artists and performers?

Abstraction as Resistance — Reclaiming Identity Through Strategies of Refusal  — The Labor of Performance — Relating Audience and Performer — The Politics of Rest — Saying No

Nikita Gale is an L.A.-based multi-media artist working in sound, sculpture, and video. In 2018, Gale made a solo show about changing her name—a form of reclaiming her own identity away from a patriarchal lineage. This refusal in many ways sets the stage for Gale’s multi-disciplinary practice, as she explores what it means to insist on self-autonomy and abstraction as a method for refusal—a means of presenting her subject matter to the viewer on her own terms.

In our hour-long conversation Gale and Zappas talk about how ideas of chosen identity, abstraction, refusal and rest can act as powerful mechanisms in artwork, as well as in protest and dissent. In 2018, Gale made a solo show about changing her name—a form of reclaiming of her own identity away from a patriarchal lineage. This refusal in many ways sets the stage for Gale’s multi-disciplinary practice, as she explores what it means to insist on self-autonomy and abstraction—a means of presenting her subject matter to the viewer on her own terms. We talk through the relationships between audience and performer, and how those play out in recent works by Gale: “Audiencing” and “Private Dancer.”

Learning within Institutions — Building Spaces for Community — Redefining Centers, Structures, and Bureaucracies — Connectivity within Digital Adaptations — Radical Everyday Practice — Living, Breathing Values

Sarah Williams is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Center for Creative Work (WCCW). In this episode, Zappas & Williams discuss the seeds in Williams’ trajectory that grew into WCCW, a space that nourishes and adapts to the needs of its creative feminist communities. As they speak on a range of topics, from day-to-day practices to the larger workings of power and resistance, Zappas and Williams muse on what it means for an organization to be attentive, nimble, and ultimately radical within artistic and social ecosystems. How can strategies of collectivity and horizontality be implemented to create a more liberatory and inclusive pathway forward?

Even before the pandemic began in March, WCCW was in a transition — having outgrown its space, they were considering moving to a larger building. The pandemic halted those plans, and also provided a slew of other puzzles to work through. Zappas and Williams discuss how space-making can happen in the digital sphere, and how the digital offers the potential for new connections.

The Carla podcast is produced by Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles and Lindsay Preston Zappas with production assistance on this episode by CJ Salapare and engineering by PJ Shahamat. Our theme music is by Joel P West. Thank you to our episode sponsors: The Equality Mural Project and The Hammer Museum.

Remembering John Baldessari: artist, friend, teacher, and mentor — Leslie Jones, Meg Cranston, Fay Ray, Amanda McGough, and Norm Laich reflect on the life and legacy of the celebrated Los Angeles artist 

This special episode of the Carla podcast is dedicated to remembering John Baldessari, who passed away on January 2nd at the age of 88, leaving behind a massive void in the L.A. art community and beyond.

You’ll hear from five people who knew John—former assistants, students, friends, and colleagues—as they reflect on not only his artistic contributions, but his impact as a dedicated teacher, friend, and mentor.

Thanks to LACMA, you’ll also hear from Baldessari himself via an interview taped during his 2010 retrospective, Pure Beauty.

John Baldessari lived a life that was indivisible from his practice as an artist and exhibited great care for his community of students and peers. He conducted his practice with generosity, humor, and deep curiosity that will be long remembered by those who had the pleasure to work with and know him, as well as by the countless who have been impacted by the work of the celebrated artist.

The Carla podcast is produced by Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles and Lindsay Preston Zappas, edited by Jenna Kagel, and engineered by PJ Shahamat. Our theme music is by Joel P West. Other music in this episode included tracks by Ibeke Shakedown, Lobo Loco, Ari Di Niro, Scott Holmes, and Joel P West. Thank you to LACMA, Amanda McGough, Meg Cranston, Leslie Jones, Norm Laich, and Fay Ray.

Growing up in L.A. — Rock Photography and Photographing Michael Jackson — Feeling Split Between Commercial Work and Art — The Colonized Mind — Finding Balance Between Mind and Body — Make Rules Break Rules

Todd Gray joins Lindsay for an hour-long conversation surrounding his work and the influences that life experiences have had on his approach to thinking and making. Gray’s meticulous photographs are framed and then stacked on top of each other, so certain areas are strategically concealed. Some of his works contain images of Michael Jackson among his other subjects of European gardens and scenes shot in Africa. As a teen, Gray started taking photos at rock concerts, and for a stint became a successful music photographer, working with The Rolling Stones, and doing album art for Jackson Five, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. He later became Michael Jackson’s personal photographer and amassed a huge archive of images. Alongside all this, Gray received his MFA from CalArts in 1989 where he studied under photographer Allan Sekula and focused primarily on ideas of mental colonialism. These ideas first started around his well-known subject, Michael Jackson, until Gray realized that his own mind had been colonized by his western upbringing and education. Todd and I talk about the split between a western logical thinking, and a more African bodily and intuitive way of thinking—and how much of his practice is an effort to reconcile the two.

