Talking with Painters

We also talk about his life in Ibiza, Spain, where he lives with his wife and young son, and how this body of work has developed in these times of change, both global and personal. You can hear more about William’s interesting life and work in episode 38 of the podcast.

I’ll be uploading a short video centring around this exhibition to the website, social media and the Talking with Painters YouTube channel soon.

When she was only in her twenties Belinda became a master printer at Port Jackson Press, collaborating with leading Australian artists. It wasn’t long before she decided to become a full time artist and since that time she’s won multiple art prizes, been awarded many grants and residencies and has exhibited in over 25 solo shows across the world.

Primarily working in watercolour, her experience in printmaking has led her to experiment beyond traditional works on paper to produce unique works with an ethereal quality.

Her upcoming show ‘Fragment(ed)’ with Gallery Smith in Melbourne opens in July 2020 and her next show will take place in Berlin with Michael Reid in October. Earlier this year she exhibited with Maybaum gallery in San Francisco and she has been with Sydney’s Arthouse Gallery since 2003.

Belinda grew up in the country town of Mildura in Victoria and now lives in the Hague in the Netherlands. We recorded this episode by Zoom during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown.

We talk about her time as a master printer, why she turned to painting, the grounds of her paintings, her interest in humanitarian issues and when she reflects that in her work, studio life, homeschooling in lockdown and a lot more.

Click ‘play’ below the above feature photo to hear the podcast interview.

Scroll down for a short video with highlights of the podcast interview.

From afar, they are familiar subjects; flowers in a tight composition, translucent grapes, an inquiring snail.

But up close, multiple layers of transparent paint and a fascinating combination of large brushstrokes and expressive splashes transport the viewer to another world.

Maguire’s work is held in Australia’s major public collections, dozens of corporate and private collections and he has exhibited in over 80 solo shows around the world from France, Germany and the UK to New York and China and right across Australia including a knockout survey show at Newcastle Art Gallery in 2017. His practice also crosses printmaking, light box works and film which were included in that exhibition.

Travel has also been an essential part of his life as an artist and he has spent a large part of his adult years in Europe, especially the UK and France. He and his wife, artist Adrienne Gaha, now live and work between Australia and France.

In his exhibition ‘Small Worlds’ at Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney, he revisits his earlier interest in 17th century Dutch still life subject matter but with a different approach. Created over the period of the recent Australian bushfires and the onset of coronavirus, the work took on an unexpected significance for the artist which he relates in this interview.

We talk about his time studying in Europe, his early work, printmaking, his colour separation process and lots more.

To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ beneath the above photo or listen however you get your podcasts.

Scroll down to see a YouTube video of Tim Maguire talking with Maria Stoljar about his exhibition ‘Small Worlds’ which was held in June 2020 at Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney.

‘Small Worlds’ at Martin Browne Contemporary, current until 21 June 2020.

Although there’s almost always a horizon line, or the remnants of one,  he throws the traditional ideas of sky, land and sea into ambiguity.

The glorious pieces of impasto paint which are so distinctive in his work provide a fragmented way of seeing the world and it’s almost impossible for the viewer not to feel some response to the energy and movement generated in his work.

Colin has painted for 35 years and has exhibited in over 20 solo shows. He won the Mosman Alan Gamble Memorial Art Prize and has been finalist in many others. He was Arthouse Gallery’s featured artist at Sydney Contemporary last year and his show The Modernist 2020 with Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne opened a few days after this interview was recorded in May 2020.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Colin has lived and worked in many places across the globe from London to New York and across Australia, but it’s in Queensland’s idyllic Noosa Hinterland where he and his wife, jewellery designer Katrina Pennock, have settled for the last 10 years.

I talk with Colin about his life and work, including his experiences working as a teenage police officer during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, witnessing the horror of 9/11, finding his visual language in Australia, colour, composition and more.

He is represented by galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and London (see below).

Scroll down to see a short video of excerpts from the podcast interview and footage of Colin in his studio.

Above photo by Carl Warner

For much of that time Emily’s studio has been the Australian outback. Whether she’s using the side of the car as an easel or working flat on the ground of the Australian desert, she is engulfed by her surroundings and transfers that experience onto the canvas.

A few days before COVID caused a lockdown in Australia, I visited Saint Cloche Gallery in Paddington to see Emily‘s latest solo show. Called ‘Take Me There’, it was a collection of works she created on her travels. They were powerful and evocative paintings. 

She has exhibited in six solo shows across Australia and has had work in many more group shows and last year she was awarded the Macquarie Group Emerging Artist prize.

What struck me most when I spoke with Emily, though, was her close connection with nature and the Australian environment and her understanding of the significant relationship Indigenous communities have and have had with the land.

Her aim is to convey that connection to the viewer and to remind us that we were always meant to be closely connected with nature. 

Scroll down for video of highlights of the podcast interview.

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

Feature photo courtesy of the artist

Although he’s only in his 30s, he’s exhibited in over 20 solo shows and has been working as a full time artist since 2012.  His work is held in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia.

His survey show, Long Story Short, was three years in the making and opened in his home town of Maitland at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery at the end of February. Unfortunately it coincided with the disruption brought by COVID-19 and closed a few short weeks later, almost two months before the scheduled end date.

