The Lonely Palette

Like so many of us, Dr. Rachel Saunders had a tough 2020. As the curator of Asian art at the Harvard Art Museums, she was thrilled to co-curate, with professor Yukio Lippit, the exhibition "Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection," the largest single exhibition the museum had ever mounted. And then, a month after its opening, it was shuttered by Covid, and remained closed until the entire exhibition came down early last month. But what could have been a bitter disappointment actually became exceptionally educational - perhaps par for the course at a prestigious university art museum, but with far-reaching implications for museums everywhere. Because when we talk about accessibility - and inaccessibility - in this context, we start to think about it in every context. How accessible are museums, ever? How authentically cross-cultural are our conversations? How do art historians wrestle with and decide on narratives? And how do we honor the multiplicity of these objects' histories while s

The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore the American city in the same way that art history has been looking at landscape since time immemorial: what it represents, what stories it tells us about ourselves, what stories it leaves out, what it replaces, and how its relationship to the human figure is as fraught and dramatic as any relationship you'll ever find on a canvas. Artists Explored: Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Robert Frank, Berenice Abbott, Charles Sheeler, Martin Wong See the Images: bit.ly/34AE9Xw Music Used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “The Zeppelin,” “Towboat Theme,” “Cat’s Eye,” “PlainGrey,” “Dorica Theme,” “Tranceless” Further Listening: The Lonely Palette on Edward Hopper: https://bit.ly/3wyqg8Y Support the Show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The world is reopening just as Harvard's special exhibition "Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection" is permanently closing, having been open to the public for one heartbreakingly short month. But the exhibition, which documented the Edo period in all its diverse, aesthetic richness, doesn't have to be in front of you to describe its uncannily Buddhist and modernist moment, or to share in the strange lightness of ours. This episode was produced with support from Harvard Art Museums. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2021/6/5/episode-53-painting-edo-post-pandemic Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “Noe Noe,” “A Certain Lightness,” “Algea Trio,” “Kilkerrin,” “Gullwing Sailor,” “Two Dollar Token,” “Silent Flock” Billie Holiday, “Blue Moon” Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore the figure, which, in art history, is almost exclusively the object of the gaze. But what does it mean when the body – that is, the multi-dimensional person who inhabits it – steps behind the lens as well to take back control? Artists Explored: Lalla Essaydi, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Sally Mann, Dawoud Bey See the Images: https://bit.ly/34AE9Xw Music Used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “The Zeppelin,” “Dirty Wallpaper,” “Polycoat,” “Pastel de Nata,” “Turning to You,” “The Consulate” Further Listening: The Lonely Palette on Mary Cassatt: https://bit.ly/3uFM9Bj Support the Show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore abstraction, i.e. the one guaranteed way to alienate your visitor. Or...maybe not? Maybe, when it comes to art without a fixed meaning, our presence is requested, and even required? Artists Explored: Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock, Mark Bradford, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd See the Images: https://addison.andover.edu/AboutUs/Pages/Podcast.aspx Music Used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “The Zeppelin,” “Pinky,” “Flattered,” “A Little Powder,” “Arizona Moon,” “Daymaze,” “The Summit,” Jason Leonard, “Ritual Six” Further Listening: The Lonely Palette on Jackson Pollock: https://bit.ly/3eUQdsE The Lonely Palette on Jasper Johns: https://bit.ly/3hDFq82 Support the Show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

In honor of the Addison Gallery of American Art's 90th anniversary, we've teamed up to release a three-part podcast series! We'll be taking a thematic view of their diverse and world class collection, exploring abstraction, the figure, and the urban sublime. New episodes will be released on The Lonely Palette feed every two weeks beginning Tuesday, May 18th. For more information on the exhibition, visit: https://addison.andover.edu/Exhibitions/90/Pages/default.aspx. Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Waterbourne"