Gray’s exhibition, Euclidean Gris Gris, is on view at Pomona College Museum of Art through May 17, 2019.

How identity has shaped Pittman’s work—Being a Painter in the Pictures Generation—Working Politically While Not Being Defined as a “Political Artist”—Thoughts on the Younger Generation of Artists—On Boredom—Leaving Work Open for the Viewer

This episode, host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by painter Lari Pittman that was recorded just days before Pittman’s retrospective opened at the Hammer Museum in LA. They discuss personal experiences that have deeply influenced his work, and talk about what it was like to delve into painting and decoration in the ’70s—a time when painting was, as Pittman says, “dilapidated.” Pittman now teaches painting at UCLA, and in this conversation, he talks about the impact that working with younger artists has had on him. He also delves into his early experiences growing up in Colombia, the impact that his identity has had on his work, and the way in which his work has found a dialogue with a new generation of contemporary painters. 

Interview with curator Jamillah James — The unconventional start to her art career — The responsibility of museums to be accessible & accountable — Generosity & mentorship — What does it mean to curate the contemporary?

Welcome to Season 3 of The Carla Podcast!

This episode, host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by curator Jamillah James for an in-depth conversation spanning the whole episode. They discuss James’ background in music and fast-track from overcoming serious illness to landing her current role as chief curator at ICA LA in a span of just nine years.

James and LPZ discuss the responsibility of the museum to be accessible, accountable, and willing to learn from its public. James talks about the contemporary as something that is actively unfolding, and how to curate the contemporary while it is constantly evolving. She also shares her thoughts about showing generosity and mentorship to a younger generation, and the importance of teaching professional practice. Plus, a sneak peek into her largest curatorial project to date and the ICA’s ambitious plan to crowdfund their museum.

Trulee Hall on her recent solo show — Americana and female sexuality — Working across multiple mediums — The importance of timing in an artist’s career — Choosing the right gallery

Writer’s Room

In this last episode of Season 2 of The Carla Podcast,host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by Carlacontributor Catherine Wagley and artist Trulee Hall to collapse all segments into one conversation on Hall’s recent exhibition The Other and Otherwise, which Catherine wrote about in our forthcoming issue 16 of Carla.

LA at Large

The three discuss Hall’s life and background, the presence of Americana, the female body, and sexuality in her work, and how she navigates working across multiple mediums. They also talk about the importance of timing in an artist’s career, and some of Trulee’s experiences that allowed her to build her voice.

Dear Carla

Hall weighs in on the importance of choosing a gallery carefully.

Dianna Molzan discusses her recent show, “Fizzz,”and generating joy amidst political chaos — Vanessa Place’s Rape Jokes — Understanding how art might open up space to communicate about the #MeToo Movement — Do artists need to be good at writing about their own work?

Writer’s Room

Host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by contributing editor, Catherine Wagley, to discuss her article from Carla issue 15, “Laughing in Private,” which centers around the artist Vanessa Place’s Rape Jokesperformance, and subsequent book. They discuss the function of these jokes in Place’s work, how they function in culture, and art’s ability to open up space to communicate about the #MeToo Movement.

LA at Large

Lindsay is joined by artist Dianna Molzan. They discuss her recent show Fizzz at Kristina Kite Gallery, as well as what drew her to the L.A. art world. Molzan shares her thoughts on the medium of painting, and her desire to generate joy through her work amidst so much political chaos.

Dear Carla

Dianna Molzan returns to discuss a listener-submitted question: “Do artists need to be good at writing about their own work?”

Julian Rosefeldt’s “Manifesto,” in relation to the subjectivity of the body, Hollywood, and politics — Kelly Akashi discusses her art practice and recent show — What makes a good press release?

Writer’s Room

Host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by Carlacontributor Christina Catherine Martinez to discuss her article from issue 15, “Eyes Without a Voice,” which considers Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto, an immersive video installation starring actress Cate Blanchett that was recently on view at Hauser & Wirth. We discuss Christina’s take on Manifesto and how issues of celebrity, politic, Hollywood production value, and the subjectivity of bodies play out (or don’t) in the work.

LA at Large

Lindsay is joined by LA-based artist Kelly Akashi to discuss her experience growing up in LA, her current show, Figure Shifter, on view at Ghebaly Gallery, the intricacies of her detailed process, and the importance of community.

Dear Carla

Lindsay continues the conversation with Stuart Krimko (Editorial Director, David Kordansky Gallery) to answer a listener-submitted question: “How do you write a good press release?” Stuart has almost 20 years of experience writing press releases and gives his take on how to do it well. 