Nonetheless, it is a triumph and Lucas filmed a walk through of the show before it closed. The team at Maitland Regional Art Gallery is also bringing together more digital content relating to the show which will be available on their website.  

Lucas’ next solo show opens at the end of July, 2020, at Hugo Michell Gallery in Adelaide.

To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ on the above feature photo.

Scroll down for a short video from the conversation which includes footage from his survey show.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Those huge changes to our whole society and way of life, brought about by the threat of COVID-19, have coincided with the opening of Peter O’Doherty’s show at King Street Gallery on William, prophetically called ‘The distance between us’.

I was planning to film a short video at the opening, asking Peter about his show, but this instead turned into a phone interview which I decided to post as an episode. In addition to his show we also talk about the impacts of the virus both on the visual arts and music industries.

This interview was recorded on Thursday 19 March and posted on 23 March and a lot had changed in the intervening 4 days including the temporary closing of the doors of King Street Gallery on William. The show is still online and you can see it here .

My goal in the next weeks and months is to keep us connected by continuing to bring you the stories of Australian painters through the podcast and social media.

If you haven’t already you can connect with me on any of these platforms:

A short video of Peter’s show will be posted on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel soon!

Photo (cropped) by Riste Andrievski

Although they share their thoughts about the art world and their work, their painting styles and personalities are very different – which might be part of the secret to their long friendship.

Davida’s current show with Philip Bacon Galleries in Brisbane runs until 28 March 2020 and William Robinson will be showing with the Gallery later this year. This interview focuses on Davida’s show and an in-depth interview with William Robinson will be posted closer to his exhibition. Bill is one of Australia’s most important internationally acclaimed painters so to obtain his insights into Davida’s work was a privilege. 

Apart from winning the Archibald, Davida is also a four time finalist in the prize and has had 3 major survey exhibitions of her work, most recently in 2018. She’s had over 20 solo shows and her work is held in nearly every major state gallery as well as the National Gallery of Australia and the MOMA in New York. She’s also a novelist and has written and directed an internationally acclaimed film.

William Robinson is one of Australia’s most significant painters. He has won the Archibald prize twice, the Wynne prize twice and his work is held in over 30 public collections across the world. He is the first Australian artist to have a gallery dedicated to his works – the William Robinson Gallery is located in historic Old Government House in Brisbane.

We met in William Robinson’s magnificent studio at his home in Brisbane.

To hear our conversation click on the play button beneath the above photo.

This is the second part of a double episode on this 20th century artist. In the last episode I interviewed Claire Roberts, co -editor of the book ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’ and we talked about the events of Fairweather’s life from his early childhood. 

In this episode I talk with Ann Thomson, one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists who I have previously interviewed on this podcast. Ann met Fairweather on several occasions with her then husband, photographer Robert Walker. They visited him on Queensland’s Bribie Island where he lived for the last 20 years of his life before he died in 1974. 

He’s considered one of Australia’s most important artists. Although he was often described as an outsider or a recluse – he lived on Bribie Island in self-made huts apart from the rest of the community – he was actually quite sociable through his letters and welcomed friends who came to visit.

He famously sailed off into the open sea from Darwin on a raft he built himself, heading for Portuguese Timor over 600km away.  It would be 16 days before he would reach land after his raft sailed off course and he had almost lost his life. The RAAF were called in and an obituary appeared in the newspaper. It became an international story. What he told Ann Thomson when she asked about the ordeal is priceless.

The memories of Ann Thomson are interesting, insightful and humorous and gave me a better idea of the man who was Ian Fairweather.

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

Click here to hear my interview with Claire Roberts.

Click here to purchase the book ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’

Photograph of Ann Thomson by Greg Weight (cropped)

Together with cultural historian John Thompson, Roberts has produced a brilliant book ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’ which not only gives us an insight into Fairweather’s life in his own words but provides context by setting periods of letters in chapters with their own introduction. The book is published by Text Publishing.

Claire Roberts is an art historian, curator and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Melbourne, specialising in modern and contemporary Chinese art and the cultural flows between Australia and Asia.

It was the author Murray Bail who suggested she write this book.  He had written a monograph on Fairweather and had already located many letters but while that monograph focussed on Fairweather’s art, this book looks more at the man himself.  354 letters are ultimately included in this publication and the book was 12 years in the making.

Fairweather lived an unusual life. Although he was born in Scotland in 1891, the last 20 years of his life he lived on Queensland’s Bribie Island in a hut he made himself with a thatched roof and dirt floor and photos of his huts are included in the book.

However, the event which is probably the reason I became interested in Fairweather in the first place is the famous raft story where Fairweather sailed off into the open sea from Darwin heading for Portuguese Timor on a triangular raft he built himself and which was not much bigger than he was. What happened next was incredible.

He’s without a doubt one of Australia’s most important artists, with his works held in almost every state and national institution as well as the Tate in London and other international museums.

In the next episode of the podcast I talk with artist Ann Thomson who actually met Fairweather on several occasions. She brings him to life and reinforces many of the observations Claire Roberts makes in this episode. 

Fairweather has been described as a recluse and a hermit but, as you will hear from Claire’s careful consideration of his life, it’s a little more complicated than that.

To hear the podcast episode press ‘play’ beneath the above feature photo. Click the link below to purchase the book.

Purchase ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’ (2019)