Pep Talks for Artists

Paul Klee loved working in a wide variety of styles at once in his paintings: abstract, representational, runic or symbolic. His oeuvre literally contains multitudes. I recently saw a show of his late works in New York at the Jewish Museum and was amazed at how many mediums and approaches to painting were on display. This episode honors him and his radical reconsideration of Painting with a side detour on Magritte. Come along for a wild ride!

Klee works mentioned: Around the Fish 1926, Suffering Fruit 1934, Struck from the List 1933, This Star Teaches Bending 1940, Angel, Still Female 1939, Drinking Companion 1931

Magritte works mentioned: Le Stropiat (version 1 and 2-both 1948), Jean-Marie 1948, A Stroke of Luck 1948, Seasickness 1948, The Famine 1948, The Pictorial Content 1948
Host note: “The Famine” cheekily referenced the characters in a popular French comic series of the day called Adventures of the Pieds Nickelés (nickel plated feet)* created by Louis Forton and told the story of 3 bumbling and good for nothing criminals who constantly fail at their mission.
*a French term for lazy slackers
See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Pieds_Nickel%C3%A9s

Artists mentioned: Paul Klee, Hilma af Klint, Agnes Martin, Giorgio Morandi, Hannah Wilke, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Rousseau, Ludwig Meidner, Richard Seewald, Oskar Kokoschka, Henri Matisse, Giorgio de Chirico, Gerhard Richter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, André Breton, Diego Velázquez (Las Meninas 1656)

Writers mentioned: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sarah Gottesman, Charles W. Haxthausen, Wilhelm Hausenstein, Louis Scutenaire, George Kubler, Michael Foucault

Links:
Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds exhibit at the Jewish Museum 2026
https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/paul-klee-other-possible-worlds/

Paul Klee’s Bauhaus Assignments:
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-to-be-an-artist-according-to-paul-klee

Picasso’s Return to Order Period:
https://theculturalcritic.com/picassos-conflict-how-the-great-war-caused-him-to-radically-change-his-style/

Magritte's Vache Period:
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-9-times-historys-greatest-artists-made-bad-artworks
https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-11-autumn-2007/ill-find-way-slip-great-big-incongruity-time-time
https://www.moma.org/artists/3692-rene-magritte

Hannah Wilke's Flower Series:
https://www.marcselwynfineart.com/exhibitions/hannah-wilke2#tab:thumbnails;tab-1:slideshow

Foucault's essay "The Order of Things" (Les Mots et les Choses) on Velázquez and Klee:
https://monoskop.org/images/a/a2/Foucault_Michel_The_Order_of_Things_1994.pdf

More on Charles W. "Mark" Haxthausen's paper: Paul Klee, Wilhelm Hausenstein, and the “Problem of Style” (2014)
Watch: https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2014/haxthausen-klee-video
Read: https://www.academia.edu/6541479/Paul_Klee_Wilhelm_Hausenstein_and_the_Problem_of_Style_publication_

Paul Klee books:
Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds by Mason Klein, Senior Curator at The Jewish Museum
Paul Klee: Life and Work by Michael Baumgartner, Christine Hopfengart, Fabienne Eggelhöfer, Osama Okuda

Amy's Solo exhibition in Los Angeles (Atwater Village)
"The Weight of Colors" at The Middle Room
3229 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Oct 24-Nov 22, 2026
Reception, Sat Oct 24 6-8 and Artist Talk, Sun Oct 25 1-3
Come on out, y'all!
https://www.themiddleroomgallery.com/exhibitions

Thank you, Peps Listeners!

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We're talking collage! Jennifer Coates joins me in a quest to get to the heart of why collage is such a powerful generator in the studio. We also take a look at 2 artists who used collage in different ways: Lee Krasner and Jess. Krasner used collage at certain key moments to bridge bodies of work, and Jess used collage as his main ecstatic medium spanning more than 4 decades of his output. As Krasner teaches us: "Knife or scissors...no tear! "

Works by Lee Krasner mentioned: Seated Figure 1938-9; Milkweed, Stretched Yellow, Desert Moon, Bird Talk, Blue Level (all 1955); Imperfect Indicative 1976 (Visit Kasmin Gallery for images)

Works by Jess mentioned: Blasted Beauty 1954, The Translations series, Paste-Ups series, Assemblies series, Necrofacts series, Salvages series, Narkissos series 1976-1991, The Unentitled Graces 1978, Dyslecstasy 1991 (See all of his works at https://jesscollins.org/)

Glue Tawk™: Jennifer prefers Matte Medium and Amy agrees but suggests using UHU stick for thin papers

Links to watch/listen:
⁠James Kalm Report⁠ on the Outsider Art Fair
⁠Recording Artists: Radical Women Podcast:⁠ "Deal With It" on Lee Krasner
⁠Inside New York's Art World ⁠1978 interview by Barbara Lee Diamondstein Spielvogel with Lee Krasner

