Art Wank

In this episode, Gary and Fiona were joined by Shanti Shea An, a Sydney-based artist whose painting practice explores the complex relationship between images, language, memory, and meaning. Drawing from an eclectic range of sources, including personal photographs, literature, art history, and mass media, Shanti creates layered works that invite viewers to slow down and consider how images are read, translated, and understood. Her paintings embrace ambiguity, bringing together disparate visual languages to reveal the instability and fluidity of interpretation.

Our conversation delves into the ideas that underpin Shanti’s practice, from her fascination with repetition, doubling, and translation to the influence of philosophy and the image of the book within contemporary painting. We discuss how research and studio practice intersect in her work, the role of visual references in shaping a painting, and how uncertainty can become a productive creative tool. Shanti also reflects on exhibiting in Australia and internationally, the evolution of her visual language, and the ongoing possibilities she finds within the medium of painting. Thoughtful, generous, and deeply reflective, she offers a compelling insight into a practice that balances intellectual rigour with intuition and visual experimentation.

Shanti Shea An (b. 1993) holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Painting) from the ANU School of Art & Design and completed a practice-led PhD examining concepts of doubling, legibility, and translation within painting. She has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally and is represented by Velvet Lobster Gallery in New South Wales.

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This week Gary talks to acclaimed Australian artist Tomislav Nikolic for a fascinating conversation about colour, perception, identity and the transformative power of art.

Known for his luminous abstract paintings, Tomislav shares the stories behind his practice, the influence of his Croatian heritage, and how he creates works that invite viewers into a deeply sensory experience.

We also discuss his current exhibition through a vale of Egregores and his ongoing relationship with Fox Jensen, one of Australia's leading contemporary galleries.

Tomislav Nikoliclives and works in Melbourne. His work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. He is represented by Fox Jensen in Sydney and Auckland, STATION in Melbourne, and Galeria Xavier Fiol in Spain.

Fox/Jensen/McCrory Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Fox/Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Galeria Xavier Fiol, Palma & Madrid, Spain

STATION Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

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In this episode, we sit down with Loribelle Spirovski, one of Australia's most distinctive contemporary painters. Born in Manila and raised between cultures, Spirovski's work explores identity, migration, memory and the psychological complexities of human experience through a powerful blend of portraiture, surrealism and abstraction.

Loribelle Spirovski is a Filipino-Australian visual artist based in Sydney. Born in Manila in 1990, she moved to Australia in 1999 and graduated from Sydney's College of Fine Arts in 2012. Her work draws on her experience of migration, mixed European-Asian heritage, and the contrasts between her Philippine and Australian upbringing.

Known primarily for her expressive portraiture, Spirovski's paintings often combine elements of realism, abstraction and surrealism, creating psychologically charged images that explore identity, memory and human vulnerability. Her work has been exhibited throughout Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, and is held in public and private collections internationally.

Spirovski has been a finalist in prestigious awards including the Archibald Prize, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Blake Prize and The Lester Prize, and has received recognition for her innovative contribution to contemporary Australian painting.

She is represented by Nanda Hobbs

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Juno Gemes is a Hungarian-born Australian photographer, publisher, and social justice activist. Her photographs are held in major Australian collections, including the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia. Her work has played a significant role in documenting First Nations cultural strength, political activism, and contemporary Australian history.

In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with acclaimed Australian photographer and activist Juno Gemes, whose work has documented the lives, culture, and political struggles of First Nations people for more than five decades.

Born in Budapest and arriving in Australia as a child, Gemes began her creative life in theatre before turning to photography in the 1970s. Her images have become an invaluable visual record of key moments in Australia's history, including the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, land rights campaigns, the handback of Uluru, and the National Apology to the Stolen Generations.

Known as a "quiet activist," Gemes discusses the role of photography as witness, collaboration, and social change. We explore her time with Sydney's legendary Yellow House artist collective, her approach to building trust with communities, and why visibility and representation have remained central to her practice.

The conversation also touches on a life spent moving between photography, publishing, theatre, and activism, and reflects on the responsibilities artists have when documenting people, place, and history.

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Paul Connoris an Australian painter whose practice centres on landscape, observation and environmental engagement. Originally trained in architecture, he later completed a Master of Fine Art at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, graduating with first-class honours. Connor has exhibited for more than three decades and is represented in collections throughout Australia and internationally. Known for his expressive interpretations of place, he continues to build upon the rich tradition of Australian landscape painting while addressing contemporary concerns about the environment and cultural connection to country.

In this episode, we explore the work and career of Australian artist Paul Connor,a painter whose practice is deeply rooted in the tradition of landscape painting while engaging with contemporary ideas about memory, place and environmental change. Drawing inspiration from direct observation, Connor's work captures both the physical reality and emotional resonance of the Australian landscape. His paintings often evolve from plein air studies, transforming observed scenes into layered compositions that reflect the way places are remembered and reimagined.

Connor's background is unusual in that he initially studied architecture before completing a Master of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales. This combination of architectural thinking and painterly observation has influenced his approach to space, structure and composition. Throughout his career he has exhibited widely, with works held in public and private collections across Australia, Hong Kong and England, and displayed at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

The discussion also looks at Connor's significant contribution to Australian art through his role as founding director of the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize. The prize helped revive interest in outdoor painting and encouraged artists to engage directly with the landscape. Alongside his artistic practice, Connor has demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental conservation, serving as a trustee of both The Australian Museum and the Lizard Island Reef Research Station.

We examine the evolution of his work from industrial and urban subjects to dramatic coastal environments, remote landscapes and ecological themes. Connor's paintings invite viewers to slow down and reconsider familiar places, revealing the complexity, beauty and fragility of the natural world. His achievements include being a finalist in major Australian art prizes such as the Glover Prize, Mosman Art Prize and Calleen Art Award, and winning the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize in 2024.

Paul is represented by Defiance Gallery.

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Kirtika Kain is an Australian artist of Dalit heritage whose work explores identity, culture, migration, memory and belonging. Through her art and conversations, she brings personal and collective stories into the spotlight, creating space for voices and experiences that are often overlooked.

Her work reflects the complexities of being Dalit, Australian and part of a diverse global community, while celebrating resilience, creativity and the power of storytelling.

Kirtika Kain was born in New Delhi, India and now works on Darug Country, Sydney. Considerations of caste and identity underpin her materially driven practice, which seeks to reimagine personal and collective narratives. Kain’s work has been exhibited widely, both locally and internationally, with notable exhibitions including Adelaide Biennale, 2026; Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2025; the 24th Biennale of Sydney, 2024; and the 13th Bamako Encounters at the African Biennale of Photography, Mali, 2022.

Kirtika is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney

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Gary Deirmendjian is a Sydney-based contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, photography, video, and site-specific intervention. Working predominantly in public and shared spaces, he is recognised for creating thought-provoking works that challenge audiences through scale, immersion, and unexpected encounters. His projects often explore the social, political, and environmental conditions that shape everyday life, encouraging viewers to re-examine familiar surroundings with fresh eyes.

Deirmendjian has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally, receiving numerous commissions for public artworks, temporary installations, and moving-image projects. Career highlights include presence (2017), a major moving-image commission for Sydney's Wynyard Station, and pulse (2020), commissioned for Federation Square in Melbourne. He was awarded the British School at Rome Residency in 2017 and is the author of the monograph A Prevailing Sense of Disquiet as well as Common Ground, a collection of observations and images drawn from his long-running social media art practice. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the National Art School, where he has taught since 2012.

This week on Art Wank, we sit down with acclaimed Sydney artist Gary Deirmendjian, whose expansive practice spans sculpture, installation, photography, video, and public intervention. Known for transforming ordinary moments into extraordinary encounters, Gary has built a career around paying close attention to the world around him and inviting others to do the same. His projects challenge audiences to slow down, look again, and find meaning in the overlooked details of everyday life.

In this episode, Gary discusses his relationship with the urban environment, sharing how the streets, public spaces, and chance observations that make up daily life continue to inspire his work. We explore the idea of curiosity as an artistic tool and the ways in which public art can interrupt routine experiences, creating moments of reflection, wonder, humour, and sometimes discomfort.

Throughout the discussion, Gary reflects on the importance of observation, experimentation, and remaining responsive to the complexities of contemporary life. Thoughtful, insightful, and deeply engaged with the world around him, he offers a compelling perspective on what it means to be an artist working within public space today.

Gary is now represented by LNL Gallery in Sydney.

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In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Katrina Cashman, Gallery Manager and Senior Curator at the National Art School, about the exhibition currently on display at the NAS Gallery, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste.

'Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste celebrates the legacy and significant achievements of Margaret Olley AC – National Art School alum and one of Australia’s most beloved painters – through the lens of the European artistic tradition intimisme, which honours the quiet poetry of domestic life and the interior world.

Drawing from significant public and private collections, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste traces Olley’s preoccupations from early interiors to her later richly textured compositions featuring floral arrangements, antiques, and domestic objects. Each painting is more than a still life – it is a portrait, a sensory memory, and a trace of the artist’s personal world, animated by beauty.

Curated by NAS Gallery Manager and Senior Curator Katrina Cashman curator in consultation with author and curator Christine France OAM, the exhibition explores Olley’s oeuvre as it relates to place and relationships. Rather than maintaining a separate painting studio, she worked primarily in her own home and those of family and friends. While she occasionally painted landscapes, portraits, and sketched outdoors – particularly while travelling – her principal subjects were interior spaces, window views, and intimate tabletop arrangements, capturing the resonance of light, memory, and everyday experience.

Though working within intimiste traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Olley led an unconventional life, rejecting traditional domestic roles. Her work was never static, echoing the rhythms of a personal world in flux – shaped by the seasons, light, and her enduring dialogue with art history. Australian Intimiste celebrates Olley’s remarkable six-decade career since graduating from the National Art School and honours the formative relationships and creative communities that sustained her practice.

The exhibition includes more than sixty artworks by Margaret Olley AC and a selection of works by her National Art School friends, teachers and peers including Jean Bellette, Margaret Cilento, Douglas Dundas, Russell Drysdale, Frank Medworth, David Strachan and Tony Tuckson among others. It also includes Sir William Dobell’s famous 1948 Archibald Prize winning portrait of Margaret Olley that caused such a sensation in the day.

A substantial publication accompanies the exhibition, including essays by Katrina Cashman, Dr Georgina Cole, Christine France OAM, Dr Emily Gray and Dr Michael Hill. Publication supported by The Gordon Darling Foundation. Project supported by NAS Gallery Ambassadors.'

The exhibition runs unti October 24th at the National Art School, Forbes St, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 11-5pm Monday to Saturday

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In this episode of Artwank, we talk with Australian artist Peter Stevens about his practice, career, and connection to landscape. Stevens has worked as a professional artist for more than 30 years, building a body of work that spans painting, printmaking, and mixed media. His work is represented by Defiance Gallery in Sydney and is held in both public and private collections.

Peter studied at Sydney College of the Arts, completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts before undertaking postgraduate studies in printmaking. Over his career he has been a finalist in major Australian art prizes including the Paddington Art Prize and the Mosman Art Prize, and has been selected multiple times for the Salon des Refusés. His work is held by institutions including Artbank, Western Sydney University, Sydney University, and James Cook University in Townsville.

The conversation explores the development of his visual language and the role of sustained studio practice. Peter discusses how his approach has evolved over time while remaining grounded in close observation of the natural environment. He reflects on the challenges of maintaining a long term creative career and the importance of continuing to experiment with materials, colour, and composition.

We also discuss Yuraygir, his exhibition with Defiance Gallery, inspired by time spent in Wooli and the surrounding landscapes of Yuraygir National Park on the New South Wales coast. Peter talks about the influence of rivers, estuaries, birds, trees, tides, and changing weather on his work and why Australian places continue to provide a strong foundation for his practice.

This episode offers an insight into the working life of an established Australian artist and the ongoing relationship between landscape, observation, and painting. Peter shares.

His exhibition opens 29th August 2026 at Defiance Gallery, Sydney.

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Australian artist Dan Kylejoins the podcast to discuss his painting practice and his long connection to the landscapes of the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury regions of New South Wales. A graduate of the National Art School, Kyle has built a career focused on exploring the Australian bush through works that sit between observation and abstraction. His paintings draw on daily experiences of living and working close to the natural environment, reflecting changing light, weather, seasons and the ongoing relationship between people and place.

In this conversation, Kyle shares how his surroundings influence his creative process, the challenges and rewards of making landscape painting relevant to contemporary audiences, and the importance of spending time observing the land. He also reflects on the impact of environmental events including drought, fire and flooding on both the landscape and his work. The discussion offers insight into the development of his artistic practice, his life as a painter in regional New South Wales, and his commitment to interpreting the Australian landscape through a personal lens.

Kyle's work has been exhibited across Australia and is held in private and institutional collections. He was awarded the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2020 and continues to exhibit regularly while working from his studio on the edge of the Blue Mountains.

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We interview the winners of the 2026 Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize, presented at Manly Art Gallery & Museum in August 2026.

Ceramicist Scott Duncan took out the Art category with his work Choice Quality, a ceramic piece inspired by everyday packaging materials such as fruit box cardboard. Drawing on his experience as a chef, Duncan explores cycles of consumption, waste and renewal through his practice. The work incorporates handmade beads created from recycled waste clay, transforming discarded material into something valuable and enduring.

In this episode, Scott discusses what winning the prize means to him, his connection to Manly, and his creative practice atKil.n.it Studioin Glebe. We also talk about the ideas behind Choice Quality and how his work encourages us to reconsider the materials we use, discard and overlook in everyday life.

Scott is represented by Arthouse Galleryin Sydney

We speak with Nahum McLean, Ben Styles and Stefan Lie, winners of the Design category at the 2026 Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize, about their project Motherboard.

Designers, researchers and surfers, the trio work at the Material Ecologies Design Lab at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where they develop innovative materials from diverse waste streams. Their work explores how design can help address environmental challenges by rethinking the materials and systems that shape everyday products.

Motherboard responds to a long-standing tension within surfing: the sport's deep dependence on healthy coastal ecosystems alongside the environmental impacts of the petrochemical materials traditionally used to manufacture surfboards. The project reimagines the surfboard by replacing its conventional foam core with a material grown from kombucha SCOBY, offering a glimpse of a more sustainable future for board design.

In this episode, Nahum, Ben and Stefan discuss the research and experimentation behind Motherboard, the potential of bio-based materials, and the role of design in creating alternatives to resource-intensive manufacturing. We also explore how their shared passions for surfing, environmental stewardship and material innovation have shaped this award-winning work.

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In this episode of Art Wank, we chat with artist Sophie Cape about the winding path that led her from elite sport to a life in contemporary art. Before establishing herself as an artist, Sophie competed at a high level in both skiing and cycling, dedicating years to training, competition, and the pursuit of performance. She reflects on the mindset required to succeed in sport and how those experiences continue to shape the way she approaches her work today.

Sophie also shares what it was like growing up with artist Ann Cape as her mother. Surrounded by creativity from an early age, art was always present in her life, although it would take many years and several career changes before she fully embraced it as her own path. We discuss the influence of family, the balance between inspiration and independence, and how her creative identity developed over time.

A major turning point came with a series of injuries that ultimately brought her sporting career to an end.

Sophie speaks candidly about the emotional impact of stepping away from elite competition and the challenge of rebuilding a sense of purpose after sport. What followed was a gradual shift towards art making, where she found a new outlet for curiosity, experimentation, and ambition.

We delve into Sophie's distinctive creative process, which often invites chance and the natural environment into the making of the work. Rather than treating the canvas as a static surface, she subjects it to weather, landscape, and time. Canvases are dragged across the ground, exposed to wind and rain, or left outdoors for weeks at a time, allowing the elements to leave their own marks. The resulting works become collaborations between artist and environment, capturing traces of movement, place, and duration.

We also celebrate Sophie's success as winner of the Hadley's Art Prize, a significant milestone that brought wider recognition to her practice. She reflects on what the award meant for her career and the opportunities that followed, alongside the realities of sustaining a creative life.

