Episoder
-
My conversation with two remarkable Australian artists, Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt was in front of a fabulous audience at the Tweed Regional Gallery.
Robert and Keith completed residencies at the gallery's Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio, drawing inspiration from objects in Margaret Olley’s recreated home studio at the gallery. The result of their residencies is A Dictionary for Painting, a stunning exhibition on display until March 2, 2025. In this episode, Robert and Keith share their creative highs and lows, offering an intimate glimpse into the making of their works.
Special thanks to Tweed Regional Gallery for recording this event and sound engineer Dan Harcombe for his expertise. A video version of this interview will be online soon - and don’t miss my earlier interview with Robert from 2021, linked below.
Links
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the works
Robert Malherbe
Keith Burt
Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre
Ep 162 - Ingrid Hedgcock
Ep 161 - Sophie Perez and Sarah McDonald
Ep 120 - Robert Malherbe
Robert Malherbe on the YouTube channel
John Honeywill
Sarah MacDonald Instagram reel - what to take on a residency
Sign up to my monthly Newsletter
TWP Instagram
TWP Facebook
My LinkedIn
Selection of work by Robert Malherbe
Selection of work by Keith Burt
Robert Malherbe (b.1965)Olley’s table 09 2024oil on linen81 x 66 cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Keith Burt (b.1969)Bird 2024oil on canvas30 x 25cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Keith Burt (b.1969)Floral jug 2024oil on canvas40 x 40cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Robert Malherbe (b.1965)Olley’s table 06 2024oil on linen81 x 66 cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Margaret Olley (1923–2011)Still life with cornflowers 1995oil on board66.9 x 90.1 cmOn loan from University Art Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of SydneyDonated through The Hon R P Meagher bequest 2011© Margaret Olley Art Trust
Keith BurtUrban ArtistsOil on canvasWinner 2020 Brisbane Portrait Prize84 x 66cm
Robert MalherbeThe Stoic, 2011oil on linen76 x 61cm(Portrait of Nicholas Harding)
Keith Burt (b.1969)Jar 2024oil on canvas40 x 40cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Keith Burt (b.1969)Vase 2024oil on canvas40 x 40cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
Robert Malherbe (b.1965)Olley’s table 12 2024oil on polyester51 x 41 cmCourtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery© The artist
-
Ingrid Hedgcock, director of the Tweed Regional Gallery, shows me around the amazing Margaret Olley Art Centre which is the relocation of Margaret Olley's home studio from Paddington in Sydney.
Famous for being like an Aladdin's cave of eclectic objects, the recreated home studio contains the sources of many inspirational items which appear in Margaret Olley's paintings. Over an astonishing 21,000 items were relocated from Sydney to the gallery.
Ingrid, having been involved in the project almost from its inception, is the ideal person to share insights into the creation of this extraordinary tribute to Olley.
This is the second of three episodes recorded at Tweed Regional Gallery. The previous episode is my conversation with Sophie Perez and Sarah McDonald undertaking a residency at the gallery and the following episode will be my conversation with Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt at the gallery about the exhibition 'A Dictionary for Painting'.
Photo of Ingrid Hedgcock supplied by Tweed Regional Gallery
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the Margaret Olley Art Centre
Margaret Olley Art Centre
'A Dictionary for Painting', exhibition with Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt at the Tweed Regional Gallery until 2 March 2025
Scott Bevan on William Dobell
Ben Quilty (ep 80)
'The Hat Factory', Margaret Olley Art Centre
'The Yellow Room', Margaret Olley Art Centre -
Mangler du episoder?
-
See an edited version of this episode (5 mins) on the talking with Painters YouTube channel
An artist’s residency provides more than just uninterrupted time to work; it’s also a valuable space for risk-taking, experimentation, and self-reflection.
That's what I learned when I caught up with Sophie Perez and Sarah McDonald during my recent visit to the Tweed Regional Gallery. They were there for a residency in the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence studio. Both are accomplished landscape painters working in oils, have exhibited in solo and group shows across the country and both made the trek across Australia to immerse themselves in this experience - Sophie from Victoria and Sarah from South Australia. It was wonderful to hear their thoughts on the value of the residency and what has come from it.
This is the first of three podcast episodes which I recorded on my visit to the Tweed Regional Gallery a couple of weeks ago. I was invited to facilitate a conversation in front of an audience with Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt, two leading painters who recently completed funded residencies at the gallery. Their new works, now hanging in the exhibition A Dictionary for Painting, are inspired by objects from Australian art royalty Margaret Olley’s glorious home studio, which has been relocated within the gallery. The gallery recorded the conversation and it will be coming soon to the podcast. I was also lucky enough to have an impromptu chat with gallery director Ingrid Hedgcock, an expert on Margaret Olley, who will be joining me on the next episode.
