On this week’s episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast, we’re joined by curator Diana Nawi, whose career has taken her from institutions including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Pérez Art Museum Miami to co-curating Prospect New Orleans and Made in L.A. 2023 at the Hammer Museum. Now back in Los Angeles, Diana is a curator of contemporary art at LACMA.

We talk about what a curator actually does, how Diana found her way into the field, and why so much of her career has been shaped by relationships, curiosity, and what she describes as learning to “surf the wave in front of you.” She shares lessons from years of studio visits and working closely with artists, her approach to building exhibitions without forcing a predetermined idea onto the work, and why rigor remains central to how she thinks about art.

We also get into the particular character of Los Angeles as an art city, the role of institutions like LACMA, the Hammer Museum, and MOCA, what artists should know about building relationships with curators, and the challenges facing artists and institutions in today’s art economy. Along the way, Diana reflects on Made in L.A. 2023, the value of looking beyond the traditional centers of the art world, and why some of the most meaningful curatorial work begins with simply staying open to what artists are already doing.

On this week’s episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast🔥 we’re joined by Simon Brewer and Nathalie Martin, the duo behind Brewer Martin, a new Los Angeles gallery opening this fall.

As young gallerists representing the next generation of LA’s art scene, Simon and Nathalie are stepping in at a moment when much of the art world is talking about contraction, gallery closures, and what isn’t working. We talk about what it actually means to run a gallery today, what they learned working alongside established gallerists, and why they see this moment of change as an opportunity to build differently.

We also get into the evolving relationship between artists and galleries, creating space for experimentation and risk-taking, the challenge of bringing a new generation of collectors into the fold, and why the art world still has work to do when it comes to making people feel welcome. Along the way, Simon and Nathalie share how growing up in LA shaped their perspective, the artists and experiences that brought them together, and their hopes for building a gallery rooted in community, curiosity, and long-term relationships with artists.

Brewer Martin opens September 18 in Los Angeles with an inaugural exhibition by Jacob Fenton.

On this week’s episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast, we’re joined by Pablo José Ramírez, curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, fresh off the run of his exhibition 'Several Eternities in a Day'.

Pablo breaks down what a curator actually does, from developing an idea and selecting artists, to navigating the complicated machinery behind a major museum exhibition. We dig into the show’s focus on living and natural materials, why audiences shouldn’t feel pressure to “understand” contemporary art, and his approach to presenting artists from different cultures without reducing their work to identity or basic explanations.

Pablo also shares his journey from growing up in Guatemala to discovering contemporary art through politically engaged artists, eventually building an international curatorial career and finding a home in Los Angeles. We talk about the challenges facing museums today, bringing new audiences into art institutions, and why moments of uncertainty can create opportunities to rethink how the art world works.

And, as always, we make some room for life outside the art world with some detours into sleep hygiene, pilates bodies, Guatemalan coffee, the joy of backyard hoses, and the underrated importance of staying cozy🔥

This week on the Friday Heaters podcast, I'm joined by artist, producer, painter, and creative force Benn The Good—also known as Benny Cassette, and Benedetto. He has built a career that spans music, visual art, and culture, collaborating with artists including Kanye West, Rick Rubin, John Legend, Daft Punk, and many more, while continuing to develop his own distinct voice across multiple creative disciplines.

I've wanted to have Benny on the podcast for a long time. We've been neighbors for years, referring to ourselves as "sacred neighbors”, and some of my favorite conversations happen across the street talking about art, music, life, and whatever creative rabbit hole one of us is down that week.

In this episode, Benny shares the story behind his creative journey: from growing up in East Los Angeles, finding art through graffiti and mural culture, and discovering the Bahá'í Faith as a teenager, to the unlikely path that took him from making beats in his grandmother's house to working alongside some of the biggest names in music.

We talk about why community matters more than networking, how curiosity fuels great art, why the lines between music and visual art are fading, and what it actually looks like to build a creative life that isn't confined to one medium.

If you've ever wondered how someone develops that kind of creative confidence or how a lifetime of experiences eventually comes together into a singular artistic voice, I think you'll really enjoy this conversation🔥

On this week’s episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast, we sit down with painter, Tidawhitney Lek, to talk about the path from working art jobs in Los Angeles to fully committing to her own painting practice. Tida reflects on growing up in Long Beach in a Cambodian family shaped by the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge, and how those experiences eventually found their way into her work through family narratives, domestic spaces, memory, and identity.

We discuss the moment she quit working side jobs, surviving the uncertainty of the early years, and how a series of studio visits and chance encounters helped launch her career during the pandemic-era art boom.

Tida also breaks down her painting process, balancing practicality with experimentation, the influence of artists like Kerry James Marshall and Amir Fallah, and where she sees her work evolving next as she prepares for upcoming projects with Night Gallery and Victoria Miro.

On this episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast, we sit down with Emma Webster ahead of her major New York show with Petzel. She breaks down her process, from handmade sculptures and real-world digital scans to VR-built landscapes, painting and how it all comes together into something that feels both real and surreal.

We talk about play, failure, risk, and the less visible side of building an art career, along with bigger ideas around technology, nature, and what it means to create entirely new worlds.

On this episode of the Friday Heaters podcast, we sit down with Abby Pucker—founder of the arts organization Gertie, headquartered in Chicago—and a close friend who’s building something we deeply believe in.

Abby shares her path from Sotheby’s and UTA to returning home to Chicago to build Gertie—a platform rethinking how the art world can work by blending exhibitions, membership, and community into a more sustainable model.

We get into the guts it takes to bet on your city, building outside of New York and LA, and what it really looks like to create something meaningful from scratch.

A thoughtful conversation about art, entrepreneurship, and backing a new generation of patrons in Chicago and beyond.

On this week’s episode of the Friday Heaters Podcast, we sit down with Joe Parmer, co-owner of Custom Art Surfaces (CAS), the Los Angeles–based fabrication shop behind many of the canvases and painting surfaces used by today’s leading contemporary artists.

Joe takes us inside a part of the art world that rarely gets talked about—the physical foundation of a painting. From stretcher bars and substrates to gesso and surface preparation, we break down what actually goes into building a canvas, and why those decisions matter as an artist’s career and market evolve.

We also get into Joe’s path into the industry, from looking for a way into the art world to eventually taking over the business and helping grow it into a trusted partner for serious artists. Along the way, we talk about the relationship between craftsmanship and value, how artists know when it’s time to level up their materials, and what happens behind the scenes when making large-scale or highly customized works.

Beyond the technical side, this conversation opens up a broader look at the art ecosystem—how different roles support the creative process, how the market has shifted in recent years, and how businesses like CAS are adapting to reach a wider range of artists.

This is a deep dive into some of the unseen infrastructure of contemporary art—and the people helping bring artists’ visions to life. Enjoy the heat🔥