Talking With Painters

One of Australia’s most significant artists returns to the podcast! Del Kathryn Barton spoke with me the day before the opening of her spectacular exhibition ‘the women who fell to earth’ at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, showing until 28 May 2022. Internationally renowned, Del is well known in Australia for having won the country's most famous art prize twice - the Archibald Prize - and her works are held in many private collections and public institutions. This year the National Gallery of Australia acquired her largest single-panel work she has made to date, 'my heart is blazing 11 hours', and we talk about the work in this episode. Although difficult to describe in words, Del's work often depicts a female sensuality which is at the same time beautiful and confrontational - set in an intricately detailed imaginary world. She is also a self-described optimist and the work hanging in this exhibition is a testament to that, with vivid colour bursting from the canvas. We also discuss other art forms she ha

It's not often that an artist gets to see almost a quarter of a century of their work in one space but in this episode Steve Lopes tells me what that feels like. The impressive survey exhibition 'Encountered', curated by Kon Gouriotis and now showing at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney, brings together 120 of Steve Lopes' works including over 80 paintings and drawings, sketchbooks, prints and collages. This is a must-see exhibition especially for those interested in figurative painting. In my previous interview with Steve, he expressed the view that to be successful, a painting requires a gritty element - a bit of 'poison'. When I visited the exhibition a couple of weeks ago, though, it wasn't only that grittiness that struck me but also the humanity evident in the works, not only in the figures but also in the environments they inhabit. Desolate wartime landscapes hinting at the loss of human life, a dog wandering across a suburban backlot, figures enigmatically positioned on a coastal landscap

Marikit Santiago is one of Australia's most impressive artists, combining a skilful representational painting technique with powerful imagery. Mythology, Disney, her Filipino heritage, religion, guilt, motherhood and family are examples of the subject matter she draws from and her upcoming show, 'For us sinners' at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, is set to contain some of the most impactful work she has produced to date. What's equally striking is the contrast between her painting style and the surface on which she often chooses to paint: found cardboard, typically in the form of flattened packing boxes complete with rips, creases and packing tape! Marikit won the Art Gallery of NSW's Sulman prize in 2020 with her work ‘The Divine’, a painting of her three children who were also her collaborators. We talk in this episode about how they contribute to her practice and why that collaboration is so important to her work. Apart from winning the Sulman, Marikit has been a finalist in man

I interviewed the acclaimed artist Tom Carment for the podcast in 2019 and this episode is the extended audio recording from video I filmed in his studio. A lot was going on creatively for Tom at the time. It was at about the same time as his book ‘Womerah Lane: Lives and Landscapes’ was released and his solo show at King Street gallery in Sydney was about to open. As soon as I arrived at his Womerah Lane terrace I saw that it was overtaken by preparations for that show. Once Tom has created his work he then makes their frames from beautiful Tasmanian blackwood and the frames were in various states of completion throughout the dining area and the studio. By coincidence, I’m publishing this episode as Tom is going through the very same process in the lead up to his next show with King Street Gallery which opens on 22 March 2022. It's taken over two months to make the frames. They are works of art in themselves with each corner joined with wooden keys and he thinks carefully about which work would be

This is the second episode of my summer series where I’m bringing you longer conversations with past podcast guests, from recordings when taking video of the artists for the Talking with Painters YouTube channel. The video of this episode's fabulous artist, Nicole Kelly, is the second most watched on the channel, which currently has over 150 videos*. Nicole Kelly is an acclaimed Sydney artist, having won multiple art prizes, and you can find out more about her career and how she became an artist in my original 2019 podcast interview (episode 75).  In this episode she talks about working en plein air, how she sources colour for her work, the importance of making mistakes and lots more. Her next solo show ‘Opacity of Time’ with her Melbourne gallery, This Is No Fantasy, opens on 25 February 2022 and I’ve included a selection of the exciting works going into that show below. Nicole also has a solo show coming up in August with Arthouse Gallery in Sydney and her work will be included in a curated

