DEEP COLOR is an oral history project and podcast that features long-form conversations with artists and art professionals as they discuss their work, ideas and lives--offering listeners a unique understanding about the process, experiences and people behind the artwork. DEEP COLOR is independently produced by Joseph Hart.
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Lamar Peterson makes paintings and drawings that prioritize people relaxing and gardening in bucolic outdoor settings. Lamar talks about inheriting his father’s oil painting set, cartoons and coloring books as important early artistic inputs, Mr. T and Black masculinity, gardens as safe and utopic spaces, using a collection of image references and family photos to create the proxy figures in his…
Tanya Marcuse makes photographs that capture the imperiled natural world—images like craggy trees changing through the seasons, luscious and rotted fruit covered in a winter frost, or an animal spine draped through misty woods. Tanya talks about her artistic trajectory circling back to her childhood, how her photography leans into the realm of painting, foraging through nature for content, Dante’s…
Madeline Donahue makes illustrative drawings, paintings, ceramics, and editioned prints that often depict the female body through different periods of physical and biological change, like pregnancy and aging alongside scenes of motherhood, and the overlapping dynamics of being a parent, caregiver, and an artist. Madeline talks about formative childhood bike rides, mothers as being invisible to…
Timothy Hull makes drawings and paintings that combine antiquities and artifacts like vases, Greek and Roman figurative sculpture, ancient architecture, and fragments of broken pottery—with contemporary imagery like Swatch watch faces, pop design, and geometric shapes. Tim talks about being kicked out of art classes, being an artist as a holistic outlook, collapsing time as a conceptual device,…
Catherine Haggarty is an educator and artist that makes paintings and drawings that often feature wood grains, objects that look like toys or seashells, and mysterious tableaus of folded paper, tiles, and gestural linework. She is the co-founder of the NYC Crit Club and founder of The Canopy Program —both of which are low-cost educational programs that offer community, connection, and critique to…
Christopher Robin Duncan makes sculpture, ambient sound-based work, and exposure paintings that rely on factory dyed fabrics faded by the power of the sun. Chris talks about how punk and hardcore music shaped his worldview, his belief system and visual language as equivalent, celestial cycles as a tool in his process, making rules only to break them and learning how to get out of his own way, time…
Deep Color (the exhibition) opened at Halsey McKay Gallery on May 24 and will be on view through June 30th, 2025. The exhibit features drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, editioned prints, and photography by over 60 Deep Color alumni artists. In this special episode, artist and HMG founder/owner, Ryan Wallace , t alks with ar tist and Deep Color host Joseph Hart ab out how the show blossomed…
Tony Lewis makes drawings using a range of materials and methods that are centered around mark-making and language. Tony talks about athletics, psychology, and art history as frameworks for his world view, drawing as a type of behavior, Calvin & Hobbes comics as a muse, how drawing exists outside of the “art world”, expanding his practice into site-specific installations, not being able to hide or…
Sean Sullivan makes paintings and drawings that hum and weave through abstraction, representation, and systems of visual organization. He is also the co-owner of R&F Paints—an artist owned company that manufactures handmade oil and encaustic paints for artists. Sean talks about how music and poetry served as gateways into visual art, the farmer and the fisherman as a type of ethos, using…
Sara Maria Salamone is a photographer and co-founder of Mrs. Gallery--a contemporary art gallery located in Maspeth, Queens. Sara talks about the gallery ‘s history and roots as a beer and dance hall, the series of professional experiences that lead to opening her own gallery, the curatorial vision that informs Mrs.’s programming, how she scouts and finds artists, expectations within the…
Jordan Nassar makes elaborate and intricate embroideries alongside impressive wood-inlay works, tile mosaics, and expansive installations, all inspired by the examination of his Palestinian American identity, diaspora and cultural participation. Jordan talks about the clunkiness of language, wanting viewers to feel just as much energy from his work as he puts into it, the exchanges between…
