Doing Things

Leslie Smith III, Ancestral Meeting, 2025 Oil on shaped canvas and sewn upholstery fabric, 36 x 45 1/2 in 91.4 x 115.6 cm. Copyright The Artist

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

–Benjamin Franklin

Some lessons don’t truly land until we step into the experience ourselves. There’s something about trying, fumbling, and discovering that turns ideas into insights and information into real understanding. It’s the power of participation, how much more we gain when we move from watching to engaging, from knowing to practicing.

Charisse Pearlina Weston joined us to talk about her current show mis-/mé- (squeeze), which runs until December 20 at Jack Shainman Gallery. The title draws on the English and French prefixes used to indicate a sense of deviation, as well as the concept of pressure and squeezing as a way of thinking about how some ideological processes squeeze us into certain positions within society. To learn more about the work and concepts, listen to the complete interview.

Leslie Smith III spoke with us about Gentle Thoughts, his exhibition at Chart Gallery running until December 20. In titling this show, Smith considered multiple angles. In one sense, the title refers to the permission he has been giving himself over the last few years – allowing himself the time and space to have gentle thoughts, combating the thoughts and anxieties that arise as a result of how we are perceived. And while gentle thoughts became a refuge, they also created a space that challenged the idea of what a gentle thought is to begin with. To learn more about this concept and understand the work, listen to the complete interview.