In honor of Earth Day 2021, we're re-releasing our episode on quintessential dorm room photographer Ansel Adams, and re-exploring how his own travels around, and documentation of, this complicated, contradictory, beautiful country inspired him to want to preserve it - from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam - in the most exquisite way possible. Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Vibrant Canopy”, “Bridgewalker”, “The Yards”, “Silver Lanyard”, “Velvet Ladder” Tamar Avishai, “Michigan” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" See the images: https://bit.ly/2znbBEL Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson is understandably inspired by the natural elements. But what we might not necessarily glean at first glance - of, say, a gallery pumped full of precipitation, or a simple spinning spiral - is that these elements can inspire us to change the world. Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Daymaze,” “Plate Glass,” “Discovery Harbor,” “Wahre,” “Checkered Blue,” “Quarry Clouds,” “Enter the Room” See the images: https://bit.ly/3sJUXWu Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

In honor of International Women's Day, we're re-releasing our love letter to the inimitable Yoko Ono, who once fell for a musician and has become inextricably - and involuntarily - linked with his band's undoing. But she made some truly exceptional art, both in the years since and particularly the years before she met him. And that art is, ironically, an exploration of all the messy, complex power dynamics of a woman giving up control. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/3/29/episode-28-yoko-onos-cut-piece-1964 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Plaster Combo", "Valantis", "Strange Dog Walk", "Hundred Mile", "Down at the Bank"" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The pandemic, motherhood, and me. See the images: http://bit.ly/3uaWHta Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “La Inglesa,” “Eggs and Powder,” “Paper Feather,” “Arizona Moon,” ”Lowball,” “Palladian,” “Simple Vale” Joe Dassin's “Les Champs-Elysees" via music box, ft. Calvin giggles Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, and to commemorate a year saturated in grief, we're re-releasing our deeply personal episode on Henryk Ross's photographs of the Lodz Ghetto. We should all be so moved to explore the beauty of individual stories of the lives lived that get swept away in statistics and tribalism. And perhaps we should allow ourselves to feel their loss all the more by doing so. Memory Unearthed: Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto was on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from March to July, 2017. See the images: www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/201…-lodz-ghetto Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Doghouse", "Drone Pine", "Drone Birch", "3rd Chair", "Our Fingers Cold" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

You’ve seen the work of 84-year-old Welsh artist and illustrator Ralph Steadman, even if you haven’t realized it. His searing political caricature and trademark flying ink spatter have illustrated major works of literature and journalism for the past half-century – and most notably the hallucinogenic writing of Hunter S. Thompson, resulting in an alchemic collaboration that wove together journalism and illustration to create what history has described as Gonzo, and what Steadman calls the meeting between an ex-Hell’s Angel with a shaved head and a matted-haired geek with string warts. We spoke in advance of his new retrospective, “Ralph Steadman: A Life in Ink,” and talked about this storied, ink-stained career: what it means to illustrate depravity, how a caricature can capture both body and soul, and where to look for the ever-present birdsong that undergirds our current doom. [2:18]: Love of Picasso and Duchamp. [3:11]: Where do you start with caricature, the body or the soul? [5:40]: Drawing with a pen

To appreciate art history is to appreciate that there is a canon: it is constructed by art historians, it guides what is taught, bought, and collected by art museums, it can’t allow people in without keeping other people out. Let's take advantage of this milestone episode (50!!) to explore both this canon and our current moment through the extraordinarily nuanced, compassionate, and revolutionary eye of Carrie Mae Weems. See the images: https://bit.ly/3omDroO Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Jumbel,” “Turning to You,” “Pastel de Nata,” “Junca,” “Min,” “Basketliner” Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Guerrilla Girls, the self-professed "Conscience of the Art World," are a band of feminist activist artists, who have been wearing gorilla masks in public and using facts, humor, and outrageous visuals to expose gender bias, ethnic bias, and corruption in the art world since the mid-1980s. Join Tamar for a conversation with two of their founding members. [2:29]: Introductions. [3:41] Why choose these artists as your pseudonyms? [5:37]: The origin story of the Guerrilla Girls (and their font!). [8:17]: How has the group changed and evolved, both internally and in terms of its mission? Has progress been made? [15:49]: The joys and pitfalls of all-women shows. Is “woman artist” a problematic phrase? [23:18]: Is there something that innately connects women artists? [27:43]: Reflecting on our inflamed current moment, and whether things are indeed getting better. [34:33]: How do we get people excited about artists they’re not familiar with, and who fall outside the established canon? [38:16]: How to reach ou