In podcast episode 101 I spoke with leading Australian artist Joshua Yeldham in the lead-up to his sell-out show ‘Providence’ at Arthouse Gallery in Sydney. I remember being fascinated by his approach to painting and his views on the creative process. We also recorded a separate video and this episode is the first of my 2022 Summer Series which is a collection of extended audio recordings from videos I've taken of my podcast guests. Joshua's works are extraordinary. His paintings often involve an element of carving into the wooden surface of the work and in some cases he inserts pieces of cane which add a further dimension to the work. But it's the physical method of doing that work which enhances his creative process and you'll hear him explain this and many other aspects of his practice in this episode. If you're in Sydney you can see several stunning Yeldham works in Arthouse Gallery's Summer group show which also includes work of podcast guests Colin Pennock, Susan Baird, Nicole Kelly, Jo Berti

Whether it’s a moody vase of flowers, a reclining nude or the incredible ridges of the Blue Mountains, Robert Malherbe depicts his subject matter in sensuous, fluid brushstrokes which give the impression the painting was completed only moments ago. Working from life, it is vitality which Robert aims to capture in his work and by painting alla prima and completing the work in one session, the viewer ultimately witnesses the movement and life which has been captured in each brushstroke. He has won the NSW Parliament Plein Air Art Prize and the Manning Art Prize and has been shortlisted in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes multiple times as well as being shortlisted in many others. He is represented in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and New York, has had 25 solo shows and his work is held in many public and private collections. We met in his studio in Sydney (he also has a studio in the Blue Mountains) and there was a series of recent breathtaking works lining the walls. In this podcast episode yo

A video version of this episode can be viewed here Justin Paton is the co-curator of the most exciting exhibition to arrive on Sydney’s doorstep since our world was upturned by the pandemic. ‘Matisse: Life and Spirit, Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris’, now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW, is an uplifting collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures which not only brings with it excitement, joy and optimism, but also is immediate in its nature.  “As these works have come out of their crates I’ve really had the feeling that the paintings are almost making themselves before your eyes … he’s not giving you a sealed off, finished, product”, Justin tells me in this podcast episode. “He’s showing you his thinking. He wants you to feel as though you’re looking over his shoulder as he revises, adjusts, amends a line, sands something back’. And this proximity to Matisse is not only felt in the works themselves, but in the way they are presented to us. His sculptures and paintings seem to t

Fiona Verity and Julie Nicholson have a lot in common; they were both born in the UK, both met their husbands while backpacking in Australia, are both emerging artists and are both very funny. But they also have distinctly different personalities and it's this contrast that makes their arts podcast 'Art Wank' so interesting and entertaining. They interviewed me earlier this year and when I heard they were exhibiting at The Other Art Fair in Sydney I thought it was the perfect opportunity to interview them back. So here it is! A fun chat about their lives, their podcast and their art. See below for details of The Other Art Fair, examples of their beautiful work and for links to the podcast and other things we chatted about in the show. Photo of Fiona and Julie by Jasmine Higgins Upcoming show The Other Art Fair, Sydney, 2-5 December 2021 Links to things we talked about in the show Julie Nicholson websiteJulie Nicholson on InstagramFiona Verity on YouTubeFiona Verity on InstagramArt Wank

The impacts of COVID have challenged the world in a multitude of ways, but for Sydney artist Julian Meagher they appear to have sharpened his focus.  Over the last 14 months, with no other deadline than his upcoming show at Yavuz Gallery, he has taken the opportunity to free himself from the usual demands of an imminent exhibition and created a body of work which has explored exciting new directions.  Jules is well known for his beautiful portraits and still life works - painted in thin layers of translucent oil paint and often mistaken from afar as watercolour - but his stunning large scale landscapes over recent years are now taking centre stage and incorporate elements of abstraction to the point where in some works the representational drops off altogether.  And yet there is a strong link to the mysteries of the natural world in his work. Ideas surrounding the moon and tidal forces, sleep cycles, dreams, heartbeat rhythms and light rays drive his landscape paintings adding to their symbolism and

