Shows
The Creative KindArt Prizes with Maria StoljarIn this episode I chat to Maria Stoljar, a painter, YouTuber & host of the acclaimed Talking with Painters podcast. We discuss Maria’s experience with interviewing hundreds of art prize winners, and also as a painter herself having been an entrant and a judge. We talk about the significance of art prizes in an artist's career and Maria shares her insights on the motivations behind entering art prizes, the benefits of being shortlisted, and the importance of exposure. We also discuss the role that art prizes play in elevating artists' profiles, the impact of social media, and how to ha...2025-07-221h 02.jpeg)
Talking with PaintersEp 166: Julie Fragar wins the 2025 Archibald PrizeAn edited video version of this conversation will be on the YouTube channel soon!
It’s one of the most thrilling days on the Australian art calendar—and this year, Julie Fragar has taken out the Archibald Prize with a captivating portrait of fellow artist and colleague Justene Williams.
Her large scale portrait of Justene, appearing to float in space and surrounded by model figures and structures drawn from Justene’s creative universe, commands the viewer’s attention. Julie talks with me about the portrait and its elements, her approach to colour and her tips for a pro...2025-05-0914 minTalking with PaintersEp 165: Richard LewerPodcast listeners – see the art work we talk about in this episode here
Step into the gripping world of Richard Lewer — where drawing, painting, and video meet the raw edges of human experience.
Richard doesn’t look away from life’s toughest stories. From the deeply personal — like the final days of his father’s life — to the harrowing and socially charged, including the tragic death of an Indigenous child in custody and the haunting Snowtown murders, he takes it all on. But never with shock tactics. His work is quietly powerful — full of feeling, sensitivity, and...2025-04-0750 minTalking with PaintersJan SenbergsAbove photo of Jan Senbergs by Riste Andrievski
Click play for my podcast introduction to this interview and scroll down for the transcript.
Podcast listeners click here and scroll down for transcript.
Watch the YouTube video of Jan Senbergs’ studio and work here
Links
Jan Senbergs’ website
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Jan Senbergs at Niagara Galleries
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PDF version of transcript for tablet/desktop
With over six decades of work as a p...2023-12-0206 minTalking with PaintersJames Powditch live at the AGNSWThis episode is a conversation between James Powditch and Maria Stoljar in front of an audience at the Art Gallery of NSW, recorded by the Art Gallery Society
James Powditch has always loved the movies. As a child in the 70s and 80s he would watch whatever he could get away with – from Taxi Driver to Deliverance.
But in recent years, after being shortlisted in the Archibald prize with paintings of Labor leader (now PM) Anthony Albanese and journalists Kerry O’Brien and Laura Tingle he noticed other themes emerge; media and politics.
In his most...2023-10-2151 minTalking with PaintersWhen I won that art prize (part 4) – Georgia SpainIn the final episode of the series ‘When I won that art prize’ we go back to 2021 when a 27 year old Georgia Spain won the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, the first time she had entered the prize.
In the same week she was announced the winner of the Women’s Art Prize Tasmania. These announcements were made less than 12 months after she was one of 5 artists to receive the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art scholarship.
Georgia’s recent work is currently hanging in the exhibition ‘Once more with feeling’ showing at Ngununggula...2023-06-1114 minTalking with PaintersWhen I won that art prize (part 2)- James DrinkwaterIn part 2 of the series ‘When I won that art prize’ we go back to episode 29 when James Drinkwater recalled winning the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2014.
The award included a three month residency in Paris at the Cité Internationale des arts, a dream come true for any young painter. However, when he and his young family set off for France, not everything went according to plan.
Upcoming show
Solo show at Edwina Corlette, ‘You could just make a painting and write it all in there – new paintings from the slip room’, 3 – 23 May, 2023
Links
...2023-04-2811 minTalking with PaintersIdris Murphy: Backblocks (live at the S.H.Ervin Gallery)See the YouTube video of Maria Stoljar’s earlier conversation with Idris Murphy here
Last Thursday I was thrilled to speak with Idris Murphy, leading contemporary artist and a previous podcast guest, in front of a live audience at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney.
