Although he didn’t know about his connection with the famous artist in his childhood – he was in foster care and removed from his culture – Vincent has made his own way to success. But this time it was through portraiture. Painting for the first time in 2012, he would soon become a regular finalist in Australia’s most famous portrait prize, the Archibald, ultimately winning it in 2020.

He was the first indigenous artist to win the Archibald but, as Vincent would say, ‘it only took 99 years’. His winning painting, ‘Stand strong for who you are’ was a portrait of the artist with Adam Goodes, the indigenous AFL player who became renowned for speaking out against racism. Vincent saw parallels between Adam’s life and his own which he talks about in this conversation.

The subjects of Vincent’s portraits are wide-ranging; from his great-grandfather, aboriginal elders and politicians to the Queen, Captain Cook and Vladimir Putin. Painted in an expressive style, his works also encapsulate his unmistakable humour. In one work he places himself in the royal carriage with the Queen and in another is cutting a birthday cake with Donald Trump. Everyone is on a level playing field.

Vincent lives in the Indulkana community in the APY lands, about 400 km south of Alice Springs and is one of about 30 artists connected to its arts centre, Iwantja Arts.

He has received significant acclaim. Apart from winning the Archibald Prize, he won the Ramsay Art prize in 2019, has received an Order of Australia for his contribution to indigenous visual arts, his works have been acquired by the British Museum and significant institutional collections across Australia and he has exhibited in solo shows and international art fairs.

I interviewed Vincent at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia where he had been commissioned to paint the museum’s Foyer wall. It’s a huge 15m work called ‘P.P.F (Past-Present-Future)’ and depicts people who have been influential in his life. It is a spectacular work and will remain in the foyer for the next two years.

To hear our podcast conversation click on ‘play’ below the above photo. Scroll down for images of works we talk about on the podcast.

Above photo of Vincent Namatjira by Daniel Boud, standing in front of P.P.F. (Past-Present-Future), 2021, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2021, supported by Veolia Environmental Services, image courtesy the artist; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; and Iwantja Arts, South Australia © the artist,

I also recorded video in Tony’s studio which I edited down to about 5 minutes, with lots of painting wisdom ending up on the cutting room floor. So in this episode I’m bringing you the full conversation.

Tony has been painting for over 50 years. Apart from winning the Archibald prize, in portraiture he is a regular finalist in the Doug Moran and Kilgour prizes as well as many others, but it’s in landscape that he is particularly prolific.

He has won the Paddington Art prize for landscape painting and repeatedly returns to the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south where he has found endless inspiration.

His first solo exhibition since winning the Archibald opens at Art Atrium in Sydney on 15 May 2021 and will consist of oils, watercolour and ink works based on areas within the Royal National Park.

To hear our 2019 conversation click ‘play’ beneath the above photo of Tony in his studio.

You can see the video in Tony’s studio below. I also filmed an interview with Tony in the Art Gallery of NSW not long after the Archibald announcement was made and you can see that video below also. 

It was there that I interviewed Susan Baird who a few years earlier had fallen in love with the town and now has a home and studio there, deep in the bush.

We recorded a previous podcast interview where Susan talked with me about how she became an artist and developed her career. It’s one of the most downloaded episodes on the podcast and you can hear it here.

We also recorded video which I edited down for a YouTube video. I’ve since realised, though, that those video recordings are just as valuable as the podcast interview itself and that’s why I’m bringing you this ‘Summer Series’ of longer recordings from videos. What you’ll hear in this episode is the full audio recording from the video shoot.

Susan’s next solo show is coming up in June 2021 at Arthouse Gallery in Sydney and she has small works in the Gallery’s current group show (January 2021). She is also represented by Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne and it was in the lead up to her last show with Flinders Lane that we recorded this interview.

You can hear the podcast interview by pressing ‘play’ below the above feature photo or listen on your favourite podcast app.

Scroll down to see stills of the places and works we talk about in this episode as well as the 2019 YouTube video.

As is the way with videos, a lot of great material gets lost in the editing process so I’m bringing you the longer version of our conversations recorded during filming.

I caught up with Euan in September 2020 at his knockout show ‘Figure in a dissolving landscape’ at King Street Gallery on William in Sydney. I previously interviewed Euan in 2016 about his life and how he became an artist. Although we share him with New Zealand, where he was born, he’s one of our most celebrated and respected artists. He has been awarded the Archibald, Wynne Sulman and Gallipoli prizes just to name a few.

His exhibition at King Street Gallery was strong and dramatic – figures in icy environments which were inspired by Euan’s trip to the Tasman glacier in New Zealand in February 2020.

Click on ‘play’ beneath the feature photo to hear the podcast episode.

See the YouTube video of this extended interview here

See my video walkthrough of the exhibition here

See below for images of works we talk about on the podcast.

But it wasn’t until after a career in fashion and creating a family that, almost by accident, she discovered that painting was the perfect way for her to express her experiences.

Her Sicilian background and childhood strongly influence her work and this interview is as much a story of the journey of second generation Australians as it is the ability to succeed in art through sheer passion.

Enterprisingly, she painted live at Sydney Contemporary in 2019 creating a nine metre high work in front of thousands of viewers attending the art fair.

Antonia is represented in both Sydney and Melbourne by major commercial galleries and has a busy post-COVID year in 2021. Scroll down for details of upcoming shows.

We recorded this podcast interview in Antonia’s studio in Sydney surrounded by her recent work. To hear our conversation click on ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo.

Scroll down to see a short video of Antonia in her studio and at her exhibition at Nanda\Hobbs gallery on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel.

James Makin Gallery, launch and catalogue release, 11 December 2020

Nanda\Hobbs, group show, ‘Place’, January 2021

James Makin Gallery, summer group show, January 2021

James Makin Gallery, solo show, 2021

Nanda\Hobbs salon show (special edition), April 2021

Becker Minty, solo show, 2021

As you get closer to these works you realise they are intricately composed with astonishing detail. And the marks aren’t limited to paint. They’re often created through carving into the board or paper and in some cases even by inserting pieces of cane into the surface which protrude to create an exciting visual experience. The sculptural quality of Joshua’s work is both beautiful and technically outstanding.

His works often reference the landscape near his home on Sydney’s Pittwater where untouched bushland converges on the Hawkesbury River, a short boat trip from his home. Nature plays a crucial role in his art and he spends significant periods of time connecting with it.

Although he experienced a challenging time at boarding school, his life took an adventurous turn when he completed his schooling in Switzerland – from risking his life in the mountains of Venezuela to living in an abandoned double decker bus in the Australian desert. His early successes even took him to L.A. after receiving an Emmy for a film he wrote, directed and produced in his early 20s.

He has exhibited in over 30 solo shows, including a well-received survey show, and his work is highly sought after in Australia and internationally. 

To hear my conversation with Joshua press ‘play’ beneath the above photo.

Scroll down to see a short video of Joshua in his studio where he talks with me about his influences, work and where he shows me how he uses a rotary tool to carve into his work.

His powerful exhibition ‘Providence’ was held at Sydney’s Arthouse Gallery in November 2020, opening shortly after this interview was recorded.

For more information about Joshua’s work, visit his website here.

An edited version of this episode is also a video which you can see here:

Building up this podcast would not have been possible, though, without the encouragement of those close to me and the time and generosity of my guests as well as many others’ support in the wonderful Australian arts community.

It has also been a privilege to get to know so many of you listeners either through messages, comments on social media or meeting you in person. Even if we haven’t had any contact, you are the reason I keep doing the show so thank you for listening.

I couldn’t think of a better place to celebrate the centenary episode than the Art Gallery of NSW where about a quarter of my podcast guests are finalists in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. So I’d like to say a big thankyou to the Art Gallery of NSW who allowed me in with my selfie stick to film and speak in front of these works. 

You can listen to this episode as an audio guide if you are at the gallery (scroll down for a map of where the works are), watch the edited version as a video here or just listen as an audio episode – all the works are reproduced below.

Click here to see the map if you are looking at this on your podcast app.

