Subject, Object, Verb

Getting under the skin of art, artists and the world they live and create in is at the heart of Ross Simonini’s podcast. Neil Cooper talks to him about sound and vision

Ross Simonini began his podcast Subject, Object, Verb in 2020, with the desire to ‘express the sonic dimension of contemporary art, and an audio show seemed like the best format for doing that’. Produced by ArtReview magazine, the show’s title is a kind of manifesto that joins the dots between artist, art and the life driving them.

‘Art is not created in a vacuum,’ Simonini says. ‘The personality and the life of the artist are connected to the work. We live in an era where people want to understand those connections more than ever: the rise of social media, activism, the #MeToo movement, identity politics. Even if an artist wants to stay out of the work and hide in the woods, and completely rejects the capitalist system, their hermetic life is reflected in the work. People will consider the artist’s refusal when they see the work. Think about Lee Lozano or David Hammons or Thomas Pynchon or JD Salinger; known as much for their work as their obscurity.’

Simonini points out a desire in all of us to reflect on a life lived while considering the art. ‘Look at work by Van Gogh or Kahlo, James Baldwin or Joan Didion, Beethoven or Beyoncé without thinking about the way they lived, the time in which they created the work, and how they presented themselves to the world? For me, the show is a way of reconciling all of it.’

Over its two series so far, Subject, Object, Verb has seen Simonini engage with sound in various ways, with the likes of Ariel Pink, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and Flying Lotus featured alongside others more recognisably rooted in the art world. Given its investigations of sound, the aural tone of the podcast itself is key.

‘For me, listening to a podcast is an intimate experience. It’s a way of temporarily replacing the voice in your head. It’s an honour to have that kind of close communication, so I try to create the voice I would like to hear.’

Like his interviewees, Simonini is something of a polymath. ‘I like variety,’ he says, ‘so I work in different forms: painting, music, essays, novels, dialogue, audio design, performances and pedagogy. It feels right to keep trying new things. I try to break up these activities to be both inward facing (like art) and outward facing (like dialogues) to keep things balanced.’ Subject, Object, Verb looks set to continue pulsing its way onwards, as Simonini puts it, ‘into ears, into minds, into hands’.

n Episodes available at artreview.com

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tv • tv • tv • BINGE FEST

Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches G

With anticipation rife for the Westeros prequel, this might be the moment to get back into Game Of Thrones (NOW TV) or, and this seems unimaginable, to try it out for the very first time. While it’s not all ‘boobs and beheadings’ (OK, there are stretches when that seems pretty much its whole reason for being), you might reach a point where the onslaught of vice and violence starts to lose any impact. Who will end up on the Iron Throne (you’re lying if you say you saw that coming) and how many of our heroes will still be breathing come the guts-soaked finale?

Fisticuffs of a far lighter sheen arrives in GLOW (Netflix), a series which was brought to a thudding conclusion a lot earlier than fans would have hoped. Indeed, filming had begun on its fourth season when the plug was pulled. Harsh. But there’s plenty still to enjoy in this 80s-set wrestling series featuring Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Kate Nash and Marc Maron. (Brian Donaldson) Other G binges: Gilmore Girls (Netflix), Green Wing (All 4), Gomorrah (NOW TV).