Somewhere between the life of the mind and the boots on the ground sits Pop artist Claes Oldenburg, who wants us to see that both of those worlds are one and the same, and that there's value, and even beauty, to our joy-sparking stuff (and maybe we can finally let ourselves admit it.) See the images: https://bit.ly/3hcHjVq Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Cradle Rock,” “Sylvestor,” “A Little Powder,” “Our Only Lark,” “Town Market,” “Contrarian,” “The Rampart” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Episode sponsor: https://sfosguide.com/ Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The art of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer and the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan have a lot in common. They’re both layered, dense, hard to read, and most of the time you’re not quite sure if you get it. And while this might seem like an onerous way to understand history, sometimes the best starting point is through the layered, dense, and idiosyncratic ways that an individual processes trauma. So grab a spelunking hardhat and together we'll mine these layers of metaphor and materials, texture and text, golden straw and blackened ash, that comprise the unimaginable. This episode was produced with support from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Learn more at www.sfmoma.com. See the images: https://bit.ly/31gUSwW Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “The Bus at Dawn,” “Silky,” Drone Pine,” “Tiny Bottles,” “Inamorata,” “Tapoco,” “The Summit,” “Cirrus,” “Derailed,” “Insatiable Toad,” “Dolly and Pad,” “A Pleasant Strike” John Williams, performed by Itzhak Perlman & Pittsburgh Symphony Orch

In honor of Juneteenth, we're re-releasing the audio of a live event from January 2018 at the PRX Podcast Garage, titled "Keepers of the Culture: A Celebration Of Maduna And Holmes." The evening was a celebration of two award-winning artists, collaborators, and friends, whose work was on display at the garage's exhibition space. Their sculptures, masks, and collage-based works are an exploration of ancestral voices, family histories, and the power of hope, faith and self-determination. The evening was divided into two parts: a conversation between Ekua and Tamar, which included audio produced around Ekua's collage, "All Fly Home," and an exploration of interpretation and storytelling - as applicable to art as it is to podcasting. The second part was a powerful lecture by art historian Barry Gaither, on Vuzi's work, Ekua's work, and the myriad roles artists and viewers have the joy and the responsibility of playing for and with one another. Ekua Holmes is a painter and collage artist who uses news clippi

I'm thrilled to share the teaser for the upcoming season of Raw Material from SFMOMA, which I have the privilege of guest hosting. The season is a curated "mixtape" of art and art-adjacence podcasts (including episodes from 99% Invisible, Everything Is Alive, Recording Artists, and others, including a bonus new episode of The Lonely Palette), all of which explore the idea of The Beholder's Share: why an audience is so necessary for an artwork to become its most fully-realized self. This is an urgent-enough question on its own, but during a pandemic, when museums are closed, it becomes vital. So let's bring these objects to life together - not in person, but through our headphones. The series drops on June 8th. Subscribe to Raw Material wherever you get your podcasts. SFMOMA's Raw Material: https://www.sfmoma.org/raw-material/ Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Dirty Wallpaper"

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: Trying to capture time in art is like trying to pin a wave upon the sand or hold a moonbeam in your hand. So leave it to Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto to do it so effectively by taking us to the Golden Age of Cinema. The exhibition "Seeking Stillness" was view at the MFA from September 24, 2017 to September 3, 2018. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/7/5/episode-31-hiroshi-sugimotos-byrd-theater-richmond-1993-1993 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Cash Cow", "Aourourou", "A Little Powder", "Delicious", "Astrisx", "Bliste" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" S

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: You've just had a manic break, cut off a piece of your ear, and gifted it to a prostitute. Who ya gonna call? Your get-a-grip postman friend, of course! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/27/episode-16-vincent-van-goghs-postman-joseph-roulin-1888 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Step In Step Out", "Scratcher", "Over the Fence", "Scalloped", "On Belay" Lee Rosevere, "Curiosity" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette