Frieze Masters Podcast

In On Display, artist Shirin Neshat is in conversation with Jamie Fobert, the architect of London's newly reopened National Portrait Gallery, and its Director, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, moderated by Tim Marlow, Director of the Design Museum. Neshat reflects on her 2018 portrait of Nobel Peace Prize awardee Malala Yousafzai that was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery. The conversation explores the history of this much-loved institution and how its contemporary meaning is shaped through its program, its work with artists like Neshat, and in the very fabric of its building.

'I think what we ended up capturing is the true Malala, which is exactly that kind of paradoxical quality that I see in every human being: the sense of confidence, defiance, strength, pride, yet absolute vulnerability, fragility, insecurity.' – Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian-born artist and filmmaker living in New York. Jamie Fobert is a London-based architect and designer whose projects include the recently completed National Portrait Gallery, London. Dr Nicholas Cullinan is Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Find images of the artwork discussed here.

This episode is presented in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery.

About Frieze Masters Podcast

Series two of the Frieze Masters Podcast is now available, bringing you our annual programme of live talks – the Frieze Masters Talks programme – curated by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr Nicholas Cullinan. These eight conversations between leading artists, writers, museum directors and curators all reflect the ethos of the Frieze Masters fair: looking at the past with a contemporary gaze.

The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill, the foremost British luxury menswear house.

This podcast is a Reduced Listening production. The producer was Silvia Malnati and sound engineer was Andy Fell.

About Frieze

Frieze is the world's leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘻𝘦, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week; five international art fairs – Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York, Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Seoul; and No.9 Cork Street, a permanent gallery space in the heart of London.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

In 2005, British artists Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas met at the historic Colony Room Club in London's Soho. There, they discovered that they shared the same irreverent and unapologetic attitude – and even the same birthday. In On Rebellion, chaired by Louisa Buck, these two British artists discuss their influences, their reactions to rules and expectations, facing up to mortality and being each other's muse.

'I think great art creates somewhere where life and death cohabit, where life and death come together' – Maggi Hambling

Maggi Hambling is a British painter and sculptor. Hambling's latest series of paintings, Maelstrom, is on show at Frankie Rossi Art Projects, London, 5 October – 24 November 2023. Sarah Lucas is a British artist whose practice spans sculpture, photography and installation. Tate Britain, London, hosts the major exhibition Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas, 28 September 2023 – 14 January 2024. Louisa Buck is a writer and broadcaster on contemporary art.

Find images of the artwork discussed here.

About Frieze Masters Podcast

Series two of the Frieze Masters Podcast is now available, bringing you our annual programme of live talks – the Frieze Masters Talks programme – curated by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr Nicholas Cullinan. These eight conversations between leading artists, writers, museum directors and curators all reflect the ethos of the Frieze Masters fair: looking at the past with a contemporary gaze.

The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill, the foremost British luxury menswear house.

About Frieze

Frieze is the world's leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘻𝘦, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week; five international art fairs – Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York, Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Seoul; and No.9 Cork Street, a permanent gallery space in the heart of London.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Anthea Hamilton & Nicholas Cullinan in partnership with Studio Voltaire @studiovoltairelondon. Their conversation explores the trajectory of Hamilton's work, the geopolitical basis of her identity as a 'Londoner' and how elements from the 'fourth dimension' shape her work.

"We're actually functioning in a four-dimensional space, and I tried to think about what might be in the fourth dimension, if it's not just depth. And for me, those fourth dimensional things are emotions, power, wealth, and those are the kinds of things I think, which are shaping the practice as it kind of goes forward." – Anthea Hamilton

Anthea Hamilton @hamiltonanthea was born in London in 1978, where she lives and works. Her approach has often focused on extended study into archives, scientific research and popular culture combining these with resonant images and objects in unusual and surreal ways. Nicholas Cullinan @nicholascullinan is an art historian, curator and Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents Love Lucian: The Letters and Early Life of Lucian Freud in partnership with the Freud Museum (@freudmuseum) . This episode features Hannah Rothschild in conversation with Martin Gayford and David Dawson, speaking on their new publication and the first exhibition of Lucian Freud's works at the Freud Museum London.

Exploring the overlapping themes present in both Love Lucian and the exhibition, the discussion draws out some interesting and lesser-known facets of Lucian's early life. Having uncovered illustrated letters to friends, love letters, and even telegrams, Dawson and Gayford's latest research will offer an intimate glimpse of the artist's personality and creative practice in the early part of his career.

"[We] wanted to show the humour in him, the quick-wittedness in him, and how that sort of shapes his painting...just so that you get a real feel of what Lucian was like, as a young boy, young man, and what comes after." – David Dawson

David Dawson is Director of the Lucian Freud Archive and was Freud's longstanding assistant, Martin Gayford is an author and the exhibition's curator, and Hannah Rothschild CBE is a British writer, documentary filmmaker, businesswoman and philanthropist. About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Kamala Ibrahim Ishag and Hans Ulrich Obrist in partnership with the Serpentine (@serpentineuk). To celebrate the opening of her solo exhibition at Serpentine, Ishag returns to the RCA where she studied in the 1960s. She discusses her background, her relationship with nature and the influence of the Sudanese Zār cult on her work.

"If people are really genuine with their plants and they respect their plants, they should talk to them as human, as a source of creation from God. Humans and plants, we are all the same." – Kamala Ibrahim Ishag

Kamala Ibrahim Ishag was amongst the first women artists to graduate from the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum in 1963, which she followed with studies in Mural Painting at the RCA in London between 1964 and 1966 and Lithography, Typography and Illustration from 1968-9. Her work bridges the earthly and spiritual through an understanding of our connections with the natural world. Hans Ulrich Obrist (@hansulrichobrist) is Artistic Director at Serpentine

Find images of artwork discussed here.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Doron Langberg & Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London. Their conversation explores various aspects of Langberg's work including his portraiture in the context of the resurrection of figurative painting, and the influence of his educational background.

"Painting really has always been my language, I feel like I almost think of it as my first language. I have been painting since I was very, very young and it's really kind of my way of experiencing the world... for me, my [artistic] process [involves questions of] how I can use painting in a meaningful way and bring something new." – Doron Langberg

Doron Langberg (@doronlangberg) was born in 1985 in Yokneam Moshava, Israel and currently lives and works in New York City. He received his MFA from Yale University School of Art, holds a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, a Certificate from PAFA, and attended the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk. Nicholas Cullinan (@nicholascullinan) is an art historian, curator and Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Zadie Xa & Vivien Zhang in partnership with Whitechapel Gallery (@whitechapelgallery). Their conversation explores Xa's new exhibition at Whitechapel as they reflect on ideas of cultural identity, the appropriation and gentrification of symbols, and disparities between static and performance art.

"[The Yin Yang] feels like a very Korean or Asian thing. This is an authentic image that I can kind of attach meaning to, but then of course, it's something that has been so heavily commodified by the West and in skate and surfboard culture in Vancouver...So I thought, right, it's also devoid of meaning. And it's something that depending on where the symbol sits, has lots of meanings." – Zadie Xa

Zadie Xa (@zadiexa) was born in Vancouver, Canada and lives and works in London, UK. Working across textile, painting, installation, live performance, sound, and moving image, Xa's practice is an exploration of familial legacies, histories of migration, and how different species communicate with one another. Vivien Zhang (@vivienzhang_) is a London-based artist and an Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Andra Ursuţa & Jeremy Deller in partnership with David Zwirner Gallery (@davidzwirner). Their conversation explores Ursuţa's new exhibition at David Zwirner as well as her inclination towards using clichés and the 'lowest' regarded forms of artistry, her embrace of spirituality and the influence of the ancient on her work.

"I look at a lot of ancient sculpture. I think, at least in my opinion, that if you try to make something that answers too perfectly to the sort of visual demands of today, your work will look very dated, very quickly." – Andra Ursuţa

Andra Ursuţa was born in 1979 in Salonta, Romania, moved to New York in 1999 and has gained recognition for her inventive sculptural work that mines the darker undercurrents of contemporary society. Jeremy Deller (@jeremydeller) is an English conceptual, video and installation artist.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Amy Sherald, Ekow Eshun and Jenni Sorkin in partnership with Hauser & Wirth (@hauserwirth). The panelists discuss Sherald's practice and the relevance of her work within the canon of historical portraiture. This episode also marks the release of the artist's first substantial monograph by Hauser & Wirth Publishers, providing a unique insight into her work and studio practice, alongside newly-commissioned texts.

"When I'm considering my Americanness, and my American story, I think farming and agriculture is essential to that. It's the reason that the US is a superpower. And it's the way that black families were able to sustain themselves. It was legacy, it was the way that we planted our seeds, it was the animals that we raised. It was something that we could not live without. And so to have all of that, taken away, is disappearing, those voices are disappearing." – Amy Sherald

Amy Sherald (@asherald) documents contemporary African American experience in the United States through arresting, intimate portraits. Ekow Eshun (@ekoweshun) is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator. Jenni Sorkin (@jennisorkin) is an American art historian, curator and educator who writes on the intersections between gender, material culture, and contemporary art.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial

Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Tyler Mitchell & Zoé Whitley in partnership with Gagosian (@gagosian). Their conversation explores Mitchell's new exhibition, Chrysalis, at Gagosian, and a special commission for this year's edition of Frieze Masters that reflects on his conceptual and editorial photography practices. His work is rooted in reinterpreting the tropes employed in both the Western canon of portraiture and the contemporary fashion magazine.

"Sitting at the metaphorical edges of these pictures is this idea of what was socially denied and what was not psychologically available to Black folks; this idea of hypervigilance and the ability to exist freely or not exist freely in public space, specifically in America. These works glean into that tone...Chrysalis is about cocooning away from the world." –Tyler Mitchell

Tyler Mitchell (@tylersphotos) is an artist, photographer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Zoé Whitley (@zoe.whitley) is Director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London, having previously worked as a curator for the V&A, Tate and Hayward Gallery.

Find images of artwork discussed here.

About the Frieze Masters Podcast

Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today's most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world's leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.

www.frieze.com

@friezeofficial