Next to each artist’s name is a time marking for each painting so you can skip forward or back.

1. Joanna Braithwaite (3:12)

2. Alan Jones (4:00)

3. Katherine Hattam (5:00)

4. Paul Ryan (5:57)

5. Abdul Abdullah (7:04)

6. Marikit Santiago (winner) (8:05)

7. Aida Tomescu (9:20)

8. Del Kathryn Barton (10:30)

9. Tim Storrier (11:35)

10. Natasha Bieniek (12:30)

11. Luke Sciberras (13:20)

12. Lucy Culliton (14:30)

13. Hubert Pareroultja (winner) (15:15)

14. Guy Maestri (16:12)

15. Dee Smart (17:50)

16. Marc Etherington (19:20)

17. Vincent Namatjira (20:15)

18. Blak Douglas (21:15)

19. Abdul Abdullah (22:20)

20. William Mackinnon (23:15)

21. Jonathan Dalton (24:15)

22. Nick Stathopoulos (25:05)

23. Wendy Sharpe (26:10)

24. Peter Wegner (26:55)

25. Nicholas Harding (28:00)

26. Louise Hearman (28:55)

27. Lucy Culliton (29:45)

28. Guy Maestri (30:20)

We also talk about the controversy around her Sulman finalist painting ‘The Witches’ in 2016, her involvement in the innovative SBS show Life Drawing Live, the story behind her striking Archibald portrait of Magda Szubanski and lots more. 

I previously interviewed Wendy on the podcast in 2018 where we talked about her life and how she became an artist. You can hear that episode here.

‘Magic’ continues at King Street Gallery on William until 24 October 2020.

Wayne Tunnicliffe has curated an outstanding retrospective of Streeton’s work. Wayne is Head Curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW, and the retrospective gathers together over 150 of Streeton’s works, some not seen in public in over 100 years. This is Streeton as he has never been seen before.

Wayne had the idea for the exhibition when he was curatorial adviser to an exhibition of Australian impressionists at the National Gallery in London. It was clear to him that Streeton stood out as the most significant landscape painter in the group.

It makes sense that this retrospective is held at the Art Gallery of NSW. Not only does the Gallery have the largest collection of Streetons anywhere in the world, but they started buying his work in 1890 when he was an emerging artist at only 23 years of age. 

In this episode we explore Streeton’s life: his early years, his meeting some of the key figures in Australian art, his experience of life in London and during WWI, and his later years back in Australia. We also dig deep into a couple of the works with Wayne providing some fascinating insights.

To hear the interview press ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo. You can see images of the works we talk about below.

Streeton opens at the Art Gallery of NSW on 7 November 2020 and runs until 14 February 2021. To purchase tickets to the exhibition click here.

The towering concrete walls of the gallery would ordinarily overpower an exhibition of five paintings but the exquisite works easily took command of the space. Viewing the exhibition will be an experience I’ll never forget.

The genre of still life has a rich tradition in the history of painting; from those Cézannian apples and Margaret Preston’s flowers to the skulls of the Dutch painters reminding us that one day we’re all going to die. They say so much more than mere objects on a table.

The subjects of Jude Rae’s still life paintings, however, aren’t flowers or fruit. They range from gas cylinders and milk crates to plastic buckets, bottles and spaghetti jars. She’s attracted to these objects not necessarily because of any intrinsic beauty but because of the potential they present to her as a painter. ‘They give me work to do’, she says.

Jude’s work is not limited to still life. She’s an acclaimed portraitist and has won the Portia Geach Memorial Award for portraiture twice. Last year her portrait of Sarah Peirse was highly commended in the Archibald prize. She also paints mood-filled architectural interiors and both the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia recently acquired excellent examples of those works.

Jude is a previous podcast guest and you can hear more about her  life and how she became an artist in episode 28.

We met at the gallery for this interview where I also filmed Jude talking about her work. Scroll down to see that video.

You can also see my 2017 video of Jude in her studio here.

To hear Jude Rae speak with me on the podcast about her recent work press ‘play’ beneath the above photo.