Sophie is represented by Liverpool St Galleryin Sydney

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In this episode, artist Sandi Hester discusses her career as a painter, teacher, and YouTube creator. She shares the story behind her move from the United States to Exeter, England, and reflects on the practical and creative changes that came with relocating to a new country. Sandi talks about setting up a new studio, adjusting to life in Devon, and finding inspiration in her new surroundings. The conversation also explores her approach to making art, developing a consistent practice, and balancing painting with creating online content. Sandi reflects on the lessons she has learned from building an audience, growing as an artist, and staying focused through periods of change. The episode offers insight into the realities of a creative career and how a major life move can open the door to new ideas, experiences, and directions in an artist’s work.

Sandi's work was in theRoyal Academy Summer Exhibiton 2026

You can look at Sandi's work, art classes and youtube trhough her website sandihester.com

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John Peart (1945–2013) was one of Australia's most respected abstract painters. Across a career spanning almost five decades, he developed a deeply personal visual language shaped by observation, intuition and a lifelong commitment to painting. From his early years in Brisbane to his long association with Watters Gallery and the artists' community at Wedderburn, Peart continually pushed his work in new directions while remaining true to the act of looking, questioning and making. His achievements included winning the Wynne Prize in 1997 and the Sulman Prize in 2000, and his work is held in every major Australian public collection.

In this episode, Julie Nicholson and Gary Seller are joined by artists Euan Macleod and Joe Frost to celebrate Peart's life, work and enduring influence. Rather than a formal biography, this is a conversation between artists who knew him personally and whose own practices have been shaped by his generosity, intelligence and remarkable paintings.

Together they discuss Peart's relentless curiosity, his openness to experimentation, his connection to landscape and abstraction, and the way his work balanced structure with freedom. They reflect on his role within the Wedderburn community, his years teaching at the National Art School, and the impact he had on generations of Australian painters. They also consider why his work continues to resonate and what today's artists can learn from his approach to painting as an ongoing process of discovery.

About Euan Macleod

Euan Macleod is one of Australia's leading contemporary painters. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, he moved to Sydney in 1981 and has built an internationally recognised career exploring the relationship between the human figure and the landscape. Known for his expressive surfaces and psychologically charged paintings, Macleod has received numerous major awards and has taught painting at the National Art School. He knew John Peart for many years and contributed to the 2004 John Peart: Paintings 1964–2004 retrospective publication.

About Joe Frost

Joe Frost is a Sydney-based painter whose practice moves between observation and abstraction, drawing on memory, place and the experience of everyday life. Exhibiting since 1999, he has developed a distinctive body of work through an improvisational and layered approach to painting. Frost knew John Peart personally, has written extensively about his work, contributed essays to both the 2004 retrospective and the recently published John Peart monograph, and brings unique insight into Peart's practice and legacy.

This episode is a thoughtful tribute to one of Australia's most significant painters and a rare opportunity to hear two artists reflect on the life, ideas and lasting influence of a friend, mentor and extraordinary painter.

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Osvaldo Budet: Upriver Downriver

Maitland Regional Art Gallery opens July 11th 2026, opening night 24th July and 25th July a talk and Q & A with Dr Nancy Cushing from University of Newcastle.

Puerto Rican Australian artist Osvaldo Budet joins Art Wank to discuss Upriver Downriver, his exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery exploring one of the Hunter region's most debated public monuments: Maitland's Black Boy statue, now more commonly referred to as Jocko Graves.

For more than a century, the cast iron figure has stood in the centre of Maitland's civic life. Celebrated by some as a beloved local landmark and questioned by others for its racial imagery and colonial associations, the statue has become a focal point for conversations about history, memory, race, and heritage.

Budet's work is informed by his experience growing up in Borikén, Puerto Rico, a place still shaped by colonial structures and histories. In Upriver Downriver, he considers how inherited images and public monuments continue to shape contemporary understandings of identity, authority, and belonging. Rather than offering simple answers, the exhibition asks how communities engage with historical objects whose meanings shift over time.

This conversation explores the power of monuments, the persistence of colonial narratives in public space, and the ways artists can help us reimagine our relationships with difficult histories.

Osvaldo Budet (b. 1979) is a Puerto Rican artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, photography, video, and research based projects. His work examines the physical, historical, and political dimensions of colonisation and post colonisation, exploring how systems of power shape culture, identity, and memory.

Budet received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he studied under Grace Hartigan. Since 2008, he has lived and worked across Puerto Rico, Germany, the United States, and Australia. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, me Collectors Room Berlin, the Museum of Latin American Art, and numerous galleries and institutions throughout Europe, the Americas, and Australia.

Through Upriver Downriver, Budet brings a global perspective on colonialism, representation, and historical memory to a distinctly local Australian story, inviting audiences to consider how we preserve, reinterpret, and reckon with the complex objects of our past.

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Inga Dalrymple is a visual artist whose practice explores painting and drawing as a dialogue between material, gesture and perception. Working between abstraction and observation, she is interested in how paint can hold traces of movement, memory and experience.

Inspired by nature and the feelings it can evoke, Inga works through processes of layering, erasing and reworking. These actions become a record of time and thought, revealing decisions and changes made during the making of a work.

Gesture sits at the centre of her practice. For Inga, each mark carries memory, emotion and a sense of place, while also acting as a way of thinking through painting. Forms appear and disappear, allowing the surface to guide the work as it develops.

In this episode of Art Wank, Inga talks about painting as a process of thinking, the role of gesture and memory, and how abstraction can give form to experiences that are difficult to define.

Inga is represented by Otomys.

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Australian artist Chris Horderjoins Art Wank to discuss a painting practice shaped by intuition, chance and decades of experimentation.

Known for his atmospheric stain paintings, Horder draws on influences ranging from Eastern ink traditions to Abstract Expressionism, creating works that embrace unpredictability and the unexpected. In this episode, he reflects on leaving school early to pursue art, the influence of travel and literature on his thinking, and the ongoing search for meaning through painting.

Chris shares insights into his studio process, the balance between control and accident, and the importance of remaining open to discovery. The conversation ranges from art history and bohemian life to the realities of sustaining a creative career.

Horder is a finalist of multiple major art prizes and scholarships including the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and Dobell Prize. His paintings are in major public and private collection in Australia and around the world.

Chris is represented by Nanda Hobbs in Sydney.

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Australian artist Rosemary Lee joins Art Wank to discuss the quiet power of observation, the language of drawing, and finding beauty in the everyday.

Awarded the 2025 Dobell Drawing Prize $30,000 acquisitive prize for her work 24–1 (2024), Lee’s meticulously rendered pencil drawing explores the changing urban landscape of Sydney’s Inner West, capturing construction sites, demolition zones and the constant cycle of renewal that shapes contemporary life. Selected from 965 entries, the work impressed judges with its extraordinary detail, visual intensity and nuanced reflection on place and transience.

In this episode, Rosemary talks about her artistic journey, the meditative process of drawing, and why subjects that many people overlook have become a source of endless fascination. From the complexities of gentrification and urban change to the challenges and rewards of maintaining a sustained studio practice, she shares the thinking behind the work that earned one of Australia’s most significant drawing awards.

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In this episode of Art Wank, we sit down with acclaimed Australian artist Joe Furlonger, @joefurlonger one of the country’s most respected and enduring painters of landscape and place.

For more than four decades, Furlonger has built a remarkable career through an unwavering commitment to drawing, observation and the lived experience of the Australian environment. Known for his expressive mark-making and dynamic compositions, his work moves between figuration and abstraction, capturing the vastness, volatility and poetry of the Australian landscape. From floodplains and drought-stricken country to coastal waters and working harbours, Furlonger’s paintings reveal a deep engagement with the rhythms of the natural world. 

Born in Cairns and now based in Samford, Queensland, Furlonger has been a finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes on multiple occasions, and his work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and QAGOMA. His celebrated survey exhibition Horizons continues to tour regional Queensland, introducing new audiences to the breadth of his practice.

We discuss the central role drawing plays in his daily life, the challenges and rewards of maintaining a long artistic career, and the ways landscape painting can become a vehicle for contemplation, memory and human connection. Joe reflects on his relationship with the Australian sublime, his years spent travelling and working in remote regions, and the enduring importance of looking closely at the world around us.

The conversation coincides with Furlonger’s current exhibition, Into the Blue, showing at @defiancegallery from 6–27 June 2026. The exhibition presents powerful new works inspired by coastal Australia, continuing his exploration of landscape as both physical reality and emotional terrain.

This episode offers a rare opportunity to hear from a painter whose work has shaped contemporary Australian landscape painting for generations.

#joefurlonger #art #artpodcast #artist

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In this episode, we speak with Andrew Jensen, founder and director ofFox Jensen, one of Australia's leading contemporary art galleries and Fox Jensen Mccrory, alongside Emma Fox and Sarah Mccrory.

Andrew discusses the evolution of the gallery, from its beginnings to its current presence in both Sydney and New Zealand. We explore the changing landscape of contemporary art, what makes a successful artist gallery relationship, and how a commercial gallery balances artistic vision with the realities of the art market.

The conversation also touches on collecting, the international art scene, the enduring significance of painting, and the role galleries play in supporting artists throughout their careers. Andrew shares insights from decades of experience working closely with established and emerging artists, offering a candid look at the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary art today.

Whether you're an artist, collector, curator, or simply interested in contemporary culture, this episode provides a thoughtful perspective on the business, passion and commitment behind running a leading gallery.

'Andrew Jensen opened the gallery in New Zealand in 1988 and over the course of more than thirty-five years it has set itself aside in terms of its seamless presentation of international work alongside the most considered practices from the region. In early 2011 the gallery expanded to Australia opening a second gallery in Sydney.

Multiple exhibitions by major artists such as Imi Knoebel, Fred Sandback, Tony Oursler, Helmut Federle, Günter Umberg, Winston Roeth, Lawrence Carroll, Elisabeth Vary and Callum Innes altered and enriched the local conditions. These exhibitions continued to provide the basis for an increasingly expansive approach that has seen the curated aspect of the gallery grow. There have been numerous notable projects over the last decade or more including E=MC2, Naked, The Architecture of Colour, Six Degrees of Separation, Points of Orientation, Detox, Melancholia, The Authority of Death, Farben, Saturation, There’s Joy in Repetition, Portrait without a Face, Eros, Permafrostand more recently Raven, Plastic Soul, Terrain, No One’s Rose & Rain. 

The galleries’ programs have developed a welcome richness and energy with the inclusion of a newer generation of international artists including Jan Albers, Mark Francis, Hanns Kunitzberger, Sofie Muller, Erin Lawlor, Liat Yossifor, Koen Delaere, Jane Bustin and Gideon Rubin. Alongside this, artists from the region include Aida Tomescu, Tomislav Nikolic, Matthew Allen, Geoff Thornley, Robert Malherbe, Jenny Topfer, Todd Hunter and Gary McMillan. The galleries are also privileged to hold the Estate of Bill & Pip Culbert.

With the opening of the major new gallery space in Sydney in late 2025 the galleries have both expanded and consolidated its program. In 2026 the galleries are presenting works by celebrated artists Ian Davenport (UK), Paul Czerlitzki (POL), Ingo Meller (GER), Ulrike Schulze (GER), Gerold Millar (GER) and Lucienne O’Mara (UK). 

Fox Jensen, Sydney and Fox Jensen McCrory, Auckland are run in close partnership with its artists by Andrew Jensen, Emma Fox and Sarah McCrory. It participates annually in art fairs whilst remaining deeply committed to its galleries’ programs and to publishing.' - Fox Jensen Website

Thanks for Andrew Jensen and Emma Fox for having us in their home for the converstauon.

Fox jensen Gallery, cnr Brennan &, McEvoy St, Alexandria NSW 2015

Fox Jensen Mcrorym, 10 Putiki St, Gtey Lynn, AKL 1021

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In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Mason Kimber, a Sydney based artist represented by N.Smith Galleryand Sophie Gannon Gallery. Kimber’s practice moves between textural painting, sculptural relief and installation, exploring the relationship between architecture, memory and surface.

We discuss how childhood experiences wandering through his father’s Perth nightclubs shaped his fascination with interiors, texture and built environments, and how these memories continue to inform his paintings today. Kimber reflects on expanding the language of painting through moulding, casting and framing, creating works that sit somewhere between painting, object and architecture.

The conversation also touches on studying fresco painting during his residency at the British School at Rome, completing a PhD focused on expanded painting practices, and balancing studio work with teaching at the National Art School and UNSW Art & Design.

A conversation about memory, materiality, architecture and the possibilities of painting beyond the flat surface.

Magenta House

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Lustreis a new temporary exhibition that explores the Allied campaigns in Greece and Crete in 1941 through the works of contemporary artists who walked in their footsteps in 2025.

Lustre Force was the code name for the combined Australian, New Zealand and British army units deployed to protect Greece from Nazi attack in 1941. The Allied defence of Greece was overwhelmed in three and a half weeks in April 1941 and in May, Crete fell to a Nazi airborne invasion in just ten days.

To record those heroic but doomed campaigns, Australia and New Zealand sent war artists and a photographer. 

Eighty-five years later, artists from Australia and New Zealand retraced their footsteps, walking the battlefields and visiting the cemeteries where the men and women of Lustre Force and their German foe lie.

Lustreshowcases the impressions they made of the impact of that journey. Some of the images show that the land and its people have recovered over time; others reveal that some scars take longer to fade.

The exhibition opens on 15 May 2026 and is in the Memorial’s Auditorium on the Lower Floor. The Memorial is open every day, 9am to 5pm. Please note that access to the exhibition is dependent on the Auditorium’s use for education and other programs, so we encourage you to call the Memorial in advance on (02) 8262 2900.

Entry is free

Artists: Amanda Penrose Hart, Euan Mcleoud, Joanna Logue, Alan Daniel Jones, Deirdre Bean, Riste Andrievski, Angelika Androutsopolous, Michael Bradfield, Michelle Hiscock, Steve Lopes, Natalie OConnor and Rodney Pople

Historian: Brad Manera, the Senior Historian and Curator of the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney

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Gary has a chat with artistJulie Nicholson about her show, Nostalgia, opening May 21st at CBD Gallery in Sydney.

Julie has recently exhibited with CBD Gallery at the Aotearoa Art Fair (NZ), and her work has been widely recognised in national awards such as the Paddington Art Prizre and the Muswellbrook, and held in private collections in Australia and overseas. She co-hosts the popular arts podcast, Art Wank.

Her duo solo exhibition, Nostalgia, stems from a sense of homesickness after moving from the UK to Australia at the age of 23. A deep sense of nostalgia has shaped her life, and only recently did she discover that nostalgia was once considered a disease. The works in this exhibition sit within that tension, posing the question of whether nostalgia is something that nurtures us, or something that holds us back.

Many of the canvases in the exhibition are split across multiple panels, reflecting the fractured experience of trying to locate familiarity within a foreign landscape. Moments of recognition such as sketching in Berrima in the Southern Highlands, where the landscape can feel momentarily like home are interrupted by distinctly Australian elements, like a palm tree or native plant, which jolt her back into the awareness of distance and displacement.

Julie has also titled many of the works using Old English words for landscape elements—such as weald, meaning forest. This reflects her interest in etymology and the evolution of language over time. Just as words shift, fall out of use, and take on new meanings, her understanding of the Australian landscape has also changed. Language, like memory, holds a connection to the past while continually adapting to the present, mirroring her experience of navigating place, identity, and belonging.

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Brett McMahon is a Newcastle-based painter whose work explores the structures and rhythms of the natural and built environment. Represented by Nanda Hobbs, McMahon has built a significant practice spanning painting, drawing and installation.

His work is known for its distilled, abstract language, bold lines, shifting geometries and a strong sense of spatial tension. Drawing from the coastal bush, industrial architecture and lived experience of place, his paintings sit somewhere between observation and reconstruction, where landscape becomes structure.

