Art Problems

Crystal Hartman has been a Netvvrk member since we launched in 2021 — long enough to know exactly how she uses it, and what it's actually done for her practice. She joins me today to talk about what it looks like to run a studio with your values front and center: finding community after relocating to a new city, using Netvvrk as a resource library rather than a fixed routine, and how learning to articulate what she needed led directly to getting the keys to an experimental exhibition space in her town.

Crystal Hartman (b. 1983, Durango, Colorado, USA) is a multimedia artist based in Urbana, Illinois. Her work has been exhibited at the CCCB, Barcelona; National Palace of Culture, Sofia; BMOCA, Boulder; Arvada Center for the Arts; and Denver International Airport. Her work appears globally in arts and literary publications, as album art through independent labels, and on book covers published by Oxford University Press and A5 Publishing, Madrid. In addition to her studio and curatorial practices, she teaches workshops on Light and Alternative Photographic Processes each spring through the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign at The Farms: An Allerton Folk School.

Free Info Session: How to Get on a Museum's Radar - Tuesday, April 28th at 7pm EST. Register here.
Website: https://www.crystalhartman.com/

Artists Tommy Riefe and Lexa Walsh join me to discuss the New Museum expansion and show, New Humans: Memories of the Future curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Gary Carrion-Murayari. We discuss the success of the building itself and then move onto the show’s major themes—the history of the human body as mediated by technology. 

 

Additional Resources: 

Tommy Riefe
Lexa Walsh 

The New Museum, New Humans: Memories of the Future

Jeffrey Deitch, Post Human, 1992  

Boris Groys, Art Power, 2008

Jason Farago, The New Museum Reopens Asking: “What is Human?”, 2026, The New York Times

 

Artist guests: 

Tommy Riefe 

Riefe earned his BFA in Art History and Sculpture from the University of Northern Iowa in 2014, and later received his MFA from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. He has been in numerous group exhibitions and has public sculptures in the collections of Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, VA (2022) Fort Dodge, IA (2021) Lakewood, MN (2019), Iowa State University (2018), Minnesota State University (2018), Laneken, Belgium (2018), Cedar Falls, IA (2017) Rock Island, IL (2016), and Sioux City, IA (2016).

 

Lexa Walsh

Lexa Walsh is an artist, cultural worker and experience maker.  With a background in both sculpture and social practice, Walsh makes site specific projects, exhibitions, publications and objects, using an array of materials including ceramics and textiles, employing social engagement, institutional critique, and radical hospitality to question hierarchies, power and value.  

Walsh founded the experimental music and performance venue the Heinz Afterworld Lounge, and co-founded and conceived of the all women, all toy instrument ensemble Toychestra.  Walsh worked for many years as a curator and administrator at CESTA, an international art center in Czech republic, whose team created radical curatorial projects to foster cross-cultural understanding. She founded Oakland Stock & Soup for Social & Racial Justice, and the Bay Area Contemporary Art Archive. She is a graduate of Portland State Universitys Art & Social Practice MFA program and was Social Practice Artist in Residence in Portland Art Museums Education department. She was a recipient of Southern Exposures Alternative Exposure Award, the CEC Artslink Award, the Gunk Grant and was a de Young Artist Fellow. Walsh has participated in projects, exhibitions and performances at Apexart, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, FOR-SITE, Grand Central Art Center, Kala Art Institute, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, NIAD, Oakland Museum of California, SFMOMA, Smack Mellon, Walker Art Center, Williams College Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and has done several international artist residencies, tours and projects in Europe and Asia.

The art world has no HR department. There's no employer to set up health insurance, no emergency fund, no retirement plan. If you’re a freelance artist, that means you’re on your own. Today's guest, Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter and founder of Metalabel, thinks that can change with a new business designation called the A-Corp.

The A-Corp is Strickler’s answer to that problem: a new business structure built specifically for artists that comes with legal protection, fair ways to share ownership with collaborators, and eventually, a path to group health insurance. It’s currently a bill before the Colorado Senate — and if it passes, Colorado becomes the template for the rest of the country. Strickler walks me through how it works and makes the case that we’re only at the very beginning of something much bigger.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

RELATED LINKS

Artist Corporations

Metalabel

The Creative Independent

TED Talk: Forget Hustle Culture. Behold the Artist Corporation

New Creative Era podcast — Yancey's podcast with Joshua Citarella

Artist Corporations: New Podcast and Early Traction — the episode where Yancey first laid out the A-Corp in detail

Artist William Powhida and Netvvrk Operations Director Penny Retica join me to discuss the 2026 Whitney Biennial, curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer. We walk through the show's major themes—human-animal relationships, infrastructure, economic critique, and the handmade.  

Our conversation explores the possibilities brought forward by the biennial. Does it represent a search for art’s utility in a moment of uncertainty? Is its focus on feeling over confrontation, a curatorial choice or a broader retreat? What are the consequences of omitting collaborative work and art showcasing decentralized resistance? 

Like all good conversations, this one doesn't offer easy answers. We examine what the biennial reveals about the current moment, and in a time that feels directionless, that critical work can feel grounding.

Guests: William Powhida, artist Penny Retica, Netvvrk operations director

Additional Reading:

Ben Davis, The Whitney Biennial Just Wants you to Feel Something, Artnet, 2026 

Aruna D’Souza, The Polycrisis Sublime of the Whitney Biennial, Hyperallergic, 2026

Jenny Wu, Whitney Biennial 2026 Review: The Revolution Will Be Cute, Art Review, 2026

Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism

Art Problems Podcast, Episode 85: What is Killing the New York Art Fairs, Part 2

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What does it feel like to work professionally as an artist for 23 years but still feel like you're treading water?

In this episode of Art Problems, I speak with Boston-based artist Yuko Oda about joining Netvvrk just over a year ago after graduating from RISD in 2002 and spending two decades feeling confused about her trajectory. She was saying yes to everything, spreading herself too thin, and missing opportunities she should have seized—like a group show in Tokyo where she wasn't happy with the work she submitted.

In just over a year, Yuko sold her first major piece directly to a collector, secured a three-piece commission for a downtown Boston high-rise, exhibited work in Rome that she calls her best art experience ever, and learned to set boundaries that protect her momentum. We talk about overcoming hesitation to invest in yourself, how accountability groups helped navigate everything from invoices to artist-consultant contract splits, and what it feels like to finally know where you are on your career path instead of floating like a bubble.

Free Info Session: How to Become a Biennial Artist - Wednesday, February 25th at 7pm EST Register here. 

Yuko Oda: Website: https://www.yukooda.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yukooda75

Education:

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD): https://www.risd.edu

Institutions Mentioned:

UMass Lowell: https://www.uml.edu

Harvard Entomology Club: https://hmnh.harvard.edu

New York Institute of Technology: https://www.nyit.edu

Grants & Programs:

Guggenheim Fellowship: https://www.gf.org

Artists Mentioned (Commission Advice):

Laura Fayer: https://www.laurafayer.com/

Adria Arch: https://www.adriaarch.com/

John Laustsen: https://www.jonlaustsen.com/

Mary Lynn Burke: https://www.marylynnburke.com/

Kristin Cronic: https://www.kristinraecronic.com/

Kristi Kun https://www.kristykun.com/