David Lynch’s paintings and the contrast between still-images versus moving — Tips and tricks for how to file your taxes as an artist

Writer’s Room

Host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by Carlacontributor Travis Diehl to discuss his article from issue 14, “Lynch in Traffic,” which discusses David Lynch’s transition from painter to filmmaker. They talk about the deskilled style of his painted works, where the resolution of his paintings is left unanswered in his films, and how his depiction of ’50s-style clichés and traditional gender roles land in 2019.

LA at Large

Lindsay is joined by L.A. art accountant Jim Walters to discuss all things taxes. Here, we discuss the complicated task of doing taxes as an artist, break down deductions, art trades, filing statuses, and common tax rules that artists unknowingly break.

How figurative art relates to Christianity and politics — Celeste Dupuy-Spencer depicts white America — Sneak peek of the art fair Frieze Los Angeles — L.A.’s art community vs. its collector base — How do I price my artwork?

Writer’s Room

Host Lindsay Preston Zappas is joined by Carlacontributor, Catherine Wagley to discuss her article from Carla Issue 14 called “Celeste Dupuy-Spencer And Figurative Religion,” which discusses Dupuy-Spencer’s recent show The Chiefest of Ten Thousand at Nino Mier Gallery. We talk about figurative art in Christianity, the subjectivity of figuration, and how Dupuy-Spencer translates her experiences with the political right.

LA at Large

Lindsay is joined by Frieze L.A.’s executive director Bettina Korek, and the Talks and Music curator Hamza Walker. Here, we discuss what to expect from the upcoming art fair, why it’s coming to L.A., and ways they hope the fair engages the art community in Los Angeles.

Dear Carla

Lindsay continues the conversation with Sam Parker (Parker Gallery) to answer a listener submitted question about how to artists price their work.

Looking back on “Made in L.A.”— What does it mean for an artist to be political? — How are artists responding to our time?—How do young artists connect with curators?

Writer’s Room

Lindsay is joined by the three Carla writers who reviewed Made in L.A. 2018 for Carla issue 13: Jennifer Remenchik, Aaron Horst, and Claire de Dobay Rifelj. Hear about the hits (and misses) from three of our very own critics. They also discuss how politics were interpreted across the exhibition, and how nuance can play a role in political work. You can read each of their Made in L.A. 2018 reviews here: 

Precarious Healing, Jennifer Remenchik

Unfinished Finish Fetish, Claire de Dobay Rifelj

Loose Aesthetics and Agreeable Politicking, Aaron Horst

LA at Large

Lindsay speaks with the curators of Made in LA 2018, Erin Christovale and Anne Ellegood. They discuss the process of choosing artists for the show, what it means for an artist to be political, and the responsibility the curators felt in making the exhibition a reflection of our surreal historic era.

Dear Carla

The Hammer curators stay on to weigh in on this listener submitted question: How does an artist ask a curator for a studio visit? There are unwritten rules for example about not asking gallerists unsolicited for studio visits..so how does an artist crack into the curatorial view. 

Whose work is it anyway? — Norm Laich’s world as a brush for hire — The art of the collaboration — Is there a viable way to share your work on social media?

Writer’s Room

Lindsay is joined by Carla contributor, Matt Stromberg to discuss his article from Carla issue 13 called “The Collaborative Art World of Norm Laich,” which discusses Norm’s recent show Brush for Hire at ICA, and his role as a fabricator over the years. We talk about Norm’s work as it pertains to questions of authorship, fabrication, and the role of artist assistants.  

LA at Large

Next on LA at Large, Lindsay is joined by the man himself, Norm Laich, as well as artist Amanda Ross-Ho. Norm and Amanda are long-time friends and have worked on a number of projects together. We discuss how they met, the process behind art-making, and their experiences as artists living and working in Los Angeles.

Dear Carla

Lindsay continues the conversation with Amanda Ross-Ho to answer a listener-submitted question about posting work on social media, fears of being copied or ripped-off, and the viability of Instagram to reach new audiences or galleries.

Florals and feminism — the historical, political, and gendered uses of floral imagery — Call-out culture and Instagram feminism — Has female representation in the art world made any progress?

Writer’s Room

Lindsay is joined by Carla writer Angella d’Avignon to discuss Angella’s recent article, “Perennial Bloom,” which discusses California’s super bloom in late 2016 as it coincided with stark political events such as the presidential election and Women’s March. We talk about the trend of florals in contemporary art, some of the historical and feminist roots of floral imagery, and the gendered associations that are tied to the flower. 

Read the article here.

LA at Large

Artist and teacher, Micol Hebron—who founded the Gallery Tally project—joins Lindsay to discuss the gender disparity that exists in the art world, what led her to begin the Gallery Tally project, and the issues at force behind call-out culture, and gender-based oppression. 

Read more about Gallery Tally here.

Dear Carla

Lindsay continues the conversation with Micol Hebron to answer a listener-submitted question about what progress we’ve made in the art world regarding gender equality, and what we can do to prevent this progress from regressing under the Trump administration.