LA emergency report with Emma Webster

Episode 464 / Esteban JeffersonEsteban Jefferson was born in New York City in 1989. He received his BA and MFA from Columbia University. He’s had solo shows at 303 Gallery, Tanya Leighton in Berlin and Goldsmiths in London. He’s had group shows at Hangar Y in Paris, Uncle Brother in Hancock, NY, Herald St in London, the ICA in Miama and more. His work has been featured in Art Monthly, The New York Times, ArtReview, The Brooklyn Rail, Frieze, Art In America, the New Yorker, Artforum and more. 

Episode 463 / Rose Nestler (b. 1983, Spokane, WA) is a mixed media sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Public, London, UK (2024), Pangeè, Montreal, QC (2023); Mrs., New York, NY (2022); and Carvalho Park, New York, NY (2022) Selected group exhibitions include Asya Geisberg, New York, NY (2025), Plains Art Museum, Fargo ND (2024); Chart, New York, NY (2024), (The University of Leeds’ Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds, UK (2023); Boston University, Boston, MA (2023); Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby, UK (2022); Perrotin, New York, NY (2022); Hesse Flatow, New York, NY (2021), and Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (2021); She was an artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans in 2022. Nestler has also conducted residencies at The Fores Project, London, UK, and The Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY, among others. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA and has been featured and reviewed on Art21, in The Brooklyn Rail, BOMB Magazine, Hyperallergic and New York Magazine. She is part time faculty at Parsons School of Design and College of Staten Island (CUNY). 

Episode 462 / Doug Aitken Doug Aitken is an artist whose work explores every medium; from sculpture, film and installations to architectural interventions. His films often explore the modern condition, and his installations create immersive cinematic experiences. Notable artworks include electric earth (1999), sleepwalkers (2007), SONG 1 (2012), Station to Station (2013), Mirage (2017-ongoing), NEW ERA (2018), New Horizon (2019), Flags and Debris (2021), and HOWL (2023). He has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians and his artwork has been exhibited widely. Aitken's latest artwork, Lightscape (2024), was produced by Aitken as a collaboration between the LA Phil and LA Master Chorale and premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. 

This week we are rereleasing this conversation from August 2018 with painter and art critic Walter Robinson. Walter passed this past Sunday and we have lost a singular voice in the world of art. Walter’s impact on all of us who have met him or read his words was huge. I immediately thought of our conversation in his Queens studio when I heard the news. He was a joy to speak with and I hope this revisiting of our talk brings some relief to those missing him and for those who didnt know Walter, I think this is a good ‘get to know you’ chat between two artists. May he rest in peace. 

Episode 460 / Greg Ito Greg Ito (b. 1987, Los Angeles, CA) earned his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute. His work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions including at Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Maki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China; Lyles and King, New York, NY; Jeffrey Deitch, New York; NY and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), San Francisco, CA. Ito’s work is included in the permanent collections of public institutions including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami); K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Greg lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. his current show  MOTION PICTURES is at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Episode 459 / Will St. John is a painter born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1983. Trained in the techniques of classical realism during his formative years in Italy, Will has since ventured into new territories under the influence of the contemporary New York art scene. His masterful renditions of Drag Queens and Trans models, intertwined with antique porcelain figurines, extend beyond traditional painting. Some portraits find their way into porcelain statues, snuff boxes, and lockets, freezing moments of beauty and authenticity in time. Will has exhibited in the US and abroad at locations such as Cealum Gallery, Spring Break, Arcadia Contemporary and others and he was a resident of the American Academy in Rome in Italy. He currently lives and works in New York City.