Over a career spanning more than three decades, McMahon has held over 30 solo exhibitions and exhibited widely across Australia and internationally. His work is held in public, corporate and private collections across Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States. 

In this conversation, we talk about painting as a way of thinking, the role of environment in shaping visual language, and how a practice evolves over time without losing its core concerns. We also get into scale, material and the push and pull between control and intuition in the studio.

Brett is represented by Nanda Hobbs in Sydney

Brett's show at Gosford Art Gallery Understory, opens 16th May 2026

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Joe Frost is an Australian artist. He was born in Sydney in 1974 and has exhibited consistently since 1999.

His visual thinking evolved in the urban environment and he is, in a sense, a local painter. Sydney’s remnant industrial areas were the subject of his earliest drawings and paintings and he has made extensive series of work in response to the western reaches of Sydney Harbour, the city’s CBD and the green, suburban precinct of Denistone. At times he has worked en plein air but his renditions of place have more usually been filtered through memory in the studio, where his approach to painting is improvisatory and layered. 

Over 25 years his process of finding-in-paint has come to manifest a great variety of subject matters, including public places, garden spaces, domestic objects and human figures in social situations. Some paintings land upon abstraction and are no less concerned with the matter of recognition: what is presented on the picture plane and what does the mind make of it? In all of Joe Frost's work a process is in play, whereby meaningful visual structure is divined from the flux of experience.

Joe is represented by Liverpool Street Galleryin Sydney

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Sally Anderson’s work is strongly influenced by her personal life, including her experiences of home, motherhood and relationships, as well as second hand experiences of landscapes. She explores how meaning and memory are held, stored and carried.

Born in Lismore, Sally Anderson began studying Visual Art at Southern Cross University before moving to the College of Fine Art in Sydney. She has been a finalist in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize and the Paddington Art Prize. In 2014 she took part in a residency with the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2017 she won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship through the Art Gallery of NSW and completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

These ideas continue in her upcoming exhibition at N Smith Gallery, opening on 9 April. Called Holding Pattern, River Hug, it builds on her interest in cycles, care, and repetition, with new paintings that shift between abstract and more realistic forms.

Sally is represented by N.Smith Gallery (Sydney, Australia) and Edwina Corlette Gallery (Brisbane, Australia). 

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Nikky Morgan Smith is an Australian artist whose practice explores the intersection of memory, place, and emotional resonance through a refined visual language. Working across painting and mixed media, her work is characterised by layered surfaces, nuanced colour palettes, and an intuitive balance between abstraction and representation.

Drawing inspiration from the Australian landscape as well as personal narratives, Smith’s compositions evoke a sense of atmosphere and quiet contemplation. Her process often involves building and reworking surfaces over time, allowing traces of earlier marks to remain visible and contribute to the depth and history of each piece.

Smith has exhibited in a range of group and solo exhibitions, with her work held in private collections. Through her practice, she continues to investigate how environments, both physical and psychological, shape perception, inviting viewers into spaces that feel at once familiar and open to interpretation.

She is an artist based in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Completing a cross institutional bachelor of visual arts at SCU/RMIT in 2003, Nikky has staged solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and participated in group exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Her work has been selected as a finalist in many prestigious awards, most recently the Jacaranda Touring Drawing Prize and has also been the recipient of various artists in residence programs, most recently the Suzzane Bastien Foundation artist in residence.

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In late 2025, we met with artist Edward Inchbold in his studio in Sydenham. A self-taught painter, he is deeply interested in the surface and texture of paint, as well as art history and the philosophies surrounding art-making. 

Edward began his practice in 2020 at the age of 25. Since 2021, he has presented five solo exhibitions, including a recent trilogy at Stella Downer Fine Art spanning eighteen months: Brand New People (2024), Wisteria Lemonade (2025), and Shedding Velvet (2026). This body of work signalled a series of pivotal shifts in both his approach and philosophy, positioning his practice within a broader contemporary context.

Inchbold’s paintings are defined by constant reinvention and a resistance to fixed stylistic identities. His compositions are built through processes of compression, erasure, and revision, resulting in dense, atmospheric surfaces. He employs a dynamic and controlled handling of materials, working with brushes, knives, and large scrapers to articulate his images.

Alongside his solo practice, Inchbold has participated in numerous group exhibitions since 2021, with presentations at Velvet Lobster (Sydney, 2026), Brenda Colahan Fine Art (Sydney, 2025–26), Straitjacket Art Space (Newcastle, 2025–26), and AK Bellinger (Inverell, 2023–25). His work has been recognised in several art prizes, including the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Awards (2021), the Lethbridge Landscape Prize (Salon), The Lethbridge 2000 (Salon), and the Galerist Emerging Art Prize (2021), where he was highly commended. His paintings are held in private collections both in Australia and internationally.

Inchbold approaches painting with a commitment to sincerity, material risk, and sustained inquiry, avoiding irony or sentimentality. His works are driven by tension rather than resolution, seeking to unsettle while holding the viewer’s attention over time.

Edward is represented by Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney, and his exhibition Shedding Velvet runs from March 31st - 25th April. - 

'Shedding velvet marks a transitional phase in a deer's antler development, one of renewal. While growing, the antlers are wrapped in a soft, living layer called velvet, rich with blood and nutrients. As growth concludes, internal changes slowly withdraw this support, causing the velvet to dry and decay. In response, the deer presses and scrapes its antlers against trees and rough surfaces, gradually peeling away the withered covering. What remains is bare bone. Hardened, exposed, and newly formed, they eventually, through some labour, reveal a structure shaped through both gentle nourishment and the necessity of abrasion. This deliberate and forceful act prepares the animal for the coming season of competition and display.'

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In this episode, we speak with Alex Wisser, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Cementa Festival, a unique contemporary arts festival held in the rural town of Kandos, New South Wales. Known for transforming a former cement-making town into a hub of experimental art, performance, and community collaboration, Cementa has become one of Australia’s most distinctive regional arts events.

Alex shares the story behind Cementa’s founding and how the festival grew from a grassroots idea into a nationally recognised platform for contemporary artists working outside traditional gallery spaces. We discuss the role of regional arts festivals in shaping cultural identity, building creative communities, and bringing ambitious artistic projects to unexpected places.

The conversation also explores the relationship between artists and place—how the industrial history, architecture, and landscape of Kandos influence the work presented during the festival. Alex talks about the curatorial philosophy behind Cementa, the challenges and rewards of producing large-scale arts programming in regional Australia, and why collaboration with the local community remains central to the festival’s success.

We also dive into Alex’s own artistic practice and how these perspectives inform the direction of Cementa today.

Whether you’re an artist, curator, festival producer, or someone interested in the power of art to transform regional communities, this episode offers insight into how creativity can reshape place, spark dialogue, and connect people.

Cementa will be held 17-20 September 2026

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We spoke with artist @meagan.jacobs.art about her life and work in Ampilatwatja, a remote Indigenous art centre. The conversation looks at daily creative practice on Country and the realities of living in a desert community.

Meagan Jacobs is an Australian landscape painter whose practice has been shaped by years living and working in remote Indigenous communities. Born in Sydney and now based in Ampilatwatja (Alyawarre Country), her work reflects an ongoing relationship with Country and the desert environment. Her paintings use restrained colour palettes, interlocking forms and open space.

Meagan Jacobs is represented by @defiancegallery, where she has held several exhibitions, including North of Capricorn (2025). She is currently included in the group exhibition Gathering at @defiancegallery until 28 March.

Jacobs has also worked within remote Indigenous art communities, including as Art Centre Manager for Artists of Ampilatwatja. This work has influenced her approach, grounding her practice in lived experience and time spent in desert landscapes. 

Episode recorded end of 2025

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James Erskine is the Founder and Director of Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney, bringing to the role a distinguished career that spans sports management and global entertainment.

Before establishing the gallery, Erskine founded SEL Sports & Entertainment, building one of the most respected management companies in the international sporting and media landscape. Through SEL, he managed and advised an extraordinary roster of talent, including legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne, celebrated British broadcaster Michael Parkinson, and world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, among many others.

As Director of Liverpool St Gallery, Erskine channels this unique background into a dynamic exhibition program that reflects excellence, character and cultural relevance. His leadership is shaped by first-hand experience at the highest levels of international sport and media — a perspective that distinguishes the gallery within Sydney’s contemporary art landscape.

Through Liverpool St Gallery, James Erskine continues to merge worlds, art, sport and storytelling, creating a space defined by authenticity, legacy and vision.

Recorded in Sydney end of 2025

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In this episode, we explore the life and work of Tim Johnson, one of Australia’s most distinctive contemporary artists. Known for blending Western art history, Indigenous knowledge systems, and spiritual iconography, Johnson’s practice spans decades of experimentation, collaboration, and cultural exchange.

We discuss Johnson’s role in co-founding Inhibodress in the early 1970s, widely recognised as Australia’s first artist-run initiative. Established in Sydney, Inhibodress became a catalyst for experimental contemporary art, giving artists control over how and where their work was shown. It marked a turning point in Australia’s independent art scene and set the stage for Johnson’s boundary-pushing career.

Johnson’s spiritual curiosity led him to engage deeply with Tibetan Buddhism, including meeting Dalai Lama. This encounter reinforced themes already present in his work, compassion, interconnectedness, cosmology, and sacred symbolism—which continue to appear in his layered, richly referential paintings.

Johnson’s international reach saw him exhibit alongside renowned German painter Gerhard Richter, positioning his work within a global contemporary art dialogue. These exhibitions highlighted the intellectual and aesthetic strength of Johnson’s cross-cultural visual language.

A pivotal moment in Johnson’s life was his close friendship and collaboration with Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, a leading figure of the Western Desert art movement. Johnson was given a skin name, a profound cultural gesture reflecting kinship and responsibility, signifying trust, respect, and long-term collaboration between the two artists. This relationship deeply informed Johnson’s engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems and Country.

Thanks Tim. We hope you enjoy this episode. 

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With a practice that integrates sculpture, moving image, performance and painting, Sydney based artist Todd Fuller is, at his core, a draughtsman. Underpinning all aspects of his practice is a love of drawing and a belief in its power as a democratic medium to connect, engage and delight audiences. 

For ten years, Fuller has been crafting hand-drawn animations that grapple with love and loss, as well as ideas of place, identity and community. Often narrative in form, these award winning works are derived from Fuller’s experiences with different communities, sites and histories. He has been awarded a number of residencies that have informed and developed his practice, including time spent at Bundanon Trust, Hill End, Grafton Regional Art Gallery, as well as international stints at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, the British School of Rome, and recently the NG Creative Residency in Provence.

A graduate of Sydney’s National Art School, Fuller has exhibited widely across Australia over the last ten years. He was a finalist in the 2019 Sir John Sulman Prize, won the prestigious Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award in 2018, and his work is present in various public and private Australian collections, including the Parliament House Art Collection, Artbank, Sydney Harbour Trust, and numerous regional art galleries. Alongside his national success, Fuller has gained international attention, with his works in exhibitions in the United States, Italy, France, South Korea, Bangladesh, England, Singapore and Malta.

Fuller’s practice extends into curatorship and arts production, having held roles with Waverley Council, Biennale of Sydney, Sculpture in the Vineyards and d/Lux Media Arts. The areas under investigation within his curatorial practice overlap with his artistic output. Just Draw, the 2016 exhibition Fuller curated with Lisa Woolfe, which toured regional galleries, showcased artworks that exemplified the varied nature of contemporary drawing practices, a subject close to Fuller’s heart. He is one half of interdisciplinary performance collective Flatline, and one third of the Hardenvale - our home in Absurdia touring initiative.

Find out more from his website 

https://www.toddfuller.com.au

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Sanne Mestrom’s sculptural practice explores the politics of the body and the shifting nature of value in the art world. Drawing on the female form, her work questions how art history and culture assign meaning and worth—values that are never fixed, but constantly evolving.

By taking these ideas out of the gallery and into public space, Mestrom uses play and participation to challenge how we experience art and urban environments. Her large-scale, playable sculptures invite hands-on engagement, blurring the line between art and everyday life while activating public spaces intellectually, physically, and imaginatively across generations.

Thanks Sanne, it was a pleasure to talk to you. 

Sanné Mestrom
Represented bySullivan + Strumpf, Sydney
Lectures at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Australian Research Council Fellow ART/PLAY/RISK

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Join Australian abstract artist Gene A’Hern, winner of the 2025 Sir John Sulman Prize, for a laid-back conversation about colour, atmosphere and the feeling of landscape. Gene talks openly about his process, working on instinct, and what it’s like to be recognised on one of Australia’s biggest art stages. It’s an easy, thoughtful chat about memory, place and how those ideas turn into bold, expressive abstract paintings. 

We recorded the epiosde at the end of 2025 in his studio in Emu Plains. 

Thanks Gene, we loved talking to you and seeing your work in the studio! 

Gene is represented by Cassandra Birdin Sydney

andSimchowitz Gallery, LA, USA

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In this episode of Artwank, we visit Bundanon to discuss the current exhibition, 'The Hidden Line The Art of the Boyd Women', with curator Sophie O’Brien. The exhibition brings attention to the women of the Boyd family (Arthur Boyd was a celebrated Australian artist, leaving his home, the Bundanon estate, to support the arts) and their role in Australian art and cultural life. While the Boyd name is often associated with male artists, this show focuses on the work, lives and influence of the women who shaped the legacy in ways that have often been overlooked.

Sophie O’Brien joins us to talk through the curatorial process behind the exhibition. She reflects on how the project developed, how works and archival materials were selected, and the challenges of representing multiple generations of women across different creative practices. The conversation explores what it means to reframe established art histories and how institutions like Bundanon can open space for stories that have not always been centred.

Sophie O’Brien is a curator at Bundanon where she works across exhibitions, collections and research. She has held roles at major public institutions and has worked on a wide range of projects spanning historical and contemporary art. Her practice is grounded in close engagement with artists, archives and place, with a focus on bringing new perspectives to existing collections.

This episode looks at the labour of curating, the gaps that still exist in art history and how exhibitions like The Boyd Women can shift public understanding of legacy, authorship and recognition. It is a conversation about process, responsibility and the ongoing work of making space for women within cultural narratives.

Thanks for chatting to us Sophie

Recorded November 2025

Exhibition on until 15th February 2026

'The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women repositions the creative practices of five generations of women from one of Australia’s most prominent artistic dynasties. Showcasing more than 300 powerful and diverse works, this timely exhibition brings into focus the women of the Boyd family – artists, designers, writers, and creative collaborators – whose contributions have long been influential yet overshadowed by their celebrated male counterparts.
Revealing a remarkable matrilineal line of artistic practices, the exhibition will present works by Emma Minnie a’Beckett Boyd, Lady Mary Nolan, Yvonne Boyd, Lucy Boyd Beck, Hermia Boyd and their descendents still practicing today including Lucy Boyd, Polly Boyd, Florence Boyd Williams and Ellen Boyd Green. Drawn largely from the Bundanon Collection, with key loans from the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Library, and Heide Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition spans pain

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Today we’re bringing you a special bonus episode of Art Wank to celebrate the graduation exhibition of our very own co-host, Fiona Verity. Fiona has been knee-deep in her studies, working tirelessly to create an incredible body of work, and you can see it on display tonight at the National Art School BFA GraduationExhibition — Thursday, 4 December from 6pm. Get yourself down there and take in everything that’s on show. 

Julie spoke to Fiona about the development of her drawing practice over her three years at NAS, how it has steadied her, focused her work, and made it quieter. Fiona talks about how much she used the NAS library, especially the drawing section, where she believes she may have borrowed more books than any other student! She also reflects on the importance of peer support and peer learning at the National Art School, and how it shapes and extends your work. Fiona has dedicated her degree show to her stepmother, who passed away earlier this year. Her grief has been worked through print, stitch, paint, and drawing based on her stepmother’s garden.

Fiona was also chosen as a finalist in the Kedumba drawing Award 2025!

