The Truth In This Art

Rob Lee
  • 4.8 (166)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Semiweekly

The Truth In This Art with Rob Lee is a Baltimore-based arts and culture podcast where independent journalist Rob Lee goes beyond the highlight reel to uncover the truth behind the work—the creative process, the choices, and the stories that shape the people who make it. This podcast features thoughtful conversations with emerging and established photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, chefs, writers, and other creative voices. Each episode explores how artists build sustainable practices, stay connected to their communities, and create work that reflects the world around them. More than interviews, these are stories about what it takes to build a creative life—the challenges, choices, and experiences that make art matter. For makers, culture lovers, and the creatively curious

  1. 18h ago

    From Materials to New Media: Johab Silva on Art, AI, and Urban Development

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Johab Silva! About Johab Silva: Brazilian artist and arts educator who has lived in the Washington, D.C. region for 18 years. Based in Virginia, Silva works across AI, NFTs, VR and AR, generative media, animation, video projection, and 3D modeling to explore environmental and community issues connected to urban development. Johab reflects on how his practice shifted around 2017, after a major, material-focused exhibition at Transformer prompted him to investigate where his materials came from and how they connected to the environmental issues already present in his work. He also discusses how his education in the D.C. area, including earning the final Master of Arts in Education degree from the Corcoran before its acquisition by George Washington University, shaped his professional practice. We get into the hands-on nature of working with digital tools. Even when he is using a mouse and computer, Johab explains that he still needs to feel the work visually and remain deeply engaged with what he is making. His process can move through three or four different software programs, from sketching and 3D modeling to animation, rendering, and video projection—each stage adding another layer to the final piece. Johab also shares why he created New Media Workshop while teaching in the University of Maryland’s immersive media department. Beginning with YouTube tutorials for his students, the project grew out of his desire to make intimidating technologies more accessible to artists and people working in the humanities. Drawing from his own experience learning software independently during his MFA, he emphasizes patience, kindness, and side-by-side support as essential to helping artists enter new media. Be sure to follow Johab Silva and New Media Workshop to keep up with his work, educational resources, and future projects. Photo courtesy provided by subject The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    From Materials to New Media: Johab Silva on Art, AI, and Urban Development

  2. 5d ago

    Glass Artist Dany Green on Chaos, Order, and Letting Things Break

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the returning guest is Dany Green! About Dany Green: Self-taught abstract glass artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. Working outside of traditional mosaic training, Green has developed an avant-garde technique she calls glass painting, building each piece shard by shard in response to light, chaos, and the intangible. Dany first joined the podcast several years ago, and in this conversation, she catches us up on where her practice and her life have taken her since then. She reintroduces her work for listeners who may have missed the first conversation, reflecting on how much she and her practice have grown. We get into the physical demands of her process, including a wrist injury from overuse, and why building in real rest has become essential to sustaining her work long term. Green also opens up about what it means to return to the DMV creative scene after time away, and the mix of excitement and uncertainty that comes with reconnecting to a community and asking whether she still belongs to that story. She also shares what's ahead, including her upcoming solo show, Cosmic Mirrors, at the Silva at the Art Island Gallery in Washington, D.C., as well as a virtual art workshop where she ships materials directly to participants so anyone can join from anywhere. Be sure to follow Dany Green on Instagram at @danyxart to keep up with her work and future projects. Photo courtesy of Mariah Miranda. Dany's Art Workshop Cosmic Mirrors Exhibition The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Glass Artist Dany Green on Chaos, Order, and Letting Things Break

  3. Sep 7

    Photo artist Farrah Skeiky on Photography, Grief, and Staying Connected to People

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the returning guest is Farrah Skeiky! About Farrah Skeiky: DC-area photographic artist with roughly 15 years of experience behind the camera. Her work centers on music and underground scenes, including hardcore punk and DC's alternative drag scene, alongside commercial work in restaurants and hospitality. Everything she creates, she says, is in pursuit of connection. In our conversation, Skeiky catches us up on where her work and her life have taken her since her last appearance on the podcast. She talks about her ongoing long-term project documenting grief, and how staying connected to her fellow human beings remains at the center of that work, even when the subject matter gets heavy. She also reflects on letting go of the urgency and pressure often tied to social media, encouraging artists to ask themselves what they're really trying to make and whether platforms like Instagram should have any say in that process. Be sure to follow Farrah Skeiky on Instagram at @reallyfarah to keep up with her work and future projects. Photo for image always on her mind. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Photo artist Farrah Skeiky on Photography, Grief, and Staying Connected to People

  4. Aug 25

    Yes, Please and Thank You — Georgina Coka Treviño on Cultural Strategy, Art, and Connection

