Sound and Vision

Kumasi J. Barnett received his MFA from The Ohio State University, and now lives and works in Baltimore, MD. Influenced by the aesthetics and narratives of comic books, his work subverts and imbues the often timeless genre with a present day social consciousness. Barnett frequently paints directly over old copies of comic books, changing their narratives into critiques of police brutality, racial profiling, and more broadly, systemic racism.Barnett’s works have been exhibited widely both in the United States and abroad, including exhibitions at Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; the SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY; City Lore, New York, NY; Con-Artist Collective, New York, NY; The Arsenal Gallery, New York, NY; Sulphur Bath Studio, Brooklyn, NY; and The Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY. Museum exhibitions include the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa; The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; and most recently the Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA. Barnett presented a solo booth with Lowell Ryan Projects at The Armory Show 2020, in the Focus section curated by Jamillah James. Barnett’s work has been featured in Artforum, Ammo, Vibe, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, Autre, Artnet News, and The Guardian, among others.

Ariel Dill is a painter born in Los Angeles, California who received an MFA from Hunter College, New York, NY in 2006, and a BA from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY in 1998. She lives and works in Los Angeles.   Her solo exhibitions include, Four O’clocks at Ladies’ Room in Los Angeles, Cosmic Springs at Turn Gallery, NY, Oscillations at Southfirst Gallery in Brooklyn. Group exhibitions include, TEN SENTENCES at Turn Gallery in New York, NY, Safe Gallery in Brooklyn, Loyal Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, Edward Thorp Gallery in New York, NY, Jack Hanley Galleryin New York, NY, Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, NY (2013), Nicole Klagsbrun in NY Alderman Exhibitions in Chicago, IL (2012) and Southfirst Gallery in Brooklyn. Her work has been reviewed in publications including, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, The New York Observer, and Modern Painters. She has been awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship and is included in the Alex Katz Foundation Collection. Buy the S&V Book "WHY I MAKE ART" here: https://atelier-editions.com/products/why-i-make-art

Evan Mast is a musician and visual artist based out of Brooklyn. He records his own music under the name E*vax and is one half of the band RATATAT. Youre hearing his music as we speak. After studying art at Skidmore college, Evan released a solo album as E*vax. He then went on to release five records with RATATAT. He returned with an eponimous release in 2021 in which he made videos for each track. He has produced music for many musicians including Despot, Kid Cudi, Jay Z and Kanye. He recieved a Grammy for his production on Kanye’s Donda record. Evan’s current show at Brackett Creek Exhibitions is up in NYC until July 16th. The show features two prints and a new video work based on his travels in Pakistan.

Marina Kappos received an MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 1997 and a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1995. She lives and works in NYC. Her solo exhibitions include "You You You" at SHRINE in NYC (2022), “Transfigured" at Foyer/LA in Los Angeles (2020),  “Peep Show” at China Art Objects in Los Angeles (2011) and “Marina Kappos” at Tokyo Wonder Site, Institute of Contemporary Art (2007). Group exhibitions include "Resonant Frequencies" at Jonathan Levine Projects. NJ (2021), "Show Me The Signs" at Blum & Poe, CA (2020) and "Animal Crossing" at Inman Gallery, TX (2020). Catalogues were published for her 2007 exhibition at Tokyo Wonder Site, Institute for Contemporary Art, and also for her two solo exhibitions at I-20 gallery in NY in 2002 and 1998. Kappos has been reviewed in publications including artforum.com, Time Out New York, The Japan Times, and Flash Art. In the winter of 2020, she participated in the artist residency program at Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island. She also attended the Tokyo Wonder Site Creator-In-Residence program twice, first in 2007, and then again in 2013, where she spent several months painting and living in Tokyo. She also has a show titled "Sun Up Sun Down" at Lighthouse Works through July 16th and a group show at Nathalie Karg gallery opening June 28th titled "Painting As Is II" curated by Heidi Hahn and Tim Wilson. Order the S&V book: http://atelier-editions.com/store/why-i-make-art $25 full of inspiration