It’s where the survey exhibition of his work, ‘Idris Murphy: Backblocks’ is now showing and continues until 26 March 2023. Curated by Terence Maloon, it features breathtaking work predominantly from the last two decades. Paintings which shimmer, glow, and transport the viewer.
Idris talked with me about his career inc...2023-03-1835 minTalking with PaintersPaul Newton (part 1)It was the 80s. Paul Newton had finished a science degree and was a singer in a band. He sensed, though, that this was not meant to be his life’s work.
‘I’m a bit of a perfectionist and unless I can do something really well I find it frustrating to do it at all’.
So he decided to change course and he put that perfectionism to good use; he is now one of Australia’s most highly skilled and accomplished portrait painters.
If you are interested in the Archibald prize, you no doubt wi...2022-12-201h 11
InCites with UNSW Law SocietyTalking with Podcasters: Maria StoljarThis episode, we are joined by Maria Stoljar, host and producer of the 'Talking With Painters' podcast. After a decade practising in insurance law, Maria pivoted to building her podcast, which is now in its sixth year. Talking With Painters has garnered critical acclaim, having been listed in British auction-house Christie’s ‘Best art-world podcasts’, and as a finalist in the Australian Podcast Awards. She chats with Tracey about the legal profession and women, career change, and finding your niche with transferable skills from the law.
Hosted by Tracey Ren, with assistance from Adin Quach and Jeremy...2022-11-0758 minTalking with PaintersLuke Sciberras (uncut)For over 25 years, previous podcast guest Luke Sciberras has been immersing himself in landscapes across the world, returning to his studio to draw on the smaller works created from life. His paintings are bold and have a commanding presence.
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 bea...2022-07-2522 minTalking with PaintersEp 119: Justin Paton, curator of ‘Matisse: Life and Spirit’A video version of this episode can be viewed here
Justin Paton is the co-curator of the most exciting exhibition to arrive on Sydney’s doorstep since our world was upturned by the pandemic.
‘Matisse: Life and Spirit, Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris’, now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW, is an uplifting collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures which not only brings with it excitement, joy and optimism, but also is immediate in its nature.
“As these works have come out of their crates I’ve really had the feeling that the pa...2021-12-0912 minTalking with PaintersEp 116: Aida Tomescu (uncut)See the YouTube video version of this podcast episode here
Fresh out of Sydney lockdown, the incredible works of Aida Tomescu are showing both in Sydney with Fox Jensen Gallery and in Hong Kong with Flowers Gallery in two outstanding exhibitions.
To add to this, in early December 2021, Orange Regional Gallery will be exhibiting what promises to be a blockbuster Tomescu show, looking at the artist’s latest large works and how they connect to a group of key paintings and etchings from the past twenty years.
Tying in with these shows, I re...2021-10-1733 min
Art WankEpisode 67 - Maria Stoljar from the podcast Talking with PaintersSend us a textThis week we spoke with Maria Stoljar from Talking with PAinters the arts successful podcast that has been going for 5 years. Maria is a passionate arts fan and artist who is facinated by the arts in Australia and started her podcast so she could find out more about the artists lives and art.Maria is a beautiful portrait painter and a big fan of the Archibald art prize - she is regularly filming at the loading dock and in the Art Gallery of NSW. Maria has done...2021-06-291h 07Talking with PaintersEp 110: Robin EleyWe’ve all been there. You see an artwork and think ‘surely, that is a photo’. But as you get closer and read the description, you accept it is made of paint, expertly applied, creating the illusion of reality.
I am in awe of the artists who work in this way because it calls for painstaking labour and the technique is certainly not suited to every painter. Australian artist Robin Eley, based in Los Angeles, is highly skilled in every step of the process, producing work which leaves many viewers incredulous.
For Robin, the task of creat...2021-05-241h 18Talking with PaintersEp 109: Filippa Buttitta (with Louisa Chircop)In early 2020, as COVID was sweeping the world, Filippa Buttitta (pictured right) was facing her own personal crisis.
