The Modern Art Notes Podcast

• Hew Locke

  Episode No. 731 features artist Hew Locke. The Yale Center for British Art is presenting "Hew Locke: Passages," the first US survey of Locke's career. 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 exhibition, which is on view through January 11, 2026, 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: November 6, 2025.

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• Barnett Newman

  Episode No. 730 features author Amy Newman. Newman is the author of Barnett Newman: Here a biography out this week from Princeton University Press. The book presents Newman as devoted to art but initially unsure of what a Newman would be, as a dedicated, almost blindered New Yorker, and as an artist intensely interested in what US art had to contribute to the US national and global project. Amazon and Bookshop offer Newman for around $40. (It will be available in the UK in January 2026. Amy Newman and Barnett Newman are not related.) Newman is the author of the author of Challenging Art: "Artforum" 1962–1974 and the editor, with Irving Sandler, of Defining Modern Art: Selected Writings of Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Works discussed on the program include: Black With Yellow (Euclidian Abyss), 1946-47; Onement I, 1948; Two Edges, 1948; Onement VI, 1953; Here I, 1950; and Broken Obelisk, 1963-69. Instagram: Amy Newman, Tyler Green.

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• Justin Favela, David-Jeremiah

  Episode No. 729 features artists Justin Favela and David-Jeremiah. The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery is presenting a commission from Favela titled Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel) through a not-yet determined date. The Favela makes the Renwick's grand salon gallery a fantastical space, complete with shimmering gold-fringed walls and piñata corncobs that highlight the role of maize in North American visual culture. It accompanies "State Fairs: Growing American Craft," an exhibition that details artists' contribution to the US tradition of state fairs that is on view at the Renwick through September 7, 2026. (The Renwick is temporarily closed because Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill have shut down the federal government.) Favela's work typically investigates Mexican or Latin American craft practices, especially cartoneria (more commonly known as piñata making). His work has been the subject of exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, the Des Moines Art Center, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and more. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is presenting "David-Jeremiah: The Fire this Time" through November 2. The exhibition presents a group of vertical assemblages of black and other polychromatic paintings on shaped wood that form an installation. The twenty-eight works stand over ten feet tall. The primary configuration surrounds viewers completely before giving way to a final suite of paintings featuring abstract assemblages that include references to fire. The exhibition was curated by Christopher Blay. A catalogue is available from MAMFW. David-Jeremiah's work reflects the artist's experience of Black masculinity in America. Previous David-Jeremiah solo exhibitions have been at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., and the Houston Museum of African American Culture; he has participated in group shows at institutions such as Project Row Houses, Houston. In 2020, David-Jeremiah received a Nasher Sculpture Center Artist Grant Award. Instagram: Justin Favela, David-Jeremiah, Tyler Green.

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• Drawing and video, Pablo Helguera

  Episode No. 728 features curators Anna Lovatt and Kelly Montana, and artist/curator Pablo Helguera. Lovatt and Montana are the curators of "Lines of Resolution: Drawing at the Advent of Television and Video" at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston. The exhibition examines the intersection of drawing, television, and video from the late 1950s into the 1980s. "Lines of Resolution" features the work of 25 artists, including Nam June Paik, Howardena Pindell, Sigmar Polke, and Joan Jonas. It is on view through February 8, 2026. A fascinating catalogue was published by the Menil. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $35-40. In addition to the works shown below, works discussed on the program include: Ulrike Rosenbach, Bonnet Drawing, 1972. Catherine Elwes, Two Drawings on Glass, 1978. Along with representatives from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's curatorial and learning teams, Helguera is the co-curator of "Collection in Conversation with Pablo Helguera," which is at the MCA through July 5, 2026. The exhibition is the product of questions that Helguera, a New York-based artist and educator, posed to a group of 20 Chicago artists, writers, activists, and educators in the fall of 2024. It's on view through July 5, 2026. In addition to the works shown below, works discussed on the program include: Susan Philipsz, We Shall Be All, 2011.  Public Collectors, QUARANZINE: A printed space for work produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020.  Instagram: Pablo Helguera, Tyler Green.

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• Holiday clips: Andrea Carlson

  Episode No. 727 is a holiday weekend clips episode featuring artist Andrea Carlson. The Denver Art Museum just opened "Andrea Carlson: A Constant Sky," a mid-career survey. The exhibition spotlights how Carlson, who is Ojibwe and of European settler descent, creates works that challenge the colonial narratives presented by modern artists, museum collections, and cannibal genre horror films, all in ways that challenge and depart from the US landscape tradition. The exhibition was curated by Dakota Hoska, and will remain on view through February 16, 2026. The exhibition catalogue was published by Scala, Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $30-35. Museums that have featured solo exhibitions of Carlson's work include the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, New York, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her work is in the collection of museums such as the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Denver Art Museum. She is also the co-founder of the Center for Native Futures in Chicago. This program was taped on the occasion of Carlson's 2024 solo exhibition at the MCA Chicago. For images, please see Episode No. 677. Instagram: Andrea Carlson, Tyler Green.

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