Talking with Painters

It’s early afternoon and already there are many tributes coming through in the newspapers and social media. It’s clear he will be greatly missed by many.

When I started this podcast, Nicholas Harding was on my wish list and when he agreed to an interview three years later I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I was right. He was one of the most  authentic, warm and thoughtful guests I’ve interviewed and it was a privilege to meet him in his studio. 

Although Nicholas was a highly acclaimed painter with sell out shows, he spoke with me in a grounded and humble way. He was humorous and not afraid to reveal moments of self doubt. He was also open about the cancer treatment he’d undergone the previous year and, in what seems typical of his nature, he was more interested in sympathising with those who were worse off than himself. 

It’s this interview which was first published in 2019 that I’m posting again to the podcast. I also made a video from our conversations that day. (link below).

There is no doubt that Nicholas will be remembered as one of Australia’s most gifted painters of the 21st century. He won many major art prizes including the Archibald prize (in which he was a finalist 19 times) and a few months ago he won the Wynne prize with his painting ‘Eora’, one of the most complex, immersive landscapes that you will ever see, manipulating impasto paint to represent nature yet still retaining an astonishing abstract quality.

He was particularly interested in light; how it came through differently depending on the foliage, how it  landed on the ground, how it created various kinds of shadows and how different it was to the light in England where he spent the first nine years of his life. I spoke with him at the Art Gallery of NSW shortly after he won the prize and that conversation is a video (link below) and is included in episode 127 of the podcast.

Nicholas has also been recognised for his wonderful drawings and in this episode we talked about works he made from life of well known actors while they were in theatre rehearsals and performances. Those drawings were later published in the book ‘From the Wings’.

Nicholas’ works are held in many public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Portrait gallery and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

My condolences to Nicholas’ wife Lynne and son Sam.

Nicholas was remembered by family and friends a few weeks after this episode was published and I was honoured to be asked by his wife Lynne to film the afternoon where moving tributes were made by Lynne and his son Sam as well as artists, actors and musicians who knew him well. You can see that video below.

Vale Nicholas. Thank you for making this world a more beautiful place.

Video Links

https://youtu.be/ZcDwuWpE3QI

https://youtu.be/NWezJHrg9P4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfSo9xcFrEQ&t=81s

You can also see a short video of Fred in his studio here

There is something mesmerising about Fred Fowler’s paintings. The multitude of small, colour-filled shapes scattered across a monochrome background raise a lot of questions. Is that a pink cat? A cactus? An alien? Next to a mobile phone tower? Are they related?

Other amorphous elements seem purely abstract but still somehow evoke a response; a memory, an emotion. The viewer is taken into an alternate space where objects might be floating or fixed but often not identifiable.

Ultimately it’s a sensory experience which demands multiple viewings so it’s not surprising that these works fly off gallery walls in sell-out shows.

Fred’s work is held in the National Gallery of Australia and, although his roots are in graffiti art and graphic design, as soon as he began his studies at the Victorian College of the Arts it became clear to him the direction he should take.

In this interview he talks about that transition, the artists who have influenced him and the thoughts behind his work, openly sharing the struggles and doubts. It was a revealing and enjoyable conversation. 

Fred is represented by Sophie Gannon Gallery and Jan Murphy Gallery.

To hear the podcast interview click on play beneath the above feature photo.

Scroll down to see a short Youtube video of Fred in his Melbourne studio.

Photo supplied by the artist

https://youtu.be/4YLdWEGkcBA?si=Zwrs3g1xCS5DDh-4

‘Mooloomba Rd, Point Lookout’ (2020), synthetic polymer paint and oil paint on wood panel,  90 x 100cm

‘In this sunset’ (2021), synthetic polymer paint on wood panel, 100 x 90 cm

‘Overgrown’ 2020, synthetic polymer paint and oil paint on wood panel, 100 x 90 cm

‘Tarkine (study)’ (2019), oil paint and gold leaf on wood panel, 70 x 60 cm

‘Above Cylinder Beach’ (2018), oil stick on wood panel, 60 x 70cm

Still from ‘Samizdat 4’ 2021, digital, looping

See video on Instagram (cropped) here

Dimensions: 1078 × 606

‘Cultural amnesia (Liquid State)’ 2012, spraypaint and synthetic polymer paint on wood panel, 100 x 130cm

Her stepfather, George Stirling, was nearing the end of his life and Jacqui was painting the portraits of family and friends who were visiting over that difficult time. George passed away in June. 

The works were swiftly painted alla prima, mostly in one sitting from life or an iPhone image, and the resulting group of over twenty portraits is titled ‘Heads of the Family’.

In this episode Jacqui talks with me about the experience of painting those works which include a self-portrait and portrayals of George from life.