She had been working on her entry for the Archibald prize when she had trouble with her eyesight and was finding it difficult painting the fine details of her work.
Thinking she needed an eye test, she visited her optometrist which led to a swift hospital admission and the shocking diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumour.
In the past year she’s had to make decisions which go to the heart of one’s purpose in l...2021-05-0742 minTalking with PaintersEp 102: Antonia Perricone MrljakAntonia Mrljak’s art exudes a dynamic force. It mirrors her personality – one of energy, vibrancy and a sure sense of direction. She is one of Australia’s most exciting emerging abstract artists.
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...2020-12-1141 minTalking with PaintersEp 101: Joshua YeldhamJoshua Yeldham’s imagery is steeped in nature. His large works range from portraying the landscape with its stunning mystical trees, to figures with a tribal aesthetic, to his iconic owls which he has famously painted and sculpted multiple times over the years, even as a self portrait.
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 p...2020-11-091h 28Talking with PaintersEp 99: Wendy Sharpe and ‘Magic’You can also watch this episode as a video here. To hear the episode as an audio podcast click on ‘play’ above.
Leading artist Wendy Sharpe talks with me in her Sydney studio about her fabulous show ‘Magic’ at King Street Gallery on William.
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...2020-10-2133 minTalking with PaintersEp 97: Jude Rae and ‘424-428’After months of disruption and pessimism wreaked by the global pandemic, seeing Jude Rae’s exhibition ‘424-428’ at The Commercial in Sydney was as uplifting as the paintings themselves.
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 re...2020-09-2139 minTalking with PaintersEp 96: Scott Bevan on William DobellReading Scott Bevan’s biography of 20th century artist William Dobell is like viewing one of Dobell’s portraits; Scott takes us behind the exterior of the subject and into their inner life. He just uses words instead of paint.
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 portra...2020-09-021h 15Talking with PaintersEp 95: Louisa ChircopCreating her work through intuition, Louisa Chircop takes us into another world – the world of her subconscious.
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 Collecti...2020-08-1151 minTalking with PaintersEp 94: William Mackinnon and ‘Learning to love the wind’William Mackinnon is a previous podcast guest. In this episode we talk about his show with Hugo Michell Gallery, ‘Learning to love the wind’ coming up in a few weeks.
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 m...2020-07-2139 minTalking with PaintersEp 93: Belinda FoxBelinda Fox’s work is extraordinary. Whether it’s an intricate bird in mid-flight or abstract geometric forms, she combines paint, printmaking, drawing, wax and collage to produce works of great detail and beauty.
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...2020-06-2345 minTalking with PaintersEp 92: Tim MaguireTim Maguire is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, acclaimed internationally for his astonishing large scale paintings.
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...2020-06-041h 06Talking with PaintersEp 91: Colin PennockColin Pennock’s work could be described as landscape painting but it certainly doesn’t fall into that category in any traditional sense.
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 fo...2020-05-1755 minTalking with PaintersEp 90: Emily ImesonA true plein air painter, Emily Imeson has spent the last two years living a nomadic lifestyle travelling around Australia with her partner in their beloved Troopy 4WD.
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‘...2020-05-0452 minTalking with PaintersEp 89: Lucas GroganThere’s no mistaking a Lucas Grogan work. Whether it’s a mural, an ink drawing or an intricate quilt, his detailed monochromatic patterns are unique and his carefully chosen lines of text are loaded with meaning and humour.
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 M...2020-04-1540 minTalking with PaintersEp 88: Peter O’Doherty and ‘The distance between us’Since episode 87 the world has changed.
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 visu...2020-03-2219 minTalking with PaintersEp 87: Davida Allen in conversation with William RobinsonDavida Allen and William Robinson, two of Australia’s leading painters, are not only both Archibald winners and Queenslanders but have been friends for over 40 years.
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...2020-03-0841 minTalking with PaintersEp 86: Ian Fairweather (part 2): Ann ThomsonFew other artists have captured Australia’s imagination quite like Ian Fairweather.