Fresh out of Sydney lockdown, the incredible works of Aida Tomescu are showing both in Sydney with Fox Jensen Gallery and in Hong Kong with Flowers Gallery in two outstanding exhibitions. To add to this, in early December 2021, Orange Regional Gallery will be exhibiting what promises to be a blockbuster Tomescu show, looking at the artist's latest large works and how they connect to a group of key paintings and etchings from the past twenty years. Tying in with these shows, I recently came across some footage I’d taken in the lead up to Aida’s 2019 show with Fox Jensen Gallery, ‘The Open Wounds of White Clouds’. Watching the video again, I soon realised there were many timeless gems in that conversation which I had never published, so here is the full exchange. We filmed this conversation in Aida's studio in August 2019, in the midst of many dynamic works lining the walls and with Aida standing in front of the triptych titled ‘Sewn onto the Stones in the Sky’. That work has since been acquired by t

Scroll down for transcript If you’ve been listening to this podcast over the years, you would probably know I’m a self-confessed Archibald tragic. I'm fascinated by the depiction of the human face and figure in paint and that is exactly what the prize celebrates each year at the Art Gallery of NSW. The Archibald Prize is Australia's most famous portrait prize and is now in its 100th year. This episode is a compilation of clips from my conversations with Archibald winners where they talk about how they felt about winning, what it did for their career or about the painting itself. I've also included a clip from my conversation with biographer Scott Bevan where we talked about what was arguably the most controversial Archibald win - the 1943 winning portrait by William Dobell of fellow artist Joshua Smith. To hear the podcast episode click 'play' beneath the above photo. Scroll down for the transcript. See below for a list of podcast guests, the year they won the prize and their portraits. Click o

Many Australians may have seen Kim Leutwyler’s work without ever having set foot in a gallery. In 2019 her impressive Archibald painting of television presenter Faustina Agolley was splashed across Sydney to promote the prize. The striking image was on a huge banner above the entrance of the gallery, on bus shelters around the city, in newspapers and even on the front cover of a magazine. Kim is no stranger to the Archibald Prize - she’s been shortlisted in five out of the last seven years. And her sitters all have one thing in common; they are people she admires and who are making a mark in the queer community. Using bold colour in a distinctive style, Kim involves her sitters in the process, depicting them with an exciting combination of realism and abstraction. Always innovating and moving forward, she is constantly pushing towards pure abstraction, exploring and experimenting along the way. Kim has a fabulously positive outlook and is a regular finalist in many major Australian art prizes an

One of Georgia Spain's paintings was taking up more than its fair share of her Tasmanian studio. So she thought one way of freeing up some room would be to send it to the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney as an entry into the Sir John Sulman Prize. A few weeks later she found out it had been shortlisted and a week after that, to her astonishment, it won. It was the first time she had entered the prize. In selecting the winning work, guest judge Elisabeth Cummings said the painting was a strong, confident image full of energy and movement and that the artist's use of the figure was imaginative and very much her own. This recognition was not a one-off. Georgia was one of five to receive the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship less than a year earlier and won the Women's Art Prize Tasmania in the same week as winning the Sulman. I got the impression, though, that, although the accolades were welcome, what was more important was to continue to create and explore without placing too much importance on

Jo Bertini's recent exhibition at Sydney’s Arthouse Gallery, ‘Songs of Dry Hills’, alluringly portrayed the landscape she is drawn to repeatedly - the desert. Her love of that landscape and its First Nations People has led her to spend months at a time not only in the deserts of Australia but also those of India and the US. She has built an intimate connection to these lands and their people through thousands of hours of drawing and painting directly from her subjects. The paintings in her recent show were big and bold, but it wasn't just the scale that caught your attention. Standing in front of the works the viewer was drawn into an other-worldly landscape where earth colours are replaced with a kaleidoscope of hues including accents of shining iridescent paint. Jo has been exhibiting for over 30 years, in hundreds of solo and group shows, and her work is held in private and public collections across the world. She is also an acclaimed portraitist with work in the National Portrait gallery, as

