Talking With Painters

Podcast listeners click here to view the works 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

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,

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

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

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 struc

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 wha

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 Wynn

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 list

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 video online soon! 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

Click here for 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 earl

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 t

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

Australia's most famous art prize was awarded yesterday at the Art Gallery of NSW together with the Wynne and Sulman prizes. The $100,000 prize went to a shocked but happy 29 year old Julia Gutman for her fabulous portrait of singer/songwriter Montaigne. It’s titled ‘Head in the sky feet on the ground’, a beautiful mixed media work consisting of oils, found textiles and embroidery. I had a chance to talk with her shortly after the announcement and I’m bringing you today that conversation together with her acceptance speech. The Wynne prize for landscape painting or figure sculpture went to Zaachariaha Fielding for his painting 'Inma’. Zaachariaha is primarily a singer, the lead vocalist of the band Electric Fields, and he sings in Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara and English. Together with producer Michael Ross he has received 22 awards over the past 6 years for his music. In his winning work he’s aiming to visually depict sound, specifically the sounds of Mimili, a small community in the eastern part of the A

In part 2 of the series 'When I won that art prize' we go back to episode 29 when James Drinkwater recalled winning the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2014.   The award included a three month residency in Paris at the Cité Internationale des arts, a dream come true for any young painter. However, when he and his young family set off for France, not everything went according to plan. Upcoming show Solo show at Edwina Corlette, 'You could just make a painting and write it all in there - new paintings from the slip room', 3 - 23 May, 2023 Links Episode 29, James Drinkwater on Talking with Painters Episode 115, The Archibald Winners YouTube video of interview with Packing Room prize winner Andrea Huelin James Drinkwater on Instagram James Drinkwater at Nanda\Hobbs James Drinkwater at Edwina Collette James Drinkwater at Nicholas Thompson Gallery Lottie Consalvo  Photo of James Drinkwater by Maria Stoljar (2017) ‘Encrusting the marvellous heart’, diptych, 2015, oil and collage

Golden moments from the archives! While I'm busy updating my YouTube channel and taking a break from new interviews, I'm thrilled to bring you a new series featuring clips from past podcast guests. In my first series 'When I won that art prize' I look back at conversations I've had with painters about their experiences with winning awards. Although there are plenty of upsides (the prize money being one of the main ones) it's not always a positive experience! In 2017 (ep 35), I chatted with the fabulous Prudence Flint. No stranger to art prizes, she has won the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Len Fox Painting Award and has been shortlisted in the Archibald seven times. But when I asked her what it was like winning the Doug Moran National Portrait prize in 2004, with prize money of $100,000, her response was not what you might expect. Links Full TWP Prudence Flint interview - episode 35 Prudence Flint website Prudence Flint on Instagram Prudence Flint's studio on TWP YouTube channel Talking with Pa

Last Thursday I was thrilled to speak with Idris Murphy, leading contemporary artist and a previous podcast guest, in front of a live audience at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney. It's where the survey exhibition of his work, 'Idris Murphy: Backblocks' is now showing and continues until 26 March 2023. Curated by Terence Maloon, it features breathtaking work predominantly from the last two decades. Paintings which shimmer, glow, and transport the viewer.  Idris talked with me about his career including the stories behind several works, the influence indigenous culture has had on his approach and how he works in the studio. Although this exhibition is impressive in its quality and depth, this isn't the first survey show of Idris’s work. The exhibition ‘I and Thou’ in 2009/2010 had highlighted the preceding 30 years of work. He has exhibited in over 40 solo shows over the years with work in major public collections including  the National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery of NSW. Thanks to everyone who ca

For those of you interested in portraiture in Australia, Yvette Coppersmith needs no introduction.   She has painted dozens of portraits, including a collection of fascinating self-portraits, and is regularly shortlisted in the country's most competitive portrait awards. In 2018 she was awarded the one that would place her in Australian art history - the Archibald Prize. What has captured my attention more recently, though, are Yvette’s abstract works, particularly a body of work I saw in her exhibition ‘Presage’ at Sullivan + Strumpf in Sydney last year. They were thickly textured, swirling abstractions and how she came to create that show is as interesting as the paintings themselves. Yvette has been painting for over 20 years and her work is held in many public and private collections. In addition to winning the Archibald Prize, she has won the Metro 5 Art Award and has been a finalist multiple times in nearly every prestigious portrait prize in Australia, including the Doug Moran, Portia Geach, and Darl

The gestural marks in Anthony White's work are often bold and demanding of the viewer's attention. These abstract works vary from swirling lines in saturated colour, to textured surfaces and more formal collaged constructions. What is not apparent on the surface of the canvas is the time the artist has spent reading, writing and researching in the lead-up to their creation. Newspapers and books play as much a role in his work as the paint itself and writing his own thoughts on social and political issues and current events are crucial to his creative process. In this podcast conversation we touch on those ideas but Anthony also makes many insightful observations about the creation itself. Born in Australia, Anthony is now Paris-based and is represented by several galleries in Europe and Australia. His first museum show, titled 'Mobilising Material', was held at the Mark Rothko Art Centre in Latvia in 2022. He also returned to Australia last year on a creative fellowship at the National Library of Australia