Links
Podcast listeners click here for website page and images of works
Sign up to the Talking with Painters newsletter
Sophie Perez website
Sarah McDonald website
Sophie Perez Instagram
Sarah McDonald Instagram
https://youtu.be/jxJybTWc81s?si=8neVQgRZyTP1x7y6
Wall of Sophie Perez' work
Wall of Sarah McDonald's work
Work mentioned by Sarah at about 9min 40s
Work mentioned by Sophie at about 18min 30s
Work mentioned by Sophie at about 21 min
-
Podcast listeners click here to view the works
Through layers of paint in varying translucency, Karen Black explores not only the physical nature of the female form but through her use of abstraction and considered use of colour she brings out another dimension - an emotional layer.
There is a strong sense of a spontaneous response in her paintings so you may be surprised to hear that reading and research play as much a role in her process as creating those drips and brushstrokes.
Karen talks with me in this episode about her fascination with recent research on frequencies and vibrations which occur in all matter. That interest informs her most recent body of work which will be on view in her upcoming solo show 'alternative frequency' at Ames Yavuz in Sydney.
Karen has been acclaimed with awards and residencies and her work is in the collections of many public institutions. She has been repeatedly shortlisted in the Archibald and Sulman prizes, among many others, and has work hanging in both those prize exhibitions in the Art Gallery of NSW this year. She has also been recognised for her ceramic work, two of which have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.
In this podcast episode Karen talks with me about her childhood memories of art, how she came to painting, the story behind her current show and some interesting aspects of her process.
Links
Sign up to the TWP newsletter
Karen Black on Instagram
Karen Black at Ames Yavuz
Karen Black at Sutton Gallery
Solo show 'alternative frequency' at Ames Yavuz Gallery, 31 August to 5 October 2024
'Both of us'oil on canvas61 x 92 cmFinalist Sir John Sulman Prize 2024Source: AGNSW website
‘Head wind’ 2024,oil on polyester, 183.3 x 153 cmImage courtesy of the artist
'Licking the rain' 2017oil on canvas152.5 x 122 cmFinalist Sir John Sulman Prize 2017Source: AGNSW website
'I Will Shade You from the World'2022Oil on canvas213.6 x 198.5cmImage courtesy of the artist
Vivian Vidulichoil on polyester183 x 152.5 cmFinalist - Archibald Prize 2024Source: AGNSW website
'Crown legs arms' 2016earthenware, 23ct gold leaf69.0 × 29.7 × 29.2 cmCollection, National Gallery of Victoria
-
Watch the video version of my interview with Laura Jones here on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel
Congratulations to previous podcast guest Laura Jones on winning the Archibald Prize - Australia’s most famous portrait prize - with a sensitive and meaningful portrait of writer and environmentalist Tim Winton.
On Friday I interviewed Laura shortly after the announcement and I’m bringing you that 5 minute conversation in this episode but I’ve also gone through the archives to my podcast conversation with Laura in 2018 to bring you something extra.
When I interviewed Laura a few years ago it was after she had finished a residency on the Great Barrier Reef where she was studying the terrible bleaching events which occurred there (and continue to occur) and her concern surrounding those events is not unconnected with her winning portrait in this year's Archibald Prize.
Because it was after seeing Tim Winton’s documentary on the ABC, Ningaloo Nyinggulu, about the fight to save the Ningaloo reef that Laura requested an Archibald portrait sitting. They have in common a sense of urgency that we must act now on climate change and are doing everything they can to bring attention to the devastating and inevitable consequences of inaction.
One of the most interesting parts of my conversation with Laura was when she explained how coral bleaching occurs. It’s complex and scientific but she explained it in a way that anyone could understand so I thought I would bring you that part of the interview today .
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition continues until Sunday 8 September 2024. The Archibald finalist works then go on tour across 5 venues across NSW and for the first time, to the Northern Territory. The Wynne Prize finalist works will tour to four venues in regional NSW.
2018 podcast interview with Laura Jones (ep 53)
Laura Jones' Archibald Prize acceptance speech (Instagram)
YouTube version of my Archibald interview with Laura
Incognito Art Show
Studio A
Tim WintonOil on linen, 198 x 152.5cmImage: Art Gallery of NSW, Jenni Carter Winner 2024 Archibald Prize
-
See the video version of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel here.