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...2020-02-2337 minTalking with PaintersEp 85: Ian Fairweather (part 1): Claire RobertsLearning about someone through their letters is a fascinating exercise and this is precisely what Claire Roberts set out to do when she amassed over 700 letters of the celebrated 20th century artist Ian Fairweather.
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 As...2020-02-2247 minTalking with PaintersEp 84: David GriggsStepping into David Griggs’ Sydney studio in the lead up to his show at Roslyn Oxley9 gallery was a sensory experience.
The scale of his paintings is large and the colour is bold. The word ‘psychedelic’ has been used more than once in describing his work and it certainly applies to his show about to hit the Sydney art scene. It’s fabulously called Mankini Island.
David’s a painter, sculptor and filmmaker, has exhibited in over 25 solo shows and has been hung in the prestigious Archibald Prize eight times.
A large part of who he is...2020-02-0253 minTalking with PaintersEp 83: Philip WolfhagenDriving to Philip Wolfhagen’s home outside Launceston, Tasmania, was a dreamlike experience. Unlike the dry landscape of drought-affected NSW (we recorded before the onset of the bushfire crisis), there were green farmlands rolling down to a plain with hills in the distance.
If it had been dusk I would have felt I was driving through a Wolfhagen painting because capturing the landscape surrounding his property is a large part of Philip’s practice. In particular he beautifully captures that moment of twilight, often with a hint of melancholy, through his expert use of colour and superb appl...2020-01-1956 minTalking with PaintersEp 82: Best of 2019Looking back at the artists of 2019!
Listen to this podcast episode for highlights of my conversations with the amazing Australian painters listed below. Click on the artist’s name to hear the full interview – and most have a video on their page too!
Luke Sciberras
Nicholas Harding
Kiata Mason
Del Kathryn Barton
Blak Douglas
Neil Frazer
Tony Costa
Nicole Kelly
Tim Storrier
Susan Baird
Tom Carment
Kathrin Longhurst
Ben Quilty
2019-12-3136 minTalking with PaintersEp 81: Lisa Slade, curator of ‘Quilty’This is not the first time curator Lisa Slade has brought the paintings of Ben Quilty to viewers in Australia, but of those previous exhibitions none has had the depth and breadth of the survey show ‘Quilty’ which has arrived at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Distilling fifteen years of creative energy, Slade has brought together an exhibition which not only presents these works to the viewer in a compelling way, but evokes curiosity and creates meaning.
The exhibition originated in the Art Gallery of South Australia and travelled to Queensland Art gallery before ending with...2019-12-0832 minTalking with PaintersEp 80: Ben QuiltyIf you are interested in the arts in Australia you will know of Ben Quilty. He is one of the country’s most acclaimed contemporary artists.
In the last 15 years he has shot to prominence not just as an artist – although he’s won the Archibald Prize, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship – but as an observer and commentator on social and political issues which concern us all.
Whether it’s issues faced by our indigenous communities, our involvement in wars on foreign soil, and their consequences, or the cruelty of...2019-11-1641 minTalking with PaintersEp 79: Kathrin LonghurstDuring the Cold War, the Soviet Bloc and the West were separated in various ways but probably none so dramatically as the Berlin Wall. Erected in 1961, it separated East and West Germans for 28 years.
Kathrin Longhurst was born on the eastern side of that wall and experienced, first-hand, what life was like behind the Iron Curtain. It was a life that would influence the direction of her work as an artist many years later.
A figurative painter and a feminist, her work often parodies the Communist propaganda art which she would see in the streets in E...2019-11-0353 minTalking with PaintersEp 78: Tom CarmentTom Carment has been painting and writing for over 45 years but it was in his mid twenties that he decided his work would be created solely from life. Changing light and weather conditions, sitter fatigue and repeated packing of materials became daily concerns.
His work crosses landscape, portraiture and still life and if you visited the Art Gallery of NSW in 2019 for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes you may have noticed that there was a Carment work shortlisted in every prize – a rare accomplishment for any artist.