We are very proud of you Fiona, cant wait to see what you do next!  

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Zoe Young is an Australian painter whose work spans still life, portraiture and abstraction. She studied at the National Art School in Sydney and earned her BFA in 2012. 

Zoe currently has a show on at Sophie Gannon Gallery in Melbourne until 13th Dec 2025.

In our conversation with Zoe, she spoke openly about the unusual path she took into the art world and how that path shaped the way she works today. She described leaving the National Art School twice, once as a young student who felt unready for the demands of formal training and again when life pulled her toward the buzz of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. 

Young grew up between Sydney, rural New South Wales and alpine-region settings, spending part of her childhood in a ski lodge on the edge of the Kosciuszko National Park. 

In her paintings Young often applies sculptural thinking (she studied sculpture at NAS), she sees canvas as form, composing her subjects with an awareness of planes, space, and structural balance. Her still lifes might show commonplace items, her portraits draw out character and story, and her abstractions explore shape, light, and composition.

Her work has earned recognition: she won the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 2018 for a portrait titled Drawing Storyboards (of film director Bruce Beresford), chosen from hundreds of entries across the nation. More broadly she has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Australia and had a solo exhibition titled “STILL.LIFE.” in Los Angeles. 

Zoe is represented by Sophie Gannon Gallery in Melbourne and Phillip Bacon in Brisbane. 

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We interviewed Harrie Fasher, sculptor and artist, at her large studio in Portland NSW in November 2025. She is a permanent artist in residence at The Foundations in Portland and has built a bronze foundry and sculpture studio over many years. She has a deep interest in animals, especially horses, and her work shows a strong understanding of their bodies and movement.

Harrie spoke about her daily practice and the way she shapes each piece through drawing and metal work. Her studio holds many works in progress and shows the many stages of her process, from first sketches to full metal forms.

Her role at The Foundations supports the growth of the arts site and also gives her space to pursue long term projects. The foundry allows her to cast works on site and gives her full control of each stage. She works with a small team and often teaches others about casting and metal work.

Harrie described her bond with horses as central to her thinking. Her works show the frame and gesture of the animal and invite viewers to see how bodies move through space.

Thanks Harrie, it was wonderful meeting you and seeing your work in the studio.

Harrie is represented by King Street Gallery in Sydneyand Australian Galleries in Melbourne.

29 November 2025 – 22 February 2026 

Orange Regional Gallery
'Harrie Fasher: Before Dawn is a major solo exhibition featuring monumental bronze and concrete sculptures. This exhibition represents a pivotal moment in Fasher’s career, consolidating a decade of artistic and technical research at an ambitious scale. ‘Before Dawn’ explores resilience and transformation through material contrasts – weight against fragility, rawness against refinement.

Harrie Fasher is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.'

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This week Art Wank met Rhonda Davis, Curator ofMacquarie University Gallery, and Kon Gouriotis, curator and editor of Artist Profile magazine. They recently curated an exhibition at Macquarie Gallery titled Australian Abstraction. We spoke with them about their thinking behind the exhibition, how they chose the artists involved, and the Macqaurie university Art Collection. 

'The Australian Abstraction exhibition series continues its exploration of the evolving nature of abstraction within the Australian context. This second stage retraces the diversity, episodic developments, and layered narratives that have shaped abstraction as an enduring force in Australian art.

What began as an international movement has been reconfigured and transformed by artists working within the unique socio-political, cultural, and environmental conditions of this country.

Sophie Cape, Julia Davis & Lisa Jones in collaboration, Helen Eager, Louise Forthun, Dale Frank, Michael Goss, Gary Gregg, Sean Hogan, Michael Johnson, Kirtika Kain, Donald Laycock, Ian Milliss, Kyle Murrell, NOT, Louise Olsen, Ana Pollak, Jeannette Siebols, Aida Tomescu, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn and Chris Wise

Curated by Rhonda Davis and Kon Gouriotis'

About the collection at Macquarie University - 

'Our collection adorns the entire campus with artwork on display in the library, the faculties, the hospital, the clinics, and the administration buildings, where staff, students and visitors collectively encounter art as part of the everyday life of Macquarie’s expansive campus.

The paintings and sculptures add robust vitality, freshness and bursts of colour to the physical environment of the campus − its visual presence is certainly much felt, discussed and enjoyed.'

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In this episode, we chat with the extraordinary Aida Tomescu, one of Australia’s most respected abstract painters. Born in Romania and based in Sydney, Aida has spent her career exploring the emotional and structural possibilities of paint, building a language that’s as physical as it is poetic.

We talk about her process: the scraping, layering, and reworking that give her paintings their dense, luminous surfaces. She describes painting as a living conversation, one that demands patience, trust, and deep attention.

A major theme in our discussion is the importance of form and the relationships between all the elements within a painting. For Aida, nothing sits in isolation; every shape, colour, and mark holds a relationship to the next. It’s this internal rhythm, this careful balancing of tensions, that gives her work its remarkable sense of harmony and presence. 

We also spoke with Aida about her teaching career, she taught at National Art School for twenty years, and several of our previous guests have told us what an amazing teacher she was. 

This conversation is a deep dive into the craft and philosophy of painting — into what it means to spend a lifetime painting. 

Thanks so much Aida, we loved talking to you. 

Aida's show opens at Fox Jensen Gallery on 15th November 2025. 

Aida is represented by Fox Jensen Gallery in Australia , Fox Jensen McCrory in NZ, and Flowers Gallery London and Hong Kong.  

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Aaron Aryadharma Matheson is an artist living and working at Lennox St Studios, Sydney. He’s been a finalist in the Mosman, Waverley and Waterhouse prizes, and picked up the Richard Ford Travel Award along the way. He studied drawing at the Prince’s Drawing School in London, and later completed a Master of Fine Art at the National Art School in Sydney.

This podcast is about art, Buddhism, and living with a chronic illness,multiple sclerosis, and how all those things come together in everyday life. Aaron talks about painting as a way of making sense of things, of finding stillness and meaning through colour, mark and form.  

We had such a great chat with Aaron — thanks so much to him for taking the time. 

Aaron is represented by Liverpool St Gallery. 

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In this episode of Art Wank, we focus on Australian artists Michelle Cawthorn and Peter Sharp and their recent creative residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut, USA. Together, they reflect on how this experience produced a new body of work and the opportunity to explore the foundations archives. 

During her residency at the Albers Foundation, Cawthorn immersed herself in collage of birds and particularly focussed on the work of Anni Albers. Sharp engaged directly with the legacy of Josef Albers, exploring how colour, geometry and perception can reveal new ways of seeing the landscape by painting on Albers book on colour, reinterpreting the pages for himself. 

Michelle Cawthorn – Bio

Michelle Cawthorn is a Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in drawing and extends across collage, painting, sculpture and installation. Her work explores memory, identity and belonging through an autobiographical lens, often using repetition, pattern and sensory triggers to evoke fragments of experience.

Cawthorn holds undergraduate degrees in Fine Art and Art Education from the University of New South Wales, and completed a PhD in Fine Arts in 2021. She has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in over sixty group shows across Australia. Her work is represented by OLSEN Gallery, Sydney.

Peter Sharp – Bio

Peter Sharp is an Australian artist whose practice has, for more than three decades, investigated how the natural world can be understood through abstraction. Working across drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, Sharp captures the structural and rhythmic essence of nature rather than its surface appearance.

He holds a Bachelor of Art Education from the City Art Institute (now UNSW Art & Design) and a Master of Fine Arts from UNSW. Sharp has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally.

Join us as Michele Cawthorn and Peter Sharp share insights from their transformative experience at the Albers Foundation. 

Apply for the residencyhere.

Thanks, Peter and Michele, for speaking with us, it was a fascinating insight into your time at the Albers Foundation, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the work that emerges from the experience. 

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In this episode we explore the work and world of Australian artist John R Walker, a painter who invites us to experience the land as a living and layered presence rather than just a view. Born in Sydney in 1957 and now based in Braidwood, New South Wales, Walker’s journey has taken him from city life to a deep engagement with rural environments. His art connects ecology, geology, and memory, revealing what he calls “the experience of being in country.”

Walker is known for his large and immersive paintings that map the rhythms and histories of the Australian landscape. His brushwork traces erosion, fire, and growth, capturing both the slow movement of geological time and the immediate sensations of walking through a place. In his Fireground series he responded to the devastation and regeneration of bushfires, showing both the destruction and renewal that shape the land.

Over more than thirty years, Walker has exhibited widely in Australia and overseas. His paintings are held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia. His exhibition Journeys and Return at the Orange Regional Gallery in 2023 and 2024 confirmed his reputation as one of the leading painters of country in Australia.

In our conversation we discuss how Walker balances materials and philosophy, how walking shapes his art, and why he believes landscape painting today must also tell ecological stories.

John is represented by Utopia Art in Sydney 

Thanks John

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In this episode we speak with Michael Cusack, an accomplished abstract painter, educator, and co-founder of the Byron School of Art in Mullumbimby. Michael’s career has spanned over three decades, with his paintings exhibited widely across Australia and internationally. His work is represented in major public and private collections, and he is known for his richly layered abstractions that explore colour, form, and the tension between control and chance.

Michael began teaching at TAFE NSW, where he developed a strong connection to art education and mentoring younger artists. 

In 2013, alongside fellow artists Emma Walker, James Guppy and Christine Willcocks, Michael co-founded the Byron School of Art. Based in Mullumbimby, the school has grown into a respected independent art institution in the Northern Rivers, offering a range of programs, exhibitions, and a strong sense of creative community outside of the metropolitan art centres.

We talk about Michael’s journey from Ireland to Australia, his ongoing fascination with abstraction, and the role of teaching and community-building in sustaining a meaningful artistic practice.

Michael is represented in sydney by Olsen Gallery. 

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In this episode of the Art Wank Podcast we chat with Sydney-based artist Gina Bruce, known for her haunting, dreamlike paintings that play between strength and subtlety. Gina works across a variety of media, often returning to the same places to capture their changing moods and connections to identity. Her works are bold in mark-making yet beautifully delicate in atmosphere, creating that unique balance she’s become recognised for.

We talk about her journey into art, including how she came to study at the National Art Schooland what drew her into painting in the first place. Gina shares insights into her process – starting with sketches and drawings – before approaching the canvas with quick, decisive marks that bring her ideas to life.

The conversation also touches on her trip to Broken Hill.Gina talks about returning to favourite spots time and again, how place and memory become entwined, and why those themes continue to fascinate her.

She has been selected for the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award (twice Highly Commended), and the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, to winning the Waverley Art Prize with her diptych Dreamhouse 2. 

Gina is represented by Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney. 

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We spoke with artists Gary Gregg and Gary Deirmendijan, together with curator and director Miguel Olmo, about Repair/Replace, the current exhibition at Gallery Lane Cove. Our conversation touched on the curatorial process, the role of found objects in art, and the unexpected significance they can hold. Gary Gregg shared insights into his collages made from studio detritus, and the ways these works sit alongside his painting practice. We also discussed pieces that Gary Deirmendjian describes as having “nil intent”, unconscious acts that make an artwork, such as a Sydney university noticeboards, layered over decades with thousands of staples and flyers, each mark a trace of countless hands.

A huge thank you to Miguel, Gary G, and Gary D for joining us. Don’t miss Repair/Replace at Gallery Lane Cove.

Opening tonight Weds 27th August 6-8pm at @gallerylanecove 

'20 August - 13 September

Opening Event: 27 August 6pm - 8pmGallery Lane Cove

Repair | Replace brings together artists who confront the urgent need to rethink our relationship with the planet, considering the materials we choose, the stories we tell and the structures we sustain. Prompted by the quiet clarity of the pandemic lockdowns, the exhibition begins with a provocation: If we don’t repair our relationship with the planet, we ourselves may be replaced. 

Spanning painting, sculpture, installation, and object-based practices, the works examine cycles of damage and renewal. Artists in the exhibition approach materials not only for their physical properties, but for their capacity to carry histories, critique dominant structures, and open up new imaginaries of care, continuity, and transformation. 

​Some artists engage with salvaged or post-consumer materials, either incorporating them directly or drawing conceptual inspiration from them. Whilst others foreground material culture in narratives that reflect on consumption, memory, and value. 

The exhibition draws a connection between material and planetary care. It proposes that our relationship to objects, spaces, and stories are intrinsic to how we relate to one another and in extension to the world we share.'

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In this episode of the Art Wank Podcast, we sit down with Michael Kempson, one of Australia’s leading master printers. With a career spanning over three decades, Michael has made a profound impact on the field of printmaking through his own practice as well as his work as a mentor, collaborator and educator.

Michael is best known as the founder and director of Cicada Press, an educationally focused printmaking workshop based at UNSW Art and Design. Through Cicada Press, he has collaborated with hundreds of artists from Australia and overseas, fostering experimentation and innovation in print. The workshop has become a vital space where emerging and established artists can expand their practices, with Michael guiding technical expertise while encouraging creative risk taking.

Alongside this collaborative work, Michael has dedicated much of his career to teaching. He was a senior lecturer at UNSW and has mentored countless students, many of whom have gone on to develop successful artistic practices of their own. His approach emphasises the importance of both technical mastery and the spirit of collaboration, showing how printmaking can open up new conversations across disciplines and cultures.

Beyond his role as a master printer and teacher, Michael maintains apersonal art practice that reflects his own visual language and concerns. His prints often draw on social and political themes, expressed through a refined and graphic sensibility. This balance between nurturing the artistic visions of others and pursuing his own practice marks Michael as a unique and influential figure in the contemporary art world.

In our conversation, Michael shares insights into the collaborative process and reflections on what it means to dedicate a life to teaching, printing and making art.

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In this episode of the Art Wank Podcast, we talk with acclaimed Australian artist Ana Pollak, whose practice is shaped by the natural beauty and quiet rhythms of Dangar Island, her home on the Hawkesbury River. Ana’s work evokes a strong sense of place, combining close observation with an intimate emotional connection to her surroundings. Her drawings and paintings capture shifting light on water, the textures of flora and foliage, and the subtle human gestures that weave themselves into the landscape. 

We explore Ana’s creative journey, tracing her path from early influences to the development of her distinctive style, one that combines expressive mark-making with a keen awareness of environmental and social themes. The conversation also touches on her animation projects, which incorporate water and raindrops, and are further inspired by music. 

We also explore Ana’s involvement in Six Artists Seven Days On at Defiance Gallery, where she joined five other artists for an intensive week of creation. She reflects on the collaborative energy, the challenges of producing work in such a short timeframe, and how the process influenced the direction of her art. The exhibition is on view until 23 August 2025.

The project began in July 2024, when six artists embarked on what they described as a life-defining experience. The invited residency artists—Sophie Cape, Nicolette Eisdell, Pamela Honeyfield, Michelle Hungerford, Charmaine Pike, and Ana Pollak—were accompanied by filmmakers Kathryn Milliss ACS and Anna Howard ACS, along with arts writer John McDonald. This exhibition is the culmination of that residency, marking the final expedition in a ten-year initiative to connect artists with country and foster environmental awareness in a unique and powerful way.

Over the past twelve years, with the support of the Ferris Family Foundation, Defiance Gallery has coordinated four residencies, raising an extraordinary $750,000 through exhibition sales. With this fifth and final exhibition, the goal is to reach a total of $1,000,000 in donations to support the vital conservation work of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

This conversation offers a glimpse into Ana Pollak’s practice, her connection to place, and her ongoing fascination with her environment. Ana’s work invites us to pause and notice the beauty in the moments that surround us.

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In this episode of the Art Wank Podcast, we celebrate the creative brilliance of the 2025 Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize winners. We speak with Renjie Teoh, this year’s Design Prize recipient, whose collaboration with artist Gary Carsley offers a fresh and thought‑provoking take on contemporary design. Although Gary was unable to join us for the recording, his influence and creative partnership with Renjie remain central to their award‑winning project. We’re also joined by Joanne Odisho, the overall Design Prize winner, whose work impressed with its innovation, craftsmanship and commitment to sustainability. Completing the line‑up is Shona Wilson, an artist who has claimed the People’s Choice Award for both 2023 and 2024. Shona reflects on her enduring engagement with nature, sharing insights into her deep connection with the environment, whether rooted in her local surroundings or explored through residencies overseas.