This is my 5th collection of Loading Dock Interviews of entrants to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.
Six brave painters fronted my camera and microphone as they delivered their work to the packing room at the Art Gallery of NSW via the loading dock.
Thankyou to these artists (tap on their name for their Instagram page):
Andrew Bischoff
Mila Kalik
Joshua Van Gestel
Simon Weir
Linda Lockyer
Mary Shackman
Tickets for the 'Artists in Conversation' talk with me and Marikit Santiago at the Art Gallery of NSW
Sign up for the Talking with Painters Newsletter here.
https://youtu.be/T-26mfmJMqw?si=L_YMco2XH8Hwwsup
-
See highlights of this interview on the YouTube Channel
Caroline Zilinsky's paintings freeze pivotal moments in our culture's history, encouraging us to reflect upon our times, whether it's the absurdity, the horror or the humour.
At the risk of being labelled a conspiracy theorist, she's attracted to the dilemmas brought on by the internet era and shines a light on the things that trouble most of us: our loss of privacy, shortened attention, a heightened focus on appearance, a growing indifference to human suffering and the increasing power assumed by tech giants.
Her paintings often depict a political or social narrative and although she accepts some are too confronting to hang above the sofa, there's something about the levity in her use of line, colour and form which invites us to venture into the darker corners of our culture, causing us to linger and question.
Caroline is also well known for her portraiture and landscape painting. She won the Portia Geach Memorial Award portraiture prize in 2020 (the same year she won the Evelyn Chapman award) and has been a finalist in many others including the Archibald and Darling portrait prizes.
This interview took place at the mid-career survey show of Caroline's work 'Exquisite Cadaver' at the University of Newcastle Gallery. Curated by Gillean Shaw, it was a collection of 40 stunning works spanning over 2 decades.
The interview was also filmed and a 6 minute video of highlights can be seen here on the YouTube channel.
Feature photo: Phillip Antonio Lemos
Caroline Zilinsky on Instagram
Caroline Zilinsky at Nanda\Hobbs
Sign up to the TWP newsletter
TWP YouTube channel
Loading Dock interview
My AGNSW Artists in Conversation interview with Caroline
Ceal Floyer
https://youtu.be/qW9UOk7RA7I?si=Sc30OmX9unO_Mitu
'Kubla Khan'2022oil on linen107 x 106.7 cm
'Exquisite Corpse'2024Oil on linen
'For Whom the Bell Tolls' 2023oil on linen138 x 138cm
'Faceless The Congressional Hearing of Mark Zuckerberg' 2020oil on linen122 x 122cm
'Man of Few Words'2020Ink on AGNSW archive manila folder30 x 21cm (paper size), 60 x 47cm (framed size)
'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' 2023Oil on linen112 x 122cm
'Plastic Fantastic', 2023oil on linen56 x 62cm
'Refract Back', 2023Oil on linen112 x122 cm
'Too Long; Didn't Read (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)'2023Oil, Oil Stick and Digital Configuration on Canvas97 x 87cm
'Me and Ellie', 2004-2005oil on linen 71 x 454.5cm'My Brother Adrian' oil on linen72.5 x 54cm
-
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the work
Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed just on viewing the work.
Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you another eight artists' works in addition to those in ep 155.
Click on the artist's name below for the full podcast episode (and any YouTube videos) and see images of the works we talk about below.
Davida Allen
Jacqui Stockdale
Sam Leach
Sam Leach YouTube video
Robin Eley
Peter O'Doherty
Kathrin Longhurst
Tom Carment
Nicholas Harding
Links mentioned in this episode
TWP YouTube channel
Sign up for the TWP Newsletter
TWP Loading Dock video
NGV Triennial highlights - Instagram reel
Memorial service for Jan Senbergs
I dream of Sam Neill when I go to bed, 1986Davida AllenNational Gallery of Victoria © Davida AllenCollection: National Gallery of Victoria, MelbournePurchased 1986 (P22-1986)
Drawings of George StirlingJacqui Stockdale
George Stirling from the Heads of the Family seriesJacqui Stockdale
Sam LeachMachine-assisted memory of Harewood Farm, Meadowsoil on linen51 x 51 cm
Robin Eley‘Self Portrait’, 2010, oil on Belgian linen, 39″ x 25″Runner Up, Doug Moran portrait Prize, 2010
Peter O'DohertyEdgecliff high rise, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 198x167cm
Kathrin LonghurstPoster Girl, 2011, oil on canvasFinalist Portia Geach Memorial Award, 2011
Tom CarmentWhere I scattered my father's ashes, Oratunga, SAwatercolour on paper45.3 x 52 cm
Nicholas HardingRobert Drewe (In the swell)2006oil on canvas (frame: 140.4 cm x 125.0 cm, support: 138.0 cm x 123.0 cm)Collection: National Portrait Gallery -
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the works
Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed on merely viewing the work.
Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you a few of those to you in this episode. See images of the works we talk about below.
Links
Tickets for talk with Caroline Zilinsky at the Art Gallery of NSW (Artists in Conversation)
YouTube video - Anthony White
Vincent Fantauzzo podcast episode
Prudence Flint podcast episode
Ben Quilty podcast episode
Scott Bevan podcast episode on William Dobell
2:40 ‘Heath’, 2008, oil on canvas, 106 x 140cm (Collection of the Art Gallery of NSW, highly commended and winner of the Archibald Prize People’s Choice award 2008. Portrait of Heath Ledger)
10:40 ‘Baby’, 2015, oil on linen, 105 x 90.5cm (Finalist in Archibald Portrait Prize 2015)
15:45. ‘Kandahar’ 2011, oil on linen, 140 x 190cmPhoto: Australian War Memorial
18:00 ‘Captain S. after Afghanistan’ 2012, oil on linen, 210 x 230cmFinalist Archibald Prize 2012Photo: AGNSW/ Mim Stirling
20:30 ‘Margaret Olley’, 1948, oil on hardboard, 114.3 x 85.7 cm boardCollection: Art Gallery of NSWWinner Archibald Prize 1948
23:45. ‘Storm Approaching, Wangi’, 1948, oil on cardboard on composition board, 32.9 x 56cmWinner Wynne Prize 1948 -
Podcast guests talk with me about the flow state!
See below for timestamps and links to each guest's full podcast interview and video
3:39 Julie Nicholson and Fiona Verity - Podcast | Instagram video
6:40 Ann Thomson - Podcast | YouTube
7:54 Joshua Yeldham - Podcast | YouTube
10:15 Antonia Perricone Mrljak - Podcast | YouTube
11:25 Wendy Sharpe - Podcast | YouTube
12:51 Lewis Miller - Podcast | YouTube
13:50 Aida Tomescu - Podcast | YouTube
16:30 David Griggs - Podcast | YouTube
17:27 Idris Murphy - Podcast | YouTube
18:40 Kathrin Longhurst - Podcast | YouTube
20:50 Anthony White - Podcast | YouTube (coming soon)
22:07 Bernard Ollis - Podcast | YouTube
23:59 Kim Leutwyler - Podcast | YouTube
25:20 Tim Maguire - Podcast | YouTube
26:40 Belinda Street - Podcast | YouTube
27:58 Yvette Coppersmith - Podcast | YouTube (coming soon)
29:30 Tim Storrier - Podcast | YouTube
31:15 Jacqui Stockdale - Podcast | YouTube
32:02 Sandi Hester - YouTube
Links
Sandi Hester interview on the YouTube channel
Sandi Hester’s YouTube channel ‘Bits of an Artist’s life’
Paul Newton YouTube video
TWP Instagram reels - ‘Summer reels from the archives’
Ep ‘Inspiration from the archives: Colour (1)’
Ep ‘Inspiration from the archives: Colour (2)’
Ep ‘Inspiration from the archives: Risk’
Subscribe to the Talking with Painters monthly newsletter -
Above photo of Jan Senbergs by Riste Andrievski
Click play for my podcast introduction to this interview and scroll down for the transcript.
Podcast listeners click here and scroll down for transcript.
Watch the YouTube video of Jan Senbergs' studio and work here
Links
Jan Senbergs' website
Jan Senbergs on Instagram
Jan Senbergs at Niagara Galleries
Talking with Painters YouTube channel
Talking with Painters on Instagram
Talking with Painters on Facebook
Subscribe to the TWP newsletter
PDF version of transcript for tablet/desktop
With over six decades of work as a painter, printmaker and draughtsman, leading artist Jan Senbergs has exhibited in over 50 solo shows and has been the subject of three survey shows including a major retrospective curated by the National Gallery of Victoria in 2016. A rare accomplishment.
His art evolved from early masterly screenprints to large scale paintings and with subject matter as varied as urban and natural landscapes, industrial themes, surreal structures and forms and aerial map-like works.
This episode has been a long time coming. Covid threw out our plans for an early 2020 meeting but two years later we met in Jan's inspirational studio in Melbourne. His voice has been affected by some health issues and so this episode is coming to you by way of transcript (below) and an intro on the podcast.
