Radio Juxtapoz by The Unibrow

Mark Whalen has been with us for almost 20 years, from the streets of Sydney, Australia to a new life of a sculpture studio in Los Angeles. Now it is time we are with him: after losing his home in the Altadena fire of January 2025, I got in touch with Mark about a visit to The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz, but also to catch up on an immersive, darkly humorous series of works he was creating. It felt like the right time. In this conversation on the podcast, we find the inspiration behind the world Whalen has created, the stream of consciousness and deeply investigative construction of the sculptures, the materials, the fun, the pain, and how losing his home will inevitably transform the power of the work. Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast! The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠ is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 158 was recorded in Los Angeles on March 14, 2025. This episode of Radio Juxtapoz is brought to you by the generous support of the ⁠Artemizia Foundation,⁠ a world class museum of contemporary, graffiti and street art in Bisbee, Arizona.

Daniel Gibson is a painter of the California landscape, a visualizer of a certain kind of desert oasis dreamt of in a surreal dream as opposed to a place you have been. But to be honest, I wasn't aware of this fantastical world of desert sun, flora and fauna in Gibson's work; I just wanted it all to be real. I don't think that is important; what is important is that Gibson is capturing an essence of fantasy and freedom, a rural and desert basins, the Imperial Valley of Southeast California. This is where Daniel grew up, and though he has lived in San Diego and now Los Angeles for years, he takes this childhood daydream of his surroundings with him in some of the most beautifully phantasmagorical paintings being made today. Gibson's path to a fine art career took many twists and turns, from ArtCenter to graphic design, street posters to working at Levi's. He found himself in the studio of Mary Weatherford, another artist of color bursts and abstractions, where he learned the details of a career artists and the blueprint for dedication. The pandemic allowed him more time in the studio, and when the world was shut away, Gibson developed a body of work that has seen the galleries of Almine Rech, Nazarian / Curcio and new show just about to open at Marquez Art Projects (MAP) in Miami. In this conversation on The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast, Gibson speaks to Juxtapoz editor Evan Pricco about a semi-retirement set for 2025 (aka, a break from shows to develop new work), growing up near the California-Mexico border, being self-taught at painting, the emotional parts of paintings and what he learned from Weatherford's practice. The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 157 was recorded in Los Angeles on March 11, 2025. This episode of Radio Juxtapoz is brought to you by the generous support of the Artemizia Foundation, a world class museum of contemporary, graffiti and street art in Bisbee, Arizona.

There have been many iterations of the man we know as Nehemiah Cisneros, but right now, in the most moment, he is most himself. If you know Nehemiah, he is a thoughtful, insightful and evolving figure in art who is a filmmaker in a painters' body. We met him as AUGOR, the graffiti writer who took over Los Angles in the late aughts with billboards and walls that were just as influenced by comics, video games and low brow art as it was the history of lettering and monikers. He was fresh air in a scene that was already full of major creative forces: SABER, REVOK, RETNA and the MSK crew members. Cisneros was the young buck making a name, with LA in his blood and something theatric in his vision. Across a few art schools, going through addiction and his own "trouble" that we mention in this podcast, Cisneros found a new voice in the art departments of Santa Monica City College, Kansas City Art Institute and then an MFA at UCLA. What that voice does is create a vision of his youth in Los Angeles and the aesthetic of a city of narratives, literally in its DNA. Cisneros, even now with a body of work on its way to Josh Lilley in London, has taken a life of influence from film, arcades, city streets, low brow and fine art into a beautiful and often overwhelmingly dense series of paintings. In this conversation on The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast, Evan Pricco and Cisneros talk about life after an MFA, his time working in the arts and studying painting, how Mark Ryden influenced his early years and how now he is looking to Theodore Gericault, Max Ernst, gamer culture and Black Exploitation films for his new works. Off the the "goon cave"... Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 156 was recorded in Los Angeles on March 5, 2025 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hannah Lupton Reinhard's paintings always have a consistency in intent, and yet an interpretation of intention seems to be flexible for some, perhaps even malleable. The theme of moving goal posts to secure your own meaning is rife in modern society, perhaps more so than ever as we all have the unique ability to erase our own history so easily. We all, at the touch of a button, can share and manipulate our opinions, often in an instant. I don't know if we, as a collective, were ready for this, and we are struggling. We are angry. We are confused. Reinhard has been making paintings about being Jewish since her time at RISD, has explored Jewish "displacement, diaspora, and the weight of inherited identity." In her celebratory work, she speaks of something quite universal: the complex idea of home and, as she notes from the philosopher Judith Butler, "that cohabitation—living among and alongside others—is central to Jewishness itself." As war in the Middle East began to explore, her work was being re-evauluated, her inclusive opinions causing her anger from her community and re-reading of her artwork that was never her intention. It brought out broader conversations about coexistence, and how a proudly Jewish artist can criticize Zionism while remaining as proud of her heritage as ever? In this conversation on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, Evan Pricco speaks with Reinhard at Rusha & Co just as her solo show, Are We Here Yet? was opening. They spoke about how the fires in Los Angeles gave her work an extra dimension, finding identity in art school and how she painted through a major shift in her public life and how it caused a uncertainty in her private life. (Editor's note: Click here to see imagery that connects with the conversation, a gives context for some of Reinhard's older works)Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 155 was recorded in Los Angeles on February 12, 2025 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