Samuel Levi Jones is a multidisciplinary artist that utilizes law books, history books, medical books, and sometimes flags, as materials to create abstract assemblages that critique ideas around history and systems of power and control. Sam talks about the relationship between deconstruction and repair, how artistic growth can lead to authenticity, books as gestures, abstraction as a vehicle for…
Daniel Gibson makes oil paintings that depict desert landscapes full of flowers and butterflies, plant life, and big open skies. Some works also include figures hiding within the flora or in shamanic poses. Danny talks about deserts and horizon lines, little brother drawing magic, being locked into a painting and chasing the next image, memories and visceral emotional responses in painting, beauty…
Kennedy Yanko makes abstract three-dimensional work that combines large twisted and crunched metal forms scavenged from scrap yards and thick sheets of malleable acrylic paint that she refers to as “skins”. Kennedy talks about allowing herself and her work to develop and change over time, paint as a sculptural material, looking for the “ugly”, her sculptures having their own ideology, the…
Jesse Wine makes ceramic sculptures that combine body parts like arms, legs, hands, and feet, along with abstract shapes that are deflated, pulled, and stacked. Jesse talks about making sculptures that are self-aware, the expressiveness in our hands, empathy as a gesture, being illusionistic with his surfaces, knowing when to destroy a sculpture, peacefulness as an important ingredient in his…
Celia Pym makes textile-based artwork by repairing items like tattered sweaters, worn out socks, or torn paper pastry bags. Celia talks about the exchanges between making functional and non-functional art objects, finding pleasure in the tactility of her materials, different types of art transactions and preferring to return work to their original owners, damage and repair as driving concepts, how…
Alvaro Barrington makes mixed-media paintings that underscore a reverence for art history and hip-hop culture, craft and handwork, and how and where his own lived experience weaves into the work he is making. Alvaro talks about self-evaluation and how one can be a great painter but a bad artist, innovation and social impact as barometers for successful art, stealing from other artists, paintings…
Matt Rich makes paintings, drawings, sculpture, and installations that center themselves around form and shape, color relationships, and different systems for mark making. Matt talks about time as a resource and the safety of a studio space, the importance of procedure in his practice, colliding intentional and accidental gestures, wanting his work to be unpretentious and light, the influences of…
Andrew Schoultz makes drawings, paintings, prints, installations, and large-scale murals that reference how history and turmoil follow patterns, and how power dynamics, spirituality, and environment can shape our experience of the world. Andrew talks about comic books and graffiti as early influences, obsessive compulsiveness as a creative asset, handwork and the beauty of imperfection, the…
Ashley Bickerton makes sculpture, assemblages and painting-like objects that reference the grotesqueness of commodification and consumerism. Ashley talks about how a work of art can hold contrasting meanings, avoiding typecasting and being fluid with his artistic language, pacing an art career and gallery relationships as business arrangements—not friendships, operating on the edge of the…
Spencer Lewis makes abstract paintings that are an explosion of mark-making, smears, caked up textures, and tangles of color. Spencer talks about using raw and low-pressure materials, being spastic and aggressive with his first set of gestures, the exchanges between art and sports, working intuitively and “no move” painting, artists as opportunists, pictorial organization and disorganization,…
Leslie Diuguid is a printmaker and the founder, owner and operator of DuGood Press—the first and only Black Female owned fine-art screen printing business in New York City. Leslie talks about how her family’s history is embedded into her work and outlook, pivoting from printing business cards and apparel to fine-art editions, amplifying an artist’s voice and ideas through printmaking, the process…
Jim Drain is a multi-disciplinary artist that makes other-worldly sculpture, furniture, and installation-based works. He is also one of the original founders of Fort Thunder--the influential live/work/performance space in Providence, Rhode Island during the 90’s, and a member of Forcefield—the celebrated noise band and artist collective. Jim talks about the stories that can surround a work of art,…
Rodrigo Valenzuela makes photographs, video and installation-based works that consider the value of labor, the language of modernist architecture, and the inefficiency of bureaucracy. Rodrigo talks about how ideas are born out of his process and making, poetic formalism as a layer in his work, getting out of his own way and second guessing as a healthy thought exercise, reading as a key part of…
