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PODCAST

What’s My Thesis?

What’s My Thesis? is a podcast that examines art, philosophy, and culture through longform, unfiltered conversations. Hosted by artist Javier Proenza, each episode challenges assumptions and invites listeners to engage deeply with creative and intellectual ideas beyond surface-level discourse.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

71:09

283 Joaquin Stacey on Ecuadorian Identity, Latin...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/01/13

Artist Joaquin Stacey joins Javier Proenza for a conversation on art, identity, and cultural formation shaped by migration. Born in Ecuador and raised in Miami before relocating to Los Angeles for his MFA at Otis College of Art and Design, Stacey reflects on how geography, language, and institutional training inform his practice.The discussion moves through painting, performance, and installation, with particular attention to Catholic iconography, mestizaje, diaspora, and the contradictions

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64:21

282 Flora Kao — Installation Art, Taiwanese Rituals,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/12/16

Artist Flora Kao joins What’s My Thesis? to discuss the evolution of her practice from painting to large-scale installation, and how Taiwanese mourning rituals, Buddhist symbolism, and diasporic memory shape her approach to space. Trained at Otis and later UC Irvine, Kao describes discovering installation as a way to create experiences that “elicit a sense of wonder,” pairing conceptual clarity with meditative, labor-intensive processes.The conversation traces her early years moving between

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61:51

281 Manuel Vdah Bracamonte — Graffiti, LA Street...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/12/09

Artist Manuel Vdah Bracamonte joins What’s My Thesis? for a grounded conversation on graffiti, identity, and the lived conditions that shaped Los Angeles street culture in the 1980s and 90s. Born in El Salvador and raised in downtown LA, Bracamonte traces his earliest memories of tagging, the shift into “tag banging,” and how the social and political pressures of that era intersected with his development as an artist.A pivotal high-school teacher introduced him to portfolio building and ultimately

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74:52

280 Kelly Witmer | Glass, Clay, and the Desert:...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/12/02

Artist Kelly Witmer joins host Javier Proenza to talk about material process, experimentation, and what it means to sustain an art practice in the desert. Based between Joshua Tree and Los Angeles, Witmer works across glass, ceramics, and painting, transforming the unpredictability of the kiln into a meditation on control, failure, and transformation.In this episode, she traces her trajectory from photography and printmaking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia to her later exploration of

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62:44

279 Craft, Textiles, and Community Resistance in East...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/11/04

René Camarillo is a Mexican-American craftsperson from East Los Angeles whose practice resists the hierarchies of the art world. Trained in apparel design at LA Trade Tech, fiber and material studies at Cal State LA, and textiles at RISD, Camarillo positions weaving and garment-making as acts of cultural inheritance, labor, and community survival rather than commodities of privilege.In this conversation, Camarillo reflects on rejecting the label of “artist,” his experience with exploitation in

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60:13

278 Hmong Refugee History, Weaving, and Contemporary...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/10/28

Artist Sheng Lor reflects on her journey from a Thai refugee camp to a studio practice in Los Angeles. Born to Hmong parents displaced by the Secret War in Laos, Lor discusses culture shock, grief, and the intergenerational legacies that shape her art.Her loom-wrapping series transforms discarded weaving tools into sculptural memorials, addressing the histories of labor, invisibility of craft, and Hmong spiritual traditions. This conversation explores how weaving, diaspora, and ritual intersect in

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67:57

277 Elmer Guevara | Painting the 1992 LA Uprisings,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/10/21

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, Los Angeles–based painter Elmer Guevara returns to the podcast ahead of his upcoming exhibition at Charlie James Gallery. Known for his densely layered figurative paintings, Guevara reflects on how memory, history, and inherited trauma shape his visual language. The conversation traces his evolution from graffiti to oil painting, his deep engagement with South Central Los Angeles, and the ways he reconstructs the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings through scenes of

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93:44

276 David Lloyd on AI, Abstract Painting, and the Los...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/10/07

Artist David Lloyd joins What’s My Thesis? to reflect on a career that spans CalArts in the early 1980s, formative years at Margot Levin Gallery, and decades of navigating the shifting landscape of the Los Angeles art world. Known for his commitment to formalist abstraction, Lloyd discusses what it means to sustain a painting practice over forty years while adapting to the changing priorities of galleries, art fairs, and collectors.The conversation delves into his most recent body of work, where

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89:20

275 Kristen Huizar: Drawing, Printmaking &...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/09/30

Artist Kristen Huizar joins What’s My Thesis? to reflect on drawing, printmaking, and the act of documenting Los Angeles. Born and raised in Commerce, CA, she traces her path from community college to Cal State Long Beach, where persistence and community shaped her practice.Working with wax pastels on plastic vinyl, hand stitching, and large lino cuts, Huizar explores repetition, process, and the archival impulse. Her drawings function as reportage—capturing overlooked city views, everyday details,

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85:37

274 Emma Christ on Artillery Magazine, Gallery Work,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/09/23

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza speaks with Emma Christ, editor at Artillery magazine and gallerist working between Portland and Los Angeles. Christ reflects on her beginnings in photography, formative years at Bard and Reed, and her transition from artistic practice into gallery management, editing, and writing.The conversation traces her early influences—from Francesca Woodman, Diane Arbus, and William Eggleston to mentorship under No Wave photographer Barbara Ess—before