As I was setting up my audio equipment on the day of the interview, Jan and I chatted about the time he had spent in London in his 20s. We talked about other Australian artists who were there at that time. That’s where the recording of the interview began.
Jan Senbergs
I was the younger artist who came into that area and I didn't know anybody. I didn't want to bother the local Antipodeans (laughs) so I usually went out by myself. I headed for the National Gallery on one occasion and ran into Arthur Boyd heading there too. We travelled together on the bus from Pimlico to Trafalgar Square. It was very nice because we walked through the Gallery making comments. It's lovely to do that with another painter. We walked past one room and Arthur stopped and said, 'There's a good painting in this room.’ It was a big dog watching over a dying nymph, by Piero di Cosimo. He was such an interesting painter. Afterwards, Arthur suggested we go and have a drink, so we went across the road and had a couple of beers and then he said 'You'll have to excuse me, but I've got to go back home. I've got a few duties there.' We shook hands and I never saw him again.
Maria Stoljar
You never saw him again?
JS
No, but what was nice about it was the generosity of the older person to somebody younger who had just arrived.
MS
How lovely. But you knew a lot of famous Australian artists like Fred Williams, for example. He was a friend of yours, wasn't he?
JS
Yeah, I knew Fred. When I first started showing around, I mixed with some of the older artists. At that time there were hardly any younger artists around. And because I hadn't gone to an art school, I was very isolated. It's quite different for artists today. Now there are thousands of young people trying very hard to make good art after their schooling. It's a different atmosphere. Schools pump out all these people with hopes and ambitions. That’s the reason it's good to know some of the older painters.
MS
Yes. Like John Brack?
JS
Yes, John Brack was one … Len Crawford, Fred, Roger Kemp – these were heavy-duty Melbourne blokes.
MS
It's amazing that you, in your early 20s, were hanging out with those people.
JS
Yeah, it was actually. Because I couldn't get into art school so I’d started working in a silkscreen printing company, which was a terrible bloody job (laughs).
‘Modern monument in colour ‘ 1975, Colour screenprint, 56.6 x 81.2cm (image)National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
MS
Why? Was it heavy work or just dirty work?
JS
Dirty work. -
See a video version of the interview with curator Jackie Dunn here
See a video version of the interview with artist Desmond Lazaro here
The largest exhibition of Kandinsky's work ever to be seen in Australia has just opened at the Art Gallery of NSW!
The exhibition, titled simply 'Kandinsky', brings together over 50 works of one of the 20th century's most innovative and ground breaking painters - Vasily Kandinsky - with 47 paintings from the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Curated by the Guggenheim's curator of modern art and provenance Megan Fontanella together with the AGNSW's senior curator Jackie Dunn, these works touch on the most important periods of Kandinsky's artistic career, from the early 'Blue Rider' period, to his time in Germany when teaching at the Bauhaus school right through to his final years in Paris.
In this podcast episode (which you can also see on YouTube) I talk with Jackie Dunn about this extraordinary exhibition. She tells me about Kandinsky's life and work, including what the catalysts were for him to become a painter, his use of colour, line and form and his interests in spirituality and music.
I also talk with Desmond Lazaro who was commissioned to design a family-friendly space where visitors are invited to follow the path of a colourful labyrinth and create drawings using the shapes that inspired Kandinsky. Lazaro is a British-Indian-Australian artist whose primary ingredient is colour. His practice explores map-making, planetary systems and the concept of the journey.
Also, alongside the Kandinsky show is an exhibition of 'spirit drawings' created by British medium Georgiana Houghton in the 1860s and 70s. The exhibition, 'Invisible Friends', brings together a collection of rarely seen swirling, evocative watercolours. They highlight how significant spiritualism was in early modernism.
'Kandinsky' is a must-see exhibition. It runs from November 4th to March 10th, 2024. More details here.
To hear the podcast episode press 'play' beneath the above photo.
To watch the video versions of the interviews click on the links at the top of this page or see below.