Episode 459 / Dana Piazza Dana Piazza is a visual artist who creates abstract drawings and paintings on paper, panel, and canvas through a process of open-ended experimentation, repeating simple marks with brushes, markers, pens, and nibs. The meticulous forms that Piazza conjures on his flat surfaces depict the illusion of depth and movement; they seem voluminous, carrying significant visual weight. He approaches each work as though it were both a puzzle and an experiment, and lets the materials and tools determine the process.   Dana lives and works in Lenox, Massachusetts. He looks forward to featuring at Dallas Art Fair and having his first solo exhibition with TURLEY, by whom he is represented, in the Spring of 2025. His work has previously appeared in solo exhibitions at Art Austerlitz in Austerlitz, New York; Thompson Giroux Gallery in Chatham, New York; and Jennifer Terzian Gallery in Litchfield, Connecticut. His numerous group exhibitions include “Flat Files at OyG” at Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn; “Concentrated” at Galerie Manqué in Brooklyn; “Art on Paper” at Muriel Guépin Gallery in New York City; and “Guilty Pleasures” at Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Piazza received a BFA from Purchase College, State University of New York. This episode was recorded live at the https://www.williamsburgbiannual.org Sound & Vision is sponsored by Soho Art Materials, Golden Artist Colors and Fulcrum Coffee Roasters. 

Episode 458 / Emily Wise Emily Wise (born 1988, Baltimore, MD) received her BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR, where she currently lives and works. Exploring themes related to femininity, intimacy, and the mysteries of the natural world, her paintings have been featured in national publications such as Juxtapoz and Artsy. She has exhibited across Portland, LA and NYC with Chefas Projects and DTLA based gallery Simard Bilodeau Contemporary.

As fires rage in LA and it's effect is shaking the creative communities there, I spoke to Emma Webster, painter and artist who lives and works there about the current situation and some ways to support our fellow artists. Support Links: Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc. Artists’ Benevolence Fund – Laguna Beach, CA Artists’ Fellowship, Inc. CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-the-lives-of-las-artists-and-art-workers Remote / funding: Art World Relief Grief and Hope https://artworldfirereliefla.start.page/ https://www.instagram.com/griefxhope?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==  Artists Affected by the fires: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vSDTcPGrWIBUUGQIg2aRhL5mvhybhT1aVUaz7KuuqGORKS4LCYOOMJy0IW1WsR-JiVTe9SD5uwMLB-f/pubhtml?urp=gmail_link%23&usp=embed_facebook#  For people in LA to help: Fire Aid info: https://www.fireaid.info/ has different types of ais - shelters, animal, food, shelter, etc  MALAN (Mutal Aid LA Network) follow them on IG for on the ground needs https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Episode 457 / Emily Noelle Lambert received her MFA in Painting from Hunter College in NYC and her BA in Visual Art from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Lambert has shown nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions at Freight+Volume Gallery (NYC), Denny Gallery (NYC), Lu Magnus Gallery (NYC) Art in Buildings (NYC), now defunct Thomas Robertello Gallery (IL), Gravity Gallery (MA) and IMART in South Korea.  Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including at the Ringling Museum of Art (FL), The University of Michigan in Kalamazoo (MI), Torrance Art Museum(CA), Asya Geisberg (NY), Underdonk (NY) Katherine Markel Fine Art (NYC) and Alice Gauvin Gallery (ME). She has completed public art projects for the Department of Transportation in NYC and elementary schools in NYC and New Hampshire. Lambert has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell (NH), The Yaddo Foundation (NY), Fountainhead Residency (FL), Vermont Studio Center (VT), Dieu Donne (NY), The Alfred and Trafford Klots International Artist Residency (France),Lower East Side Printshop (NY), DNA Residency (MA), Edward Albee Residency (NY), Momozozo AIR (run by artist Paula Wilson) (NM) and Woodstock Byrdcliffe AIR(NY), Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VA) and Cushing Collaborative (organized by artist Maureen Cavanaugh) (ME). Lambert’s work has been reviewed in The International New York Times, The Observer, The Brooklyn Rail, Modern Painters, Art News, Two Coats of Paint, Greenpointer, Art in America, and artforum.com.  Lambert is currently an Associate Professor of Drawing and Painting at Keene State College in New Hampshire.