Phil Sanders is a master printer, educator, author and artist, and is the founder and director of PS Marlow —a fine art publisher and creative services consultancy based in Asheville, North Carolina. Phil has worked with celebrated artists like Elizabeth Murray, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler and Chakaia Booker among many others. Phil talks about his new book Prints and Their Makers, learning…
Nikita Gale makes sculpture and installation-based work that explores the exchanges and barriers between audience and performer. Nikita talks about how artwork can influence group behavior, protest and dissent as performance, research as a way to pull out ideas, noise and silence as social and political positions, the similarities between studio visits and dating, maintenance and mind-body…
Curtis Talwst Santiago is a multi-disciplinary artist that makes sculpture, drawings and paintings, performance and video. Curtis talks about pivoting from music to visual art, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, his recent show Can’t I Alter at The Drawing Center in New York, genetic trauma and ancestry as concepts, intuition as an important tool, the complexities of Kanye West, honesty during…
Susan Bee makes energetic oil paintings that feature a mix of female figures in fantastical landscapes, art historical references, geometric abstraction and pictorial invention—all serving as iconic flashpoints for current social and personal struggles. Susan talks about symbolism and being inspired by romance and poetry, inserting herself into someone else’s narrative, how images can represent…
Libby Rothfeld makes conceptually driven sculpture that combines found objects, photography and drawing, and built wood structures that are often covered with banal hardware store tiles and kitchen counter laminate. Libby talks about the varied ingredients in her studio practice, subdued and faded color palettes as suggestions of time, an interest in the peripheral of our world, formality as…
Graham Collins makes sculpture and paintings that often combine complex structures, minimalism and material exploration. Graham talks about his approach to making and how different bodies of work connect and disconnect, thriving off of deadlines, being skeptical of art as a healthy exercise, allowing for fun in studio, small versus big galleries, green smoothies as placebo, how feelings aren’t…
Joshua Abelow makes abstract paintings that feature a mix of geometric patterns, angular bursts, and stick figures that awkwardly vibrate up and through the picture plane. Josh talks about balancing broadness and specificity in his work, his writing and the futility of artist statements, his curatorial project and exhibition space “Freddy”, the value of maintaining a routine, and the similarities…
Erin M. Riley is a fiber-based artist that makes large scale, hand woven tapestries that depict still lives of forlorn objects, scenes of intimacy and self-portraiture. Erin talks about women expressing masculinity through art, selfies as a form of existence, her source material, ritual and the physicality of process, code words as privacy, slowing down and looking, and art as a fundamental…
Jennie Jieun Lee makes ceramic sculpture covered with luscious layers of glaze, and wall works that combine assemblage, drawing and painting. Jennie talks about graduate school as a way to check ego and stretch the brain, otherness and an immigrant’s ear, emotions as appraisals of intelligence, collapsing boundaries between craft and fine art, her glazing strategies, and personal fulfillment…
Eric White makes representational oil paintings that often depict cinematic scenes and unsettling but graceful interactions between people and objects. Eric talks about film as an influence and using reference material, finding ideas in dream states, sleep and painting as obsession, the perverse satisfaction of using tiny brushes, and enjoying all the variables and challenges of making a good…
Hilary Pecis makes vibrant acrylic paintings that depict still lives, landscapes and domestic interior spaces. Hilary talks about the benefits and challenges of a home studio, translating camera phone photos into dynamic paintings, looking for opportunities to try different types of mark-making and visual vocabularies, throwing a pie at Renoir, her takeaways from working in a contemporary art…
Sophie Stone makes work that shifts between painting, sculpture, and domestic floor rugs. Sophie talks about the state of ambiguity in her work, allowing materials to use their own muscles, her installation at NADA House on Governor’s Island, stains as gesture and grungy versus polished surfaces, frustration leading to revelation, letting go in studio, and reinterpreting decorative art and beauty.