It took Melbourne's Jeremy Geddes over 5 years to make his newest solo show, Periphery, for Thinkspace Projects, and it's been over a decade since he last had a show all together. He is a patient man, a man who loves the details, making personal and universal works that are about the human condition in relation to explorations of space, our soul and our relationship the technology all around us. He is an explorer of the smallest details, a painter who doesn't just have the technical skill of past masters from centuries before, but a problem of solver of the self. So it took him 5 years to make this show, and, while on the plane to Los Angeles in the first week of January, 2025, it took Los Anglees a few hours to be changed forever. Time is fascinating that way; an artist and mother nature have different schedules. Speaking of schedules, we schedules this conversation with Jeremy a few weeks ago, just before he made his trip to Los Angeles for the solo show at Thinkspace Projects, his first solo show in over a decade and a culmination of work made since 2019. Before the pandemic, to now. Quite a significant moment for him, and for us, a moment to connect with a past cover artist, a vital artist in our history. As fires were ravaging LA's hills and communities, Jeremy and I had this conversation with heavy hearts. With heavy minds. Past guest of Radio Juxtapoz, featured artists in the magazine, friends, family, colleagues, all lost homes in these fires. Friends, family and colleagues have homes threatened right now, as I recond this. It’s a tragedy, it’s unthinkable, it’s been quite unimaginable. In this conversation, Jeremy and I speak about that attention to detail, about how he sees the scope of his life finally seeing this show all together and how much of his work isn't informed by science fiction but our need to explore what it is that moves us, no matter how small or how significant. —Evan Pricco Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠⁠. Episode 154 was recorded in Los Angeles on January 10, 2025 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