Proto-collage and assemblage objects & installations: Opificio delle Pietre Dure - Florence, Limoges Casket/Reliquary 13th c, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Capuchin Crypt under Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini, Rome, Shell Grotto, Margate, Kent, Paper lace valentines of the Victorian era, Wishing Trees of Cornwall

Artists mentioned: Hannah Hoch, Lee Krasner, Jess, Artists of the DADA movement, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Wangechi Mutu, Mark Bradford, Chris Martin, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Henri Matisse, Hans Hoffman, Piet Mondrian, Illuminators of the Book of Kells, Anne Ryan, Paul Klee, Amy Sillman, Lari Pittman, Marcel Duchamp, Clyfford Still, Hieronymus Bosch, Joseph Cornell, Andrea Burgay, Max-o-matic, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell, Henri Matisse, Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters, Grete Stern

Writers mentioned: Art Reporter and Critic: Stuart Preston; Poets: Robert Duncan and John Ashbery; Gail Levin; Charles Baudelaire; Edgar Allen Poe

Our Book Nook (incl Collage Resources):
Kolaj Magazine and online collage artist directory
The Weird Show online survey of contemporary collage
Cut Me Up Magazine
"Waste Not Want Not: An Inquiry into What Women Saved and Assembled—FEMMAGE" Essay by Miriam Schapiro and Melissa Meyer
Lee Krasner: A Biography by Gail Levin
Jess: To and From the Printed Page by Jess
Fragmentary Forms: A New History of Collage by Freya Gowrley
Collage by Women: 50 Essential Contemporary Artists by Rebeka Elizegi and Blanca Ortiga
Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage published by Gestalten
Collage: Assembling Contemporary Art edited by Anthony Downey
Robert Motherwell: Early Collages by Robert Motherwell, Susan Davidson, Megan Fontanella, Brandon Taylor, Jeffrey Warda

Find my guest, Jennifer Coates, online:
See her recent exhibition "Aniline Sky" at 1053 Gallery
Her instagram: @jennifercoates666

Thank you, Jennifer! Thank you, Peps Listeners!

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Pep Talks Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.peptalksforartists.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Amy's website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amytalluto.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Pep Talks on Art Spiel as written essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/7k82vd8s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Louise Bourgeois Part 2!
Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back in her Book Talks seat to help me dissect a new delicious art book: Drawings & Observations by Louise Bourgeois with Lawrence Rinder. Bourgeois referred to these sketches as her "thought feathers" and revealed her thinking behind the reproduced works in recordings transcribed by curator Lawrence Rinder. It was so cool to get these direct insights into her imagery.
This episode is a sequel to the recording right before this one (about our trip to view Louise Bourgeois' NYC home). Check out Part 1 if you missed it!

The Book/Monograph:
Louise Bourgeois: Drawings and Observations, by Louise Bourgeois with Lawrence Rinder, pub 1995

The Exhibition that the monograph accompanied:
"Louise Bourgeois: Drawings" University of California, Berkeley's University Art Museum (UAM) from January 24 to March 24, 1996

Works mentioned:
View all here: https://www.amytalluto.com/lbpod
Page 20 "Self Portrait" 1938 Pencil on paper
Page 26-7 "Untitled" 1940
Page 38 "Le Rebus" 1943
Page 44-5 "Femme Maison" 1947 ink on paper
Page 68-9 "Untitled" 1949 red ink and charcoal on paper
Page 76-7 "Untitled" 1947 crayon, pen & ink and pencil
Page 104-5 "Untitled" 1950 charcoal
Page 114-5 "Untitled" 1950 ink on paper
Page 126-7 "Untitled" 1967 ink and gouache on paper
Page 156-7 "Untitled" 1988 Watercolor and Pencil on paper

Artists mentioned: Jen Schwarting, Jean Michel Basquiat, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Robert Gober, Nina Bovasso, Vicki Sher, Jack Whitten, Meret Oppenheim, Peter Halley

Other books mentioned: Peter Halley: Recent Essays 1990-1996 Edgewise Press, Inside the Studio: Two Decades of Talks with Artists in New York by Independent Curators International, New York, Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed Hauser & Wirth
Thank you to my guest Mandolyn Wilson Rosen! Find her online at:
⁠MandolynWilsonRosen.com⁠ and IG ⁠@mandolyn_rosen⁠

Thank you, Peps Listeners!

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Pep Talks on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peptalksforartists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Pep Talks on Art Spiel as written essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/7k82vd8s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Beka Goedde and Mandolyn Wilson Rosen join me this episode to unpack our experience visiting renowned artist, Louise Bourgeois' home in NYC. We entered her historic brownstone and were immediately transported to another world and time. Louise lived a full life but was very much an artistic homebody. She made her home her studio in every sense of the word, stuffing each room full of materials to be on hand whenever inspiration struck. She found a way to balance family life with making her work and rode out long career lulls with grace and determination. Come along with us as we discuss our peek inside her sanctuary.