We delve into their award‑winning pieces and take a peek into their creative worlds: from crafting an eggshell lamp, to collecting delicate insect wings, to producing thousands of photocopied prints and transforming them into a vast, immersive installation. Together, these artists embody the ethos of the prize -sustainability, materiality and a profound respect for the environment.

https://www.thearthitects.org/about - Renjie and Gary's collaborative work

https://www.joanneodisho.com/

https://www.shonawilson.com/

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In this episode of Art Wank, we sit down with one of Australia’s most respected – and at times divisive – voices in the art world, John McDonald. Known for his decades-long career as an art critic and columnist, John brings sharp insight, dry humour, and a deep knowledge of art history to the conversation.

We discuss the role and relevance of art prizes in today’s cultural landscape, including whether they truly reflect quality or simply reinforce trends and institutional biases. John shares his candid thoughts on the Archibald Prize, among others, and questions the criteria by which we measure artistic merit in competitive formats.

Our chat turns to the shifting state of the Powerhouse Museum and the controversial changes that have sparked public outcry. John offers a well-informed perspective on how institutions like the Powerhouse serve (or fail to serve) their communities, and what’s at stake when decisions are made without proper consultation.

We also touch on public art and the recent Lindy Lee sculpture installed at the National Gallery of Australia. While acknowledging her important place in Australian art, John questions the processes behind major commissions and whether spectacle sometimes overshadows substance in large-scale public works.

This episode is a lively, thought-provoking conversation about the state of the Australian art world — its politics, pitfalls, and potential — from someone who’s spent a lifetime analysing it. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, John McDonald is never boring, and his insights are well worth a listen.

 If you'd like to read more of John McDonald’s writing, subscribe to his Substack, Everything the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know. 

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In this episode of the Art Wank podcast, we speak with Australian artist James Drinkwater, known for his vibrant paintings, sculpture, poetry, and music. Drinkwater, originally from Newcastle, NSW, has built a reputation for his layered, gestural works and multidisciplinary practice. He won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2014, which allowed him to work in Paris, and he has been a finalist in the Wynne and Dobell Drawing Prizes multiple times. Our conversation explores his deep connection to place, his creative experiments with dance and theatre, and the impact of his time in New York with Julian Schnabel.

A significant part of our discussion centres on Drinkwater’s collaboration with MIMA Lake Macquarie in 2019, where he was commissioned to create the sets and costumes for a contemporary ballet titled Storm Approaching Wangi – and Other Desires. The ballet was inspired by the watery landscapes around Lake Macquarie and the Australian modernist painter William Dobell. Drinkwater didn't just design the visuals; he also performed on stage, collaborating with choreographers Skip Willcox and Belle Beasley, and composer Joseph Franklin. This project was an opportunity for Drinkwater to translate his painterly language—texture, gesture, and colour—into a dynamic, physical space, extending his creative practice beyond the canvas. He reflects on how the experience allowed him to think about movement and space differently, enriching his approach to making art.

We also delve into Drinkwater's time in New York, particularly his 2022–2023 residency at Julian Schnabel’s property on Long Island. Schnabel, famous for his plate paintings and maximalist style, invited Drinkwater to work in his studio space. This intense, seven-week period inspired Drinkwater’s exhibition American Salt – Montauk to the Bowery, which explored themes of memory, landscape, and artistic legacy. Drinkwater drew parallels between his own experiences in New York and those of Dobell, who had also found creative energy in the city. Although Dobell’s time there was fleeting, Drinkwater sees the connection in the way both artists absorbed and transformed their environments into their art.

Finally, Drinkwater shares his reflections on the interplay between disciplines in his practice, including a mid-career survey exhibition in Canberra. He speaks passionately about the importance of collaboration, travel, and memory in shaping his work. The episode closes with thoughts on how these experiences continue to push the boundaries of his artmaking, both in Australia and internationally.

James currently has an exhibition at Newcastle Straightjacket Art Spacewith Braddon Snape - 19th July - 10th August. 

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Ann Cape is a celebrated Australian artist whose career spans over four decades, marked by her evocative portraiture, sensitive explorations of memory, and enduring commitment to arts education. Based in Sydney, Cape has established herself as a leading figure in figurative painting, known for her ability to capture not only the physical likeness of her subjects but also a deep psychological presence. Her practice includes painting, drawing, and sculpture, often centered on themes of identity, personal history, and human connection.

Cape studied at the National Art School in Sydney, as well as overseas in London. Her influence extends well beyond her studio, through her teaching, mentorship, and role as a judge in various art awards.

Her portraits have been finalists in numerous national prizes, including the Archibald, the Portia Geach, the Doug Moran, and the Mosman Art Prize. Cape’s work is held in public, private, and corporate collections across Australia, and she has exhibited widely both in solo and group shows.

A standout in her recent work is An Unending Shadow, a deeply personal exhibition created in collaboration with her daughter, artist Sophie Cape. This show dealt with their family’s experience of dementia, merging generations of artistic inquiry to produce a raw and moving body of work.

Cape’s thoughtful, human-centered approach to portraiture makes her an ideal guest for the Art Wank Podcast. In this episode, we discuss her life in art, her process in the studio, her thoughts on the evolving role of portraiture in Australia, and her current exhibition, A Painter’s Painter, curated by Ann herself, is on show at Mosman Art Galleryuntil August. The exhibition features portraits of Ann’s artist friends alongside their own artworks, offering a unique and intimate perspective on their creative lives and personal connections. 

Thanks for talking to us, Ann. 

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In this episode, we’re joined by two key figures fromStudio A—CEO Gab Mordy and artist Thom Roberts—for a lively chat about carving out space for neurodiverse artists in the contemporary art world.

Thom shares insights into his recent solo exhibition in Canberra at the National Portrait Gallery, 'The Immersive World of Thom Roberts', reflecting on the ideas behind the work, how it came together, and what it’s like to see your art out in the world. We also talk about his journey through his twenties, and how his relationship with Studio A has helped shape his creative practice, offering both a space and a platform to grow as an artist.

Gab takes us back to the origins of Studio A, revealing how the organisation came to be and the challenges and breakthroughs along the way. She also talks about her recent research trip overseas, where she explored other supported studio models across Europe and North America.

This is a conversation about the power of supported studios, the value of long-term creative relationships, and what happens when artists are given the freedom and resources to thrive.

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Katherine Edney is a Sydney-based artist whose evocative oil paintings delve into themes of identity, memory, and emotional transformation. Born in 1983, she holds a Master of Fine Arts by Research in Painting from UNSW’s College of Fine Arts (2008), as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts with First Class Honours (2004).

Edney’s work has received wide recognition in major Australian art prizes. She was a finalist in the prestigious Archibald Prize in both 2019 and 2020. Her 2019 entry, Self-portrait with Ariel, captured a poignant and deeply personal moment during late pregnancy, highlighting her ongoing interest in the strength and vulnerability of the female body during periods of transformation. Other accolades include multiple selections for the Salon des Refusés (2021–2024), the Portia Geach Memorial Award, Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, and the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship.

Her recent solo exhibition, I want to lie in the clouds with you, held at Curl Curl Creative Space, explored mental health and emotional landscapes. Through dreamlike compositions and layered textures, Edney invites the viewer into a contemplative space of calm and introspection.
Katherine Edney 

Her portfolio spans portraiture, still life, and landscape. Notable works include David, Teena, and the black dog (Archibald finalist, 2020) and Ariel as a Green Cat (finalist, 2024 National Emerging Art Prize). Edney’s paintings often blend realism with symbolism, creating narratives that resonate on both personal and universal levels.

Alongside her painting practice, Edney is committed to arts education and runs classes for children on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Her work continues to evolve, underpinned by a strong dedication to storytelling and emotional nuance.

Discover more at katherineedney.com.

Thanks Katherine, we really appreciate your time!

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In this episode of Art Wank, we dive into the dynamic and prolific career of Australian artist Ann Thomson, whose expressive, abstract works have made her a vital force in Australian contemporary art for over five decades. Born in 1933 in Brisbane and trained at the National Art School in Sydney, Thomson’s practice has always defied easy categorisation. Her paintings and sculptures are known for their vibrant energy, lyrical abstraction, and a deep, intuitive connection to material and process.

We explore Thomson’s early influences, including her time in Europe during the 1960s, and how her work evolved through an engagement with both landscape and gesture. Her ability to balance spontaneity with formal rigour creates works that feel both immediate and timeless. Whether working in paint, paper, or three-dimensional forms, Thomson consistently brings a bold sense of freedom and exploration to her practice.

Over the years, Ann has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including the prestigious Wynne Prize for landscape painting. She has exhibited extensively across Australia and internationally, and her work is held in major public and private collections.

In our conversation, we reflect on her fearless approach to art-making, her thoughts on abstraction, and her commitment to making work that resists constraints and expectations. Ann Thomson’s career is a testament to the power of following intuition and embracing the unknown.

We really appreciate your time, thanks Ann. 

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In this episode, we delve into the practice of Sydney-based artist Kyle Murrell, whose abstract works explore the tension between structure and meaning. A 2013 Honours graduate of the National Art School, Murrell has garnered accolades including the John Olsen Prize for Figure Drawing and the Elioth Gruner Prize for Landscape Painting . His process is rooted in drawing, serving as both exploration and regeneration, leading to paintings that deconstruct and obscure subjects through layered mark-making .

Murrell's commitment to abstraction earned him the 2019 Defiance Award, granting a residency with the Nock Art Foundation in New Zealand . Represented byDefiance Gallery, his recent exhibitions include New Paintings and the upcoming Always At Every Moment (31 May – 21 June 2025) . Join us as we discuss his evolving practice, the role of repetition, and how drawing sustains his creative journey.

Thanks Kyle

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In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Teresa Biet, founder (alongside her husband Andre) and director of Art Incubator – a philanthropic initiative that champions emerging Australian artists through financial support, mentorship, and increased visibility. Teresa shares her deep passion for the arts and her belief in their power to inspire change and foster community. We discuss the origins of Art Incubator, the challenges of sustaining independent arts initiatives, and what draws her to support particular artists. Teresa also reflects on the shifting landscape of contemporary art in Australia and the importance of backing new and diverse voices. Whether you're an artist, curator, or simply an art lover, this episode offers a fascinating look at how individual vision and private support can help shape the future of the visual arts.

https://artincubator.com.au

Ten Fold: A decade of Emerging Art Incubator Artists is on now at Manly Art Gallery and Museum until June 1st 2025

Thanks Teresa for your insightful and passionate conversation. 

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Lottie Consalvo is a deeply intuitive and reflective artist whose recent body of work has been profoundly shaped by time spent meditating and working in the Australian bush. Her latest exhibition, Long Dawn, recently shown at her Sydney gallery Nanda Hobbs, reveals the contemplative power of being immersed in nature — where solitude, stillness, and the landscape become integral to her process.

In this episode, we speak with Lottie about the evolution of her multidisciplinary practice, which spans painting, sculpture, and video performance. We discuss how her work continues to expand in scale and emotional depth, and how presence, slowness, and imagination are vital tools in her creative life.

'How can we see beyond what is visible? To grasp at something intangible, knowing that it exists somewhere on the periphery, but is never fully within reach? Lottie Consalvo doesn’t ask us these questions, she dwells in them—urging us to loosen our grip on certainty and open ourselves to the limitless possibilities that exist beyond our definition of reality.' - Nanda Hobbs

Thanks for talking to us Lottie.

Please subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Instagram. 

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In this episode of Art Wank, we delve into the world of Australian landscape painterDavid Collins, whose latest solo exhibition, Brevity, is currently on view at Defiance Galleryin Sydney from May 3 to 24, 2025 .

Collins has been a significant figure in the Australian art scene since the early 1990s . Residing on Dangar Island in the Hawkesbury River since 1987, his daily interactions with the river—often by rowboat—deeply inform his artistic practice . His works are known for their meditative quality, blending abstraction with a profound sense of place.

Brevity continues this exploration, offering a series of paintings that reflect Collins' intimate connection with the Australian landscape. The exhibition showcases his ability to distill vast natural scenes into compositions that are both evocative and restrained.

Throughout his career, Collins has participated in numerous residencies, including the Australian Wildlife Conservancy Residency in Queensland and the Nock Art Foundation Residency in New Zealand . His work has been recognised in prestigious awards such as the Wynne Prize and the Salon des Refusés.

In our conversation, Collins discusses his artistic journey, the influence of his surroundings, and the themes present in Brevity. He shares insights into his process and the philosophies that underpin his work.

Join us as we explore the nuanced landscapes of David Collins and gain a deeper understanding of his contribution to contemporary Australian art.

Brevity is on display at Defiance Gallery, 12 Mary Place, Paddington, NSW, until May 24, 2025. For more information, visit defiancegallery.com.

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In this episode of Art Wank, we sit down with Sydney-based artist Matt Bromhead to dive into his multidisciplinary practice, which spans drawing, sculpture, and painting. Known for his expressive use of materials and intuitive mark-making, Matt shares insights into his creative process, his influences, and how his work explores form, space, and texture.

We chat about:
 🎨 His journey as an artist and how he developed his distinctive aesthetic.
 🪵 The relationship between his sculptural and two-dimensional works.
 ✍️ How drawing remains a fundamental part of his practice.
 🔨 His approach to materials—why he chooses certain textures, forms, and processes.
 🏡 The role of environment and studio space in shaping his work.
 🎭 The influence of history, mythology, and personal narratives in his practice.

Matt’s work often blurs the boundaries between sculpture and drawing, with a deep consideration for how form interacts with space. He speaks candidly about the challenges of maintaining an art practice, navigating the art world, and staying connected to the creative impulse.

📸 Instagram: @mattbromhead
🌐 Website: www.mattbromhead.com

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Art Wank Podcast – Oliver Abbott

Welcome back to Art Wank! In this episode, we chat with Sydney-based artist Oliver Abbott, whose latest exhibition, Mine, is currently showing at Dominik Mersch Gallery.

Oliver’s practice explores memory and its distortions, using digital world-building tools to reconstruct remembered spaces. His background in filmmaking, animation, and architecture feeds into his work, blending virtual environments with painting to create speculative spaces that sit between reality and imagination.

We discuss:
 🎨 How Oliver’s memories of lived spaces inform his work
 🖥️ The role of digital tools in his creative process
 🏛️ His transition from filmmaking to painting
 🖼️ The themes behind his Mine exhibition
👀 What’s next for his practice

Oliver’s work is a fascinating exploration of how we remember and reimagine spaces, and we loved hearing about his unique process.

Where to find Oliver’s work:
👉 Dominik Mersch Gallery
👉 Oliver’s website

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Janis Clarke's exhibition at Olsen Gallery, The Other Sun, opens March 5th - 29th March 2025. 

Janis Clarke, born in 1983 in Sydney, Australia, is a distinguished contemporary artist renowned for his evocative oil paintings that delve into the nuances of perception and memory. His academic journey in the arts commenced with an Advanced Diploma of Performance Art from JMC Academy in 2003. He further honed his craft at the National Art School in Darlinghurst, NSW, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts between 2013 and 2015, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from 2016 to 2017 under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Donaldson.

Clarke's work is characterised by tightly composed scenes that capture fleeting moments and introspective reflections. His paintings often present minimalist landscapes and interiors, prompting viewers to engage deeply with the act of observation. Working predominantly at night, Clarke translates his personal experiences and memories into visual narratives, emphasising the stillness and introspection inherent in nocturnal settings.

His solo exhibitions have been met with critical acclaim. Notably, in 2023, he presented Living a Life That's Perfectly Still at the Olsen Annexe in Sydney. This exhibition featured works like Full Moon and House, Blue House, and Window and Pink Lampshade, which encapsulate his exploration of light, shadow, and the subtleties of everyday scenes. The exhibition invited viewers to contemplate the act of seeing, not through detailed realism but through the lived experience of looking.

Clarke's artistic excellence has been recogniSed through his participation in numerous group exhibitions and art prizes. He was a finalist in the prestigious Archibald Prize in 2024, showcasing his portrait Beckah in the Studio, which depicted musician Beckah Amani. The portrait captured Amani's strength and resilience, reflecting Clarke's ability to convey complex emotions through minimalist compositions. Additionally, Clarke has been a finalist in other esteemed competitions, including the Mosman Art Prize and the Paddington Art Prize, underscoring his significant presence in the Australian art scene.

His works are part of notable collections, such as the Zimmermann Permanent Collection, the Macquarie Group Permanent Collection, and the National Art School Permanent Collection in Sydney. 

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In this episode of Art Wank, we chat with George Hartley, co-founder of Bluethumb, Australia's largest online art marketplace. George shares insights into the business side of art, the evolution of Bluethumb, and how artists can leverage online platforms to build their careers. From navigating the digital art world to understanding collector trends, this episode is packed with valuable advice for artists at all stages of their careers.

'We represent over 30,000 emerging and established artists from Australia and work with 20 of Australia's most remote Aboriginal Art Centres to give you access to more Australian artists and their art than anywhere else in the world.

We have sold over 110,000 original Australian artworks to everyone; from first time art buyers to established collectors and Australia's finest architecture firms.

But this is just the first chapter in our story.'

Thanks George!

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Steve Lopes 

“I try to deal with the figure and the landscape together. For me, it’s about the relationship we have with our surrounds. The tension
between the two both visually and metaphorically is what makes it
interesting to tackle as a subject.”   Steve Lopes 

Born in Sydney, Lopes trained in both Australia and the UK, refining a unique visual language that blends elements of traditional landscape painting with an expressive, contemporary edge. His work is often informed by extensive field studies and travel, particularly to remote locations. He sketches and paints en plein air, later developing large-scale studio works that evoke memory, movement, and human connection to the land.

Lopes’ compositions have a cinematic quality—his figures, often rendered in thick, impasto brushstrokes, appear caught in fleeting, introspective moments. His work is deeply influenced by history, migration, and the changing nature of identity, making his paintings both personal and universally resonant.

A highly regarded artist, Lopes has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. His work is held in major public and private collections, and he has been a finalist in prestigious art prizes, including the Archibald and Wynne Prizes.

Join us as we discuss Lopes’ artistic journey, his approach to storytelling through paint, and the influences that have shaped his dynamic practice.

Thanks for talking to us, Steve. 

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We interviewed artist Justin Williams at COMA Galleryin Marrickville, Sydney, during his solo show, Waiting for Lavender,on until 22nd February 2025.

Justin lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, splitting his time between there and a studio in Paris. We had a great conversation about his journey as an artist, including his early years working in New York. His work is narrative-driven, deeply personal, and rooted in family histories, with multiple stories overlapping within a single painting. He employs a belt sander to disrupt the surface after painting, allowing him to push and pull layers, creating unexpected textures and depth.

Thanks for talking to us, Justin, we look forward to watching your career flourish. 

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Myfanwy Gullifer is represented by King Street Gallery in Sydney. 

We had a great time chatting with Myf over Zoom before Christmas while she was at her farm in Walcha, NSW. We discussed her ceramic art practice, the challenges of being an artist, balancing life between the farm and the city, and much more.

Thanks Myf. Her show will be later in 2025 at King St. Gallery. 

'Myfanwy Gullifer graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.

Myfanwy’s upcoming 2025 solo exhibition at King Street Gallery on William will showcase a new series of porcelain works. 
Please register your interest at art@kingstreetgallery.com for a preview.

Her work has been exhibited at the Melbourne Art Fair, the Korean International Art Fair and various regional gallery shows such as Interconnected at New England Regional Art Museum, 2022; Paint my place at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, 2016; and In [two] Art at Maitland Regional Gallery, 2012, which toured across New South Wales.

In 2019, Myfanwy was a finalist in Still: National Still Life Award at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, and in 2016, the same gallery awarded her the Artist in Residence at Moonee Beach.

Her work can be found in various public and private collections from across Australia, such as the New England Regional Art Gallery, Tamworth Regional Gallery, the Laverty Collection and the Open-Air Gallery, Walcha, where she lives and works. Notably, in 2010, Newcastle Art Gallery acquired two of her sculptures on behalf of the Les Renfrew Bequest, which were subsequently exhibited in Clash: Contemporary Sculptural Ceramics at Newcastle Art Gallery.

King Street Gallery has represented Myfanwy since 2012.' King Street Gallery

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Before Christmas 2024, we had the pleasure of speaking with Nick Smith at his N.Smith Gallery, located at 15 Foster St, Surry Hills, Sydney. Nick is an engaging conversationalist and clearly passionate about his work. He established the gallery in 2021, and it has since grown into one of Sydney's most respected and celebrated art spaces. During our chat, Nick shared his journey in the art world, which began with a role at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., followed by experience working in contemporary galleries before finally opening his own. It's been an incredible and ongoing adventure! 

'N.Smith Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Sydney, Australia, that currently represents more than 20 artists and collectives, offering curatorial, collection, and management service advice to museums, corporate, foundations and private clients.

The gallery has been home to culturally-significant exhibitions across a variety of media and genres, and has facilitated and participated in projects across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, India, Germany, France, UK, and the USA.

In 2021, N.Smith opened the eponymous gallery on Napier Street, Paddington in a former church community hall. In 2024, during the opening week of the Biennale of Sydney, Smith relocated the gallery from Paddington to the vibrant Surry Hills, expanding the gallery’s footprint and ambition.

Dedicated to living artists, the gallery has and is fostering the careers of some of the most influential artists working today, and plans to maintain long-term representation of the artists we work with.

Supporting culture is at the heart of what we do. Beyond the walls of the gallery we support various arts organisations to achieve their mission, including visual arts, music, theatre,  film, and publishing. 

N.Smith Gallery is a proud member of the Indigenous Art Code of Conduct.'

N.Smith Gallery 

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Gary discovered the Alveston Galleryin Notting Hill, London, during his travels and was drawn to the work of Teddy Hansen, who was exhibiting at the time. After a conversation with Fergus Downey, the gallery owner, Gary arranged a Zoom meeting with Teddy to learn more about his practice.

We’re releasing this podcast just ahead of the London Art Fair, where the Alveston Gallery will be showcasing Teddy’s work.

In our conversation, Teddy shared insights into the influence of Danish culture on his art, his experiences as a young artist in London, and his exciting plans for the future.

'Teddy Hansen’s comically surreal wall-hangings celebrate the power of escapist art. Inspiring laughter and perplexity, he infuses natural imagery with absurd narrative to convey a wild sense of humour and a rampant obsession with frogs.

Having studied at Falmouth and Leeds University, Hansen began his artistic journey with painting and embroidery before developing into the realm of rug-tufting. During the creation process, each piece follows a dream-like narrative which becomes increasingly complex as the work unfolds. Ultimately, it is this sense of unpredictability that fuels Hansen’s vision, culminating in an immersive and arresting aesthetic.

Above all, Hansen strives to emphasise the importance of humour and experimentation by encouraging audiences to take his rugs at face value. Instead of inspiring any kind of hidden notions, they are designed with the sole purpose of evoking joyful escapism.' - Alveston Gallery

Thanks for the chat, Teddy! We wish you all the best in your future.

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Nasim Nasr is an Iranian-born Australian artist whose work focuses on the issues facing her home country of Iran and the challenges she has experienced as a woman and female artist. These circumstances ultimately led her to leave Iran at the age of 25. Nasim relocated to Australia with her younger siblings, where she has built a life for herself and her family while establishing herself as a prominent artist.

Working across photography, installation, and performance, Nasim has gained significant recognition, with her works recently acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. We had the pleasure of speaking with Nasim about her life journey and her beautiful, thought-provoking art. Enjoy listening to her story, and feel free to reach out to Nasim to see her work or for a studio visit. 

'Biography:

Born in Tehran, Iran 1984

Moved to Adelaide, Australia 2009,  
Currently lives and works in Sydney

Since graduating with a Master Visual Arts (Research), University South Australia, 2011, Nasim Nasr’s art practice has sought to comment upon the transience of cultural identities. With an interest in cultural relationships in contemporary society, her artworks have engaged themes of intercultural dialogue and perspective between the historical and contemporary. Using video, photography, performance,  3D objects and sound, these works highlight notions of cultural difference as experienced in her past and present homelands, between West and East and seeks to create a harmony between the two.

Nasim Nasr is a third time finalist at Fisher’s Ghost Art Award and will exhibit at Campbelltown Art Centre Oct-Dec 2024 with her new light box; Impulse 2024, In March 2024 Nasrwon AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD from the Art’s Minister Tony Burke and Shadow Art Minister Paul Fletcher at the Paliment House, Canberra. Nasr's latest video work ‘Impulse’ was presented at the 2023 Adelaide Independent Film Festival where itwonthe best Micro Short Film Award, and was in the official selection at the 2023 A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival Awards in Paris. 

In 2017 Nasr won People’s Choice Award in The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Art Prize, Monash Art Gallery Melbourne, and her Women in Shadow IIvideo documentationwon an award at the 10th Anniversary Edition, A Shaded View on Fashion Film, Maison Jean Paul Gaultier and Club De L’Etoile, Paris, France in 2018. Nasr exhibited in the inaugural Triennial of Asia: We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Museum in New York, October 2020–June 2021, her latest solo presentation Impulse at Mars Gallery, Melbourne March-April 2023. She exhibited at Photo London, Somerset House, London in May 2023. Nasr’s latest photograph Impulse (2023) was reproduced on the frontcover of ART COLLECTOR magazine in Australia, issue 104 included 8pp profile story on her practice.'

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Gary first met Wayne and Marina through artist and previous podcast guest Tony Mighell. We spoke to them over zoom a few weeks ago from their home in Melbourne. Thanks for speaking to us about your artwork and time in the art centres near Alice Springs.

Wayne Eager is represented by Australian Galleries - 'Wayne Eager is a gestural artist, absorbed with form, colour and texture. His method is based on the accretion of subsequent layers from which his paintings find their form. He was a founding member of the dynamic artist-run-exhibiting space, Roar Studios, in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the first such venture in Australia. His early works were exhibited there in 1982.

Eager has spent much of his career living and working in the remote Central Australian Desert. His experience of the light and unique features of the Northern Territory landscape have been the fundamental foundation to his oeuvre over the last 30 years.

In 2021, Eager relocated back to semi-rural life in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. In the same year, the artist was honored by a 30-year survey exhibition, ‘Bitumen and Dirt’, which opened at the Charles Darwin University Gallery, Darwin, and then travelled to the Araluen Art Centre in Alice Springs.'

Marina Strocchi is also represented byAustralian Galleries - 
'In 2021 Marina Strocchi returned to her home town Melbourne after a twenty-nine year sojourn in the Northern Territory. Strocchi was closely involved in supporting the development of a number of First Nations artists, initially through establishing the Ikuntji Art Centre in 1992 and then working with the Kintore women to catalyse their painting which led to a vigorous output through Papunya Tula. During these decades she developed her painting responses to the remote landscapes and narratives that are unique to the Central Desert. Strocchi has held over forty solo exhibitions including a Northern Territory touring survey exhibition with an accompanying catalogue. Awarded an ARTS NT Fellowship in 2019 Strocchi had a three month residency in New York City. Now settled in the Yarra Valley Strocchi is responding to memories of that experience and absorbing her new environment.

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Thank you to Max and Gabby Germanos, art collectors and founders of 333 Art Projects, for welcoming us into your home to view your incredible collection and share insights about art collecting. From their first purchase to navigating the journey of collecting as a couple and curating a collection suited to a family, Max and Gabby offered a fascinating perspective. They discussed the thought process behind choosing which artworks to acquire, how collecting has shaped their family dynamic, and their deep commitment to certain artists—owning over 50 paintings by Maclean Edwards, for instance.

3:33 ART PROJECTS IS A LEADING & INNOVATIVE CORPORATE CURATORIAL DEVELOPER AND FACILITATOR 

'3:33 Art Projects delivers unique visual arts programs for leading visual artists in Australia. Our purpose is to introduce the visual arts to new audiences, allowing artists to share their stories to encourage audiences to open their minds to the magic of art and explore creativity in their day-to-day.

3:33 Art Projects has curated shows for some of Australia's most celebrated artists including: John Olsen, Chris O’Doherty (aka Reg Mombassa), Ken Done, David Griggs, Gary Heery, Ann Thomson, Lottie Consalvo, Ken Whisson, Joanna Braithwaite, Euan MacLeod, Noel McKenna, Neil Frazer, Lucy Culliton, Alan Jones, Ben Quilty, McLean Edwards, Guy Maestri, Dale Frank, Tim Maguire, Jasper Knight, Joan Ross, Wendy Sharpe and Clara Adolphs.  

Clients include Bank of America, Clayton Utz, Aon, Herbert Smith Freehills and Commonwealth Bank Private.

We have also created the 3:33 Art Projects Young Curators program, working with artists and secondary students to host exhibitions at their school - teaching future generations about  creative processes.'

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Today's podcast features James Winter, the visionary co-founder and director of Brand X, which has been creating affordable spaces for artists since 2005. With a background in dramatic and performing arts, James recognized a need for reliable, affordable rehearsal and creative spaces, leading him to establish Brand X over 20 years ago.

We spoke with James about the changing face of Sydney and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on artists. He shared why he founded Brand X, how it operates, and his concerns about the lack of diverse arts programming in the city. James highlighted how this gap could lead to fewer opportunities for unique, high-quality art to be created and showcased in Sydney, ultimately affecting the city’s cultural landscape. 

Brand X now manages the City of Sydney Creative Studios, offering a wide range of subsidised spaces for musicians, dancers, actors, and artists, available for both short-term and long-term hire in the heart of Sydney. Each year, Brand X also organizes Petite Suite, a performance residency set in a hotel. Fiona and I attended this year, and it was an incredible experience!

Currently running is The Flying Nun, another Brand X initiative, which we highly recommend. For just $25, you can see these unique performances. The Flying Nun provides performing arts residencies where each project receives $2,600, a week in the venue, and a two-night performance run, keeping the majority of box office revenue. Grab your tickets here!

 
Brand x -
We re-purpose empty properties so performing, recording and visual artists can practice their craft.

'We do this by working with Property Developers, Landlords and Local Governments to transform empty spaces into cultural places that allow artists to contribute, flourish and be sustainable in the community. We are driven by the belief that artists, when given appropriate space, inspire a renewed sense of belonging, harmony and pride of place for the entire community.

Brand X provides subsidised workspace and creative development programs alongside facilities for hire where artists can traverse the entire creative process from development to presentation. We maintain a charter that is relevant and responsive to the Independent Arts sector dealing specifically with arts-practice sustainability, skills development and capacity building.

Our objective is to afford artists the opportunity to take risks, innovate and to create work. This is achieved by offering artists affordable rates for hire, residencies and opportunities for income-generation through our activation projects. By providing Independent Artists with support while reinvigorating local communities we stimulate a vibrant cultural life for Sydney.'

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Thank you to artist Tom Carment for speaking with us on Art Wank! We visited Tom at his home in Sydney and talked about his long career as an artist. He predominantly paints outdoors, carrying a backpack filled with supplies and capturing interesting sights along the way—whether it's a jacaranda tree, rooftops, or a unique view. His work is like a visual diary, immediate and in the moment. When he paints at home, he often focuses on the everyday, like typewriters, eggs, and vegetables—anything at hand.

Tom is also a prolific and gifted writer so check out his website to read some of his works. 

He is represented by King Street Gallery in Sydney. 

