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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

69:33

293 Jahn Muller: Painting, Generational Memory & the...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/03/31

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, Los Angeles painter Jahn Baby Muller, a graduate of the USC Roski School of Art, joins host Javier Proenza to discuss his thesis work and the philosophical questions shaping his practice. Muller describes a body of still life paintings built from objects collected at estate sales—particularly toys and artifacts left behind by the Baby Boomer generation—which he stages as emotional narratives about generational inheritance and cultural memory.The conversation

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64:08

292 Katie Hector — Portrait Painting, Beauty...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/03/24

Painter Katie Hector joins host Javier Proenza for a conversation on portrait painting, image culture, and the shifting cultural frameworks that shape how faces and bodies are represented in art. Hector reflects on her studio practice, discussing her return to figurative painting and the role of photographic source material in constructing contemporary portraits.The conversation also explores Hector’s concept of a “shadow practice,” including her quilting work made from repurposed painting

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74:57

291 Estefania Ajcip on Painting, Immigration, Family...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/03/17

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, painter Estefania Ajcip joins host Javier Proenza to discuss the personal and cultural experiences that shape her work. Ajcip reflects on growing up between the United States and Guatemala, her Indigenous family background, and the circumstances that led her to return to the U.S. as a young adult.The conversation explores how family separation caused by immigration informs her paintings about absence and memory, as well as her path through art school at

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91:59

290 Raul Baltazar Interview: Chicano Art, Ritual...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/03/10

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza speaks with Los Angeles–based Chicano artist Raul Baltazar about the cultural and historical foundations of his practice. Baltazar reflects on the origins of his performance character “Seven the Aztec Bunny,” first developed through ceremonies at Self Help Graphics’ Aztec New Year celebration, and discusses how Indigenous traditions, Catholic symbolism, and community ritual inform his approach to art.The conversation explores Mexican and

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75:13

289 Kristine Shomaker on Conceptual Painting,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/03/03

Kristine Shomaker is a Los Angeles–based conceptual painter and arts organizer, and the founder of Shoebox Arts and Art and Cake at the Brewery Art Complex. In this conversation, she reflects on building artist support systems outside traditional commercial models, restructuring a nonprofit to sustain mentorship, and expanding art journalism focused on marginalized communities. Shomaker also discusses her studio practice, including cutting paintings off their stretcher bars and reconfiguring them

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85:55

288 Olivier Arsène Ganthier: Haitian Muralism, Black...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/02/24

In this episode, Haitian painter and muralist Olivier Arsène Ganthier, an MFA candidate at Otis College of Art and Design, reflects on his artistic formation in Haiti and his current practice in Los Angeles. Raised in his father’s studio and trained at the National School of Arts in Haiti, Ganthier discusses the technical foundations of his education, the development of Haiti’s graffiti and mural culture, and the practical realities of building an art career across geographies.The conversation

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86:10

287 Liz Stringer on Monumental Ceramics, Biopolitics,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/02/10

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, ceramic sculptor and installation artist Liz Stringer joins the podcast for an in-depth conversation about sculpture, scale, and the body. Working primarily with ceramics, metal armatures, and welded structures, Stringer discusses how her practice emerged from a background shaped by medicine, illness, and early encounters with Roman, Gothic, and Baroque architecture.The conversation explores monumental ceramics, biopolitics, and public space, including

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71:34

286 Frannie Hemmelgarn on Community Art Spaces,...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/02/03

In this episode, Javier Proenza speaks with Frannie Hemmelgarn, director and co-founder of DMST Atelier, an artist-run space in Los Angeles developed in collaboration with affordable housing providers. Hemmelgarn reflects on the space’s origins during the pandemic, its community feeds and public programming, and the responsibilities of artist-run initiatives within gentrifying neighborhoods.The conversation also turns to Hemmelgarn’s studio practice, which centers on handmade papermaking using

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63:59

285 Stephanie Sherwood on Painting Trash, Artist...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/01/27

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza speaks with Stephanie Sherwood, an artist and Exhibition Coordinator at the Brand Library in Glendale. Sherwood reflects on her dual role as a practicing artist and arts administrator, drawing on her experience working within municipal institutions such as libraries, city galleries, and public exhibition spaces.The conversation explores Sherwood’s painting practice, including her long-term engagement with found materials, discarded

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74:11

284 Ever Velasquez on Artist Careers, Spiritual...

What’s My Thesis? ·

2026/01/20

In this episode of What’s My Thesis?, Javier Proenza speaks with Ever Velasquez, Director of Charlie James Gallery, about her path from collage and community organizing to gallery leadership, and the values guiding the gallery’s long-term commitment to artists in Los Angeles. Velasquez discusses curatorial pacing, group exhibitions as frameworks for career development, and the labor behind gallery work, alongside reflections on collage as a lifelong practice and Afro-diasporic spiritual traditions

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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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294 results

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