Coming from finance and with a deep rooted interest in the arts, politics, sociology, philosophy and the humanities, collector Alain Servais speaks his mind and does not hold back. He talks finding his own voice and becoming really good at something by having the right fractures. He found himself in art because it opened his mind to new dimensions and new kinds of people. Being exposed to other people’s view of the world greatly improved his vision of the world. Art for him is not contemplation or pleasure, art is having to make an effort, to work on oneself and pushing oneself to the limit – to feeling comfortable being uncomfortable. He is especially interested in contemporary art, young art, the art that needs to be preserved today because nobody understands or values it. By collecting it he is preserving a slice of humanity. Art changed his life and for him art is a way of living, not separated from life, politics and the larger society. Recorded September 30, 2021, 57 min., language english

For over 50 years, New York-based artist Judith Bernstein has created expressive drawings and paintings that boldly critique militarism and machismo in a manner that is at once humorous and threatening. Since graduating from Yale in 1967, Bernstein has developed a reputation as one of the most unwaveringly provocative artists of her generation. Steadfast in her cultural, political and social critique she surged into art world prominence in the early 1970s with her monumental charcoal drawings of penis-screw hybrids. In this Episode Judith talks the inspiration of men’s bathrooms, the glass ceiling women had to face in the artworld of the 60s and 70s, the founding of A.I.R. the first all women’s art gallery, her rage at injustice and her partcipating in activist groups like the Guerilla Girls. She talks her family background, her first exhibitions, the long years of being out in the water, her coming back and her upcoming exhibitions and she reveals that the strongest relationship in the world she has is with art.

This is a special Episode produced in collaboration with the Independent Art Fair, New York City. Vito Schnabel, art dealer, gallerist and curator, with gallery branches in New York City and St. Moritz, talks his early years and young adulthood, playing Basketball on the streets of New York City and visiting art exhibitions. He talks his insecurities and challenges and how those helped him to grow. He shares how the dialogue with his sister Lola, who is an artist, and her artist friends shaped his own understanding of art and highlights how important the support of his mother and her belief in him was. He relates how him being open, listening intently and evaluating what happened around him helped him finding his own language in the arts. Early on he started curating and met important artists like Ron Gorchov or the great René Ricard who became friends and mentors and whose expertise and wisdom he was soaking up and valued greatly. Vito talks friendship, his passion for painting and their capacity to be portals also in the 21st Century for anybody who wants to see. This years Independent Art Fair will be the first fair Vito is attending in his home town. There he will show new paintings by extraordinary painter Jorge Galindo in a solo-presentation.

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.