'Tom Carment was born in Sydney in 1954. He studied for one year at Julian Ashton Art School in 1973. Tom is a painter of landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, and is also a writer. His pictures have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions since the 1970s, and his stories and essays have been published nationally. During the 1980s, he lived overseas for four years in Africa (Zimbabwe and Zambia) and in France, returning to Sydney in 1988.

Tom has been represented by King Street Gallery since 1993. With his most recent solo exhibition ‘The Long Way Round’ in October 2023.

Tom’s portraits have been selected for the Archibald Prize twelve times, and his landscapes for the Wynne Prize eight times. His works are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, City of Melbourne Art & Heritage Collection, NSW State Parliament, State Library of NSW, Kedumba Drawing Collection, Macquarie Group Collection and many others.

Tom was the winner of the 2014 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, the 2008 Gallipoli Art Prize and the 2005 Mosman Art Prize. Over one hundred of Tom’s works were shown at the 2014 Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial at the Art Gallery of NSW. In 2008 the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery held a survey of his work entitled, People, Paddocks, Coastlines.

From 2004-06 Tom worked on a commission for the City of Melbourne to document in words, paintings and drawings the construction of Council House 2 – the ‘greenest’ office building in Australia.

Tom’s work is a reportage on his life – the external environment through his landscapes, the internal environment and friendships through his still lifes and portraits. Tom’s pictures are usually small in scale and notable for their sensitive interpretation of light. Nearly all of his works are painted and drawn from life.

Tom’s published books include Days and Nights in Africa (1985), Seven Walks – Cape Leeuwin to Bundeena (2014) and Womerah Lane – Lives and Landscapes (October 2019).

Tom currently resides in Sydney, NSW.' King Street Gallery Website 

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We’re excited to celebrate our 200th episode of Art Wank with the incredible Idris Murphy During our visit to Idris’ home studio, we had a captivating conversation about his journey as an artist and his thought-provoking philosophies on art and painting. Idris is a bold, well-read artist who constantly pushes the limits of his practice, and our discussion was truly inspiring. A big thank you to Idris for his time.

Idris is represented by King Street on William  in Sydney

‘Idris Murphy is a contemporary figurative landscape painter born in 1949, Sydney. He graduated from National Art School with a diploma in Painting in 1971, and then became the institution’s Head of Drawing in 1997.

Idris completed a Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong in NSW and a Graduate Diploma (Education), SCAE, in Sydney whilst he was Head of Painting at the College of Fine Art from 1988-2007. In 1982, Murphy was a lecturer at the University of Wollongong, NSW, and was instrumental in establishing the printmaking department of the newly founded School of Creative Arts.

From 1976-1977, Idris completed his Postgraduate studies in painting & printmaking at Winchester College of Art, UK. To date, Murphy has had 40 solo exhibitions across Australia and internationally. Idris’ survey show I & Thou: Survey Exhibition 1986-2008was exhibited at King Street Gallery in Sydney, Hazlehurst Regional Art Gallery and Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, NSW. In 2022, a major retrospective of Idris’ work Backblocks was exhibited at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery from August 16, 2022 which then travelled to Orange Regional Art Gallery and the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery, in 2023.

Idris has been represented by King Street Gallery since 1993.

Intrinsic to Murphy’s art making process is an engagement with the environment which surrounds him, and by extension, his en plein air practice. Murphy explains that his ‘expeditions’ through the Australian bush ‘offer him enough to last a lifetime’. (Catalogue Essay, 2017, Gregor Sloss) His work aims to ‘transform an already imagined landscape’ (Sloss, 2017). Murphy’s practice attempts to mirror Indigenous respect for the Australian landscape. Murphy suggests that an Indigenous Australian landscape painting is a reinvigoration of the landscape and is sustained by its Dreamings.

Murphy’s work can be found in a number of public, state and corporate collections such as the ANU University Drill Hall Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, State Library NSW, Artbank, Allens Collection, and the Westpac Collection.

Idris’ studio is located in Kurnell, Sydney.’ - King st Gallery website 

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Tanya Linney currently has a show, 'Cocoon', on at CBD gallery, Erskine St., Sydney until 9th November 2024. 

'Tanya Linney is a Sydney/Gadigal based multi-disciplinary artist. Passionate about the representation of the everyday and domesticity through the lens of historical art references . Linney looks to transform the materiality of paint and gesture through multiple processes developed on the studio floor. A tension between conscious and coincidental mark making anchors these works.
Linney is a graduate of The National Art School, Sydney (2017-2020) . She has exhibited her works in Australia and internationally and has been a finalist in numerous art prizes including The Sir William Dobell National Drawing Prize, The Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, Omnia Art Prize The Waverly Art Prize, Redlands Art Award, The Alice Art Prize and The Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, and she was the winner of the Richard Luchesse Abstract Painting Prize. Publications of her work have been featured in Vogue Living, Belle Magazine, RUSSH, Pan and The Dream (New York) and The Sydney Morning Herald.'

Thanks Tanya and good luck with the future.

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Deirdre Bean

We interviewed Deirdre in her home studio in Newcastle surrounded by her wonderful paintings. We spoke to her about residencies, techniques of her work, working with Margaret Olleys objects for her current show at Tweed Regional gallery, her PHD in drawing mangrove species, creating an Australian postage stamp, and much more…

She currently has a show on at Tweed Regional gallery, ‘Domestica’, which is on until 17th November. 

Deirdre has been recently selected as a finalist in the 2024 Portia Geach exhibition at SH Ervin gallery. Congratulations!

‘Inspired by the natural world, Deirdre has always been fascinated with intricate details and perfect forms that the eye sometimes misses.

Her attention to detail and considered compositions continue to be features of her work.

Watercolour applied to paper or vellum with a fine-pointed sable brush are traditional materials Bean uses to illustrate the complexities of the botanical world. She spent seven years researching Australia’s mangrove species for which she was awarded a PhD from the University of Newcastle. Deirdre has broadened her subject matter to include military paraphernalia after artists’ trips to Gallipoli and the Western Front.

Since 2020, Deirdre has been working with oil paint, a medium she has returned to after many years. Since then she has been a finalist in the Muswellbrook Art Prize, the Calleen Art Award and the Portia Geach Memorial Award for portraiture. In 2022, she was the winner of the Gallipoli Art Prize. 

Her work is held in major collections including the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, USA: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London: The Shirley Sherwood Collection, Oxford, UK: Parliament House, Canberra: Australia Post: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney: Gallipoli Club, Sydney.’

Deirdre is represented by Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney 

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We had the pleasure of interviewing Euan in his studio, where we were immersed in his incredible artworks and drawings. Euan shared insights into his life as an artist, his views on the art world, and his creative process. With a career spanning over 50 exhibitions and numerous accolades, his achievements speak for themselves. See more below! 

Thanks for your time Euan.

Euan is represented by King Street on William in Sydney. Euan and photographer Craig Potton have collaborated on a stunning hardcover book ‘Look Out’, capturing the awe inspiring landscape and thought-provoking human connection to the iconic Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Available now with signed limited edition etching. Contact the gallery via email art@kingstreetgallery.com.

Euan is also represented by Niagara Galleries in Victoria, Bowenand PG Galleries in NZ. 

'Euan Macleod was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1956. He was awarded a Diploma of Fine Arts (Painting) by the Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury University, in 1979, before moving to Sydney in 1981. He has held more than fifty solo shows in New Zealand and Australia and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions in Australasia and internationally.

Euan's work is represented in many private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, and the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Euan has won art prizes in Australia, including the Archibald in 1999, the Sulman Prize in 2001, the Blake Prize in 2006, the New South Wales Parliament's inaugural Plein Air painting prize in 2008, the Tattersall’s Landscape Prize in 2000 and 2009, the Gallipoli Art Prize, 2009, and the King’s School Art Prize in 2011.

In 2010 Piper Press, Sydney, published a monograph, Euan Macleod: the Painter in the Painting, written by Gregory O'Brien. 

Surface Tension: the art of Euan Macleod 1991-2009, a Tweed River Art Gallery touring exhibition, curated by Gavin Wilson, toured six regional Australian galleries, beginning at the S H Irvin Gallery, Sydney, in November 2010.

The touring exhibition, Euan Macleod - Painter, curated by Gregory O'Brien, travelled to several New Zealand regional galleries between 2014 and 2017.

​In 2019 Macleod collaborated on High Wire, a book of drawings and words, with Lloyd Jones. It was published in 2020.' -Euan Macleod website 

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Julie recently sat down with Michelle Grey and Susan Armstrong, the co-founders of Arts Matter, for an interview. Unfortunately, Gary couldn’t join as he is currently overseas.

Arts Matter is a membership platform that offers a series of intimate programs in contemporary spaces around Sydney. What Michelle and Susan have built is truly remarkable. They come from diverse backgrounds, yet both are perfectly suited to running this kind of platform. Their impressive CVs speak for themselves, and we’re fortunate to have them creating such a dynamic, multidisciplinary arts program in Sydney.

When are you signing up?!!!

'Arts-Matter is a membership platform that hosts a series of intimate programs in contemporary Sydney spaces with the creative minds shaping our shifting culture. Through a series of thoughtfully curated conversations and experiences spanning the cultural gamut - from art, music, fashion, film, theatre, dance and literature - we cultivate community, spark debate, and thrive on bridging cultural, social and gender divides.

But most importantly … we've always believed the best part about Arts-Matter is our incredible community of members, creatives, friends and family. While our programs are always about supporting the cultural arts, community is at the heart of everything we do.'

Thanks for speaking to us ladies and keep doing what you are doing!!

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Gary Seller (co-host of Art Wank) wanted to interview us—Julie and Fiona—about our practices and the podcast. Its been a smooth transition as Gary joins the podcast, and Fiona steps back to focus on her commitments at NAS. Gary delves into the origins of the podcast and its future direction.

Fiona shares her experience of returning to university as a mature-age student and gives insights into life at art school. Julie discusses her evolving art practice over the past few years.

Enjoy...

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What an incredible collection! Gary and I visited their fantastic terrace house in Erskineville, where every wall is adorned with art. Tune in now to discover how they built their collection, the day jobs that support their passion, how they select each piece, and what they hope their legacy will be. It’s a great conversation with two fascinating individuals—thank you, Gordon and Michael!

'The Elliott Eyes Collection (TEEC) of contemporary art is housed in a private Victorian terrace house in Erskineville, Sydney NSW.

The collection of approximately 400 works (sculpture, painting and ceramics) focuses mainly on Australian and New Zealand art, but also includes work by German, Belgium, American, South African and English artists, all of which are on display. Four major outdoor sculptures extend the collection beyond the usual interior walls, tables, mantels and, in our case, even the floor of the house. 

The decision to open tEEC to public tours was prompted by a visit to Terry Stringer’s sculpture park “Zealandia” north of Auckland and by our inclusion in Skadi Heckmueller’s book, “Private: A Guide to Personal Art Collections in Australia and New Zealand” (Dott Publishing, 2015). It also follows the opening of the Lyon Housemusem and the Justin Art House Museum in Melbourne; both exceptional collections and buildings well worth a visit.

It is also motivated by the realization that once works become part of a private collection they can easily be ‘lost’ to public view. Sharing these works, and listening to other people’s comments and responses adds immensely to the pleasure we are lucky to experience as we engage with and enjoy the collection on a daily basis.

The wonderful experience provided by the recent trend of house museums, is that each venue is truly individual and unique; expressing the personal interests and character of the owners/collectors. Allen Weiss in "The Grain of the Clay" (Reaction Books,2016) has described collecting, or a collection, as an autobiographical statement. Unencumbered by the boundaries, rules and bureaucracy of public galleries, the house musem displays the passion of the collector – individualistic, subjective, imaginative and zany.

It is important to say that we live permanently with our collection. We are not a museum or a gallery. Artworks are displayed and incorporated into the everyday spaces of our house, working around the normal aspects and tasks of a standard household. We find ourselves drying off in the shower, trying to avoid knocking over Jim Cooper’s large ceramic flower and duck or, in quieter moments, spending endless hours trying to decipher just what is going on in Mark Whalon’s mysterious and deliciously perverse paintings. Some works are functional – Michael Snape’s security door - while others are more traditional, decorative pieces, acquired and admired simply because they are beautiful or significant works in contemporary (Australian) art history. 

While our collection is constantly growing, sometimes in divergent, unexpected directions, it’s central focus is on the figure in the landscape. This theme is only loosely adhered to, so an outlier work of art can easily capture our attention and find it’s way into the collection. Some works are ‘serious’ (e.g. our obsession with the 1950s and 1960s paintings by James Gleeson) and others are just ‘fun’ (e.g. Madeleine Child’s ceramic popcorn).'

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A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rachelin her home studio in Newcastle, NSW. Thank you for having us and treating us to a lovely lunch.

'Rachel Milne is a professional fine art painter based in Newcastle, NSW. Rachel specialises in figurative and observational oil painting, in the style of the impressionists, mainly focusing on the genre Intimism. Originally from the UK Rachel now lives and works in Newcastle, Australia. Before leaving the UK Rachel exhibited regularly with the Royal West of England Academy and is now represented by the King Street Gallery on William, Sydney and the Sophie Gannon Gallery in Melbourne

Rachel paints in all genres but is best known for her Intimist impressionist fine art interior paintings – room paintings and studio paintings – paintings of the everyday clutter of a working and living space.'

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Gary and Julie spoke to Ross over zoom not long after his exhibition, 'Moonlight -Daylight', at King Street on William gallery in Sydney. Ross Laurie is represented by King Street on William Gallery, Sydney.

'Laurie has won the inaugural Norville Prize for Landscape Painting, the COFA Print Award at the Paddington Art Prize and the Kings School Art Prize. He has also been selected as a finalist in the Dobell Drawing Biennial and the Wynne Prize, both at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney. Notably, Laurie’s work has been selected for the Salon des Refuses ten times between 1995 and 2019.

The artist’s work can be found in numerous state and corporate collections such as Artbank, AGNSW, National Gallery of Australia, New England Regional Art Museum, Tamworth Regional Gallery, the Laverty Collection Sydney, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Macquarie Bank Collection and NRMA Sydney.

Ross Laurie’s 2020 solo exhibition at King Street Gallery ‘engaged the drought and it did so deeply. Many of the paintings in “Dry at Walcha” were suffused with the glow of pink light. But it was the arid stain of ash rather than nostalgia or eros that made these works glower’ (Anna Johnson, 2022). Lauries last major body of work and solo exhibition ‘After Storms And Rain’ 2022 ‘found a harder, brighter palette but also bolder geometric forms’ (Anna Johnson, 2022).

“It might be accurate to say that my work echoes the structure of the land. The verticals in tree forms. Multiple horizons. Forms and shapes embedded from childhood memories. I don’t draw in order to paint. If I do draw I’m after a way to help me see. There is no scaffolding.” (Ross Laurie, 2022)

Ross Laurie joined King Street Gallery in 2014. He lives and works on his family farm, Rams Gully, in Walcha NSW.'

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We welcome you back to a new season of Art Wank, hosted by Julie Nicholson and Gary Seller.

We interviewed three finalists of the 2024 Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. The finalist exhibition is on now at Manly Gallery, Curl Curl Creative Space and Mona Vale Art Space.

We interviewed artists Zorica Purjila, Julien Playoust and Janet Taverner about their finalist artwork and their art practice.

Enjoy the podcast and check out their websites below -

Zorica Purjila
Julien Playoust
Janet Taverner 

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'Mook Simpson, a Sydney artist known for his unique blend of humour and quiet social commentary, is about to launch his latest exhibition, "Pretty Unsettling," at Damien MintonPresents. The show features a collision of iconic Australian landscapes and fantastical creatures, challenging perceptions of history and memory. Simpson's studio practice reimagines classic works from the Heidelberg School, inserting unexpected monsters into these beloved Australian scenes. This results in works that are both
familiar and strangely unsettling, prompting viewers to question their own recollections of the past.