Jacqui’s work crosses many disciplines which defy description spanning from painting, sculpture, photography, collage and performance and her imagery includes portrayals of Ned Kelly, lots of masks, naked figures and horses heads.

She has painted the portrait throughout her career and in 2018 was one of only twenty artists to be  commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to mark its 20th year. 

Jacqui is represented by Olsen Gallery in Sydney.

Current and upcoming shows, as well as images of paintings we talk about in this episode, are listed below.

Above portrait photo of Jacqui Stockdale by Ilona Nelson (cropped)

Current and upcoming exhibitions

Links

Rick Stirling, George’s brother

George Stirling

Jacqui Stockdale, Self Portrait

Drawings of George Stirling

Jacqui Stockdale’s mother, Maree Stockdale

George Stirling’s sister

Trish Stirling

‘An artist practising’ – self portrait

See an edited video version of this conversation on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel here 

On various easels around the room are works in progress. His distinctive energetic brushstrokes, often using metallic paint, the carefully placed collage pieces and thin lines scratched into the wet surface are just part of what makes up his arresting work.

And yes, colour takes centre stage – in this case bringing life to the landscape of the Northern Territory’s East MacDonnell ranges which he has visited and revisited.

Idris Murphy is one of Australia’s leading landscape painters and his work sits between representation and abstraction. He was inspired from an early age by the work of Matisse but, as he later explored what it meant to paint the Australian landscape, it was the way the Indigenous artists saw the land that influenced him to take into account both traditions.

In recognition of his career, the survey show ‘Idris Murphy: BACKBLOCKS’ has just opened at the Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra. Curated by gallery director Terence Maloon, the exhibition includes important works from the last 30 years of more than 50 years of work. The exhibition will also travel to Orange Regional Gallery and S.H Ervin Gallery and a monograph will be available in early 2023.

Idris has won the Gallipoli Art prize, has exhibited in 40 solo shows and group shows including a previous major travelling survey exhibition in 2009-2010. His work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW and other state and corporate collections.

His love of literature, poetry and philosophy also comes through clearly in our conversation and you can find references to the works he mentioned in the podcast episode in the links below.

Idris is represented by King Street Gallery on William in Sydney.

To hear the podcast interview, click ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo

https://youtu.be/YlceSOHxf6w?si=Alp_RTOQcEWFxoRd

Many of those works, as well as drawings and prints, have been brought together for the first time in two excellent survey shows. The exhibitions, titled ‘Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky’, are running concurrently at Campbelltown Arts Centre and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in NSW and include works sourced from public and private collections around the world. A beautiful monograph also accompanies the exhibitions (link below). The shows end on 7 August 2022.

I interviewed Luke in 2019 in his studio in Hill End, NSW – an old stone church built in the 19th century – and the conversation we recorded is episode 64 of the podcast. I also recorded video on that day and this episode is the full audio recording from that video. The popular 4 minute YouTube video made from the recording can be seen on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel.

Luke has exhibited in over 40 solo shows, his work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW and many regional galleries and in corporate and private collections.

This conversation was recorded in the lead up to Luke’s show with his Sydney gallery, King Street Gallery on William, which was called ‘Rose into View’.

To hear this episode click on ‘play’ beneath the above photo.

Survey exhibition ‘Side of the Sky’ Campbelltown Arts Centre and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, current until 7 August 2022

Click play for the podcast episode – you can also watch an edited video version of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel. 

Daniel describes himself in those university days in Canberra as ‘a shy young First Nations man from Far North Queensland’. That reserved nature still comes through even though I was speaking with him at the exhibition ‘Treasure Island’ which celebrates his career with over 80 works in one of Australia’s most important art institutions, the Art Gallery of NSW.

Daniel’s First Nations heritage is central to his work. His ancestors were part of the Stolen Generation. Forced to let go of their culture and language, they lived in fear that if they shared it with their children they would be taken away from them. In an interview in the Gallery’s Look magazine Daniel said that that forced  withholding of culture meant that he always felt there was something missing and it was at university that he tried to make sense of that.

One of the striking aspects of Daniel’s work is the way he both reveals and obscures his subject. Using a pointillist technique, he places a multitude of translucent dots over the image creating a series of convex lenses, as he refers to them, and while you can see the image through these lenses the rest of the image is painted out.

Although this creates a visually alluring effect, there’s more to this technique than just the physical use of the material. There are concepts behind it which relate to ways of seeing and perception and which are interestingly explored in the book accompanying the exhibition (see link below).

The show has been curated by Isobel Parker Philip, Senior Curator of Contemporary Australian Art and Erin Vink, curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, both at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Daniel has exhibited in over 30 solo shows, has won the Bulgari Award amongst others, and his work is held in many other public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and the Natural History Museum in London.

Click play beneath the above feature photo to hear the podcast episode watch the YouTube video of this edited conversation here.