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Georgina Coka Treviño! About Coka Treviño: A cultural strategist and arts advisor originally from Monterrey, Mexico, now based in Austin, Texas. Over the past two decades, she has worked at the intersection of artists, institutions, and contemporary art, collaborating with organizations including the Texas Biennial, Zona Maco, and Untitled Art Fair. Her practice centers on language, communication, and connection, helping artists and organizations clarify how they move through the world and how they speak to the people they serve. In our conversation, Coka Treviño talks through leaving nonprofit work after a difficult stretch and taking the time to reexamine where her energy and attention truly belonged. That reflection led her toward cultural strategy and art advising, work she describes as helping make doing good, doing meaningful work more accessible, easier, and less costly for the people trying to do it. She also discusses her newsletter, Yes, Please, and Thank You, and what it was like committing early ideas to the page for the first time. She reflects on the difference between writing for information versus writing to inspire thinking, and how the newsletter has become a space for warmth, recommendations, and connection, more like running into an old friend than consuming content. Be sure to follow Georgina Coka Treviño on Instagram at @yes_pleaseandthankyou to keep up with her work, writing, and future projects.  Photo of subject courtesy of Cynthia Muñoz The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Yes, Please and Thank You — Georgina Coka Treviño on Cultural Strategy, Art, and Connection

  5. Aug 18

    Producer LuvJonez on Building Community Through Instrumental Hip-Hop

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is LuvJonez. About LuvJonez: Portland, Oregon–based instrumental hip hop producer and beat maker whose work weaves a nostalgic, down-tempo blend of musical influences drawn from his cultural roots, extensive travels, and artistic experiences. Beyond music production, he founded and runs A Beat Happening, a free, monthly, all-ages, inclusive BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+-centered music producer and DJ showcase built to connect artists across the city. In our conversation, LuvJonez talks about how time on the East Coast, in the Pacific Northwest, and around Caribbean culture shaped a sound that doesn't sit neatly in one lane. He remembers going to beatmaker showcases in DC and New York before moving to Portland, watching producers just share their music with no ego and no competition — something that stuck with him long before he had any plans of his own. He talks about his approach to making beats as less about chasing a style and more about following a mood, using the process to decompress and work through his day. It's a "no style is my style" kind of thing, where the genre-blending isn't really a decision so much as a byproduct of everywhere he's lived and everything he's taken in along the way. He also gets into how A Beat Happening came together, noticing that rappers in Portland had plenty of platforms to perform, but producers and beat makers didn't really have anything built for them. The idea started small: approach a local record shop, no money involved, no tickets, just a chance for beat makers to get on stage. LuvJonez reflects on the show now reaching its nine-year anniversary, having hosted over eighty events and featured more than four hundred local Portland artists along the way. For the anniversary, he changed things up — rather than booking individual artists like usual, he invited other music collectives around the city to share one lineup. He talks about going into it unsure whether everyone would say yes, and how surprised he was when every single collective agreed, turning the night into a rare moment where the city's music community showed up for each other instead of competing. Be sure to follow LuvJonez on Instagram, Bandcamp, and YouTube to keep up with his music, and follow A Beat Happening on Instagram @abeathappening or at abeathappening.org for show archives, photos, and videos from over four hundred featured artists. Image courtesy of Subject.  The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Producer LuvJonez on Building Community Through Instrumental Hip-Hop

  6. Aug 11

    Dominican artist Jose Duran on Reclaiming Black Femininity Through Baroque and Rococo Opulence

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Jose Duran. About Jose Duran: Born in Moca, Dominican Republic, Duran is a painter, designer, and sculptor whose work constructs elaborate, opulent interiors rooted in Baroque and Rococo traditions. His practice is grounded in extensive research into survival, celebration, vengeance, sabotage, and aspirational desire within Black communities. Duran centers Black feminine figures in his compositions as a reclamation of their historically overlooked contributions to European standards of taste, and as a form of retribution for generations of forced labor under colonial rule. In the conversation, Duran discusses his early career in fashion, including time spent studying and working in Paris, as well as an MBA program in Taipei focused on the Asian luxury market. He explains his decision, at age 41, to leave the fashion industry behind and commit fully to becoming a visual artist, a shift shaped in part by a residency in Senegal that marked his entry into the art world. Duran describes the influence of his late mother, a hairstylist whose gatherings between the Bronx and the Dominican Republic shaped his early understanding of beauty, celebration, and hospitality. He also outlines his research process, including his study of the historical relationship between textiles and the transatlantic slave trade, and his investigation into love-attraction plants once used by enslaved women in the Caribbean, both of which directly inform his work. The conversation also touches on Duran's early relationship with artist Mickalene Thomas, and how that connection shaped both his confidence and his development as an artist. Follow Jose Duran on Instagram at @joseduranstudio to keep up with his work and future projects. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Dominican artist Jose Duran on Reclaiming Black Femininity Through Baroque and Rococo Opulence