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60:08

273 Israel Campos: Printmaking, Mexican Revolution...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/09/16

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, Los Angeles printmaker Israel Campos shares how his work bridges Mesoamerican codices, Mexican revolutionary art, and the mural traditions of his South Central upbringing. Known for his meticulous intaglio prints, Campos reclaims visual histories disrupted by colonization—collapsing linear perspective, weaving ancient mythologies, and drawing on the political legacies of artists like José Clemente Orozco.From growing up in a garment factory household to

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74:48

272 Jackie Castillo: Southern California Light,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/09/09

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza sits down with Los Angeles–based artist Jackie Castillo, whose practice transforms the overlooked landscapes of Southern California into sculptural, spatial interventions that challenge how we see, inhabit, and remember place.Born and raised in working-class neighborhoods of Orange County, Castillo’s perspective is deeply rooted in the lived realities of the region—its immigrant histories, economic divides, and the architectural patchwork

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01:04:49

271 Feminist Ritual, Asian Art, and Curating Beyond...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/08/26

This week on What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza is joined by Ann Shi, a nomadic curator and founder of a poco art collective, whose deeply intuitive curatorial practice bridges Chinese literati aesthetics, feminist mysticism, and contemporary Asian diasporic identity. With roots in China, academic training in Oxford and at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and early career experience on Wall Street, Ann’s nonlinear path defies institutional expectations, illuminating how curating can become both an

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01:06:23

270 Filipino-American Artist Kim Garcia on Dementia,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/08/19

In this resonant episode of What’s My Thesis?, artist and educator Kim Garcia joins host Javier Proenza for a layered conversation about memory, community, and the personal and political frameworks that shape diasporic identity. Garcia, whose practice spans sculpture, drawing, and community-based collaboration, reflects on her evolving relationship to artmaking—from early experiments in artist-run residencies to recent work that channels intergenerational trauma, familial mythology, and the slow

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01:11:16

269 Paper, Process, and the Alchemy of Grief with...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/08/12

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza is joined by artist Lauren Goldenberg Longoria for a conversation that traverses personal memory, studio practice, and the tender labor of transformation. Known for her materially rich works that fuse paper, performance, and poetic intuition, Goldenberg Longoria speaks candidly about the healing logic of her process—and the quiet revolutions that can occur through repetition, care, and tactility.Trained in traditional printmaking and now

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01:07:28

268 Aggressive Feminism, Neurodivergence, and the...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/08/04

In this candid and moving conversation, host Javier Proenza sits down with Los Angeles-based artist Dena Novak, whose sculptural paintings and ceramics challenge the rigid codes of minimalism through what she calls “aggressive feminism.” Drawing from a rich personal archive of experience—one shaped by Orthodox Judaism, motherhood, neurodivergence, and trauma—Novak’s work reimagines historically male-dominated art historical tropes with unapologetic sensuality and material intensity.A recent

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01:04:29

Diana Taylor: A practice where research and...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/07/31

Diana Taylor: A practice where research and materiality meet. Presented by What's My Thesis? in partnership with DON’T LOOK Projects In this illuminating live conversation recorded at DON’T LOOK Projects, UK-based artist Diana Taylor joins host Javier Proenza (What’s My Thesis?) for a deeply textured discussion around her first solo show in the United States, Flotsam and Jetsam. Organized by DON’T LOOK Projects in association with SLQS Gallery in London, the exhibition draws on Taylor’s

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01:24:06

267 Gentrification, Grief, and the Labor That Built...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/07/29

In this episode, artist and community advocate Corey La Rue. traces his relationship to the land, labor, and survival—from a near-death experience that altered the course of his life, to his ongoing advocacy for California’s agricultural workers and displaced communities. Raised in the Bay Area in California, La Rue shares his early exposure to fieldwork through family ties to migrant labor. These firsthand experiences, coupled with his own time working in agriculture, shape his nuanced

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57:49

266 Dreams in Migrations: AAPI Identity, Diaspora,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/07/22

Dreams in Migrations: AAPI Identity, Diaspora, and Resistance in Contemporary ArtIn this special live episode of What's My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza moderates a closing panel discussion at BG Gallery for Dreams in Migrations—the third annual AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) exhibition curated by artist and organizer Sung-Hee Son. This timely conversation assembles a multigenerational roster of artists whose practices interrogate identity, memory, imperialism, and the myth of

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01:00:44

265 Queer Landscapes, Dual Lives, and the Art of...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2025/07/15

Queer Landscapes, Dual Lives, and the Art of Looking Closely with J. CarinoPainter J. Carino joins What’s My Thesis? for a candid conversation on the formation of a deeply personal visual language—one that straddles autobiography, queer identity, and reportage practice. Known for his emotionally resonant paintings that combine landscape, figure, and storytelling, Carino reflects on a unique career that led him to his upcoming solo exhibition Carry It With You at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York, on

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284 results

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