Links
'Kandinsky' at the Art Gallery of NSW
Desmond Lazaro
Tickets for my conversation with Julia Gutman on 15 November 2023 in the Artists in Conversation series
Talking with Painters on Instagram
Talking with Painters on Facebook
Connect with me on LinkedIn
https://youtu.be/Pgm4112joG8
https://youtu.be/D3b3WLlsakc
'Composition 8' July 1923, oil on canvas, 140.3 x 200.7 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
'Blue mountain' 1908-09, oil on canvas, 107.3 x 97.6 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Vasily Kandinsky 'In the black square' June 1923, oil on canvas, 97.5 x 93.3 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
'Landscape with rain' January 1913, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 78.4 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
'Yellow painting' July 1938, oil and enamel on canvas, 116.4 x 88.9 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
'Around the circle' MayAugust 1940, oil and enamel on canvas, 97.2 x 146.4 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
-
This episode is a conversation between James Powditch and Maria Stoljar in front of an audience at the Art Gallery of NSW, recorded by the Art Gallery Society
James Powditch has always loved the movies. As a child in the 70s and 80s he would watch whatever he could get away with - from Taxi Driver to Deliverance.
But in recent years, after being shortlisted in the Archibald prize with paintings of Labor leader (now PM) Anthony Albanese and journalists Kerry O'Brien and Laura Tingle he noticed other themes emerge; media and politics.
In his most recent solo show at Nanda Hobbs Gallery he found a way to merge those interests. In Medium Cool: Journalism in Film, works took on titles of films in which journalism and politics were central themes. Beautifully composed assemblages incorporating found objects explored the ideas behind movies such as All the President's men and Network.
James has exhibited in over 10 solo shows and has won the Mosman and Blake art prizes. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Wynne and Sulman prizes for a combined total of about 25 times.
In this episode Maria has a vibrant (and often humorous) conversation with James in front of an audience at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of the Artists in Conversation series.
You can see images of the works they talk about below. Members of the Art Gallery Society can also see a video of this conversation for a limited period on the Art Gallery website.
To hear the podcast conversation press 'play' beneath the above photo.
Links
James Powditch on Instagram
James Powditch at Nanda\Hobbs Gallery
Video of this interview on the AGNSW website (for members)
Art Gallery Society membership page
Get tickets for the Steve Lopes talk at the AGNSW
Samantha Dennison interview on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel
'Once upon a time in Marrickville – Anthony Albanese', acrylic on paper and board 190 x 190 cm Finalist Archibald Prize 2020
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions album cover
New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies album cover
'Citizen Kave' mixed media 200 x 300 cm, Finalist Archibald Prize 2014
‘Citizen Kane’ 2022 Mixed media, framed 80 x 120cm
'All the President’s men II' 2023 mixed media, 40 x 60cm
'All the President's men' 2023, mixed media 130 x 282cm
'Laura Tingle - the fourth estate' Acrylic and paper on board 204 x 170.1cm Finalist Archibald Prize 2022
Movie poster ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’
Digital work, James Powditch
Peter Powditch Photograph by Robert Walker (c1970)
‘Peter Powditch is a dead man smoking’ 2009, Mixed media 193 x 263cm, Finalist Archibald Prize
Family photo, James Powditch
‘Crowdy Head (after Peter Powditch)’, acrylic on paper and cardboard 122 x 366
Finalist Wynne Prize 2022
‘Crowdy Head IV’, Oil on masonite, 50 x 48cm, Peter Powditch
The Wynne Club Championship 2023, oil, acrylic and pen on board, found objects , 180 x 316.1 cm , Wynne Prize finalist
Sam I Am, acrylic on paper and board 200 x 240 cm, Finalist Archibald Prize 2023
Digital work, James Powditch
-
Risk. Some painters want it in their toolbox while others are terrified by it. But nearly every painter will tell you that you need it in order to move forward in your practice.
It might be using a new material, drastically altering the composition of a nearly completed painting or creating a completely different body of work to what had previously been commercially successful and critically acclaimed. Any way you look at it, you're leaving yourself open to the possibility of failure, disappointment and probably the most painful of all - ridicule.
So whether we call it risk, chance, letting go of control or just leaving yourself open to mistakes, it all amounts to a greater openness to creativity. Taking the leap and seeing what happens.
In this episode I bring together clips from eight previous guests about what risk means to them - and how they use it.
See below for a list of the artists together with links to the full podcast conversation and YouTube video
Press 'play' beneath the above image to listen
Vanessa Stockard Podcast | YouTube
Paul Ryan Podcast | YouTube
Guy Warren Podcast | YouTube
Julian Meagher Podcast | YouTube
Ken Done Podcast | YouTube
Juliet Holmes a Court Podcast | YouTube
Tim Maguire Podcast | YouTube
Joe Furlonger Podcast | YouTube
Watch the Idris Murphy YouTube Video
Listen to the full Idris Murphy podcast interview
Sign up to the TWP newsletter
Book tickets for my conversation with Steve Lopes at the Art Gallery of NSW
-
More inspiration from the archives!
Here are another 12 past podcast guests talking with me about colour.