'Everyone has a COVID story' Joanna Logue told me when we spoke recently about her show with Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne. Part of Joanna's story is that, for the first time in her career, she wouldn't be attending the opening of her show. The paintings had travelled to Australia from her home in Mount Desert Island in the USA without her. Joanna is a previous podcast guest and creates breathtaking landscapes which spill over towards abstraction. In this episode we talk about her stunning recent body of work in 'Alone on the Marsh' which draws on the landscape of her home in Maine with its rugged marshes, waterways and dense vegetation. We also touch on the hardships brought by COVID - the homesickness, grief at the loss of a loved one back home and the dislocation caused by social and political unrest. In spite of the difficult times, Joanna also talks about a silver lining and how her painting may not have taken the course it did were it not for the events of the past year. Press

We’ve all been there. You see an artwork and think 'surely, that is a photo'. But as you get closer and read the description, you accept it is made of paint, expertly applied, creating the illusion of reality. I am in awe of the artists who work in this way because it calls for painstaking labour and the technique is certainly not suited to every painter. Australian artist Robin Eley, based in Los Angeles, is highly skilled in every step of the process, producing work which leaves many viewers incredulous. For Robin, the task of creating the reference material is often the most important, and the time consuming execution of the painting requires expertise finessed over years of practice. Robin has been shortlisted in many Australian art prizes including the Archibald, the Doug Moran National Portrait prize (where he has been awarded runner up and highly commended) and the Eutick Memorial Still Life prize. His work is held in private collections and public institutions around the world.   In this

In early 2020, as COVID was sweeping the world, Filippa Buttitta (pictured right) was facing her own personal crisis. She had been working on her entry for the Archibald prize when she had trouble with her eyesight and was finding it difficult painting the fine details of her work. Thinking she needed an eye test, she visited her optometrist which led to a swift hospital admission and the shocking diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumour. In the past year she’s had to make decisions which go to the heart of one's purpose in life and which also highlight the importance of creativity.  This episode is about those choices but it’s also about Filippa's life as a skilled artist.  She's been painting for over 30 years, and has been a regular finalist in many art prizes including the Archibald (with a stunning portrait of the late Judy Cassab) as well as the Black Swan and Portia Geach and last year she was noted as one of the artists who had been selected the most times in Australian art prizes in that

A riverbank in the Australian bush would be the perfect plein air location for many artists. A rushing stream, long tree trunks and a deep vista where the artist's eye can gather information into the distance. But what is more fascinating for leading Australian artist Guy Maestri, is what the substance he is applying to the canvas is capable of doing in response. Ever since art school he has been exploring the materiality of paint, whether it’s an Archibald-winning painting, a non-descript laneway or a bird as roadkill, it’s this passion which drives the work whether it’s in the landscape or back in his Sydney studio. Although some might think of him as a portrait painter - he's an Archibald Prize winner - his subject matter lies more in his expressive landscapes and breathtaking still life works. He's also a sculptor and his various interpretations of the classic bust are captivating. He has exhibited in over 25 solo shows to date and the Art Gallery of NSW has just announced the acquisition of his

'National treasure', 'legend,' 'inspiration'. These were just some of the reactions from my Instagram followers when I posted that I would be interviewing Guy Warren. Guy is about to turn 100 years old.  He has no less than 5 shows opening this year.  But he is also plain spoken, practical, down to earth and modest. In typical style he seemed pleased when I told him of the Instagram reaction, but he quickly changed the subject.  Guy has had an extraordinary career.  He has won numerous awards including the Archibald prize, exhibited in over 50 solo shows and a phenomenal 6 survey shows (with more to come this year), and received two honorary doctorates, the Order of Australia and the Australia Medal. His work is included in many public, private and corporate collections across the world. Although his paintings include portraiture and abstraction, much of his work is concerned with the landscape. His paintings reflect his interest in the idea that we humans belong to and are part of the landscape. Thi