‘Treasure Island’, Art Gallery of NSW, current to 29 January 2023

https://youtu.be/IUlMxJOHjSY

Scroll down to watch two videos of Sam on the TWP YouTube channel.

The two artists to achieve this rare distinction before him were 20th century greats Sir William Dobell and Brett Whiteley.

I remember seeing those two small paintings hanging in the Art Gallery of NSW and being struck by their beauty and exquisite detail. The debate surrounding his Wynne Prize painting that year, which caused a small media storm, is something we dive into in this episode.

I’ve been intrigued by Sam’s work ever since then. His art delves into the areas of science and nature, and in more recent years, he’s used Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to initiate his paintings. It was fascinating to hear him talk about this approach.

With a distinctly surrealist feel, Sam’s work also reveals his continued interest in the Dutch masters of the 17th century which began in his early career. In his current show at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, moody utopian landscapes team up with incongruous elements such as huge ‘bubbles’ and globular and tubular forms often hinting at or including a human presence.

Other works depict animals, particularly polar bears, created from machine learning. These paintings, and the rather comical-looking Polar Bear Detector devised by Sam (where you can test how closely you resemble a polar bear) encourage us to see ourselves and the creatures with which we share the planet from a new perspective.

The exhibition, with the unsettling title  ‘Everything Will Probably Be Fine’, continues until 16 July 2022.

Sam has exhibited in 30 solo shows nationally and across the globe, has won several other awards apart from the Archibald and Wynne, and his work is held by many private and public collections including Australia’s National Portrait Gallery.

Scroll down for two YouTube videos of Sam talking about his work.

Scroll down for images of the works we discuss in this episode.

Press play to hear our conversation and scroll down for images of the works we talk about in this episode.

Above feature photo supplied by the artist

https://youtu.be/li3tAUhvrHY?si=i4M61Sy5IwLa8tve

https://youtu.be/H8bZlog0heM?si=-upV2WHstzXFORnD

The winners of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes have been announced at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and in this episode you’ll hear my interviews with each of those artists about their winning works:

The Archibald Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW runs until 28 August 2022 and will then travel to Victoria and regional NSW until July 2023.

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

Internationally renowned, Del is well known in Australia for having won the country’s most famous art prize twice – the Archibald Prize – and her works are held in many private collections and public institutions. This year the National Gallery of Australia acquired her largest single-panel work she has made to date, ‘my heart is blazing 11 hours’, and we talk about the work in this episode.

Although difficult to describe in words, Del’s work often depicts a female sensuality which is at the same time beautiful and confrontational – set in an intricately detailed imaginary world. She is also a self-described optimist and the work hanging in this exhibition is a testament to that, with vivid colour bursting from the canvas.

We also discuss other art forms she has recently been engaged in, including a major project she has been developing over the last 4 years which has now come to fruition. Del’s first feature film ‘Blaze’, a very personal work which she directed and co-wrote, is debuting at the Tribeca Film festival in June and it’s one of only 10 films selected in the International Narrative competition. It has also been selected for Official Competition in the upcoming Sydney film festival, again one of only ten films selected internationally.

You’ll also hear about the origins of her arresting timber sculptures included in the exhibition. Large shell forms inlaid with exquisite materials which reference very personal themes.

To hear the conversation press ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo. You can hear the previous 2019 podcast interview where Del talks about her life and art here.

Scroll down for a short video of highlights of this conversation and footage of the exhibition on the Talking With Painters YouTube channel. 

See video highlights of this conversation on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel

The impressive survey exhibition ‘Encountered’, curated by Kon Gouriotis and now showing at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney, brings together 120 of Steve Lopes’ works including over 80 paintings and drawings, sketchbooks, prints and collages.

This is a must-see exhibition especially for those interested in figurative painting.

In my previous interview with Steve, he expressed the view that to be successful, a painting requires a gritty element – a bit of ‘poison’. When I visited the exhibition a couple of weeks ago, though, it wasn’t only that grittiness that struck me but also the humanity evident in the works, not only in the figures but also in the environments they inhabit.

Desolate wartime landscapes hinting at the loss of human life, a dog wandering across a suburban backlot, figures enigmatically positioned on a coastal landscape; these scenes exude an air of melancholy but often also a familiarity.

Steve has exhibited in close to 40 solo shows across Australia and in London and Hong Kong. He has won the Gallipoli Art Prize, the Kings School Art Prize and has been shortlisted in many others. His work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, the Parliament House Collection, the State Library of NSW and many other public and private collections.

We met at the S.H.Ervin gallery as the exhibition was being installed and we talked about a selection of works (pictured below), the story behind them as well as insights into his practice.

The show continues at the S.H.Ervin Gallery until 8 May 2022 and will then travel to Orange Regional Gallery where it will run from 21 May.

To hear the podcast episode click ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo.