Seen

Episodes

• Fair Play Art Fair: Ryan Stanier on Free Booths, Nude Portraits & Shaking Up the Art Fair Model 22.06.2026 32m

  What if exhibiting at an art fair was completely free? That's the question Ryan Stanier - founder of The Other Art Fair - decided to actually answer.After 100 editions and a decade-plus of watching artists get squeezed by rising costs, Ryan stepped away, and then launched Fair Play Art Fair: 70 carefully selected artists, zero booth fees, £20 visitor tickets, and a revenue model that only works if the art sells.In this episode of Behind the Seen, Carrie and Ryan get into the full story: how The Other Art Fair began in a Covent Garden pop-up, what made him sell it, what Jerry Saltz got right about the art fair economy, and why Fair Play will feature a performance piece where visitors are invited to remove their clothes and sit for six artists in a greenhouse.Fair Play Art Fair takes place in October at One Marylebone during Frieze Week.Applications and tickets: https://fairplayartfair.comThanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenThe Behind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Avant Arte CEO Mazdak Sanii: The Next Generation of Art Collectors 11.06.2026 29m

  Download Avant Arte's New Generation Report: https://avantarte.com/insights/articles/new-generation-survey-2026 This year’s findings show that younger collectors are becoming an increasingly active economic and philanthropic force, spending meaningfully on artworks, visiting museums frequently, and demonstrating a growing appetite to financially support institutions.Mazdak Sanii didn't grow up in the art world. He grew up practicing French horn six hours a day, writing his dissertation on Derrida, and eventually co-founding Boiler Room - the live music platform that brought intimate underground gigs to millions of global viewers. So how did he end up as the CEO of Avant Arte, one of the most consequential platforms in contemporary art today?In this episode, Mazdak walks us through the eight-year journey of building a platform that has now worked with 250 artists on 750 projects — from Anish Kapoor's first silkscreen print to Tschabalala Self's first public sculpture in London. We talk about the merger with fine art print studio Make-Ready, the mission to bring first-time buyers into the art market (40% of their LACMA x Ed Ruscha buyers had never collected before), and what it actually means to be a "creative marketplace" rather than a gallery, a tech startup, or a hype machine.This is a conversation about access without dilution, culture without gatekeeping, and why the most interesting thing happening in the art world right now might be the thing you haven't heard of yet.Explore Avant Arte's collaborations: https://avantarte.com/Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenThe Behind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Jonathan Schwartz (Atelier 4): The Art Handler Who Moved the Magna Carta 02.06.2026 37m

  Jonathan Schwartz is the founder of Atelier 4, one of the most trusted names in art handling and shipping worldwide. But his entry into the business was less than auspicious - he answered an ad to drive art cross-country despite not really being a driver, worked for what he calls "a pirate outfit," and came home from vacation to find maggots in the sink.That was 36 years ago.Since founding Atelier 4 in 1989, Jonathan has built a company known for handling the art world's most precious and challenging works - from Kerry James Marshall paintings he installed in the '90s to the Magna Carta itself.Carrie and Jonathan talks about the Olympic-level logistics of art handling, why the name Atelier 4 is partly a joke about art world pretension, what happens when artwork components suddenly appear on endangered species lists, and why his favorite art handlers don't necessarily love art - they just need good hand-eye coordination and solid work ethic.This conversation pulls back the curtain on the invisible infrastructure that keeps the art world moving, told by someone who's done everything from cutting stretcher bars to navigating international customs law, and who somehow maintains both deep reverence for the work and a healthy sense of absurdity about the whole enterprise.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenThe Behind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Painter Lottie Cole on Interiors, Forgotten Women Artists & Elizabeth Bowen 01.06.2026 34m

  What does a room reveal about the life lived inside it? For painter Lottie Cole, the answer is: everything.Lottie joins Carrie to talk about her new show at Long & Ryle Gallery in London - an exhibition of interiors inspired by Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen, whose famous family home, Bowen's Court, was sold and demolished by a farmer who wanted only its timber. The story of that house - and Bowen's relationship to it - became the beating heart of a new body of work that asks what we inherit, what we lose, and what stays with us long after the walls come down.Along the way, Lottie talks about painting Bloomsbury interiors at Monk's House and Charleston Farmhouse; the auction house catalogues full of men and the women painters who deserved to be in them; a lifelong compulsion to move house that's apparently genetic; the novel you should read before you see the show; and why, when you finally arrive at a writer's grave for a moment of profound connection, sometimes there are just six men with strimmers.Lottie Cole's show opens 3rd June at Long & Ryle, London: https://longandryle.com/exhibitions/151/works/Read: The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16816/9780099276470Join our mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠Follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Phillip Toledano on AI, Deceit & Why Photography Was Never Really True 19.05.2026 45m

  Carrie Scott sits down with conceptual artist Phillip Toledano to unpack his most audacious project yet - a show at Fotografiska Berlin attributed to a photographer who doesn't exist. We get into AI, historical surrealism, the death of photographic truth, and why his most provocative work is also his most personal.Explore Phillip's work: https://mrtoledano.com/ Join our mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠Follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Painter Suzy Spence: The Hunt, the Bride, and the Widow 04.05.2026 53m

  Painter Suzy Spence spent 35 years making work in New York before trading the city for a sprawling Vermont studio - and she never stopped being radical. In this conversation, we dig into her summer show at the Bundy Museum, the feminist politics woven into equestrian imagery, and why the best paintings should be, in her words, hopefully indescribable.Explore Suzy's work: https://suzyspence.com/ Join our free art newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• How Anastasia Samoylova Photographed Her Way to The Met 21.04.2026 42m

  This week on Have You Seen?, Carrie sits down with photographer Anastasia Samoylova - a Russian-born, Miami-based artist who has spent 15 years building one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary photography, largely by refusing to be intimidated by anything.They talk about Ana's project pairing her contemporary Florida images with Walker Evans's archive, which landed her a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. About what it means to photograph a place that owes its entire identity to images of itself. About publishing as a woman in a field that is still overwhelmingly male. And about the simple but radical approach that has opened almost every door in her career: just ask, and have no expectations about the answer.Explore Ana's work: https://www.anasamoylova.com/ Join our free art newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Damian Elwes: Painting the Studios Where Masterpieces Were Made 07.04.2026 46m

  Damian Elwes spends years researching each painting, piecing together fragments of photographs and historical evidence to recreate the exact studios where masterpieces were made. He's probably the only person alive who's visited every Picasso studio and every Matisse studio. And he sometimes teaches art historians things they don't know about the artists they study.In this conversation, we explore his reluctant journey from Harvard playwriting student to forensic art historian, the detective work behind each painting, and what he's discovered about Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama, Damien Hirst, and more.These aren't just paintings of rooms—they're portraits of creativity itself.Artists Discussed:Pablo Picasso | Henri Matisse | Frida Kahlo | Jean-Michel Basquiat | Damien Hirst | Yayoi Kusama | David Hockney | Rose Wylie | Keith Haring | Georgia O'Keeffe | Donald JuddThanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast. Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art (⁠⁠⁠https://seen.art⁠⁠⁠).Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠.
• Sculptor Syd Carpenter on 50 Years of Clay, Gardens, and Refusing to Be Boxed In 24.03.2026 50m

  Syd Carpenter has spent fifty years expanding what clay can hold and now she's expanding beyond clay altogether. With a major retrospective at the Woodmere Art Museum and three additional exhibitions on view, Carpenter is having the kind of moment most artists dream of. But talk to her for five minutes and you realize she's not looking back. She's still inventing.In this episode, Syd talks about choosing art over medicine, the teacher who gave her space to become herself, why she rejects the idea that her identity gives her a special connection to clay, and how her garden has quietly shaped everything she makes. She's funny, direct, and deeply generous and her story is exactly the kind of thing you want to hear right now.Explore Syd's recent exhibitions:https://www.sju.edu/maguire-art-museum/exhibitions/syd-carpenter https://www.ursinus.edu/live/profiles/10435-syd-carpenterhttps://woodmereartmuseum.org/experience/exhibitions/planting-in-place-time-and-memoryJoin our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlistIf you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenartAbout the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Woodcarver Dan Webb on Time, Memory & Making the Impossible 10.03.2026 43m

  This week, Carrie is joined by Dan Webb, a Seattle-based woodcarver whose work has been astonishing her for 20 years. Dan creates sculptures that seem impossible: hands emerging from raw timber, Mylar balloons carved from wood that say "I love you" and actually mean it, gestures frozen in material older than nations.We discuss his fifth exhibition at Greg Kucera Gallery, "Yespalier," and explore why he's dedicated himself to an ancient craft in a contemporary art world, what it means to carve through 300-year-old trees, and how he finds beauty and agency within the structures that constrain us.Represented by Greg Kucera Gallery, Dan's work is in collections including the Smithsonian, Seattle Art Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum.If you've ever wondered whether contemporary art can be both technically masterful and conceptually profound, both beautiful and meaningful—this conversation is for you.Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Finding Joy at Frieze LA with artist Richelle Rich 03.03.2026 25m