Sarah Zapata makes textile-based installations and sculpture. Sarah talks about research, reading and writing as important parts of her process, her sculpture at NADA House on Governor’s Island in New York City, the contentious history of stripes in textiles, writing foot erotica, time as currency, her connection to Evangelicalism, guilt as a driving force and exchanges between craft and…
Heather Hubbs is the Executive Director of The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), a non-profit membership organization for art galleries and alternative art spaces. Heather talks about NADA’s history and curatorial vision, the NADA House exhibit on Governor’s Island in NYC, where NADA fits within the landscape of contemporary art fairs, the impact of arts-based social media and online platforms, and…
Fabienne Lasserre makes three-dimensional work that oscillates between sculpture and painting. Fabienne talks about using materials that allow her to change her mind, the process of unthinking and undoing, how color can linger in memory, the indescribable aspects of art, making work that can adapt to its surroundings, a feeling of ease in studio and stubbornness as a guiding principle.
Megan Dickerson is the Senior Exhibitions Manager at The New Children’s Museum in San Diego. Megan talks about identifying as a “play worker,” working at the intersection of the contemporary art world and children’s museums, how kids explore and find agency through play, art materials as potentially “gnawable,” considering physical and emotional risks within an exhibit, re-balancing the…
Sean Kelly has been a contemporary art dealer for over three decades, establishing a reputation for presenting diverse, intellectually driven and unconventional exhibitions. Sean talks about his role as an Armory Show selection committee member, suggestions on how galleries might prepare a strong and memorable fair application, how his relationship with performance artist Marina Abramovic…
Sally Tallant is the incoming Director of the Queens Museum in New York and curated the Platform section of the 2019 Armory Show. Sally talks about the different stages of her curatorial process, some of the ideas and artists featured in her current project titled “Worlds of Tomorrow”, the exchanges between hope, optimism and action, a meaningful trip to Sri Lanka, being completely moved by the…
Christian Nagel is been a contemporary art dealer for over three decades. He is currently operating as Galerie Nagel Draxler, located in Berlin. Christian talks about the origins of The Armory Show, an important internship he had at the Kaiser Wihelm Museum, a memorable road trip with painter Günther Förg, presenting a commemorative booth that salutes the legacies of fair co-founders Pat Hearn and…
Eric Shiner is the artistic director at White Cube in New York. He was previously senior vice president of contemporary art at Sotheby’s and director of The Andy Warhol Museum. Eric talks about curating past Focus and Platform sections of The Armory Show, galleries as an important part of an artist’s support network, what he looks for during studio visits, Andy Warhol and social media, and artists…
Mark Dion is an American artist whose work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge and the natural world. Mark talks about participating at the first incarnations of The Armory Show during the mid-1990’s, remembering Pat Hearn and Colin de Land, collecting objects and his curiosity cabinet installations, a forthcoming…
Rachelle Dang makes installation-based work and sculpture that considers the exchanges between colonial legacies, botanical sciences and personal history. Rachelle talks about how audience activates her work, shifting from painting to sculpture, her “Savages of the Pacific” project, breadfruit, finding tremendous happiness through making art and the endless responsibility of dealing with history.
Adam Helms makes drawings and paintings that often depict masked faces, opposition groups, portraits of women, or scenes from comic books and film. Adam talks about posturing and symbolism through identity, image appropriation, subcultures and black metal, divorcing himself from his own work and looking for the emotional resonance in images.
Brian Chippendale is a visual artist, drummer and singer in Lightning Bolt and Black Pus, and a founding member of the seminal work-live-performance venue Fort Thunder. Brian talks about the similarities and distinctions between his different modes of making, mistakes as the living parts of his work, the fury of parenthood, selling artwork outside of the gallery system and enthusiasm as a way to…
Brian Chippendale is a visual artist, drummer and singer in Lightning Bolt and Black Pus, and a founding member of the seminal work-live-performance venue Fort Thunder. Brian talks about creating immersive and expansive worlds in his work; handmade masks; playing drums; improvisation as an important tool, and capturing energy, multiplying it and blowing it back out. This is part 1 of a 2-part…
Monona Rossol is a chemist, sculptor, singer and an industrial hygienist that specializes in visual and performing arts health hazards. Monona talks about how most artist studios fail OSHA safety regulations, her book “The Artists Complete Health & Safety Guide”, kid’s art supplies, being born into a vaudevillian family, scientific facts, human denial and the challenge of being persuasive, and a…
