Only Artists

The modern surrealist Nancy Fouts meets Rob and Nick Carter - an artist duo who are also husband and wife.

Rob and Nick work with new technology, light and photography. Realising that most gallery goers only spend seconds looking at an artwork, they make us slow down by creating three hour films in which Old Master paintings and drawings are digitally re-imagined: a Sleeping Venus breathes and opens her eyes; a frog slowly decomposes; and the insects round a vase of flowers from the Dutch Golden Age begin to fly and crawl as the blooms flutter in the breeze. Rob and Nick Carter are the only living artists to be shown alongside the Old Masters at the renowned Frick Collection in New York.

Their recent work includes Oak Grove, nine identical full-size tree stumps, cast in bronze. They are based on a drawing from 1600, and created using 3D printing along with bronze casting, to reproduce every detail of the bark and wood. The stumps are currently arranged in a circle in Kensington Gardens, London, where visitors can sit, climb or play on them.

Producer Clare Walker.

The designer Steven Thomas meets the modern day surrealist Nancy Fouts. Nancy has been an avid collector of everyday objects since she was young - from stuffed birds to crucifixes, false teeth, insects, board games, coins, plastic toys and much more.

In her art, she often brings these objects together in surprising combinations. A stuffed budgie perches on the bar of an electric heater, an opened purse bares its teeth, a rifle is painstakingly covered in hundreds of rose thorns. Each piece is crafted and executed with precision. Nancy's home is meticulously organised - with her work on the walls, her studio in the basement, and countless cupboards full of her collections.

Producer: Clare Walker.

Comedian and painter Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) meets designer Steven Thomas, whose work includes the lavish interiors for the renowned Biba fashion superstore in London in the early 1970s - acclaimed by one newspaper as 'the most beautiful shop in the world'.

His other clients include Paul McCartney, who commissioned Steven and his design partner Tim Whitmore to create his London headquarters. Steven remembers the freedom he was given to create a retail world unlike any other, and reflects on having the confidence to say yes to creative opportunities - regardless of experience. He also outlines his belief that the pressure of a deadline and some moments of zen-like calm in the midst of a busy office can lead to the best ideas.

Producer Clare Walker

Actor and director Tony Pitts meets comedian and painter Jim Moir, also known as Vic Reeves.

Musician Richard Hawley meets actor, writer and director Tony Pitts.

Artist and biographer Keggie Carew travels to Sheffield to meet the producer and Mercury Prize nominated singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard Hawley.

They meet at Yellow Arch Studios, where he has recorded all his albums, and talk about the way in which the city of Sheffield has inspired his work. Keggie and Richard also muse on the subject of time; how his songs often seem to stretch it, why he decided to go slow, and the importance of sharing time with their fathers towards the end of their lives.

Producer Clare Walker.

Writer Iain Sinclair meets artist Keggie Carew to talk about her book Dadland.

Before turning to writing, Keggie made a career as a conceptual artist, painting, running a studio space and a shop called "theworldthewayiwantit". Her first book, Dadland, won the 2016 Costa Award for Biography. It describes her long and complex investigation into the life of her father Tom, a World War 2 hero who parachuted behind enemy lines into both France and Burma, set against his decline into dementia towards the end of his life.

Original Music by Brian Eno

Produced by Alex Mansfield.

The cultural conversation continues: this week the film director and screenwriter Sally El Hosaini meets the writer Iain Sinclair.

As a film-maker Sally records the city at one moment - so what techniques does Iain use to document his surroundings and their changes over decades?

Sally El Hosaini was born in Swansea, the daughter of a Welsh mother and an Egyptian father. Her first feature film, My Brother the Devil, won the best screenplay award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and numerous international prizes. Sally herself received the Best Newcomer award at the 2012 London Film Festival. My Brother the Devil charts how two brothers are drawn into gang crime in East London, where Sally has lived for for more than a decade.

The writer Iain Sinclair was born in Cardiff. Since the early 1970s, his work has focused on London and its surrounds. From his home in Hackney, he has almost obsessively walked the city's changing streets, recording details and finding patterns. For his much-acclaimed book London Orbital he followed the route of the M25 motorway on foot. He has said that his next book - The Last London - will be his final word on the capital.

Producer Alex Mansfield

Original music by Brian Eno.

The artist Yinka Shonibare meets international architect Sir David Adjaye, to consider how architecture can shape the world for the greater public good.

David Adjaye's most notable recent building is the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, which was opened by President Obama in September 2016. Since then, well over a million people have visited. David Adjaye reflects on the creation of a building which had to act both as a monument and a museum, and reveals the important role water played in his thinking, partly influenced by the words of Martin Luther King.

He also discusses how his travels throughout Africa have influenced his ideas about the fundamental role of buildings within specific landscapes and climates, and reflects on how the political power of architecture can establish a civic or national identity, using the long history of Rome as an example.

Producer Clare Walker

With original music by Brian Eno.

The Only Artists conversation continues, as leading double-bass player Chi-chi Nwanoku meets the artist Yinka Shonibare, to find out how he draws on his own identity in his work. Can you separate your art from your identity?

Producer Alex Mansfield.