The Modern Art Notes Podcast

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.