There are as many ways to become a gallery owner as there are galleries. A perfect example of somebody who treaded a completely individual path is my current guest Grant Wahlquist, owner of the eponymous gallery for contemporary art in Portland, Maine since 2017.
Grant has a broad education and studied a variety of topics. He seriously learned to play classical piano for 15 years, holds degrees in Philosophy, Art and Religion and even attended the fuller theological seminary.
Grant is a doctor of law, he was an associate at a law firm and worked as a freelance attorney before he became an art critic and a curatorial assistant at the Orange County Museum of Art, where he worked on exhibitions by artists like i.e. Peter Saul and Mary Heilman.
Grant talks about his studies and inclinations as a young man, the opportunities and challenges of opening a gallery outside of the big commercial hubs, his fascination with mid-career artists and how to combine business with cultural and philosophical integrity.
It’s a pleasure to listen to his reflections and insights about art, the gallery business and living a good life.

In this talk, my guest is Haley Mellin, a painter and land conservationist. Haley founded „Art into Acres“, a non-profit initiative supporting artists and artworks in conserving large-scale landscapes for a positive impact on climate, biodiversity and irreplaceable ecosystems. She also founded conserve.org as a platform for people to be able to permanently conserve a single acre of land for the cost of a dinner out.
Her own painting practice happens „on the road“ while attending to conservation projects. She’s working with institutions like Hauser & Wirth, MOMA PS1, MOCA L.A., the Guggenheim and – very recently – the Kunstmuseum Bonn, to name just a few. A large part of her work is dedicated to supporting artists and smaller organisations like non-profits or galleries with their carbon footprints and how to reduce them.
Being an artist, she is the perfect intermediary between the land conservation organisations and the art world and entertains strong, trustful relations with the artists that donate their artworks and participants from the art community who are learning and looking into their carbon emissions through calculation and reduction approaches.
We discuss her upbringing and love for being outdoors, nurtured by her father, who held the view that „giving back is a large part of being alive.“ We talk about how she started painting and exhibiting at a young age and how art and conservation interlace in her life and practice. She shares her profound knowledge and deep insights into how art and conservation, both meant to last, go hand in hand.
This talk celebrates the 30th Episode of „Voices On Art,“ with Haley Mellin as a special guest and with a small „bonus track“: Haley unexpectedly started asking me questions herself.

My guest for this talk is Elizabeth Dee, co-Founder of the Inpependent Art Fair and Director of the John Giorno Foundation. She ran her eponymous Gallery in NYC for 18 years and founded the X Intiative, from which Independent developed. Elizabeth now sees herself in a variety of roles –  a Collector, an Artist, a Curator, a Teacher, a Lecturer, a Strategist, an Advocate, an Entrepreneur, a Publisher, a Writer, an Advisor and the Director of an art fair. This is an almost one hour in depth talk about Elizabeth’s background, her upbringing and her studies at an all women’s college, her beginnings as an artist (and cellist) and the many decisions she made and the uncounted doors she went through in a more than 20 years career in the artworld. Coming from a non-privileged background she had to face some hardships and learned everything from scratch, which gave her knowledge about almost all fields of the artworld. She shares her expertise in how to run a gallery, how to develop an art fair – even under dire circumstances – and above all, her deep passion for art and artists. She is very honest and let’s us partake in her personal feelings, thoughts and experiences and thus gives us a lot to think and learn about.

My guest today is Michael Zimmer, entrepreneur, investor, consultant, art collector, founder of the sculpture park „The Inhabited Garden“ and editor of the book „A Sculpture Garden.“ Michael is extensively involved in social issues and has initiated or founded various foundations to help people in need. We talk his upbringing and how through art he got „a room on his own“ and that art was his refuge as a young man. He relates how he first studied art history before going into real estate and how he merged these two fields in his life. We talk in depth about his sculpture garden, what the main ideas are behind this unique project, how the international artists are selected and that it’s roots in Northrhine-Westphalia are very important to him. His deep interest lies with the human condition, so he is listening to his guests and extends his hospitality to the artists, their sculptures and anybody who visits the garden. To learn more go to their website: https://www.derbewohntegarten.de, there you find also information about the beautiful book „A Sculpture Garden“.

My guest today is Jennifer Higgie, writer and art critic. She has been Editor at Large for Frieze Magazine and is the host of Bowdown a wonderful Podcast about women in art history, she curated the Hayward touring and Arts Council exhibition „One Day, Something. Happens: Pictures of People“ and wrote and illustrated the children’s book „There’s Not One“. Currently she is working on various screenplays and writing projects. Her book „The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women’s Self-Portraits“ is forthcoming at Weidenfeld & Nicolson in March 2021. We discuss her art studies in Australia, her moving to London, her transition from artist to writer and her love for painting. We talk the importance of art criticism, the need to highlight all kinds of inequality, including gender inequality. We talk her Bowdown Podcast about women in art history, which is one of the best art Podcasts around and new upcoming book „The Mirror and the Palette: 500 years of Women Self-Portraits“, to be published in March 2021 at Weidenfeld & Nicolson. It’s a personal and insighful talk and I loved speaking to Jennifer. Recorded February 6, 2021.

Bettina Steinbrügge tells us how she got fascinated by art as a school kid, how she travelled Europe as a teenager with Interrail and saw all Picasso Museums and how she thinks an institution in the current times in the 2021 Century has to change and rethink to contribute to an ever changing society. We talk about the need for care and empathy, economic and cultural thinking, the need for community and how the digital helps us to communicate and stay in touch with each other. She stresses the necessity to pose new questions and utters her wish that society and politics make a statement for the arts.

In this first Episode of 2021 I speak with Oliver Koerner von Gustorf, writer, curator and former co-owner of gallery September in Berlin. Oliver regularly contributes to Art Magazines like Monopol and the Feuilletons of the German Newspaper landscape. Recent articles include „30 Jahre deutsche Einheit (30 years German unification) – Pop life“ about the art and music scene of the 80s and 90s in Berlin, of which he was a part of and „Commons retten die Kunst – Plädoyer für eine gewöhnliche Kultur (Commons save the arts – plea for a commons culture)“, both published in Monopol Magazine. We talk his early years in the Berlin subculture of Punks, squatting, clubs and dilettante art making. He reveals his personal struggle, taking care of his boyfriend who suffered of HIV/AIDS and ultimately died of it and how he became a writer in the course of an exhibition of the band „Die tödliche Doris (deadly Doris)“ of which his late boyfriend was a member. We get a deep insight into the attitudes of the art scene of these years in Berlin. From there on Oliver was invited to write for the TAZ and even started writing for the art department of Deutsche Bank. We talk art, identity, capitalism, poverty, money, art fairs, galleries – the full gamut. As a writer Oliver reflects and verbalize his experiences deeply and gives them to us in an extraordinary way. Enjoy.

In Episode 24 we talk about art and life – which is indistinguishably intertwined in the person of acclaimed painter Joanne Greenbaum. Painting since decades and knowing she is an artist since the age of 5, Greenbaum gives us an insight into painting, drawing and working with clay – through which she reveals to us who she is, how she thinks and how she expresses her brain activity to the world. To use the words of philosopher Ludger Schwarte, Greenbaum in her paintings is „thinking in color“, creating a world which is full of vibrant visual energy and non verbal meaning and content.

This a special episode in collaboration with Kunstpalast Düsseldorf. A conversation with acclaimed Artist, Professor and Winner of the Golden Lion at the Biennale di Venezia in 1999 –  Monica Bonvicini. It is released on the occasion of her participation in the exhibition „Empört euch! / Time for Outrage, co-curated by Linda Peitz and Florian Peters-Messer. We talk Monica’s upbringing in a conservative Italy, her studies at Cal Arts and in Berlin, how meeting Isa Genzken at the University let painting slip away from her work, the creative power of feminine anger and the inclusion of all people working in a museum or institution in the planning of exhibitions. Monica gives personal insights into how she develops her work and how  the isolation in times of Corona created a space for her to return to essential drawing. The Episode was recorded August 3, 2020.

In Episode 22 I speak with Alvin Hall, who is – amongst many other things – an avid collector of contemporary art by living artists, an internationally acclaimed financial educator, author and broadcaster. We talk his early years in poverty in the Panhandle of Florida, his first encounters with art, how looking at photography sharpened his visual skills, his love for art and artists and how they can shape the world, why finance is full of creativity, his advice to new collectors and the current political situation. It’s a personal and in depth talk about Alvin’s insights, inspirations and intuitions.

A conversation with David Nolan, founder of the eponymous gallery, passionate advocate for the arts and art collector himself. David covers the years from his upbringing in Ireland, his first jobs in art galleries in Cologne in the 80s and his move to New York. We talk art, art fairs, politics, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, climate change and the current situation in the US. David mentions many artists and companions he worked with over the years and expresses the hope for a learning process that leads to more respect, transparency and cooperation. Recorded on November 7, 2020 in the hours before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were declared President elect and Vice President elect of the USA.