The winner of numerous art prizes in...2019-10-141h 00Talking with PaintersEp 77: Susan BairdAs a child, it never occurred to Susan Baird that she might one day be a painter.
She left school at 16 and, after a year of study, found a job working for a graphic designer who also enjoyed painting. It was through seeing him paint that the course of her life shifted entirely.
By the age of 18 she’d exhibited in her first solo show in Sydney’s premier art district. She went on to study in New York and Sydney and has been painting for over 35 years. She has exhibited in over a dozen solo...2019-09-2247 minTalking with PaintersEp 76: Tim StorrierTim Storrier’s work sweeps you into his imagination: burning ropes in the desert, clothes wrapped around a torso-shaped void, mood-filled skies with clouds that go on forever.
One of Australia’s premier artists, his paintings often take the form of a memento mori – a reminder of our mortality – with detritus strewn across the landscape to remind us of what is left after life has moved on.
He has been painting for over 50 years and in 1968 was the youngest artist ever to win the Sulman prize at 19 years of age. He has since won the Sulman a...2019-08-251h 01Talking with PaintersEp 75: Nicole KellyNicole Kelly is one of Australia’s most interesting emerging artists. Her landscapes and portraits are filled with reminiscence and emotion.
She’s had 10 solo shows, has won the coveted Brett Whiteley travelling art scholarship, Hurford Hardwood portrait prize, as well as other prizes, and has been finalist in many others.
I spoke with her in her studio in Sydney where she was creating work for her November show with Arthouse Gallery in Sydney. We also filmed some video on that day which will be uploaded to the website soon.
Nicole grew up in t...2019-08-0448 minTalking with PaintersEp 74: The ArchibaldHere’s your guide to the paintings of the 13 podcast guests whose works were shortlisted in the 2019 Archibald prize. Go to episodes 72 and 73 for the Wynne and Sulman guides!
Click here for an overview of how to use this guide
Click here for images of the Archibald Prize finalists
Click here to see the gallery map below if you are looking at this on your podcast app.
Feature Photo: ‘Lindy Lee’, (detail), oil on canvas, 182.5 x 152cm, Tony Costa, winner of Archibald prize 2019
Click on the artist’s name below to...2019-07-1735 minTalking with PaintersEp 73: The WynneHere’s your guide to the paintings of the seven podcast guests whose works were shortlisted in the 2019 Wynne prize. Go to episodes 72 and 74 for the Sulman and Archibald guides!
Click the play button underneath the photo to hear the podcast episode and scroll down for video of the Wynne winner Sylvia Ken.
Click here for an overview of how to use this guide
Click here for images of the paintings in the Wynne prize
Click here to see the Gallery Map if you are looking at this on your podcast ap...2019-07-1715 minTalking with PaintersEp 72: The SulmanHere’s your guide to the paintings of the six podcast guests whose works were shortlisted in the 2019 Sir John Sulman prize. Go to episodes 73 and 74 for the Wynne and Archibald guides!
Click here for an overview of how to use this guide
Click here to see the Sir John Sulman finalist paintings.
Feature photo: ‘The first girl that knocked on his door’ (detail) oil on canvas, 153 x 122.5cm, McLean Edwards, winner of the Sir John Sulman prize, 2019.
Click on the artist’s name below to hear their podcast interview and see the...2019-07-1716 minTalking with PaintersEp 71: Archibald Wynne and Sulman 2019This year twenty podcast guests were selected as finalists in the Archibald, Wynne, and Sulman prizes, which are exhibited every year at the Art Gallery of NSW, with a total of 26 paintings between them. In the next three episodes I’m going to talk to you about those works. Scroll down to see some tips on how to listen to these episodes.
How to use episodes 72-74:
As an audio guide at the Art Gallery of NSW (until 8 September 2019) or any gallery the exhibition travels to.
scroll down for a map of the gallery rooms and li...2019-07-1702 minTalking with PaintersEp 70: Tony CostaTony Costa says winning the Archibald makes the invisible artist visible but you wouldn’t have called him invisible before he won the prize this year.