  Artist and LA resident Richelle Rich joins Carrie to debrief on what turned out to be a landmark week for art in Los Angeles. Fresh from days of fairs, openings, and yes, a lot of driving, Richelle gives us her honest account of Frieze LA and the constellation of events that surround it.They talk about why this year felt so different from last year's emotionally charged, post-wildfire edition; what it means for LA to transform, however briefly, into a truly international art city; and whether the energy of one extraordinary week can carry a creative community through the other fifty-one.Richelle shares the works that stopped her in her tracks: a quietly devastating Gillian Wearing self-portrait, a tower of broken pencil points that took real courage to show at a fair, and a series of abstract paintings that made a noisy room go still. She also makes the case for why art fairs, commerce and all, are ultimately good for artists and reveals the one thing she bought.Plus: the new fairs shaking up the LA art week calendar, why Butter might be the most radical fair model in America right now, the impossible choices that come with navigating a city the size of LA, and what Frieze still needs to do better.One word for Frieze LA this year? Richelle doesn't hesitate: joy.Join our free art newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlistIf you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• The Master Photographer You've Never Heard Of (But Should) 24.02.2026 46m

  Shop Harold Feinstein Estate Prints: https://www.carrie-scott.com/shop?category=Harold+FeinsteinCarrie sits down with Judith Thompson as she shares the intimate story of her husband, legendary photographer Harold Feinstein - a man who didn't just capture beauty, he taught people how to see it and live it.While his contemporaries focused on grit, Harold turned his lens toward joy. His philosophy? "When your mouth drops open, click the shutter." His teaching? "Your life is your canvas." His key word? "Yes."From their serendipitous meeting through astrology to preserving his legacy after his death in 2015, Judith reveals the man behind iconic images of Coney Island, intimate family moments, and stunning flower portraits.Discover why Harold's work continues finding new audiences daily, why his students call him a "life teacher," and how creativity itself can be an act of liberation.Guest: Judith Thompson, Director of the Harold Feinstein ArchiveThanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenTheBehind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Laurie Frick: How Data Becomes Art and Why Surveillance Could Be Beautiful 18.02.2026 32m

  Artist Laurie Frick makes portraits without faces. Instead, she transforms personal data into tactile artworks made from wool felt, leather, and sandblasted glass. A former tech executive who spent 20 years in Silicon Valley, Frick has been tracking herself obsessively—sleep patterns, location data, heart rate—since the early 2000s. In this conversation, she shares her radical vision: that surveillance could become a tool for self-knowledge, what Google executives told her when she pitched them this idea, and why medieval Sienese art holds the key to understanding our data-saturated future.Explore Laurie's work: https://www.lauriefrick.com/Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• The Art World's Bloomberg Terminal: Arthur Analytics with James Crichton 17.02.2026 41m

  Sponsored by Arthur Analytics.Join for free: https://www.arthuranalytics.com/seenartWhat happens when someone from finance marries into an art collecting family and decides the industry desperately needs better infrastructure? You get Arthur Analytics—the platform that's consolidating auction data, exhibition histories, gallery sales, and art fair previews into what can only be described as the art world's Bloomberg terminal.In this conversation, Carrie sits down with James Crichton, founder of Arthur Analytics. James isn't trying to make art more like finance. He's trying to make information more accessible so collectors feel confident, advisors work more efficiently, and galleries can reach buyers without paying 20% commissions.Whether you're a collector, advisor, dealer, or just art-curious, this conversation will change how you think about art market data.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenTheBehind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Art Basel Qatar: The Truth Behind the Hype with Tina Corinteli 09.02.2026 20m

  Art advisor Tina Corinteli joins Carrie from Doha to give us the unfiltered take on Art Basel's experimental new format. No traditional booths. Museum-style flow. All costs covered. Sounds dreamy, right?Tina breaks down what really happened: the stunning presentations (Sadie Coles!), the sales situation (complicated), and whether galleries would return if Basel wasn't footing the bill. Plus, she reveals what this fair was actually designed to do—and spoiler: it's not about moving inventory.Highlights include a never-before-seen Alex Katz selling for $3.6M, epic desert installations, and Tina's brutally honest quick-fire round where she calls it "glamorous" and "symbolic" in the same breath.If you've been curious about what's happening with Art Basel Qatar, this is the conversation you need to hear.Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlistIf you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Inside the Booming Collectibles Market with Kayleigh Davies from Auctionet 28.01.2026 32m

  Create your free Auctionet account and explore 80 action houses from your couch: https://auctionet.com/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=SeenWhat if the box of action figures in your parents' attic could fund a house deposit?In this episode of Behind the Seen, Carrie Scott sits down with Kayleigh Davies, a toy specialist with Auctionet with 15 years of experience in the auction world. Kayleigh stumbled into her dream career by accident—walking into a glowing auction house filled with toys and knowing instantly "this is where I belong."But this isn't just a conversation about nostalgia. It's about a fundamental shift in how we think about value.While the art world focuses on overlooked painters and undervalued movements, the collectibles market has quietly exploded. Pop culture departments that didn't exist at major auction houses a decade ago are now selling handwritten lyrics, concert memorabilia, and vintage toys for record-breaking prices. What was once dismissed as "just plastic" is now funding real estate purchases.Kayleigh reveals how childhood Transformers have funded house deposits, why the pop culture market exploded, and what you should check in your attic before it's too late. Plus: the surprising gender gap in toy collecting and the 1920s bangle that still haunts her.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram, @watchseenart.About Behind The SeenTheBehind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Rob Strati 27.01.2026 31m

