#65 Alexandre de Betak

Alexandre de Betak on light, creative freedom and making emotion last. For more than thirty years, Alexandre de Betak has shaped the way we experience fashion. Through Bureau Betak, founded in 1990, he created shows and environments for houses including Dior, Saint Laurent and Jacquemus, helping turn a runway presentation into a cultural event remembered far beyond its few minutes of performance.In this episode of The Art Bystander, Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar speaks with the French artist and creative director about his move towards an independent art practice and the questions that come with making work intended to last. His exhibition TRUSS LIGHT SCULPTURES 01 at Salon 94 Design is his first exhibition of sculpture and his first solo show in New York.The conversation begins in Paris, where a camera given to him by his grandfather led to a darkroom at home and an almost constant impulse to photograph. Alexandre recalls the images and cultural movements that shaped him, his impatience with an established career path, and the move to New York that gave him room to invent his own profession. He also speaks openly about ADHD, memory and the ways photography helped him organise what he saw.We discuss what changes when a creative practice is no longer guided by someone else’s brief, why complete freedom can be more demanding than a commission, and how he understands the distinction between making art and working within fashion. Looking back at the intensity of his shows, Alexandre considers his own contribution to a culture of speed and consumption, and his wish to preserve their emotional power in work with a longer life.At Salon 94 Design, twelve sculptures in aluminium and bronze draw on the trusses and stage lights of his earlier career. He explains how their light can glow, breathe, sparkle or respond to the sounds around them, and why that changing behaviour matters to his understanding of permanence. The episode closes with a personal exchange about wounds, emotional openness and learning to live with the experiences that shape what we create.TRUSS LIGHT SCULPTURES 01 is on view at Salon 94 Design, 3 East 89th Street, New York, until19 December 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Riva on Collecting and the Freedom to Sell. What happens when a painting becomes so compelling that you cannot stop thinking about it? And how do you balance that desire with the financial realities of collecting?Recorded in London during Frieze week, this episode of The Art Bystander brings together Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar and Charles Riva, the collector and former gallerist whose career has taken him through New York, London and Paris. Known for a collection with a strong focus on American art, Riva has brought works by artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, Richard Prince and Christopher Wool into exhibitions and the spaces where he lives.Riva traces his appetite for collecting back to childhood flea markets in southwestern France, where he hunted for ashtrays, lighters and perfume bottles. A Roy Lichtenstein print became his first art purchase. New York followed, along with gallery ownership, international expansion and an eventual decision to devote more attention to his own collection.He speaks candidly about how the financial crisis of 2008 changed his judgement, why auctions became more important to him, and why buying less now appeals more than accumulating. We discuss waiting lists, the conditions galleries attach to access, and the uncomfortable balance between a collector’s wish to sell and the potential consequences for a living artist’s career.The conversation also explores shared ownership and art as an investment, the practical limits of liquidity, and the paintings Riva chooses to keep in his bedroom. He reflects on presenting art alongside furniture, sharing a collection through exhibitions and dinners, and his hope that his children will eventually develop their own relationship with the works.An open conversation about the pleasure of the hunt, the cost of an impulsive purchase, and the changing meaning of a collection over a lifetime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maitha Abdalla on folklore, guilt and the landscapes she paints. At her grandmother’s house in Khorfakkan, Maitha Abdalla remembers waking to the call to prayer, her grandmother’s voice and a rooster she had been taught could see angels. Years later she gave the bird a companion in her paintings. The rooster and the pig might fight, hold a conversation or become intimate. Both, she says, are her.Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar met the Emirati artist in Paris in October 2026 to record The Art Bystander Podcast. Abdalla works across painting, sculpture, film and performance. One of eleven children, Abdalla recalls the drawing of a doll that first made her feel seen, the anger she carried as a teenager and the bargain she struck with her father to travel alone at eighteen. A year in London and several months teaching art and English in Turkey gave her time to write about the characters she remembered from home.Abdalla explains why she writes a character before deciding whether to paint it or give it a part in a performance. She describes working on a canvas spread across the studio floor, applying paint with her fingertips while one song plays on repeat. We discuss the women she grew up among, the masculine qualities of some of her female figures, and her interest in what guilt can do to a body. She explains why sadness makes her want to write, and why she hesitates when asked if she goes looking for it. A comparison between Swedish forests and the Gulf desert prompts her to consider why a family might need a story to live with the loss of someone who went missing.The conversation turns to the imagined forests Abdalla began seeing before sleep on an earlier stay in Paris. Those landscapes are now on view in London. A pink