He’s been painting for over 50 years, and in addition to the Archibald has won several other awards including the Paddington Art Prize for landscape painting and has been shortlisted in others including another three times in the Archibald, in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the Wynne Prize, the Sulman Prize, the Kilgour Prize, and the list goes on.
Costa paints in an expressionist style. His whole practice is ab...2019-06-231h 08Talking with PaintersEp 69: Neil FrazerNeil Frazer is a landscape painter but don’t expect pictures of rolling hills or calming seascapes.
His powerful work depicts the harsh and dangerous environments in our world, where the sea smashes against jagged rocks and freezing glaciers slide past uninhabitable snowy peaks.
It’s the physicality and energy of these places that he’s aiming to convey and he does so spectacularly.
He combines an impasto technique with layering and glazing to produce a complex visual experience and his compositions often involve intriguing negative spaces which contribute to the drama and mystery...2019-05-2648 minTalking with PaintersEp 68: Blak DouglasBlak Douglas is well known for his brightly coloured landscapes with their trademark seven-tiered sky but he’s also an accomplished portraitist.
At the time of writing, his work hangs in the Art Gallery of NSW in both the Archibald and Wynne prizes which are arguably the most famous portrait and landscape awards in Australia.
His paintings always have something to say about social justice, often with irony and humour playing an important part and with his Aboriginal identity central to his work.
He’s won several awards and has been finalist in many...2019-05-0552 minTalking with PaintersEp 67: Del Kathryn BartonDel Kathryn Barton is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in Australian art today.
Her work is hotly sought after internationally and, in Australia, she is probably best known for the rare achievement of having won the Archibald prize twice – no mean feat in a race where women have only won the award 12 times in close to 100 years.
Her paintings are instantly recognizable. Figures with drawn hands and faces look out of the picture with mesmerising eyes, existing in an imaginary world. That world is filled with colour and exquisite detail.
Barton has ex...2019-04-141h 24Talking with PaintersEp 66: Kiata MasonThrough her art, Kiata Mason takes us into her world and her way of seeing. Her still lifes are filled with the objects from her home, collected over generations, and portraits contain reminders of the past.
She plays with colour and perspective to convey her subjects not quite the way they exist in reality but with an ever present optimism and empathy mixed with a bit of kookiness.
She has a Masters degree in drawing from the National Art School and this forms the foundations of her painting. Last year she won the Muswellbrook Art...2019-03-2458 minTalking with PaintersEp 65: Nicholas HardingNicholas Harding is one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. He has been awarded the Archibald prize, the Archibald People’s Choice award, the Kilgour prize and the Dobell drawing prize amongst others. His work crosses portraiture, landscape and still life.
Harding’s oil paintings are created with a glorious impasto technique, he uses gouache to capture the lifesize portraits of many a famous sitter and he is renowned for his magnificent ink drawings.
He has had over 30 (often sell-out) solo shows, major survey shows of his work have been held at the S H Ervin...2019-03-101h 17Talking with PaintersEp 64: Luke SciberrasIf you’ve ever met Luke Sciberras you’ll know he’s larger than life. Full of joie de vivre and good humour, he attacks life with gusto from his fabulous garden to his renowned cooking skills so it’s no surprise that this life force is also manifested through his art.
He’s known chiefly for his landscape paintings which are created with layers of glorious colour and a variety of marks. His drawings and plein air works have an immediacy which take us into his experience – whether it’s a boab tree a bird or a portrait. Hi...2019-02-241h 11Talking with PaintersEp 63: Tony Tuckson (part 2): Artist Aida TomescuIn episode 62 I spoke with senior curator Denise Mimmocchi about the late abstract expressionist artist Tony Tuckson and the exhibition ‘ Tuckson:the abstract sublime ‘ which is currently showing at the Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition continues until 17 February 2019.
