We wrap up Season 2 by taking a look at Minneapolis’ most distinctive architectural feature, the network of bridges connecting the buildings of downtown. With each link being different, it’s an accidental experiment of what works and doesn’t work in architecture. Also: news! FULL EPISODE TEXT. Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. All … Continue…

We’ve talked about good buildings. Why not check in on a bad one?By Keith Pille and Floris Lafontant

Architecture isn’t just about buildings- it’s also about parks, places that are notably building-free. Peavey Plaza is a great park, and also a great exemplar of Brutalism, a form that sounds a lot scarier than it really is. FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. We’re continuing our exploration of architecture … Continue …

More gamboling in the lush fields of semiotics as we look at why the University of St. Thomas worked hard to make its downtown Minneapolis buildings, designed around the year 2000, look like parts of them came from the Middle Ages. FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. Welcome back as … Continue reading "Ep. 2.6: More Sem…

Jean Nouvel’s Guthrie Theater plays a complicated double game with its appearance, lying to you and then telling the truth about what’s really going on inside. This means we need to work up the guts to talk semiotics. FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. In this episode, we’re continuing our … Continue reading "Ep. 2.5 S…

Wells Fargo Center looks like another Art Deco building (in more ways then one- it looks like another specific Art Deco building), but that’s not quite accurate. It’s time to get serious about this postmodernism thing. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. In this episode, we’re continuing this season’s discussion of … Continu…

Some geometric glass buildings are really boring. Phillip Johnson’s IDS Center isn’t one of them, though! It’s a great example of modernism done well. But what’s modernism, anyway? Full Show Transcript Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. This episode, I’ll be continuing my walk through some architectural highlights of downtown Minneapolis, dis…

The Foshay Tower is a building everyone in Minneapolis seems to love. But why? And if it’s an Art Deco masterpiece, what does that mean? EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. In this episode, we’re continuing to talk about the architecture of downtown Minneapolis, heading into downtown proper to talk about … Continue reading "…

Welcome back to Artpal! Season 2, using buildings around downtown Minneapolis to talk about architecture, kicks off with a look at the Minneapolis Institute of Art as a building. But first, there’s some news about the show itself. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. Let’s get talking about art again! … Continue reading "Ep 2.…

Keith wraps up the first season by pointing out that even though the Minneapolis Institute of Art is full of great works, one of its best artistic experiences involves looking out a window. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. Welp, we’re closing out Season 1. Thanks for listening your way … Continue reading "Ep. 1.9: Art Is A…

Alexa Horochowski’s Vortex Drawing 17 (2017.80.6) is a striking work of art that alludes to the problem of garbage in the oceans. The difficulty of finding a lot of other works by women is an example of a different type of garbage. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. We’re continuing … Continue reading "Ep. 1.8: Alexa Horocho…

Yuji Honbori’s Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (2012.68.1a,b) and Susan Folwell’s Why Does He Call Me Caitlyn? (2016.5.13) are a couple of works of art that punch back at the walls of the arbitrary boxes the art world would traditionally put them in. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, your art pal. We’re continuing our … Continu…

George Morrison wanted to be known as “a painter who happened to be an Indian.” But people always talk about him in the context of his ethnicity, even if it’s to say that he didn’t want to be talked about that way. It’s fraught. At any rate, his Collage IX: Landscape (75.24) is a pretty … Continue reading "Ep. 1.6: The Only Question About George Mo…

William Howard and William Edmondson were certainly not insiders to the art world. Does that make their works—a writing desk (2012.11) and a sculpture of a ram (2013.56)—pieces of outsider art, though? Is “outsider art” a dangerous, loaded concept? Help! Don’t worry, Keith is here to help. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, … Continue rea…

When artists have a distinctive style, it can be jarring to look at works of theirs that come across a little differently. Keith digs into a couple of MIA pieces– Kehinde Wiley’s Santos Dumont- The Father of Aviation II (MIA accession no. 2010.99) and Georgia O’Keeffe’s City Night (80.28)–that diverge from what we usually expect … Continue reading …

Morris Kantor painted one hell of a portrait of his mother in 1922 (MIA accession number L2014.234.53), and it’s a good example of an approach to portraiture that can really tell a story. But it’s *also* a good entryway to talk about the relationship between museums and collectors. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith … Continue reading "Ep 1.3: M…

Keith digs into the 1969 painting Frank by Chuck Close, MIA accession number 69.137. It’s a striking work by an important American artist who, unfortunately, has been in the news lately for troubling reasons. This means it’s time for the always-fun game of “should/can I separate the art from the artist?” FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi … Continue reading "Ep …

Welcome to Artpal, both the podcast in general and Season 1 in particular. Host Keith Pille lays out some background and introduces the first season, which will act as a sort of guerrilla audioguide to a selection of works on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. FULL EPISODE TEXT Hi there! I’m Keith Pille, … Continue reading "Ep 1.1: What’s…