It isn't often we invite a guest to come onto Radio Juxtapoz for a second time, but Umar Rashid is beyond an exception. He's a friend with something to talk about, a new show, yes, The Kingdom of the Two Californias. La Época del Totalitarismo Part 2 at BLUM in Los Angeles... but we are also talking two days after the American election and an artist dedicated to history has something to say. A lot to say. "This epoch is exhausting," Rashid says, as we explore his own explorations of history and the cacophony of noise of the contemporary. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about making art in the midst of history happening around you, how you can tell stories from the past that explain our current and future selves and how much it takes to prepare a body of work that is about a narrative that demands a deeper read. Umar never shies away from telling us how our history is often over-looked, and although that seems simple, it's a plague of humanity to not look back in order to move forward. And art is his language... Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠⁠Evan Pricco⁠⁠. Episode 153 was recorded in Los Angeles on November 7, 2024. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Something that will always exist, regardless of political landscapes and the changing of societal norms, is the need to honor space. ⁠Danielle Mckinney⁠ knows something about space, and waiting, and watching, and observing. As a photographer she practices these disciplines, and when she began to explore her desire to paint, she found something remarkably powerful: the space for the body to rest. Whether it was a fantasy or a dream, Mckinney's work is a powerful reminder that the art of protest can come in unexpected ways, that sound can reverberate from the quietest of moments and just how much rest and the act of being seen resonates so deeply. In this episode of the ⁠Radio Juxtapoz's Unibrow podcast⁠, Jux editor ⁠Evan Pricco⁠ speaks to Mckinney the day before the American election of 2024, which envelops the conversation with a bit of realistic uncertainty. Mckinney speaks of her shows in Europe in 2024, listening to Thom Yorke and the Cocteau Twins, her youth in Alabama and Georgia and giving woman of color the space and place to be seen. ⁠Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠⁠.  Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, ⁠Evan Pricco⁠. Episode 152was recorded in Los Angeles and New York on November 4, 2024. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Photo of Danielle Mckinney by Pierre Le Hors, provided by Kunsthal n in Copenhagen

San Francisco's ⁠Koak⁠ has always been a mystery to us. Yes, of course she is an internationally exhibited painter and the cover of the Juxtapoz Fall 2024 Quarterly in time with her solo show at Perrotin in Paris in September, but that there is something non-era-specific about the work she makes. Timeless get overused, but Koak makes otherworldly paintings that are personal, emotional, universal, environmental and narrative all in one. In this episode of the Radio Juxtapoz's new Unibrow series, a more raw, uncut version of our podcast, Koak talks to me about her teen years in Santa Cruz, how she thinks of composing her installations in the vein of comic book storytelling, how a very difficult year led to quite a compulsive, painstaking process to make her show in Paris and how an upcoming institutional show in London makes her feel right at home. Subscribe to the Radio Juxtapoz podcast⁠.  Radio Juxtapoz' Unibrow podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 151 was recorded in Los Angeles and San Francisco on October 29, 2024. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Anthony Cudahy is at an interest time in his life when we spoke for the Radio Juxtapoz podast: he hadn't been in the studio for a bit. And who could blame him? He had concurrent solo shows open at Grimm and Hales in NYC, and his first museum show, Spinneret, had opened Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine earlier in the year and was about to open at the Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas the week of our conversation. A break, or at least taking it all in, seemed quite relatable.  And on this episode of Radio Juxtapoz, it does feel like Anthony is thinking about what is next, giving his most recent work and past works a little deeper look, deeper thoughts and really taking note of how the past 5 years of his life have really taking off. He is a painter of stories, of narratives, capturing his husband and friends in fragments that almost take on a life of their own. Maybe that is what it is all about; letting a painting take you somewhere, outside of yourself by of yourself, and just taking you to another place. That is what Anthony is really, really good at that.  The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 150 was recorded in the NYC in October 2024. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Matt Bollinger's aim is both to define America but also define himself. Okay, okay, that seems like a wide net to throw, and it maybe it even seems simplistic, but there is his contemporary approach to social realistic, Ashcan School style that has made Bollinger one of the most interesting artists working today in painting, drawing and animation that speaks about and creates narratives of midwest America. His characters often show up in different bodies of work, different mediums, as we follow them through recessions and pandemics and aging, and really just life. Originally from Missouri and now working out of upstate New York, this is a time where Bollinger's voice seems as vital as ever. On this episode of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we get the band back together, so to speak, where hosts Evan Pricco and Doug Gillen interview Bollinger about his recent body of work shown in London and the state of America through the lens of his characters. On the heels of our conversation with Patrisse Cullors, this could be the beginning of our "state of the union" series of pods. The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 149 was recorded in the Los Angeles, Margate and Ithaca in September 2024. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@radiojuxtapoz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