The Modern Art Notes Podcast
The Modern Art Notes Podcast
Tyler Green
The Modern Art Notes Podcast is a weekly, hour-long interview program featuring artists, historians, authors, curators and conservators. Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee called The MAN Podcast "one of the great archives of the art of our time." When the US chapter of the International Association of Art Critics gave host Tyler Green one of its inaugural awards for criticism in 2014, it included a special citation for The MAN Podcast.
Holiday clips: Hew Locke
Episode No. 765 is a holiday clips episode featuring artist Hew Locke. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is presenting "Hew Locke: Passages," the first US survey of Locke's career, through September 13. Across sculpture, painting, photography and installations, Locke's work considers colonialism, its power, and the ways in which we respond to colonialism and its impacts. Locke, who is Guyanese-British, particularly focuses on British imperialism and how it was constructed, including through monarchy, trade, and (sometimes forced) migration. The show was curated by Martina Droth. The catalogue, which was edited by Droth and Allie Biswas, was published by the YCBA. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for $60-70. In-gallery materials are available here in both English and Spanish. Locke's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at The British Museum, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Tate Britain, London, the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston, Pérez Art Museum Miami, and more. In addition to the images below, here are links to works and exhibitions discussed on the program: Hew Locke, Ark, 1994. Hew Locke, Menace to Society (series), 1999-2001. Hew Locke, The Nameless, 2010. "Hew Locke: what have we here" at the British Museum; "A Conspiracy of Icons: The Art of Donald Locke," at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and "The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain" at the Hayward Gallery, London. Instagram: Hew Locke, Tyler Green. Air date: July 2, 2026.
Jul 2
1 hr 13 min
Louis Fratino
Episode No. 764 features artist Louis Fratino. The Baltimore Museum of Art is exhibiting "Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again" through September 6. The exhibition shows how Matisse -- specifically Baltimore's great Matisse collection -- has informed Fratino's painting. The exhibition was co-curated by Virginia Anderson and Katy Rothkopf. Fratino, who earned his undergraduate degree at Baltimore's Maryland Institute College of Art, often depicts intimate personal spaces and experiences, usually by centering queer life and the male body. His work has been the subject of a solo show at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York; he has been included in group exhibitions at museums such as the Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the RISD Museum, Providence; and the Columbus Museum of Art. His work is well-collected by art museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the MCA Chicago, and the MFA Houston. Air date: June 25, 2026.
Jun 25
46 min
Summer clips: Jes Fan
Episode No. 763 is a summer clips episode featuring artist Jes Fan. The Yale University Art Gallery is presenting "Jes Fan: Unbounded" through June 28. The exhibition spotlights how Fan makes sculptures that combine elegant abstract forms with an experimental and innovative approach to materials. Fan's sculptures often explore the porousness of identity, and incorporate living matter, such hormones, and fluids, such as glass. Fan's work has been exhibited in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, the 2022 Venice Biennale, the 2021 New Museum Triennial at the New Museum, New York, the MIT List Visual Arts Center, the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, and more. As mentioned on the program: Stills from Fan's 2023 video Palimpsest. Byung-Chul Han's book Saving Beauty. For more images, see Episode No. 658.
Jun 18
49 min
John Akomfrah
Episode No. 762 features artist John Akomfrah. The Menil Collection, Houston is showing "John Akomfrah: The Hour of The Dog" through October 11. The work, co-commissioned by the Menil and the Baltimore Museum of Art, explores the history of the US civil rights movement between 1954 and 1963. The presentation was curated by Michelle White and Cecilia Wichmann. Akomfrah is one of the world's most celebrated film-based artists. His work often investigates memory, colonialism, diaspora, and the intersection of time and aesthetics. He has had solo exhibitions at several Smithsonian museums, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and at the Tate Britain. He represented the UK in the 2024 Venice Biennale, a year after the UK honored him with a knighthood. This is Akomfrah's third time on the program. His previous visits were on Episode No. 332 and Episode No. 339. Air date: June 11, 2026.
Jun 11
55 min
Denzil Forrester, William Wylie
Episode No. 761 features artists Denzil Forrester and William Wylie. Forrester is featured in "Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through September 20. The exhibition explores and expands the visual, political, and spiritual histories of dancehall and reggaetón through contemporary art produced in the Caribbean, New York, London, and beyond. It was curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates with Cecilia González Godino, Iris Colburn, Nolan Jimbo, and nibia pastrana santiago. A catalogue will be published by the museum and DelMonico Books in July. It is available from Bookshop and Amazon for $60-65. The Grenada-born Forrester is best known for paintings that mine London's dub reggae culture and music clubs of the 1980s for subject and verve. The drawings he made in urban dance halls then continue to inform his work. His paintings are full of references to diaspora, the policing of Black people and culture in the UK, and dub reggae music itself. White Columns, New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City have presented solo exhibitions of his work in the US; in the UK, Nottingham Contemporary, the Jackson Foundation Gallery, Cornwall have too. His work is in the collection of museums such as the Tate, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Wylie's new photobook is titled "The Eighty-Eight: Photographs from a Japanese Pilgrimage." It features pictures from Wylie's experience fo the Shikoku Pilgrimage, a trail that vists 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) on the island of Shikoku. The book was published by George F. Thompson Publishing in association with the Center for the Study of Place, and features an essay by Pico Iyer. Amazon offers it for about $42. This is Wylie's seventh book. His pictures are in the collection of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Air date: June 4, 2026.