More about Louise Bourgeois: https://www.moma.org/artists/710-louise-bourgeois
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/oct/18/bourgeois
https://hicarquitectura.com/2022/12/louise-bourgeoise-femme-maison/
Great film about Louise Bourgeois: Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine 2008
Bourgeois works mentioned: "Arched Figure" 1993, "Maman" 1999
Bourgeois exhibitions mentioned: The Women at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century gallery NYC 1945, Eccentric Abstraction, curated by Lucy Lippard at The Fischbach Gallery NYC 1966

Artists / Writers mentioned: Joyce Kosloff, Faith Ringgold, Sylvia Sleigh, Lucy Lippard, Linda Nochlin, Joan Snyder, Nancy Spero, Howardena Pindell, Delacroix, Matisse, Suzanne Valadon

Beka mentioned Felix Harlan, master printmaker and co-founder of Harlan & Weaver, a fine art print publishing studio who made so many Bourgeois prints.

1973 Feminists' letter to William Rubin at MoMA: https://brooklynrail.org/2017/11/verbatim/Louise-Bourgeois-Breaking-the-Mold/

Further reading: Louise Bourgeois: Drawings and Observations, Ed. Lawrence Rinder; Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois , a YA book by Jan Greenberg (with Sandra Jordan); "New York Real Estate and the Ruin of American Art" by Josh Kline / October

Thank you to my guests, Beka Goedde and Mandolyn Wilson Rosen! Find them online at:
BekaGoedde.com and @bekagoedde
MandolynWilsonRosen.com and @mandolyn_rosen

Thank you to the wonderful guides and archivists at the Louise Bourgeois home who made this episode possible.

Thank you, Peps Listeners!

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Pep Talks on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peptalksforartists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Pep Talks Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.peptalksforartists.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Amy, your beloved host, on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@talluts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Amy's website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amytalluto.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Pep Talks on Art Spiel as written essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/7k82vd8s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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In this new Book Talks episode, Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back to help me review a new art book: Jack Whitten: Notes From the Woodshed, Edited by Katy Siegel for Hauser & Wirth. Equal parts profound, strident and hilarious, Jack Whitten's (1939-2018) 50 year studio log packs a wallop. And it's meaty at 581 pages, so we had lots to discuss! Stick around to hear some sage advice, inspiring tales of studio experimentation and even some positive affirmations from this incredible painter and sculptor.

Links to shows, videos, articles mentioned:⁠"
Jack Whitten: The Messenger" Exhibition at MOMA 2025⁠
⁠"Jack Whitten: Ready-nows" Two Coats of Paint Blog⁠
⁠⁠Xerox PARC Artist-in-Residence (PAIR) program⁠⁠
⁠Jack Whitten – ‘The Political is in the Work’ by TateShots⁠
⁠Jack Whitten: An Artist's Life | Art21 "Extended Play"⁠
⁠Uncovering Jack Whitten’s mysterious abstractions | HOW TO SEE (MOMA)⁠

Artists mentioned: Willlem DeKooning, Robert Blackburn, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Barnett Newman, Franz Kline, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Ron Gorchov, Sol Lewitt, Frank Stella, Caravaggio, Berrisford Boothe, Kerry Downey, Amy Sillman, Jake Berthot
Whitten works mentioned: "The Messenger: For Art Blakey," "Homecoming: For Miles," "Black Monolith 2: Homage to Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man," "Head IV Lynching," Homage to Malcolm," "King's Wish (Martin Luther's Dream)," "King's Garden," The Slab Paintings, "Asa's Palace," Gray Paintings, Greek Alphabet Paintings, "Dead Reckoning I," "9-11-01," "Apps for Obama," "Nine Fire CDS: For the Fire Spitter (Jane Cortez)," "Zeitgeist Traps (For Michael Goldberg)," "Quantum Wall VIII for Arshile Gorky (My First Love in Painting)," "Crystal Palace: For Jeanne Siegel"
Philosophers Jack loved: Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Taha Hussein (Egyptian, Arab Renaissance), Friedrich Nietzsche, Slavoj Žižek
Other artist logs:
Day Book by Anne Truitt
The Andy Warhol Diaries Edited by Pat Hackett
Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures and Conversations Edited by Clark Coolidge
Agnes Martin: Painting, Writings, Remembrances Edited by Arne Glimcher

Where to get the book:
Hauser & Wirth , Abe Books, Thrift Books, Ebay, Amazon

Please find Mandolyn Wilson Rosen online here: ⁠⁠mandolynwilsonrosen.com⁠⁠ and IG ⁠⁠@mandolyn_rosen⁠⁠

Thank you, Mandy! Thank you, Peps Listeners!

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Pep Talks on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peptalksforartists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Pep Talks Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.peptalksforartists.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Amy, your beloved host, on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@talluts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Amy's website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amytalluto.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Pep Talks on Art Spiel as written essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/7k82vd8s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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