On recent trip to Washington, D.C. we stopped by the National Gallery of Art to chat with curator Kanitra Fletcher about a new show she was preparing to debut, the first show dedicated to Haitian art in the history of the institution. As with most things in life, timing is everything. Spirit & Strength: Modern Art from Haiti opens September 29 and …

On our Season 9 debut we talk with Stephen Reily, attorney, entrepreneur, and former Director of Louisville’s Speed Art Museum about REMUSEUM, his ambitious new project to reimagine what museums can be.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

Psyche! We’re not actually unmasking Banksy on this episode, but we are taking a closer look at the recently-opened museum in New York City dedicated to the famously anonymous street artist/activist. William Meade is the Executive Director of the Banksy Museum in Manhattan and we have no idea if he knows Banksy’s true identity. For all we know he c…

On the final installment of our ART FAIR DIARIES trilogy, Philbrook Chief Curator and roving MC correspondent, Kate Green takes us to the land of John Hughes movies and deep-dish pizza. Welcome to EXPO CHICAGO.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

Acclaimed artist Chris Ramsay’s work deals with big, universal subjects: time, space, impermanence, what we discard, and what we choose to keep. Now, after receiving an incurable cancer diagnosis, Chris is confronting the biggest questions of all.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

For this new installment in our Art Fair Diaries series, Philbrook Chief Curator (and occasional roving Museum Confidential correspondent) Kate Green reports from the biggest art fair in one of the world's biggest cities. Welcome to Mexico City.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

Our guest is curator Allison Glenn; we previously spoke to Glenn a few years ago about her Breonna Taylor-inspired show, "Promise, Witness, Remembrance." Now Glenn is curating a multi-venue, multi-day, multi-focused convening titled Sovereign Futures, which runs April 4th through the 7th. Per the Sovereign Futures website, various "artist-led proje…

Our guest is acclaimed journalist Bianca Bosker, who tells us that -- when it comes to which topics she chooses to investigate and cover -- she's "obsessed with obsession." Bosker's latest book is "Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See." She was a security guard at the G…

A recent headline in The New York Times read: To Save Museums, Treat Them Like Highways. There’s no shortage of conversations about museum funding models. But after reading this one, arguing that museums should be thought of more like infrastructure, it was time for another. On this episode we speak to one of the piece’s co-writers, Laura Raicovich…

The Nevada Museum of Art invited us out for a live show in Reno with acclaimed indigenous artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Futurism and speculative fiction are just two of many terms that describe Luger’s unforgettable work and the special exhibition, SPEECHLESS. On this episode we chat with Luger and Apsara DiQuinzio, the Museum’s Senior Curator of Co…

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon just nabbed ten Oscar nominations, including one for Costume Design. But how do you authentically take people back to the Osage Nation of the 1920’s? How do you get every detail just right? Meet Julie O’Keefe, the Osage Nation wardrobe consultant hired to do just that.…

On our first episode of 2024, we chat with the co-directors of an acclaimed new PBS American Masters documentary on legendary New York painter, Edward Hopper. “Hopper: An American Love Story” has it all; lonely people in rooms, quiet city streets, difficult relationships, and plenty of secrets revealed.…

Art Basel Miami Beach, the biggest international modern/contemporary art fair in North America, took place earlier this month; thousands of art dealers, artists, collectors, curators, and art aficionados showed up. Kate Green, the Chief Curator & Nancy E. Meinig Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at Philbrook Museum of Art, was among those attend…

You probably know Sharon Stone the actress. It’s time you get to know Sharon Stone the ARTIST. Over the past few years, the Oscar nominee has turned painting into a dedicated daily practice. On this episode we talk about inspiration, early museum experiences, a new exhibition, and so much more.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

We travel to Pittsburgh’s Miller Institute of Contemporary Art (Carnegie Mellon University) for the special exhibition, IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC, a fascinating collection of sounds, scores, sculptures, video, live performances, and more. First up we have a big picture chat with the ICA’s Director, Elizabeth Chodos before a deeper dive with acclaimed curato…

Every object holds a story. That’s the idea behind the thought-provoking new Philbrook exhibition, TRADE & TRANSFORMATION. Curator Kalyn Fay Barnoski (Cherokee Nation enrollee, Muscogee descent) originated and organized the exhibition. On this episode she joins us to chat about how she came to create it. Trade & Transformation is on view through De…

In 2008, a catastrophic flood shut down the art museum on the University of Iowa campus. 15 years later, the museum has finally reopened with a new building, new name (The Stanley), and a new catalog created in partnership with the legendary Iowa Writer’s Workshop. They invited us up to chat about all of it.…