Links to full podcast conversations and YouTube videos on each of the artists in this episode:
2:13 David Griggs - Podcast | YouTube
5:00 Laura Jones - Podcast | YouTube
9:08 Lewis Miller - Podcast | YouTube
11:10 Lucy Culliton - Podcast | YouTube
13:13 Robin Eley - Podcast | YouTube
18: 25 Melinda Harper - Podcast | YouTube
20:35 Tim Storrier - Podcast | YouTube
22:35. Wendy Sharpe - Podcast | YouTube
25:28 Idris Murphy - Podcast | YouTube
28:22 Aida Tomescu - Podcast | YouTube
29:31 Bernard Ollis - Podcast | YouTube
31:19 Emily Imeson - Podcast | YouTube
Sign up to the TWP monthly newsletter here
Follow the show on Instagram
Follow the show on Facebook
Connect with me on LinkedIn
-
This episode I'm bringing you some gems from the archives. Leading artists talk with me about colour!
Episodes of featured artists:
Jo Bertini
Paul Newton
Philip Wolfhagen
Nicholas Harding
John Wolseley
Peter O'Doherty
Links
YouTube channel
Talking with Painters website
Sign up to the TWP newsletter
Nicholas Harding talks with me about his Wynne prize painting
John Wolseley talks with me about his watercolour techniques
Short Instagram video of Paul Newton talking about flesh tones (longer YouTube video coming soon)
-
Watch an edited version of this conversation (4 mins) on the YouTube channel here
Ann Thomson, one of Australia's most important artists, might be in her 90th year but she shows no signs of putting down the brush.
A powerful collection of works is currently hanging in a solo show at Sydney's Defiance Gallery and Ann is looking forward to a busy 2024. A major survey show to be curated by Terence Maloon will open at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney and travel to Orange Regional Art gallery in country NSW and solo shows at Messums in London and with Stephane Jacob in Paris are also in the calendar.
Although Ann resists the label 'abstract artist', it’s her masterful use of colour and her superb mark making that will most likely catch your attention - those luscious brushstrokes and drips. But subjects often emerge; a landscape, tribal elements, creatures of the ocean.
You’ll also see collaged passages. Ann is well known for using a textured ‘tarred paper’ which was used by builders. Although it’s in scarce supply (she believes she has bought up all remaining rolls in existence!) she doesn’t treat the material as a precious commodity. If you look closely at ‘Calypso’ for example, you’ll see the section of collaged paper is splattered with drips of paint. That’s because it had previously been lying on the floor of Ann’s studio like a drop sheet. She later pasted the paper onto the canvas where it exists surrounded by bright colours, its own history intact.
It was wonderful to catch up with Ann to hear her thoughts on creativity and studio life. She has been a guest on the podcast twice previously – in 2018 talking about her life and art and in 2020 talking about her memories of meeting Ian Fairweather (links below).
Ann is represented by Defiance Gallery in Sydney, Mitchell Fine Art in Brisbane, Charles Nodrum Gallery in Melbourne, Messums in London and Stephane Jacob in Paris.
To hear our conversation press 'play' beneath the above photo and scroll down for images of selected works included in the show.
Latest Talking with Painters YouTube videos
Matthew Clarke
Daniel Boyd
Ruth Levine and Robyn Kinsela
Ann Thomson
Other links
2018 Podcast conversation with Ann Thomson
2018 YouTube video in Ann Thomson's studio
Podcast conversation with Ann Thomson on Ian Fairweather
Podcast conversation with Claire Roberts on Ian Fairweather
Ann Thomson's website
Article on Artsy Website: 9 Overlooked Women Artists in Their Nineties
https://youtu.be/qLf00VQ3U6E
Transcending 2018
Acrylic on linen
153 x 122.5 cm
Shield, 2023
acrylic on tarred paper on canvas
120.5 x 81 cm
This is one of the two works referred to at about 4mins in the episode.
Calypso, 2013
oil on linen
122 x 122cm
-
Watch the edited video version of this podcast episode on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel
The exhibition of Francis Giacco's paintings now showing at Australian Galleries in Sydney has been a long time coming. Covid pushed back the scheduling but it was worth the wait!
I met Francis at the gallery and we walked through the exhibition talking about several key works which cross portraiture, still life and landscape. Apart from the Archibald, Francis has won the Percival Portrait Painting prize (and other awards) and has been a People's Choice winner in the S.H.Ervin's Salon des Refuses.
