The Artcast

Episode 2: Steve McQueen at the Tate Modern discussed by Caz Murray, Vikki Kosmalska and Laura Lennard

Join us discussing the major Tate retrospective of the artist and film director Steve McQueen.

The only person ever to win an Oscar and a Turner Prize, McQueen is a prolific video artist and film director. This exhibition focuses on his video art work from 1999 to the present day. 

Join Vikki, Caz and Laura to hear this week’s review and if you like what you hear please rate, review and subscribe!

If you want to email us, we would love to hear from you: [email protected] And you can follow us on instagram: @theartcast 

Our wonderful editor Jonny Lennard has also launched his own podcast The Old Boys Book Club. It's not about art, but we highly recommend you give it a listen. Available on all major podcast platforms and you can find them on insta here: @theoldboysbookclub.  

Last, but not least - thank you to the incredible Nat Witts for our jazzy jingle and Jonny for his amazing editing.

The Whitechapel Gallery is looking to overturn art criticism’s 1980s declaration that ‘painting is dead’.

The gallery has presented a case for painting’s ‘radical’ relevance within the contemporary art canon, showcasing the work of 10 painters of varied nationalities and styles to make their point.

But did our intrepid reviewers, Caz and Vikki, buy either painting’s relevance or it’s radicalism?

The exhibition got us questioning: what does it truly mean to be radical? What can painting as a medium bring the contemporary viewer that other mediums of art cannot? Is it even appropriate to suggest painting is dead in the first place?

In other news we share a cautionary tale about getting too close to artworks (largely for Vikki’s benefit) and keen readers will have already clocked that the Artcast team is a trio once more.

Join Vikki, Caz and Laura to hear this week’s review and if you like what you hear please rate, review and subscribe!

If you want to email us, we would love to hear from you: [email protected] And you can follow us on instagram: @theartcast Our wonderful editor Jonny Lennard has also launched his own podcast The Old Boys Book Club. It's not about art, but we highly recommend you give it a listen. Available on all major podcast platforms and you can find them on insta here: @theoldboysbookclub.  Last but not least - thank you to the incredible Nat Witts for our jazzy jingle and Jonny for his amazing editing. 

Episode 4: Dora Maar at the Tate Modern discussed by Vikki Kosmalska and Caz Murray. 

For our final episode of series 4 we delve into the world of photographer, painter and poet Dora Maar. History has remembered Maar primarily for being the muse and lover of Picasso and the full breath of her artistic output has only been recognised since her death in 1997. 

This exhibition is re-writing her back into the artistic canon, shining a light on her innovative and varied photographic practice, her influential role in the Surrealist movement and how she collaborated (and influenced) her better know peers. 

For Art News, we cover the recent decision to award The Turner Prize to 4 artists. Wider opinion on this is mixed and we discuss what means in the current climate and implications for The Turner Prize in future. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has tuned in this season (and this year!) If you like what you hear please rate, review and subscribe. 

If you want to email us, we would love to hear from you: [email protected]

And you can follow us on instagram: @theartcast

Our wonderful editor Jonny Lennard has also launched his own podcast The Old Boys Book Club. It's not about art, but we highly recommend you give it a listen. Available on all major podcast platforms and you can find them on insta here: @theoldboysbookclub. 

Last but not least - thank you to the incredible Nat Witts for our jazzy jingle and Jonny for his amazing editing. 

Merry Christmas from The Artcast and see you in the New Year (and new decade) for more chats about art!

Episode 3: Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits at The Royal Academy discussed by Vikki Kosmalska and Caz Murray

We head back to the Royal Academy to take on Lucian Freud. Renowned the world over for his figurative paintings, his distinctive painting style and his ability to render human skin, this exhibition takes a different tack and explores his artistic development through self portraits he created throughout his career. 

Safe to say our reactions to this exhibition weren’t what we were expecting. We discuss how accessible this exhibition is, whether we would recommended it and what we discovered (or didn’t) about Freud along the way. 

For Art News, we cover a story about the Italian Ministry of Culture who have got themselves in some hot water by not doing their homework and leasing a 13th Century Monastery to some rather unsavory tenants. 

Thank you so much for listening, if you like was you hear, please rate, review and subscribe!

The Artcast love getting a bit of correspondence, so if you have any feedback or want to ask a question for the “Ask the Artcast’ feature, get in touch at [email protected]. 

DM of follow us on Instagram: @theartcast

Thank you, as always, to the incredible Nat Witts for our jingle, and to the brilliant Jonny Lennard for our editing (and for our question this week). 

Episode 2: Bridget Riley at The Hayward Gallery discussed by Vikki Kosmalska and Caz Murray on until the 26th of January. 

This episode we take on Op Art heavy weight Bridget Riley, best known for her meticulous geometric paintings where things are not what they seem. This exhibition somewhat divided opinion in team Artcast - are her paintings simply optical illusions that hurt your eyes or is there a deeper meaning in her work? Listen to us debate our different reactions and don't worry, unlike the current political climate we are in, we keep it civil! 

