Talking with Painters

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.

Scott is a journalist, TV and radio presenter, musician and biographer. In this podcast interview, I talk with him about the life of Dobell in the context of the changing art world of the 20th century. 

In particular, we go back seventy seven years to when William Dobell famously won the Archibald Prize with a portrait of his friend Joshua Smith. With less than flattering facial features and elongated arms and neck , the painting was a clear and challenging departure from the more traditional portraits of the previous years.

Almost every Australian held a view on that painting. Some were excited, some were shocked – others were even angry. In an unprecedented turn of events, two entrants who missed out on the prize started a court action to try to stop Dobell from receiving the prize money. Those events in 1943 would not only change the course of art in Australia but would traumatise Dobell and Smith for years to come.

In ‘Bill: The Life of William Dobell’, Scott takes us into Dobell’s life through the people who knew him, both in Sydney and in the town of Wangi Wangi where he ultimately found peace from the scrutiny surrounding the events of 1943. Most of all he brings to life the complex artist that was William Dobell with enthusiasm and empathy.

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

To purchase a copy of the book click on the book’s title in the show notes below.

Photo: Scott Bevan stands in front of a painting by Susan O’Doherty

Dreamlike landscapes containing disembodied limbs, headless figures and mysterious forms – some representational others more abstract – create a surrealist atmosphere which draws the viewer closer to see what the artist has unearthed and portraits take on an extra layer of meaning.

Her work crosses painting, mixed media, photomontage and sculpture and she has exhibited in nine solos shows. She has won several prizes including the James Gleeson Prize for Surrealism twice and her work was acquired for the Kedumba Collection, one of Australia’s most highly regarded public collections of contemporary drawing. Louisa has also been a finalist in many other prizes including the Portia Geach Memorial Award and the Dobell prize for Drawing.

Figures and characters from art history also come through in her work and her deep knowledge of the history of art is something she passes on to her university students who she lectures in painting and drawing.

Recording this interview in Louisa’s studio in Sydney was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Her enthusiasm is infectious as you will hear in this interview. To listen to the podcast episode click play beneath the photo above.

A short video of Louisa in her studio will be uploaded to the Talking with Painters YouTube channel and to this website soon.

Above photo of Louisa in her studio by Simone Silverman