sky or a crooked branch can suggest that someone has passed through, been hurt or fallen in love. When asked where she finds herself in these places, Abdalla answers, “I’m the landscape.” She also introduces Sit on the Chair Before It Forgets Its Purpose, a project she began during a research residency in Sharjah. In Tunisia she is exploring Stambeli, a tradition of music and trance. She explains why she hopes to take part in the rituals herself.Afterglow: From the Residue of a Departed SunMaitha Abdalla, Omar Kholeif, Mohamed Monaiseer and Randa MaddahPresented by Tabari at No.9 Cork Street, London30 October–21 November 2026 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Juergen Teller and Dovile Drizyte join Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar for a conversation about the creative partnership at the centre of their shared life.From his portraits of Kate Moss and Kurt Cobain to his collaborations with Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang and Vivienne Westwood, Teller has developed one of photography’s most recognisable approaches. Here, he and Drizyte discuss how working together changed that practice, the role she plays across ideas and production, and why she encouraged him to continue when commercial photography was beginning to lose its appeal.We talk about building trust with the people in front of the camera, fashion as theatre, the value of uncertainty and the risks both took to be together. Drizyte also reflects on her path from political science and diplomacy to a career in New York and their life in London.The conversation leads into Guten Morgen Sonnenschein, Teller’s exhibition at Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve in Paris. They discuss images of their bodies appearing to merge and the morning coffee photographs he describes as a love letter to his wife.Guten Morgen SonnenscheinGalerie Suzanne Tarasieve, 7 rue Pastourelle, 75003 Paris7 November 2026–16 January 2027Also mentioned: The 90s: Art and Fashion, curated by Edward Enninful with the Tate team, at Tate Britain until 14 February 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Isabelle Zetterström on painting the inner world. In her London studio, British-Swedish artist Isabelle Zetterström joins Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar to discuss the imagined landscapes through which she explores emotion, memory and the changing self.Recorded in October 2026, the conversation begins with a new series of paintings made for Stockholm. Zetterström describes using light and shadow to examine the self we show to others, the person we hope to become and the experiences we keep partly concealed. She reflects on why darkness can feel protective, and how drawing once helped her recognise feelings she could not otherwise name.We discuss growing up between two cultures, receiving a dyslexia diagnosis at eighteen and finding her way to the Royal College of Art, where she completed her MA Painting in 2026. The conversation also explores daydreaming, poetry, spirituality and the unexpected intimacy of hearing someone else describe what they see in her work.Zetterström features in Shapeshifting at Belenius, Stockholm, alongside Jenny Palén, Dorothea Tanning and Elsa Thoresen. Co-curated by Kretzschmar and Belenius, the exhibition runs from 6 November to 12 December 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenny Palén on dreams and making art before understanding it. In her studio outside Stockholm, artist Jenny Palén joins Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar for a conversation about the images that arrive before their meaning becomes clear.Moving between painting, sculpture, film, textiles and scenography, Palén follows an idea before deciding what form it needs. Sometimes, she only understands what a work was about months or years after making it. We discuss her beginnings in Stockholm’s graffiti scene, studying art while raising children, and the role of meditation and lucid dreaming in her creative life. She describes how older works return in new forms, why film can feel like the ultimate medium, and what draws her to the meeting of hyperreality and Surrealism.The conversation also explores humour, the uncertainty of artistic legacy and her connection to Dorothea Tanning’s sculpture and textiles.The conversation was recorded ahead of Shapeshifting at Belenius, Stockholm. The exhibition brings together Palén, Tanning, Elsa Thoresen and Isabelle Zetterström. Co-curated by Kretzschmar and Belenius, it runs from 6 November to 12 December 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Omar Kholeif has curated more than 100 exhibitions and written or edited over forty books. Showing their own paintings under their own name, however, meant giving up something they had wanted to keep private. Recorded at Kholeif’s home in East London, this episode of The Art Bystander brings Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar into conversation with the artist, author, curator and broadcaster about the experiences behind their work.Kholeif is Professor of Global Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Glasgow School of Art and leads its postgraduate programme in curatorial practice, delivered jointly with the University of Glasgow. They previously held senior positions at Sharjah Art Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Whitechapel Gallery. Their books include Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs.We discuss Fellow Travellers at Tabari in Dubai, which brings five women artists into conversation with Kholeif’s paintings, and the research, friendships and personal decisions behind the exhibition. Kholeif recalls the trickster stories of their childhood, the influence of Jean Fisher and the encounter with Derek Jarman’s Blue that helped them understand why they had to make art.The conversation also addresses the art world’s fixation on biography, the financial reality behind a public career, and “dreamwork”: protecting the conditions