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165: Dan Nadel, author of "Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life"
Author and curator Dan Nadel is a hero of mine and a bit of a renaissance man. He was the publisher of the brilliant and influential PictureBox for decades and was a champion of much of what Juxtapoz was founded on but took it to a whole new level of intricate historical research and creating a voice of record for so many artists who time wasn't given them a needle to etch their name in the vinyl, so to speak. We are talking comic book legends, graphic novelists, outsider artists who might have created some of the most recognizable art of the 20th century that the history books hadn't given the full retrospective for. And Dan was going to do it. This year in paricular, Dan is busy. From publishing his newest book, Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life on the career and life of the controversial figura that is Robert Crumb, to co-curator for Sixties Surreal, a rethinking survey the art history of the 1960s at the Whitney Museum of American Art (opening September 24, 2025) and Curator-at-Large for Geroge Lucas' new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, we had a lot to catch up on The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast. We talk about undergrround comic's new resurgence into contemporary art, the making of the Crumb biography and the incredibly pivotal moment of KAWS' collection show at the Drawing Center in 2024.But more than that, I got to speak with someone I admire on his dedication to print, to words, to creating narratives in a world that needs to understand it's visual history. —Evan PriccoThe Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 165 was recorded in Los Angeles and Brooklyn on May 14th, 2025.
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164: Shyama Golden
"'Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth' was a phrase my parents would say whenever something was out of my control and didn’t go exactly according to plan," Shyama Golden wrote on the subject of her new solo show of the same name for PM/AM in London. "It feels to me like a short phrase that embodies the entire human struggle, like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill." The Los Angeles-based painter has created a universe where reincarnation, generational trauma and suffering (and a sense of humor to cope with it), Sri Lankan folktales and a personal journey through time and the soul's journey through eras. Golden told me she wanted to create a works that spoke of "past lives because this framework challenges the idea of an essential self, a fixed history, and linear progress." And so she is creating her own story, not the next birth, but this birth. In this conversation from The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast, I spoke with Shyama in LA just before her trip to London, just after her husband, Paul Trillo, showed me an incredible AI-generated film he created with her that will premiere in short form at the PM/AM show but will continue to be worked as a longer work in the future. The show is like a journey through our collective creative output: traditional painting, wood masks co-created with craftsmen in Sri Lanka that harken to centuries past as well as a short film utilizing AI. It's work for the ages, literally.The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 164 was recorded in Los Angeles on May 2, 2025. Music by Aesop Rock for The Unibrow.
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163: Corita Kent's Legacy with Nellie Scott
The first thing I said to Nellie Scott, Executive Director of the Corita Art Center in downtown Los Angeles that preserves and promotes Corita Kent’s art, teaching, and passion for social justice, was that I wish we didn't need to do this. I wish Corita Kent's work had already done its work, that the world was free of oppression, racism, inequality, chaos and fear. Maybe Nellie and I could just talk about love and a butterfly, the upcoming showing of Kent's work at Andrew Kreps and kaufmann repetto in NYC this month. But the times they are a'changing and oh how they stay the same. The new Corita Art Center opened in March and since, Pope Francis has passed, the structure of democracy in America has been bent to a near breaking point and art has an act of protest and social awareness is struggling to find its footing. So, it's time for Corita Kent once again. In this conversation on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast produced by the Unibrow, Nellie Scott speaks of the founding of the Center in 1997 and its association with the Immaculate Heart Community, how Corita Kent went from entering the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary at age 18, to championing civil rights, anti-war activism, and peace, through her unique aesthetic of printmaking. She left the order in 1968 and moved to Boston, where she continued to make work. Her art, and her life, was devoted to finding a deep understanding of the human experience, through teaching and creating. Corita left behind a great legacy that continues to reverberate - at the time of her death in 1986, Corita had created almost 800 serigraph editions and thousands of watercolours, alongside public and private commissions. From Boston to Los Angeles, Corita’s life is a truly inspired story. The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 163 was recorded at the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles in late April 2025. Original music by Aesop Rock for Radio Juxtapoz
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162: Adele Renault
Adele Renault's studio is an old converted Korean church in Los Angeles. It's a large, fascinating old building just down the road from some of the biggest gallery names in the world like Zwirner, but here, there is a quiet hum of the 10 freeway and a massive painting area that could almost be an old cinema in terms of scale. Here, the Belgian-born artist is far from the rural countryside she grew up in and now in the thick of the concrete landmass that is the sprawl of LA. And here, in these conditions, she is making paintings so precise and photorealistic, so airtight, that she is almost leaning into something abstract. They are stunning and a major moment for the artist as she is set to open her solo show, Things I Can't Unsee, at Good Mother Gallery. It's the perfect title to a show, and in particular, to the practice she has of documenting her travels via bicycle, running or in a car across LA. Made over the span of 12 months, through a tumultuous time in LA's history, the works are an ode to the city and the constant conversation between nature and cement. In this conversation on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, presenting by The Unibrow, Renault talks to Evan Pricco about her growing from graffiti and street work into this new direction, from pigeons to now urban landscapes, how being afforded time is a gift every artist needs and how close to abstraction these works can get up close. ⁠Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts. The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 162 was recorded in Los Angeles in late April 2025. Studio photo by Pysa (@Pysainhiding)
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161: Katie Merz
“No hierarchies are implied.” If you need to know anything about Katie Merz, start with that. The Brooklyn-born and bred artist has been playing on the streets both metaphorically and recently literally, for most of her life. Hierarchies would have got in the way if she let them. Art was all around, or perhaps better stated, it could be all around. For Merz, improvising was the goal, and the ever-evolving canvas that is her home borough gave her the imagination and the thoughtfulness to read and react to the world around her that has now blossomed into a public art career that is also extended into fine art and commercial projects. And this is where we found her. It was serendipity that at the time we were meeting up with Katie in her Brooklyn studio, she was finalizing her long-awaited collaboration with Simplehuman. The Southern California-brand is famous for their, well, beautifully simple trash can designs and home goods, but there was something rather ideal about pairing an artist to create a design for cans. Ideas come and go in the studio, projects can get thrown away but the function of an artist is to take the everyday object and turn it into art. For Katie, this is in her DNA. On this episode of The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we speak with Katie about the collaboration with Simplehuman but also how she involves spontaneous play into her work, how much growing up with the romantic history of NYC plays into who she is and the process of storytelling with lines. The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 161 was recorded in Los Angeles and Brooklyn on April 21, 2025. This episode was made possible by Simplehuman and their upcoming capsule collection with Katie Merz.
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