Finding the Words

Tony Lewis

From his breakthrough series "Anthology," which turned Calvin & Hobbes into poetry, to his epic installation pieces that transform William Buckley's arguments from his 1965 Cambridge debate with James Baldwin into graphite-coated strenography, Tony Lewis has carved a unique space for himself in contemporary drawing. Working mainly in graphite, Lewis' practice challenges the conventions of language and functions simultaneously as abstraction, text-based, conceptual, personal, and political, creating one of the more innovative bodies of work in art today. Tony joined me from his studio in Chicago to discuss the recent 4-person show he was a part of, What Drawing Can Be: Four Responses, at the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, as well as how stenography found its way into his work, and what he had to sacrifice to create his Calvin & Hobbes-based series. Photo: Evan Jenkins https://massimodecarlo.com/artists/tony-lewis https://www.menil.org/exhibition/what-drawing-can-be-four-responses

Michael James Schneider

Michael James Schneider's quotes that promote positive mental health rendered in mylar balloons have become an online sensation. They seem somewhat destined to succeed, but his route to this point was far from assured. A self-taught artist, Michael has gone from retail management to now releasing his second book on August 5th, 2025, with a special book signing happening on Saturday, August 9th at Powell's Books in Portland. We discuss the new book, some of the bad advice he received along the way, and his symbiotic relationship with a very unexpected group of people. Instagram: @blcksmth X: @BLCKSMTHdesign Online store: https://blcksmth.dashery.com/ Powell's book signing event: https://www.powells.com/events/michael-james-schneider-8-9-25 Penguin Books: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/728757/the-writings-on-the-wall-by-michael-james-schneider/

Jesse Duquette

Jesse Duquette has been skewering DJT, and the various boot lickers in his orbit, since day one of the first Trump administration. He started the Daily Don in 2017, by posting one drawing everyday detailing all the lies and buffoonery. His current Instagram account continues that same mission and has been a consistent target for the political right. Jesse is threatened consistently by online trolls and Meta has harassed him with an onslaught of shadow bans, and even removing all of his accounts, along with his 200K+ followers, from all Meta platforms right before the election back in October of 2024. I sat down with Jesse to discuss all of this, as well as the fate of his archive after he was banned by Meta, the current state of political cartooning, and how far is too far for his art. jesseduquette.com jesseduquette.substack.com

Halldór Ragnarsson

Iceland's Halldór Ragnarsson uses a combination of repetitive phrases in his native Icelandic, abstract compositions, and a muted palette punctuated with bright yellow to create the signature look of his paintings. I had a chance to ask Halldór about how he comes up with his phrases and how repetition fit into his philosophy of language, and the transformative nature of losing his home studio in a fire. He was recently here in Los Angeles, but despite missing each other, we might get to meet up again after all! hragnarsson.com

Robbie Austin

The creative journey of Lake Charles, LA artist Robbie Austin is filled with starts and stops, detours, and coincidences. You could say in a way it's all been one very long u-turn, which led him from Louisiana, to Los Angeles for college, on to Houston, then back to his hometown. After an extensive period away from art he's back and better than ever, putting his signature abstractions onto old text-laden pages from field books and maps sourced from a most unlikely location. We discuss this journey, 80's new wave music, the role art plays in Robbie's spiritual quest, and the power of opening yourself up to divine inspiration. https://robbieaustin.com/