Titled 'Recent works: Pictures at an Exhibition (apologies to Mussorgsky)', the show is a combination of recent work and major paintings from the 80s and 90s. It includes Francis' enigmatic multi-figured portrait which won the Archibald prize in 1994. Several other works hanging in this first room were shortlisted in the Archibald and Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
Influenced by Vermeer and the early Renaissance masters, his work exudes beauty and vitality. He's a keen observer of the effects of light, whether it's streaming from behind a still life or fracturing through a bamboo curtain and the way he depicts detail in the illuminated subject often pushes the real into the abstract.
Francis (also known as Frank to those who know him) was my first podcast guest and in the past also taught at Julian Ashton Art School where I first met him. Many of his students have gone on to make paintings which have hung in the Archibald prize themselves and I can think of at least three who are finalists in this year’s exhibition.
The exhibition continues at Australian Galleries until 2 July 2023.
To hear the episode click on 'play' above.
Click here to watch the shorter 8 minute video version of this episode.
Links
YouTube video of this episode
My first podcast interview with Francis in 2016
Francis Giacco at Australian Galleries
Francis Giacco on Instagram
Francis Giacco on Facebook
Johannes Vermeer
Subscribe to the TWP newsletter
https://youtu.be/csBvbFfcwUc
Homage to John Reichard (1994)
egg emulsion on marine plywood, 202cm x 188cm
Archibald Prize Winner, 1994
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Lee Lin Chin (1993)
egg emulsion on marine plywood, 163cm x 127cm, Archibald Prize Finalist, 1993; Doug Moran Finalist, 1995.
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
White widow 1999-2000
egg emulsion on marine plywood, 132cm x 119cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
The piano 1984
oil on canvas, 96cm x 89cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Jenny’s garden #25 – the altar 2020-23
oil on marine plywood, 122cm x 128.5cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Jenny’s garden #20 – commotion 2020-23
oil on marine plywood, 43cm x 88cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Balthus’ cats 2020-23
oil on marine plywood, 122cm x 126cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
The audition 1990
egg emulsion and oil on marine plywood, 60cm x 60cmImage courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Bondi Pavilion 1988
oil on canvas, 76cm x 61cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Self portrait #3 – after Rembrandt c. 1980
oil on canvas, 31cm x 27cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries
Rushcutters Park – bushfire smoke c. 1990
oil on canvas on board, 39cm x 35cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries -
In the final episode of the series ‘When I won that art prize’ we go back to 2021 when a 27 year old Georgia Spain won the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, the first time she had entered the prize.
In the same week she was announced the winner of the Women’s Art Prize Tasmania. These announcements were made less than 12 months after she was one of 5 artists to receive the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art scholarship.
Georgia's recent work is currently hanging in the exhibition ‘Once more with feeling’ showing at Ngununggula, in the southern highlands of NSW. See below for links to Instagram videos about that exhibition.
To hear this episode click on 'play' beneath the above photo.
Links
Full Georgia Spain interview
Georgia Spain's acceptance speech for the Sulman Prize at the AGNSW
Episode 115 - 'The Archibald Winners'
Sam Leach YouTube video (Part 1)
Sam Leach YouTube video (Part 2)
Tickets for Del Kathryn Barton live interview at the AGNSW 'Artists in Conversation'
Subscribe to the TWP newsletter
'Once More with Feeling' at Ngununggula, Southern Highlands, 3 June - 13 August
Instagram video - Megan Monte talks about 'Once more with feeling'
Instagram video - Maria Stoljar at Ngununggula
Karen Black
Ben Quilty
Solo exhibition by Francis Giacco at Australian Galleries, 15 June to 2 July 2023
‘Getting down or falling up’, acrylic on canvas, 180.6 x 187.5 cm
Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize, 2021
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs73wXShsoy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs94XEbhR5e/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
-
In this episode I’m taking you back to my interview with Megan Seres who won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2016.
Megan received the $150,000 in prize money for her stunning painting, ‘Scarlett as Colonial girl’, which depicted her daughter in 19th century dress against a golden landscape.
Megan hadn't planned on entering the competition, but was persuaded by a friend. When she heard her name announced as the winner, she was completely shocked.
To hear the episode press play beneath the above photo.
Central photo of Megan Seres supplied by the artist
Links
Megan Seres full Talking with Painters interview (ep 41)
'The Archibald Winners' (ep 115)
Talking with Painters YouTube channel
My YouTube video of Megan in her studio (2018)
My 15 second video of the painting hanging in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize exhibition in 2016
Megan Seres' website
‘Scarlett as colonial girl’, 2016, winner of the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2016 - Se mer