Simpson's artistic endeavours aren't bound by Heidelberg incursions. After completing murals in downtown Los Angeles, Simpson returned to Sydney and embarked on a series of “unauthorised nocturnal en-plein-air" painting sessions on building site hoardings. After a brief encounter with the law – and subsequent positive collaborations with the city council and the building sites themselves, we have the large scale pieces at the centre of this show.

The exhibition, "Pretty Unsettling," brings together eleven of Simpson's reimagined works, alongside the two hoarding murals and companion ceramic sculptures. The show promises to be a thought-provoking exploration of Australian identity, memory, and the anxieties lurking beneath the surface.

Simpson, a former creative director in the animation industry, has garnered attention for his distinctive style and finalist placements in the Adelaide Parklands Art Prize and Maritime Art Prize. "Pretty Unsettling" marks a significant step in his burgeoning artistic career.'

Exhibition Details:
● Title: "Pretty Unsettling" By Mook Simpson
● Opening Event: June 25, 2024, 6pm-8pm
● Open: June 26th - July 6th 2024. Wednesday - Saturday. 11 am to 6pm.
● Location: 50 Buckingham St, Surry Hills, Sydney - Damien Minton Presents
● Website: Damien Minton Presents
Media Contact:
Mook (aka Mark) Simpson
hello@mooksimpson.com
+61406470964
Folder of Images for your convenience

Link to China's Van Gogh's documentary - here 

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We interviewed Tony Twigg, artist, who has been running Slot Window Gallery for 25 years! We had a great chat with Tony about his art practice, running the gallery and the art world. The current exhibition at Slot is a collaboration between tony and artist Alfredo Aquilizan which runs until 5th July 2024.

Thanks Tony, we appreciate your time. 

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Amanda Penrose Hart is an artist, represented byKing Street Gallery, Sydney, Phillp Bacon in Brisbane and Yallingup Galleryin WA.  Thanks for talking to us and for the wonderful lunch at your place! 

'Brisbane born artist Amanda Penrose Hart is predominantly a landscape painter. Penrose Hart graduated from Queensland College of Art in 1983 with a Diploma of Fine Art, and then again from Griffith University in 1991, with a Bachelor of Visual Arts.

Travelling, and en plein air practice is intrinsic to Amanda’s work; she extrapolates the significance of a place through her work. Dr Andrew Frost suggests she evokes a familiarity with landscapes unseen, by connecting the audiences personal experience with her interpretations of (to date) Australian and European landscapes.

Penrose Hart has featured in numerous selective group exhibitions, more often than not following artist trip’s or artist-run projects such as Your Friend the Enemy, and Salient (both commemorative exhibitions of the Great War), and River on the Brink: Inside the Murray Darling Basin, which aimed to raise awareness for the impacts of drought and climate change in Australia.

Amanda won the Gallipoli Art Prize in 2017 and the Clayton Utz Award in 2019. Amanda has also been a finalist in the Tattersalls Landscape Prize, Kings School Art Prize, the Salon des Refusés and NSW Parliament en Plein air, as well as the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Kedumba Drawing Award, Muswellbrook Art Prize, and the Kilgour Art Prize.' - Amandas website 

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Thanks to this weeks guest on the podcast, Zoe McPhail Prineas, an MFA student that Fiona met at NAS. we interviewed her at her solo show at Laila gallery in Sydney. 

'Zoë graduated from the National Art School in Darlinghurst in 2023, having completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Upon completing her undergraduate degree, Zoë was awarded the Bird Holocomb Foundation Master of Fine Art Scholarship. Her postgraduate studies in a Masters of Fine Arts will commence in 2024.

“Art has always punctuated my life, though it wasn’t until I went to NAS[The National Art School]that it became my dominant language. One month into NAS, I was calling myself an artist, and seeing the world with a new perception and sense of freedom. I’ve always had a lot to say, and art allows me to express things visually.

I chose printmaking as my studio specialisation, and was introduced to the field of expanded printmaking by our head of department. The field of expanded printmaking strips back the medium to the basic idea of the “trace”. I began to understand that print was anything that left a mark. Printmaking also has such strong ties to culture, as it has historically been a means for cultural production (think newspapers and billboards). I love to use this insight as a foundation of my practice.”' - UTSVERTIGO 2024 byRaphaella Katzen

Thanks Zoe and all the best for your Masters, we cant wait to see what happens next for you…

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Fiona and I are currently showing atStella Downer Fine Arts Gallery in Waterloo, NSW, and so we thought it was a great opportunity to speak to Stella about her illustrious career as a Gallery Owner and Art Valuer. Our work is on show until June 8th 2024. 

'Stella Downer is a respected art dealer, consultant and valuer. Stella has worked with leading contemporary galleries for over thirty years. Stella was the manager in Sydney of Roslyn Oxley 9 gallery, Macquarie Galleries and Australian Galleries before opening her own gallery in 2001.

​Previously Stella has worked in the auction industry managing sections of Christies London and Christies Australia. Stella has been a member of the S.H.Ervin Art Advisory Committee Sydney for over twenty years and was also on the board of the South East Area Health Service. Since 2001 she has been a member of the Woollahra Small Sculpture Committee helping organise their annual shows. Stella’s other board commitments have included the Australian Centre for Asian Art and Archaeology, University of Sydney. A supporter of the National Art School Sydney, Stella was on the Accreditation Board to assess their standing for BA Fine Arts. 

Stella is a valuer for the Australian Governement Cultural Gifts Program. Her extensive knowledge of, and experience in, the Australian and international art world ensures that she is regarded as one of the top valuers within this organisation.'

Thanks for speaking to us Stella and having our work exhibited at your gallery. 

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Many thanks to Armando for such a great chat on the podcast we really appreciate hearing about your art practise and how you have developed your career.

Find Armando on his website

https://armandochant.com

or social media

https://www.instagram.com/armando_chant/?hl=en

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Thanks to Nick Vickers for speaking to us from See Street Galleryat Meadowbank TAFE. 

Phillip Martin's exhibition, 'Paintings 1952-1972', is on at See Street until 16th May. 

'Nick Vickers BA Visual Art, Dip. Ed, M.Art Admin

Nick Vickers has been involved in the Australian art industry for over 30 years when he established his first gallery through UNSW Art & Design in 1984. Throughout Nick’s career he has championed the works of emerging artists by establishing a number of galleries through universities and art colleges. He has presented, curated and hosted national and international artists and he has lectured in tertiary, intermediary and secondary institutions.

Nick has contributed to the curatorial expanse of the University of Sydney Art Collection where, through his expertise as Curator of the University Union art collection, he added works of some considerable cultural significance. He established the Sir Hermann Black Gallery & Sculpture Terrace through which he hosted and curated ten years of highly rated art exhibitions and prizes that included The Blake Prize and The Freedman Foundation annual exhibitions.

On a local government level Nick has served on curatorial panels with the City of Sydney, Willoughby, North Sydney (Creative Spaces/ Spaces for Creatives) and Woollahara Councils (Creative Paddington and The Oxford Street Shopfront Festival). He was invited to co-ordinate The Art of Shakespeare, a fundraising touring exhibition of some of Australia’s leading artists that launched in the Sydney Opera House.

On an international level, Nick has served as President of the Slovenian/ Australian Institute that has hosted a program of international art ex- changes and touring exhibitions. In this role Nick negotiated sponsorships and partnerships at ambassadorial and ministerial levels.

During his career Nick has developed a strong network of arts and business professionals. He is panel member with The Freedman Foundation, advises on the artist studio for Curwoods Lawyers and has served as a board member with The Blake Society for over ten years and lectures in Museum Practices.

Currently, Nick works as an independent art curator and is a pro bono board member of the Sydney Art Zone. In 2016 Nick co-curated an exhibition called WAR – A Playground Perspective at The Armoury at Sydney Olympic Park and this year has been invited back by SOPA to curate an exhibition from the studio residency programme entitled Mining Pyrite. This year Nick has been invited to the panel of judges for the Paddington Art Prize.'

Ray Hughes: Africa

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Many thanks to Jasmine for chatting to us on zoom - great to talk about your art practise.

Jasmine is a professional practicing artist whose work is best described as the meeting of exploration and refinement. Jasmine has taken her art to a number of mediums – sculpture, large-scale public works and intimate paintings for private collection. She is not afraid to venture outside an established comfort zone. Whatever her choice of art form, Mansbridge brings a refined and meticulous hand to the work; her deliberation and contemplation are evident at all times. 

The work provokes thought and wonder and gives the viewer the chance to apply their personal storytelling, as they unpack the geometry and portals of Mansbridge’s imagined world.

You can find out more about Jasmine on her website or social media https://www.jasminemansbridge.com
https://www.instagram.com/jasmine_mansbridge/

Jasmine will be showing at Michael Reid Gallery on 4th May 2024

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Jesse - The Empowered muse, life modelling for individual wellness and social sustainability. 

We've been eager to chat with a life model for some time, and luckily Jesse posed for Julie's Art class in Avalon. She's skilled and knowledgeable, exceeding our expectations. Initially anticipating a conversation about modeling experiences and anecdotes, we were pleasantly surprised. Jesse shared her reasons for life modeling, driven by a need to confront her fears. This journey led to enhanced self-awareness and body positivity, influenced by the artists' portrayals of her beauty. After mastering modeling, Jesse traveled across Australia last year, organising life modeling classes in rural towns. Her goal was to break barriers and demonstrate the benefits for both individuals and communities. It was an extraordinary conversation, and we're grateful to Jesse for her openness. Her story has reshaped our perspective on life modeling, offering a beautiful insight into her journey.

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Natalie O'Connor and Jo Mellor are currently showing at Woollahra Galleryat Redleaf so you can go check out their work right now!

Natalie O'Connor is an artist recently awarded her PHD at UNSW for her thesis, 'The Nature of Redness', which is also the title of Natalie's exhibition at Woollahra. 

Natalie O’Connor is an artist, researcher, public programs & education coordinator at Hazelhurst Arts Centre. Her experience in the international colour manufacturing industry has heavily influenced her practice. She holds a Bachelor of Education and Master's degree. Most recently, she was awarded a PhD at UNSW for her thesis, The Nature of Redness- A Practice-Based Research into Red Pigments to Offer a New Understanding of Material Colour.

Her practice and thesis are concerned with the permanency and fragility of colour and the technical innovations of the artist’s palette that result from a collaborative dialogue between artists and scientists since the early nineteenth century. She engages deeply with the colour red, investigating its materiality and revealing its inherent qualities of colour. 

By understanding and experiencing the delicacies of each red pigment, scientists explore the potential for colour-making in the future. This allows the new potential for contemporary artists to make informed choices with their palettes to interpret the world around them. 

 
Jo Melloris also a graduate of UNSW recently a masters in Fine Arts research
 
'Jo Mellor is a recent graduate of UNSW Art & Design's MFA program. Her MFA project was guided by Aboriginal knowledge provided by Ngiyampaa Elder Aunty Beryl Carmichael. The project applied the methodologies of yarning and deep listening to an expanded textile practice as well as consultation and collaboration with the Menindee Ngiyampaa and Barkandji community. Emerging from this research, Jo's current exhibition, Cobalt and Rust (Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, 20 March - 14 April 2024) is a critical examination of the ecological crises affecting Broken Hill (Wilyakali Country). Through a textile-based, eco-feminist practice, the exhibition lays bare the devastating consequences of land and water mismanagement by government bodies and corporations who fail to consult with the Traditional Custodians of Country. The textile series in the exhibition presents dense clusters of embroidery that suggest textures of scarred earth, whilst hues of cobalt and rust echo chemical discord. -

Jo's exhibition at Woollahra is called, 'Cobalt and Rust'. 

Their shows are on until 14th April.

Thanks for talking to us!

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Many thanks Evie for your time and sharing your stories and experiences about your life and artwork. Evie is inspired by her environment.

To find out more about Evie and her artwork you can see on her instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/evie.adasal/?hl=en

To see the artwork of Evie's from Paddington Art Prize 2023

https://www.artgalleria.com/folio?p=cb840d31-507c-457c-9439-0d7fe04a31bd

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We had the great pleasure of interviewing artist @elle_beaumont_ at @michaelreid.northernbeaches last weekend just before the opening of the group show, ‘Country’, as featured in this month’s @countrystylemag. Elle also has a solo show in October at @michaelreid.southernhighlands so keep an eye out for that. 

‘Elizabeth Beaumont (b. 1989) is an emerging artist living on the remnant bushland of the Ngambri/Ngunnawal people in the Southern Tablelands, NSW. Elizabeth grew up in the Southern Highlands, NSW. 
Elizabeth is self-taught, with a background in criminal law and psychology. Elizabeth has always painted, but has dedicated time to her practice since 2017. Elizabeth’s paintings are predominately abstracted landscapes and expressions of the bush, with recurring interrogation of the ecology of the southern tablelands, wallum heathland, the central Australian desert, and Southwest Tasmania.  ​​
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Thanks so much for talking to us, Elle, good luck for the future and happy painting! 

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Join us for the latest episode of @art.wank featuring the talented artist Nicole Kelly (@nk_nk_). Congratulations to Nicole on becoming a new mum! In our recent Zoom interview before the Xmas, we delved into her painting techniques, past exhibitions, and her unique approach to color. Nicole is a very generous artist and offers dedicated mentoring through workshops and classes. Visit her website today to learn more and reserve your spot.

Represented by Arthouse gallery in Sydney and Nicholas Thompson gallery in Melbourne

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‘Kelly creates paintings that linger between the essence of a subject and the experience of being. Clouded by the romanticism of remembering, her paintings are imbued with experience captured in vibrant strokes of colour and with swift brushwork. Kelly’s works, informed by an interest in literature and the discipline of painting, cast moments of shared stillness in an atmosphere of light. She says of her works “my desire is to push painting beyond a surface likeness of any subject and into the realm of poetics”.

Winner of the prestigious Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2009) and the Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize (2018), Kelly is well recognised for her landscape, portraiture and still life painting. She has undertaken residencies in France (2019, 2018, 2017, 2010) and Spain (2016) and has completed major public commissions for the Sutherland and St George Hospitals in Sydney. Her work has been selected for inclusion in the Lester Prize for Portraiture at the Art Gallery of WA (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015), Portia Geach Memorial Award (2021, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2014), Salon des Refusés (2023, 2020, 2019) and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW (2015). ‘

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Thanks Nicole! Listen wherever you get podcasts or link in bio 

:

#Podcast #artpodcast #artwank #abstract #art #artistsoninstagram #artwork #artist #artgallery #nicolekelly 

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Last year, we had the pleasure of interviewing the remarkable Tony Mighell. Unfortunately, our recording equipment failed to capture the second half of the interview. Determined to delve deeper into Tony's work, we returned for a re-recording session. Notably, Tony is a recent finalist in the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize and is represented by Nanda Hobbs.

Adding to the occasion, we were joined by Gary, a friend of both Tony and the podcast. Gary generously brought along a cake for after the podcast!

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Dougie Schofield 

Douglas grew up in Eden, on the Far South Coast of NSW, in his parent's rambling garden. This early immersion in Nature has resulted in a practice that reflects on the bodily experience in Landscape. 

Schofield is an emerging artist currently based in Sydney, NSW. In 2017 he graduated Fine Art (Hons) at UNSW Art & Design, with a major in painting and a minor in printmaking.

He has had solo and group exhibitions nationally and has been exhibited internationally in China, Spain, and the Philippines. He currently has work on display in the Macquarie Group collection, Sydney. 

Douglas is represented in Brisbane, QLD by Aster + Asha Gallery.

Schofield’s ongoing body of work journals and ponders on the bodily experience in landscape in relation to his gardening practice. As a gardener and horticulturist, the climate and weather are determining factors in daily activities.

Douglas notes, “We are witnessing dramatic, unseasonal and severe weather nation and worldwide. My practices of gardening and painting put me in contact with this change daily.”

Their work is abstract, gestural and layered. Douglas prefers to work abstractly in an attempt to give non-figurative visual language to the contemporary experience of being in Landscape.

Thanks Dougie, so great to meet you and talk about your art practice. 

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