From time to time we explore the question, “what is a curator?” For the past 30 years, Randall Poster has been searching for, securing rights for, and working alongside directors to find the perfect moment for music in countless films. The official job title is Music Supervisor. It could easily be called “Music Curator.” In 2023 alone, his slate in…

Video journalist Alexandra Eaton of The New York Times joins us to share an unforgettable story that begins with a painting created in 1837 New Orleans. It depicts a well-to-do family’s three children and a Black enslaved child named Bélizaire. Decades later, Bélizaire was removed from the portrait. Experts have restored the work to its original st…

In the new biopic, Dalíland, acclaimed director Mary Harron give us a glimpse into the Salvador Dalí’s later years in 70s New York City via the immense talents of Academy Award-winner, Sir Ben Kingsley. From her look at attempted assassin Valerie Solanas in I Shot Andy Warhol to the murderous broker Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, Harron has al…

For our Season 7 finale, we travel to the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) to chat with an architect and a neurologist about the intersections of art, science, and nature.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

With more and more of our lives now being lived online -- and with more and more of our stuff existing only in the cloud -- how best should we preserve art...and culture...and everything else worth saving? On this go-round of Museum Confidential, we speak with Richard Rinehart, the Director of the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University. He's also…

On this edition of MC, we've got mad props for all the archivists and librarians in the house. The stewardship that these professionals bring to MuseumLand is as multifaceted as it is vital: caretaking, cataloging, researching, locating, documenting, preserving, updating, etc. Our guest is Saige Blanchard, the Library and Collection Information Spe…

Founded by artist Theaster Gates, the Rebuild Foundation has been transforming buildings and neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago since 2009 with art projects, community gathering spaces, small businesses, and more. Their latest venture is a vinyl shop called Miyagi Records. On this episode we do a little crate digging with the project leader…

This episode offers a career-spanning chat with Oscar-winning cinematographer, Sir Roger Deakins, and his wife/longtime collaborator, James Deakins. Known for his collaborations with Coen brothers (Fargo), Sam Mendes (1917), and Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), Deakins began his life in film as a still photographer. He published his first-ever…

Museums rarely allow their most beloved works to travel. But Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum is under renovation. An opportunity arose. Now through May 28, Philbrook presents 500 years of European treasures from that acclaimed collection. Featuring paintings by the likes of Rembrandt, Monet, El Greco, Titian, and Renoir, there’s no shortage of star power…

London's Royal Academy of Arts will soon open a special exhibition titled, SOULS GROWN DEEP LIKE RIVERS: BLACK ARTISTS FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH. Created in partnership with the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta, the exhibit will showcase 60+ works by notable Black artists over the last century. We speak with the curator of this show, Raina Lamp…

What is the “art market?” A decade ago, Michael Findlay published “The Value of Art” to explore this very question. But the world has changed in many ways since the book’s initial release. A global pandemic, MeToo, Black Lives Matter, crypto currency, and other factors have impacted how people and institutions are buying/selling art. Michael has ju…

A work by Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson is instantly recognizable. This is even more impressive given the variety of his output. He paints, sculpts, repurposes, re-contextualizes, creates performances, and more. On this episode we chat with Gibson about his past, his work, and a current exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum called…

A century ago, the Detroit Institute of Arts became the first U.S. museum to purchase a painting by Vincent van Gogh. Now they’re hosting America’s largest Van Gogh exhibition in a generation. On this episode we chat with DIA curator Jill Shaw about this massive undertaking.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

MC is closing down 2022 with a one-hour special -- a breezy, somewhat geeky, opinionated, and taped-live-in-the-studio conversation between host Jeff Martin and producer Scott Gregory. The discussion topic is outstanding LP covers as rendered by known and/or notable artists. Kind of a long title, of course, but you get the idea -- and it's a pretty…

Acclaimed artist Sharon Sprung had to wait years before she could tell the world that she was commissioned to paint Michelle Obama’s official White House portrait. On this episode we chat with Sprung from her Brooklyn studio about painting, patience, and what’s it’s like to have a First Lady drop by.…

On this episode we get a few kicks with British artist Dave White who pioneered the sneaker art movement 20 years ago. His portraits of popular shoes led to collaborations with Nike, Jordan, and countless other brands. But Dave is no mere “sneakerhead.” His recent work is more concerned with the ground we stand on than the things we stand in.…

Well before Joan Didion’s death in December 2021, acclaimed writer and New Yorker magazine contributor Hilton Als was hard at work on a show for LA’s Hammer Museum. But how can one exhibition grapple with Didion’s big, uniquely American life? This episode explores that and much more. “Joan Didion: What She Means” runs through February 19, 2023.…