  Artist Rob Strati drops antique plates onto rocks and transforms them into stunning art that explores memory, colonial history, and the power of repair. When his mother-in-law's cherished chinoiserie plate shattered, he saw opportunity instead of loss—extending the imagery beyond the fragments to create something profound.In this conversation, Rob reveals his mesmerizing process, why people cry when they see his work, and how breaking porcelain can be an act of dismantling hierarchy. His art speaks to our fragmented moment, proving that sometimes the most beautiful stories emerge from what's broken.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast. Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://seen.art⁠⁠⁠⁠).Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.About the Have You Seen? series:The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
• Esther Kim Varet: From running galleries to running for Congress 13.01.2026 39m

  Learn more about Esther Kim Varet: https://www.estherkimvaret.com/This week, Carrie chats with Esther Kim Varet—co-founder of Various Small Fires, the gallery with locations in LA, Seoul, and Dallas—to discuss her journey from opening a gallery at 24 (inspired by a chance $60,000 payday at an art fair) to running for Congress in Orange County.Yes, she's the real-life inspiration behind the gallery owner character in HBO's Girls. But this conversation goes far deeper than pop culture moments. Esther talks about building an empire in an industry not designed for someone who looks like her, the lessons she learned from art world legend Mary Boone, and why "fake it till you make it" actually works in contemporary art.Then we come to the pivot point: Why would someone at the top of the art world walk away to run for Congress? As the daughter of North Korean refugees who started with $400 and a shiitake mushroom farm in Texas, Esther explains her urgent mission to fight authoritarianism, protect free speech, and ensure her kids inherit a democracy worth living in. She's not just changing the art world anymore—she's fighting for the future.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art.If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram,⁠ @watchseenart⁠.About Behind The SeenThe Behind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.
• Wilma Woolf 23.12.2025 44m

  This week, Carrie Scott sits down with artist Wilma Woolf. Wilma is a Virtual Artist working in London. In 2020 she completed a Masters in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, graduating with a Distinction. She has exhibited her work at The Tate Modern, V&A and at Richard Saltoun Gallery in Mayfair with a solo exhibition centred around her installation, Domestic. In 2022 Woolf was invited to the Houses of Parliament to display her work Domestic, which was then discussed by MP Rosie Duffiled in a House of Commons debate. She has recently been interviewed by Art Newspaper and displayed her work "I Collected You Carefully" at the Richard Saltoun Gallery alongside an artist talk chaired by Hettie Judah, art critic and guardian journalist. Her latest exhibition was at the V&A in April 2024 as part of the 'Feminist Futures' exhibition. Woolf's core concern is the extrapolation of political injustices told through data, collected testimonials and the communication of this through artistic means.Integral to the meaning of her work is the making process. Her works are often memorialistic in nature and are both labour and research intensive. Through this making process she fulfils a personal devotional need to pay tribute to people whose lives have been affected and interrupted by injustice. Woolf's work is noted for being repetitive, organised and often comprising of grids or grid like structures. It is multi-disciplinary in its approach, incorporating installations, sculptural and 2D work, through diverse materials such as concrete, photography, glass, light and ceramics.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast. Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://seen.art⁠⁠⁠⁠).Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.
• Richelle Rich 09.12.2025 42m

  This week, Carrie Scott interviews artist Richelle Rich. What does Margaret Thatcher have to do with Mr. Whippy ice cream? And why does it matter to contemporary art?Listen to this episode to find out. Working from her vine-covered studio in Santa Monica, Richelle is finally looking back at the Isle of Wight—the small island where she grew up. Her current work explores systems of power through unexpected objects: ice cream, chalk cliffs, and folklore. She's investigating the urban legend that Margaret Thatcher invented soft-serve ice cream as an entry point to the intersection of personal and political history.We talk about her decade traveling with an inflatable sex doll as her alter ego, creating a giant floral installation spelling "cunt" in the California desert, and why she prefers subversive ambiguity over overt political messaging—except when it comes to abortion rights.But this goes beyond art. We get honest about motherhood and creative practice—making art from dirty nappies during postpartum depression, raising teenage boys who understand privilege without guilt, and feeling like a wild horse being broken in even with help and privilege.We explore "escape velocity" from island culture, becoming more politically active in LA than she ever was in London, and how our generation of women is partnered with the first generation of men figuring out modern fatherhood with no roadmap.Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast. Liked what you heard? Get early access to these episodes and a ton of other great art content by becoming a member of Seen at seen.art (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://seen.art⁠⁠⁠⁠).Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.