in which people can imagine and create. We conclude with Afterglow in London and paintings made through experiences of physical pain, family separation and survival.Fellow Travellers: Tabari, DIFC, Dubai, until 10 January 2027.Afterglow: From the Residue of a Departed Sun, No.9 Frieze Cork Street, London, 30 October–21 November 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jordan Roth spent years helping other people bring their creative visions to the stage. Eventually, he began to miss his own. His route back started with something he could practise every day: getting dressed.Recorded in Paris during Art Basel week in October 2026, this episode brings together the artist, actor and seven-time Tony Award-winning theatre producer and designer Adam Charlap Hyman for a conversation with Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar about identity, performance and the emotional lives of objects.Their starting point is Roth’s exhibition To Think of the Tranquil Life of Things, designed by Charlap Hyman & Herrero. Before leaving the New York apartment where he had lived for 15 years, Roth was photographed wearing clothes from different chapters of his life. Those photographs became collages printed onto silk crepe and draped over furniture, giving physical form to the memories held within a home. The exhibition takes its title from Georges Perec’s Life: A User’s Manual.Roth speaks candidly about being a child who struggled to make sense to others, finding belonging on stage, and the professional uniform that eventually began to feel restrictive. He explains why performance is a way of revealing himself, and why he now imagines identity as an expanding circle that continues to contain earlier versions of a life.Charlap Hyman describes translating the apartment into a Parisian exhibition, where rooms and objects recur in altered forms. Together, they consider the home as a self-portrait, collecting as a means of changing ourselves, and the difficulty of distinguishing our own instincts from other people’s expectations.There are also deeply personal memories: a chair where Roth fed his baby, a kitchen sink used for a first bath, and a child making music with his great-grandmother.To Think of the Tranquil Life of Things is presented in partnership with Salon 94 Design and Design Miami at 72 rue de l’Université, Paris, from 20 to 25 October 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can love a work of art and still question its price. You can support an artist and still want to understand what happens when you need to sell.In this episode of The Art Bystander, Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar joins collector and Artscapy co-founder Emilia De Stasio in London for a conversation about the emotional convictions and financial decisions that shape a collection.With a background spanning the European Central Bank, Moody’s and technology investment, Emilia brings an analytical eye to a deeply personal pursuit. Together with her husband, Alessandro, she owns around 200 works, with one firm rule: they buy living artists. Their collection explores identity, social politics and the relationship between humanity and the natural world.We discuss what draws her to difficult, demanding art; how galleries and institutions influence an artist’s market; and the uncomfortable gap between buying a work and being able to sell it. We also examine why useful technology can struggle to gain acceptance in an industry built on personal relationships.Those questions led the couple to establish Artscapy. Now, the platform is entering the auction market: its first Modern and Contemporary Art sale runs online from 2–12 November 2026, with 0% seller commission and a 16% buyer’s premium.I ask Emilia whether those economics are sustainable, how the model serves collectors over time, and what support remains when a work fails to sell. Throughout our conversation, one question persists: whose interests does the art market actually serve? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when you spend enough time with a painting to imagine living with it? In this episode of The Art Bystander, our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar speak with David Rothschild, Sotheby’s Head of Contemporary Art Private Sales in the UK and Global Lead for Private Sales Exhibitions, and Valerio Polimeno, founder of _POLIMENO, about Chez Sotheby’s.Taking place from 19–24 October during Art Basel Paris, the project brings nearly $150 million of art into an apartment on Rue de Rivoli overlooking the Jardin des Tuileries. Works by Picasso, Matisse, Warhol, Richter, Bacon and others inhabit rooms conceived for dining, conversation and the pleasure of looking. The curation is just perfect.Our conversation follows the collaboration from its beginnings in Gstaad and London to the personal experiences that shaped Valerio’s approach to hospitality. He recounts how a dismissive remark about the pasta served at an earlier exhibition helped inspire this project, and why creating a welcoming space begins with the intentions of its hosts.David discusses sourcing works from private collections and the connections that emerge when different periods share a room. Among them is a pairing both guests would happily take home: Degas’s ballerinas and a painting by Cecily Brown, whose encounters with Degas helped inspire her work.We also discuss the business behind the invitation. Everything is available for private sale, and the setting allows collectors to consider art within the rhythms of everyday life. Drawing on Paris’s history of salons, homes and restaurants, Chez Sotheby’s asks how the company we keep, the rooms we inhabit and the time we give a work might influence what we see.Chez Sotheby’s | Paris | 19–24 October 2026Viewing enquiries: [email protected] supplied on request.Exhibition details and catalogue:https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-catalogues/chez-sothebys Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.