With climate change and more frequent weather events, what does the future hold for coastal museums? On this special episode we speak with Courtney McNeil, Director and Chief Curator at the Baker Museum in Naples, Florida. This conversation was recorded in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ian.Door Philbrook Museum of Art

For the past few decades, American artist/sexual anthropologist Betony Vernon has been living in Europe, designing erotic jewelry, writing books, and generally following her creative muse. We caught up with Betony while she was back in the states for the inaugural FORMAT festival in northwest Arkansas.…

The one and only Cheech Marin (Cheech & Chong) stops by to discuss his recently opened museum, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture. Nicknamed “The Cheech,” the 61,420-square-foot, two-story center resides in what used to be the downtown public library in Riverside, California and houses nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures…

On our Season 7 premiere, we visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles for the opening of a groundbreaking new exhibition, REGENERATION: BLACK CINEMA 1898–1971. Enjoy a fascinating chat with exhibition’s co-curators, Doris Berger, Vice President of Curatorial Affairs at the Academy Museum, and Rhea Combs, Director of Curatorial Aff…

We’re cooking up something tasty on this special summer episode and taking a bite out of the Whataburger Museum of Art. Is it really a museum? What’s the submission process? Is it curated? Is this pure marketing or something genuine? We explore this and much more with Whataburger Marketing Director Brooks Boenig alongside participating artists Mayr…

From a fire at the Smithsonian in 1865 to the Covid-19 pandemic, museums have faced challenge after challenge, and have survived. That didn't happen by accident. On our final MC episode for Season 6 -- and our 100th overall! -- we survey the general state of museums today with Samuel Redman, author of "The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resi…

How can a small museum in the middle of the country have an impact on par with bigger institutions? How can we fight above our weight class in the arena of ideas? On this special episode we team up with MuseumNext to explore the value of tone and crafting a unique institutional voice. Your intrepid host (Jeff) finally gets his turn in the hot seat.…

Shirley Woodson was born in 1936. She grew up and still lives in Detroit. It’s her city, her muse. At 86 the artist recently opened her first ever solo exhibition at her hometown museum, The Detroit Institute of Arts. “Shirley Woodson: Shield of the Nile Reflections” features 11 of the artist’s big, vibrant canvases depicting black bathers in river…

What role can artists and creatives play in wartime? On this episode we chat with acclaimed author Lesley M.M. Blume about her recent Town & Country article, “The Art of War: How the Surrealists Helped Upend Camouflage and Redefine Modern Battle.” In a globe-spanning investigation filled with big art world names like Gorky and Dalí, the story prove…

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we explore Gustave Courbet’s perennially provocative 1866 work, “L’Origine du Monde (The Origin of the World)” with artist/writer Lilianne Milgrom, author of “L'Origine: The Secret Life of the World's Most Erotic Masterpiece.” Milgrom was the first artist authorized by the Musée d’Orsay to re-create Courbe…

Troy Montes-Michie was born in El Paso. Border towns are a natural mash-up of cultures, traditions, languages, food, fashion, and nearly everything else. It’s no surprise that Montes-Michie turned his focus to collage, creating instantly recognizable works using magazine clippings, pornography, images of the Black male body, and plenty of zoot suit…

Mike Winkelmann has been creating digital art for over two decades. He’s 40 years old, lives in South Carolina, and has a computer science degree from Purdue. But this isn’t a show about Mike Winkelmann. This is a show about Beeple, the name by which Winkelmann is best known, the name that took the art world by storm in 2021 when an NFT of his near…

In the years before World War 2, a group of artists gathered in New Mexico to “carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new concepts of space, color, light, and design, to imaginative realms that are idealistic and spiritual.” They called themselves the TRANSCENDENTAL PAINTING GROUP. On this episode we chat with Philbrook…

Oklahoma artist Harold Stevenson (1929-2018) created big paintings and lived an even bigger life in New York, Paris, Key West, and the Hamptons, becoming best friends with Andy Warhol along the way. For much of the past decade, Dian Jordan (The University of Texas Permian Basin) has been researching Stevenson’s singular life, gathering an archive, …

We haven’t done a live audience show in ages. So when the invitation came to travel to Aspen, Colorado for the opening of a new Andy Warhol show at the Aspen Art Museum, we jumped at the opportunity. ANDY WARHOL: LIFETIMES is a career-spanning show originated at the Tate Modern. The AAM invited Los Angeles-based artist Monica Majoli to re-conceptua…

Mark Mothersbaugh has been a creative force for well over 40 years. From co-founding DEVO to scoring countless films and shows, his impact is undeniable. That body of work includes many collaborations with filmmaker Wes Anderson (“The Royal Tenenbaums”). We invited Mark to provide an exclusive musical experience for our special exhibition, “THIS IS…