About Art

Shigeru Ban is a Pritzker Prize winning architect and humanitarian. Ban has developed a unique style known for its blend of traditional Japanese architecture with elements of American Modernism. One of Ban's notable achievements is his pioneering work in using recycled materials, particularly paper tubes, as building components. He believes that architecture should serve the needs of society, especially in times of crisis. Notable projects include the Paper Dome in Japan, which provided temporary housing after an earthquake, the Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand, Centre Pompidou-Metz in France, the Japan Pavilion Expo 2000 in Germany, and the Aspen Art Museum. Ban’s architectural practice showcases a harmonious blend of functionality, aesthetics, and environmental consciousness.Ban and Zuckerman discuss humanitarian architecture, using wood, escaping from the influences of our teachers, inside and outside, experience sequencing, looking for problems to solve by design, form finding, not being about style, and humbleness!

Sumayya Vally is the founder and principal of Counterspace, a Johannesburg-based architecture and research studio. Counterspace is committed to developing a design language that acknowledges and resonates with the African continent. In 2019, Counterspace was invited to design the 20th Serpentine Pavilion in London, making Vally the youngest architect ever to win this internationally renowned commission. She recently curated the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. Vally is currently collaborating on the design of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development in Monrovia, Liberia, the first presidential library dedicated to a female head of state, where she will oversee the scenography, pavilions, and exhibition spaces. She and Zuckerman spoke about imagination, fear of design, metaphors of healing, dialogue with place, the first Islamic Arts Biennale, having a life in a city, ingredients of gathering, architecture of ritual, dynamic restoration, everyone is welcome, beauty, gathering and belonging, and having a practice of hope and optimism!

Pritzker Prize-winning American architect and educator Thom Mayne is the founder of Morphosis, an innovative architecture, urbanism, and design collective. Named after the Greek term for ‘to form or be in formation’ – Morphosis has gained recognition for its sustainable designs. Notable projects include the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Emerson College in Los Angeles, New York’s Cooper Union building, and the Orange County Museum of Art. Alongside his architectural practice, Mayne has been actively involved in education and academia, as he played a pivotal role in establishing the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He and Zuckerman spoke about how LA is a midwestern city, the museum as a cultured event, community making, formed architecture, American architects, having a voice, being what you are instead of what you do, license to dream, authentically seeing yourself, being a humanist, and the profound and enduring power of artistic activity!

Sarah Cain, known for playful, abstract paintings and installations, redefines abstraction in feminist terms. Topics include personal relationships with the past, site-specific projects, how color is a tool, engaging with art, lineage of abstract painters, and finding awe in daily life!

Artist Narsiso Martinez details the vital, but often unseen, labor carried out by farmworkers in the United States in his mixed media installations, predominantly using discarded cardboard produce boxes. His work resonates with the spirit of social realism from the 1930s – drawing from his personal experiences as a former farmworker.  In 2023, Martinez was honored with the prestigious Frieze Impact prize for his exploration of the immigrant experience within the agriculture industry. He and Zuckerman spoke about how art saved his life, giving voice to unrepresented communities, freedom and responsibility, reducing fear, giving back, being a hero, and having tomorrow!

Allison Berg, Founder and Executive Director of the A&L Berg Foundation, is a lawyer turned arts and culture writer, philanthropist, museum trustee, art collector,  producer  and more. Her work is informed by the desire to ensure everyone has access to equity in career pathways along with inclusive platforms for their narratives. Allison is LALA Magazine’s former executive editor and has contributed to Design LA, Hamptons, Gotham, Cultured and C magazines. She was a Producer of “The Art of Making It” documentary and is a Trustee with the Boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA,) American Friends of the Israel Museum (AFIM), The Mistake Room (TMR) and The Los Angeles Football Club Foundation. She and Zuckerman discuss getting to know art over time, being present, securing equity for under represented populations, why she serves as a museum trustee, making art accessible, connecting art and athletes, and how art creates understanding!

Simphiwe Ndzube stitches together a subjective account of the Black experience in past and present-day South Africa from a mythological perspective creating universes with his sculptures, paintings, and assemblages. Living and working between Los Angeles and Cape Town, South Africa, Ndzube’s work was recently on view in the California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art/OCMA.  He and Zuckerman discuss the hero’s journey, magical realism,  mothers, play, love, community, opportunity, and apartheid. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at OCMA and includes some of their questions at the end of the episode.

Catherine Opie is an American photographer known for her portraits and landscapes that explore the complexities of contemporary life. Opie documents how individuals interact with the spaces they inhabit, expanding the dialogue on community, identity, and the marginalized subcultures of America. She was a recipient of The Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, and The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Medal in 2016. Opie holds the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Art at UCLA where she is a professor of photography.She and Zuckerman discuss mapping humanity, writing in your head, the pain of losing a family, the healing that comes with motherhood, vastness, our intelligence as a species, the crisis of humanity, what makes a successful board experience, what it takes to be a good citizen, meditation within art practice, and how art is a the language of our culture!

Robert King “Bob” Wittman is a highly decorated former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who was assigned to the Philadelphia Field Division from 1988 to 2008. Having trained in art, antiques, jewelry and gem identification, Wittman served as the FBI's "top investigator and coordinator in cases involving art theft and art fraud". During his 20 years with the FBI, Wittman helped recover more than $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property, resulting in the prosecution and conviction of numerous individuals. In 2005, he was instrumental in the creation of the FBI's rapid deployment Art Crime Team (ACT). He also was instrumental in the recovery of colonial North Carolina's copy of the original Bill of Rights in 2005, that had been stolen by a Union soldier in 1865. Wittman represented the United States around the world, conducting investigations and instructing international police and museums in recovery and security techniques. After 20 years with the FBI working against art theft, he worked as an art security consultant for the private sector. In 2010, Wittman published his memoir Priceless which recounts his career and activities while working for the FBI as an undercover agent. He and Zuckerman spoke about what he thought would be fun about joining the FBI, fake Basquiats, being scared, provenance and good title, the Dr. No theory, 89% of museum theft being an inside job, protecting cultural property, doing deals in the art market, and why museums and monuments get destroyed!

Mónica Manzutto and José Kuri founded the gallery that united their surnames in Mexico City in 1999, and soon became an international reference for Latin America and to the world: kurimanzutto. The gallery helped plant the seeds of Mexico City’s thriving art scene. Recently the husband-and-wife couple expanded their North American presence to a 622 sqm New York gallery that their artists helped design.We spoke about how they met, the Fridays workshop, Gabriel Orozco’s role in their founding the gallery, the original “rules” they set for the gallery, blurring the line between local and international, building artists’ careers, opening in a different era, staying close to artists, and the perspective that kids bring!