  7. Aug 4

    Dominican artist Bony Ramirez - Anchoring Caribbean Memory to Surreal, Renaissance-Inspired Figures

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Bony Ramirez! About Bony Ramirez: Dominican-born artist based out of Jersey City, New Jersey, working across painting, sculpture, and installation to create a vivid celebration and exploration of Dominican life and Caribbean culture. Blending European painting traditions — Renaissance and Mannerist influences drawn from church art — with distinctly Caribbean imagery, symbolism, and materials, Ramirez has built a visual language entirely his own. His elongated, exaggerated figures function almost like landscapes, each one deliberately distinct, never referencing real people but instead pulling from memory and imagination. In our conversation, Ramirez talks through moving to the United States at 13 years old and how that transition shaped both his identity and his relationship to the culture he left behind. He reflects on how being physically close to New York City's art scene, including a stretch living in Harlem, became an essential part of his growth as an artist. Ramirez discusses his responsibility to tell Caribbean stories that are still underrepresented in contemporary art, noting how many people don't even know where his island is. He gets into how his figures evolved — starting from self-taught limitations that became a stylistic signature — and why he keeps cultural markers like plantains, machetes, and crabs, along with bilingual English and Spanish titles, at the forefront of his work, refusing to let that world fade into the background. Be sure to follow Bony Ramirez on Instagram at @bonyramirezz to keep up with his work and future projects. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    Dominican artist Bony Ramirez - Anchoring Caribbean Memory to Surreal, Renaissance-Inspired Figures

  8. Jul 30

    DMV Visual Artist Khadija Jahmila Turns Reclaimed Materials Into Diasporic Storytelling

    In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Khadija Jahmila! About Khadija Jahmila: Silver Spring, Maryland–based Afro-Caribbean mixed-media artist, mother, and teaching artist working across hand-cut analog and digital collage. Her pieces pull from folklore and surrealism, layering found and donated print material onto wood panels and reclaimed metal to explore what gets carried forward and what gets left behind. Jahmila talks about the apartment building her family first lived in after settling in Maryland, and how a printed photo of that building became what she calls the "spark image" for a larger piece she made during her residency at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. She also remembers the exact moment she started calling herself an artist: twenty-one years old, sitting on a sidewalk outside her freshman dorm, writing poetry and reading it back to herself. Good enough that she believed it. Much of the conversation circles back to material. Jahmila started out working almost exclusively with paper, building early pieces from posters she'd picked up after the People's Climate March. Residencies pushed her further, onto wood, onto salvaged street signs, into printing photographs for the first time instead of only scavenging them. She talks about surrealism as something closer to survival than style, a way the African diaspora has always reached for new realities when the old ones didn't leave room to breathe. "We are building the world we want to see," she says at one point, almost in passing. Jahmila also walks through how her relationship with Eaton DC started small, at a local pop-up market, when the hotel's program director stopped in front of one of her digital collages and asked if she'd ever thought about a show. That conversation led to her first solo exhibition, Hindsight is 2020, a piece she nearly lost when her basement flooded mid-project. She talks about salvaging what survived and finishing the work anyway, water damage and all. There's also a section on her year as Season Artist for Baltimore Center Stage, where she worked across six productions with directors and playwrights. She lights up talking about it, comparing it to designing album art—another place where her collage instincts collaborate with someone else's story. Explore Khadija Jahmila's portfolio at khadijajahmila.com/portfolio, and follow her on Instagram at @khadija.jahmila. She currently has work on view in Thresholds at Techne Fine Art in Rockville (through August 22) and SUPERIMPOSED at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (through August 9), and will exhibit at the FEMME Art Fair at International Square August 26–30. Photo courtesy of subject. The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore).  Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.Production: Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos: Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

    DMV Visual Artist Khadija Jahmila Turns Reclaimed Materials Into Diasporic Storytelling
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4.8
out of 5
166 Ratings

About

The Truth In This Art with Rob Lee is a Baltimore-based arts and culture podcast where independent journalist Rob Lee goes beyond the highlight reel to uncover the truth behind the work—the creative process, the choices, and the stories that shape the people who make it. This podcast features thoughtful conversations with emerging and established photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, chefs, writers, and other creative voices. Each episode explores how artists build sustainable practices, stay connected to their communities, and create work that reflects the world around them. More than interviews, these are stories about what it takes to build a creative life—the challenges, choices, and experiences that make art matter. For makers, culture lovers, and the creatively curious

Information

  • Creator
    Rob Lee
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    958
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2019 - 2026 Copyright of this audio content is owned by Contrarian Aquarian
  • Show Website
    The Truth In This Art

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