Jun 4
1 hr 8 min
Miró and the US, Parasol Press
Episode No. 760 features curators Marko Daniel and Elsa Smithgall, and curator Rachel Vogel. With Matthew Gale and Dolors Rodríguez Roig, Daniel and Smithgall are the co-curators of "Miró and the United States" at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. The exhibition explores the exchanges between Joan Miró and the mid-twentieth-century US art scene. Not only did Miró have retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1941 and 1959, but he traveled to the US seven times between 1947 and 1968, when he made a point of seeing US art and visiting US artists. The exhibition at the Phillips is on view through July 5. The Phillips and the Fundació Joan Miró have published a catalogue; the Phillips offers it for $65. As discussed on the program: Alexander Calder, Calder's Circus, 1926-31; "High Wire: Calder's Circus at 100" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Joan Miró's Constellations, 1940-41; Joan Miró, Blue Triptych, 1961; and "Miró Mural," exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1948; Vogel is the curator of "Parasol Press: Breaking New Ground," a survey of Parasol Press' 1970-2014 output at the Addison Art Gallery, Andover, Mass. Robert Feldman's Parasol Press came to significance by working with minimalist and conceptualist artist such as Dorothea Rockburne, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Sol LeWitt, Chuck Close, and more. The exhibition is on view through July 31. Instagram: Rachel Vogel, Tyler Green. Air date: May 28, 2026.
May 28
1 hr 27 min
Holiday clips: Gertrude Abercrombie
Episode No. 759 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curator Sarah Humphreville. With Eric Crosby, Humphreville is the co-curator of "Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World is a Mystery." The exhibition surveys Abercrombie's synthesis of surrealism, landscape, portraiture and still-life, and is the most comprehensive presentation of the artist's work to date. It is at the Milwaukee Art Museum through July 19. An excellent catalogue was co-published by the Carnegie, Colby, and DelMonico Books. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $50-55. Instagram: Sarah Humphreville, Tyler Green. Air date: May 21, 2026.
May 21
36 min
Leasho Johnson, Laura Facey
Episode No. 758 features artists Leasho Johnson and Laura Facey. Both artists are featured in "Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through September 20. The exhibition explores and expands the visual, political, and spiritual histories of dancehall and reggaetón through contemporary art produced in the Caribbean, New York, London, and beyond. It was curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates with Cecilia González Godino, Iris Colburn, Nolan Jimbo, and nibia pastrana santiago. A catalogue will be published by the museum and DelMonico Books in July. It is available from Bookshop and Amazon for $60-65. Johnson's paintings explore Black queer identity, Caribbean folklore, and post-colonial narratives. His pictures find meaning in the space between figuration and abstraction, and between Jamaican cultural heritage and broader art histories. His exhibition credits include the 2025 Liverpool biennial at the Walker Art Gallery and group shows at the Leslie Lohman Museum, New York, the Portland (Me.) Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Jamaica. His work is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Facey is a Jamaica-based sculptor whose work addresses the land around her and the histories it holds. Her work often seeks what Facey calls "a healthy alchemy" for people and the earth. She has shown at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, the Havana biennial, and at the National Gallery of Jamaica. Her 2003 Redemption Song is sited in Kingston, Jamaica's Emancipation Park. A career-spanning monograph of her work will be published later this year. Instagram: Leasho Johnson, Laura Facey, Tyler Green. Air date: May 14, 2026.
May 14
1 hr 5 min
Matisse's Stations of the Cross in Vence
Episode No. 757 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features art historian and curator Yve-Alain Bois. Bois is the curator of "Matisse in Vence: The Stations of the Cross," at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The exhibition presents about 80 of the drawings Matisse made for the painted ceramic mural of the Stations of the Cross at the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence. The exhibition reveals how Matisse worked through each of the Stations to arrive at a syncretic, dramatic presentation. Bois was assisted by Alix Agret and Katy Rothkopf. The exhibition, which is on view through June 28, is accompanied by a fascinating, essential catalogue published by Musée Matisse Nice and Bernard Chauveau Publishing. It is available from the BMA for $35. Instagram: Yve-Alain Bois, Tyler Green. Air date: May 7, 2026.
May 7
55 min
Frederic Edwin Church, Manet & Morisot
Episode No. 756 features author Victoria Johnson and curator Emily A. Beeny. Johnson is the author of "Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World," the first major biography of the most important and influential painter in the US nineteenth century. The book will be published by Scribner next week. Johnson's book tells the story of Church's life, and especially his travels even as she explains how Church's work engaged with the scientific and political worlds of his time. It is likely to be the authoritative source on Church's life for decades to come. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $35. Beeny is the curator of "Manet & Morisot," an exploration of the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, now at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The show particularly focuses on the 15 years between 1868 and 1883, when Manet and Morisot shared perhaps the closest relationship of any two impressionists. It's on view in Cleveland through July 5. A fine catalogue was published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in association with Yale University Press. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $57-70. Instagram: Victoria Johnson, Tyler Green.
Apr 30
1 hr 45 min
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