The Modern Art Notes Podcast

Episode No. 685 features artist Vincent Valdez and curators Theresa Harlan and Drew Johnson. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is presenting "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream..." the first major survey of Valdez's career. The exhibition, which features Valdez's work across media, reveals Valdez's construction of US national memory. It was co-curated by Patricia Restrepo and Denise Markonish. It's on view at CAMH through March 23, 2025, when it will travel to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. A catalogue is forthcoming. Also, Valdez is included in "Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The exhibition surveys post-war photorealism up to the present. It was curated by Anna Katz with Paula Kroll and is on view through May 4, 2025. MOCA and DelMonico Books published an excellent catalogue. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $65. Harlan and Johnson are the curators of "Born of the Bear Dance: Dugan Aguilar's Photographs of Native California" at the Oakland Museum of California. It's on view through June 22, 2025. The exhibition surveys Aguilar's presentation of Native life and land, mostly between 1982 and 2018. The exhibition is OMCA's first presentation of Aguilar's work after the Aguilar's family gift of his archive to the museum in 2022. The show does not have a catalogue, but many of the works in the show are featured within Harlan's 2015 Aguilar monograph for Heyday Books, "She Sang Me a Good Luck Song."

Episode No. 684 features curators Akili Tommasino and Mark Mitchell.  Tommasino is the curator of "Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-now" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The exhibition examines how Black artists and other cultural figures have engaged with ancient Egypt from the American centennial, through the Harlem Renaissance, to the present. "Flight into Egypt" is on view through February 17, 2025. The fascinating catalogue was published by the Met. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $45-50. Artists in the exhibition who are previous MAN Podcast guests include:  Lauren Halsey; Julie Mehretu: Episode No. 82, No. 255; No. 417; Robert Pruitt; Betye Saar; Lorna Simpson; and  Fred Wilson. Mitchell curated "The Dance of Life: Figure and Imagination in American Art, 1876-1917," which is at the Yale University Art Gallery through January 5, 2025. The exhibition looks at how two generations of post-Civil War artists adopted the human figure as their focus (partly in response to the mass death of the Civil War era). "The Dance of Life" particularly focuses on studies related to artistic commissions for major US public sites such as the Boston Public Library, the Library of Congress, Washington, and the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. YUAG published a valuable catalogue It's available from Amazon and Bookshop for $50-60. Instagram: Akili Tommasino, Tyler Green. Air date: December 12, 2024.

Episode No. 683 features artist Tala Madani and curator Jamillah James. James is the curator of "The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970-2020" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Madani is among the 60-plus artists included in the exhibition. "The Living End" surveys the arc of painting over the last half-century with a particular focus on artists who have redefined painting by using new technologies, imaging techniques, and their own bodies. The exhibition will be on view through March 16, 2025. Jack Schneider assisted James with the show. The exhibition catalogue is available from the MCA for under $20. The Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington is presenting "Tala Madani: Be flat," a solo exhibition featuring recent and newly commissioned work that explores the influence of symbols, language, and mark-making on power dynamics and individual agency. It was curated by Shamim M. Momin and is on view through August 17, 2025. Madani makes paintings and painting-informed animations that consider gender, political authority, and representation. Her work typically includes bald, middle-aged men in bizarre, often hilarious circumstances. She has had solo shows at museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Secession, Vienna; the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

Episode No. 682 is a holiday clips episode featuring artist Leslie Martinez. Martinez is included within "Shifting Landscapes," which is at the the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York until January 2026. The exhibition considers how evolving political, ecological, and social issues motivate artists as they address the world around them (which is to say US artists are addressing land and landscape as they have since the days of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Cole.) The show was curated by Jennie Goldstein, Marcela Guerrero, and Roxanne Smith, with Angelica Arbelaez. Seven previous MAN Podcast guests are in the exhibition, including Robert Adams (Episode No. 41,  227, 555), Teresita Fernández, LaToya Ruby Frazier, An-My Lê, Patrick Martinez, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and Alison Saar. Martinez was previously featured in solo shows at MoMA PS1 in Queens, and the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston. Their work is in the collection of museums such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. For images, see Episode No. 635. Instagram: Leslie Martinez, Tyler Green.