For Art News, we cover the recent announcement about the extensive refurbishment of The National Portrait Gallery and the potential impact of it’s upcoming 3 year closure.   

Thank you so much for listening, if you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe!

The Artcast love getting a bit of correspondence, so if you have any feedback or want to ask a question for the “Ask the Artcast’ feature, get in touch as [email protected]. 

DM of follow us on Instagram: @theartcast

Thank you, as always, to the incredible Nat Witts for our jingle, and to the brilliant Jonny Lennard for our editing. 

Summer Special Episode 3: Cindy Sherman at The National Portrait Gallery discussed by Caz Murray and Vikki Kosmalska. 

For the final episode for our mini series of summer specials we review post modern heavy weight Cindy Sherman. Sherman is best know for her practise of transforming herself into a multitude of personas (600 and counting!) and capturing this through photography.

We discuss her representation of societal norms over the years, her connection to and irreverence of to the fashion industry and how we all, in our own ways, construct and present different personas to the world. Just without the vast array of wigs that Sherman has to hand.  

And in Art News, we chat about a rather surprising (and very valuable) discovery someone made in their local charity shop. 

Thank you so much for tuning into our Summer Specials.  if you like was you hear, please rate review and subscribe!

The Artcast love getting a bit of correspondence, so if you have any feedback or want to ask a question for the “Ask the Artcast’ feature, get in touch as [email protected]. We plan to be back in September with more art reviews!

DM of follow us on Instagram: @theartcast

Thank you, as always, to the incredible Nat Witts for our jingle, and to the brilliant Jonny Lennard for our editing. 

Summer Special Episode 2: Van Gogh and Britain at the Tate Britain discussed by Caz Murray and Vikki Kosmalska. 

Van Gogh needs no introduction and is up there as one of the most famous and talked about artists of the modern era (see the slew of bio pics about him if you need evidence). And yet, the Tate Britain pulls off an ambitious exhibition offering new perspectives on his life and work, through exploring what influenced him and who he influenced in turn.  

We discuss notions of the individual creative genius and the tortured artist, both attributed to Gogh, and what we miss by viewing him this way.  

And as always, we pick our favourite pieces to add to our now rather substantial hypothetical art collection. 

To follow the wonderful felt creations of Lucy Sparrow, go to her instagram @sewyoursoul

Thank you so much for listening, if you like was you hear, please rate review and subscribe!

The Artcast love getting a bit of correspondence, so if you have any feedback or want to ask a question for the “Ask the Artcast’ feature, get in touch as [email protected]. 

DM of follow us on Instagram: @theartcast

Thank you, as always, to the incredible Nat Witts for our jingle, and to the brilliant Jonny Lennard for our editing.

Summer Special Episode 1: Edvard Munch, Love & Angst at The British Museum discussed by Caz Murray and Vikki Kosmalska. 

The Artcast is back and jumping straight into it exploring life, death, love and suffering with Edvard Munch. Best known for his work ‘The Scream’, the painter and print maker is probably the epitome of existentialism. 

Although covering weighty subjects, this exhibition is strangely refreshing and provided so much to talk about: whether Munch was as on board with the bohemian way of life as he professed to be, his ambivalent relationship towards women, the impact of traumatic losses during his childhood and how hair really is everything (to quote Fleabag series 2). 

Laura is still part of team Artcast and will be returning for the next full series in September. In the meantime, Caz and Vikki do their best to guess what her reactions would be (note always add more gilding).

For Art News, Vikki and Caz discuss their new baroque feminist fav Donna Olympia Maidalchini Pampilj and you can read more about her here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/23/velazquez-portrait-olimpia-maidalchini-pamphilj-feminist-power-behind-a-pope-sothebys-sale

Thank you so much for listening, if you like was you hear, please rate review and subscribe!

The Artcast love getting a bit of correspondence, so if you have any feedback or want to ask a question for the “Ask the Artcast’ feature, get in touch as [email protected]. 

DM of follow us on Instagram: @theartcast

Thank you, as always, to the incredible Nat Witts for our jingle, and to the brilliant Jonny Lennard for our editing. 

Episode 6: The Renaissance Nude at The Royal Academy discussed by Caz Murray, Vikki Kosmalska & Laura Lennard.

Sending Nudes is all the rage these days, why not check out the Royal Academy's show for some Renaissance style inspo for your next shoot? Rumour has it a classical contrapposto stance can be very lengthening...

Jokes aside, this riotous exhibition showcases 85 glorious Renaissance nudes and uses them as a lens through which to explore key themes of the period: from religious art to classical mythology; from patronage to advancements in artistic skill. 

So much of this exhibition surprised us: we discuss what Northern European artists such as Durer brought to the Renaissance; we explore whether deeply religious art can also be erotic, and we launch an impassioned appeal to bring back the cult of the male nude in art!

The Renaissance greats are all there (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, Donatello...) but there is so much more beyond.

This is the final episode of Series 2, but stay tuned to our feed for news of our summer specials.

Thank you so much for listening, and please remember to 'Ask the Artcast' any art related questions you might have for us. You can email them to [email protected] and we will do our best to feature your question in an upcoming episode!

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