Spencer Tunick has been documenting the live nude figure in public, with photography and video, since 1992. Since 1994, he has organized over 100 temporary site-related installations that encompass dozens, hundreds or thousands of volunteers, and his photographs are records of these events. In his early group works, the individuals en masse, without their clothing, grouped together, metamorphose into a new shape. The bodies extend into and upon the landscape like a substance. These group masses, which do not underscore sexuality, often become abstractions that challenge or reconfigure one's views of nudity and privacy. The work also refers to the complex issue of presenting art in permanent or temporary public spaces. Spencer stages scenes in which the battle of nature against culture is played out against various backdrops, from civic center to desert sandstorm. In 2002 he started to work with standing positions for his group formations referencing traditional group portraiture. Now, for some installations, he adds objects that the participants are often holding or wearing and has included body paint. Spencer has and continues to make group installations/photographs elevating awareness of HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ rights, equality and climate change, among other issues. Near the end of installations, for the final setups, he sometimes separates the participants into smaller groups to make additional assemblages: sometimes by sex, sometimes by age, or even by hair color. However, no one is ever excluded from an installation because of the color of their skin, ethnicity, gender identity, sex, race, religion, or political affiliation. If you can make it to an installation you can participate, unless of course there are space limitations. Spencer could not make his art without the generosity of the participants. He is eternally grateful for their participation. He wishes he could credit everyone in his individual and group photographs but there are hundreds and thousands who have taken part collectively. In exchange for taking part, participants receive a limited edition print. Spencer's temporary site-specific photographic installations have been commissioned by the XXV Biennial de Sao Paulo, Brazil (2002); Institut Cultura, Barcelona (2003); The Saatchi Gallery (2003); MOCA Cleveland (2004); Vienna Kunsthalle (2008) and MAMBO Museum of Modern Art, Bogota (2016), among others.

Visual artist Alex Dodge lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and Tokyo, Japan. His studio practice has consistently explored the promise of technology as it intersects with and shapes human experience. His work is deftly located between new media and traditional fine art disciplines including painting, printmaking, and sculpture. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. He holds degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Painting) and New York University, Interactive Telecommunication Program (MPS). I spoke to Alex about early days in his noise band, figuring out how to make paintings, working in a gallery, going back to school and much more. Why I Make Art. the book based on the Sound & Vision podcast is now available. Many thanks to all those who have preordered the book. It’s 336 pages filled with quotes by the many artists on this podcast, words of wisdom, features on 30 artists, some of the guest book artist sketches, color images of the work an introduction by Hrishikesh Hirway of the Song Exploder podcast. It’s out on Atelier Editions, distributed by Artbook DAP and available on their websites as well as Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble and other p[laces you can get books. It’s 25 dollars and in my opinion well worth it. Order a copy today. You can find it at atelier-editions.com or artbook.com.

Laura Krifka is an artist born 1985 in Los Angeles, CA. She lives and works in San Luis Obispo, CA. Krifka received her MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2010 and her BFA from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo in 2008, following earlier studies at Newbold College in England and Avondale College in Australia. Laura has exhibited her work at venues throughout Southern California including the Torrance Museum of Art, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, LA Louver, CB1 Gallery, and Beacon Arts in Inglewood, as well as at Zroboli Gallery in Chicago, BravinLee Programs in New York, and Vast Space Projects in Las Vegas. Laura’s work has been featured in various publications including Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Santa Barbara News-Press, New American Paintings, and Artillery Magazine and her work can be found in the collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara; the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, and the Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH.  Order WHY I MAKE ART the podcast book here: http://atelier-editions.com/store/why-i-make-art

Eric Yahnker is an artist based out of California. After studying journalism at USC, Eric Yahnker went on to the CalArts where he received his BFA in animation. He then worked on animation for TV, including Seinfeld, South Park, and MADtv, before switching to a career in the contemporary art world. Since 2008, Yahnker has had solo exhibitions at The Hole in New York, Ambach & Rice and Zevitas Marcus in Los Angeles, Paradise Row in London, and Jeanroch Dard in Paris. Recent group exhibitions include Brand New Gallery in Milan, M+B in Los Angeles, the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, TX and Galerie Ampersand in Cologne. His first museum solo exhibition The Long Goodbye took place at CAM Raleigh in North Carolina in 2017. His work has been covered in Juxtapoz, The New York Times, the LA Times, i-D, It’s Nice That, Hyperallergic, W and many more outlets.

Annie Lapin is an artist born in Washington, D.C. who received her MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007, her Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004, and her BA from Yale University in 2001. Annie lives and works in Los Angeles. Her recent solo exhibitions include Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles,  Miles McEnery Gallery, New York; Honor Fraser, Los Angeles; Josh Lilley, London;  Annarumma Gallery, Naples; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Yautepec Gallery, Mexico City; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara.   Annie’s work is included in the permanent collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; and the Zabludowicz Collection, London. https://www.artbook.com/9781733622097.html Preorder the podcast book! Why I Make Art: Contemporary Artists' Stories About Life & Work From the Sound & Vision Podcast by Brian Alfred Introduction and interviews by Brian Alfred. Foreword by Hrishikesh Hirway.

Tim Kinsella released albums & toured internationally at a steady clip for 25 years, his most well-known bands being Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz & Owls. He is the author of four books & the subject of the 2017 Vice / Noisey feature documentary Your War (I'm One of You). More recently, he played a lead role in the award-winning feature film Firstness (2021). Collaborating with his wife Jenny Pulse since 2018, the duo released two albums & toured as Good Fuck, making a practice of writing & recording in remote locations far from their Chicago home. The first releases to come out under their own names are the forthcoming Gimme Altamont EP & the album Giddy Skelter.