In this episode I look at a few of the paintings themselves with artist Aida Tomescu. I spoke with Aida about her own life and art in episode 33 where you can hear a great story of her arrival in Australia from communist Romania and her rise to becoming one of our most respected painters. She has won many awards...2019-02-0435 minTalking with PaintersEp 62: Tony Tuckson (part 1): Curator Denise MimmocchiDenise Mimmocchi, senior curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW, has brought together a magnificent exhibition of the abstract works of the late Tony Tuckson: ‘Tuckson: the abstract sublime’ showing at the Art Gallery of NSW until 17 February 2019.
Tony Tuckson, who died about 45 years ago, is considered by many to be one of Australia’s most significant abstract expressionist artists but he kept his art under wraps for most of his painting life.
In this episode I spoke with the Art Gallery of NSW’s senior curator of Australian art (and mastermind of this...2019-02-0425 minTalking with PaintersEp 61: Michaye BoulterFrom the age of 2, when she sailed with her parents from Australia to Canada, Michaye Boulter’s life has never been far from the sea.
Spending weeks at a time in her childhood sailing on the ocean spending time staring out at that vastness, Michaye’s very being is connected with the water.
So it’s no surprise that she paints what she knows. In her recent show, ‘Shelter’, at Sydney’s Arthouse Gallery, her works of Tasmanian seascapes were breathtaking. They depict the Australian coastlines and ocean often with no sign of human life when the sun is...2018-12-1749 minTalking with PaintersEp 60: Justin WilliamsPress ‘play’ above to hear the podcast episode and click here or scroll down for YouTube video!
Over the last six years Justin Williams has not only been exhibiting all over Australia but in Europe and the US, with his work hanging in galleries in New York, L.A, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Athens and London.
Williams depicts the world outside the mainstream, usually set in nature or a seemingly imaginary or folkloric world. He’s interested in the characters who represent the archetypal outsider such as Baba Desi, the wizard living in the Dandenongs and ‘The Famil...2018-12-0345 minTalking with PaintersEp 59: Melinda HarperMelinda Harper is one of Australia’s leading abstract artists. Her works, filled with geometric forms and often with an explosion of colour, have been fascinating art lovers for over 30 years.
Whether its hundreds of rectangles crammed onto the canvas or wavy forms filled with psychedelic stripes, your eye is going to be subjected to a feast of colour and form.
In this episode we talk about, amongst other things, colour, why she paints in oils when acrylics would appear to be the obvious choice, and how, when she was at art school, her approach wa...2018-11-1944 minTalking with PaintersEp 58: Natasha WalshNatasha Walsh is one of Australia’s most exciting emerging artists. A few months ago, over a period of about 12 weeks, she won three prestigious art awards; the Kilgour Prize, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and the Mosman Art Prize.
She’s also been a finalist in the Archibald Prize for the last 3 years in a row with stunning self portraits. And she’s only 24.
But the road to this success has not been smooth. Experiencing dyslexia as a child, she struggled both academically and socially in her early years and had to learn strate...2018-11-0451 minTalking with PaintersEp 57: Joe FurlongerJoe Furlonger is one of Australia’s most respected painters, with his work crossing landscape, figures and portraiture.
He’s probably best known for a particular kind of landscape which he returns to time and time again. He paints those flat areas of the Australian farmlands and bush, the places where at first glance there doesn’t seem to be much going on, where the horizon seems to stretch out forever. Places like Moree and the Darling Downs. But he always seems to find a way to interpret those spaces which injects an excitement into the image and that...2018-10-2158 minTalking with PaintersEp 56: Jacqui StockdaleJacqui Stockdale paints, sculpts, collages, creates animations, has staged live performances and produces exquisite portrait photography.
When I visited her Melbourne studio I was bowled over by a huge horse she had sculpted – a life-sized Phar Lap in the middle of the studio piled high with a large collection of masks on its back; masquerade masks which she first came upon on a trip to india and kept collecting. Bright, expressive and slightly creepy.
Horses and masks feature again and again but her work is never predictable. She’s always shaking it up a bit, addi...2018-10-0747 minTalking with PaintersEp 55: Alexander McKenzieIn Alexander McKenzie’s paintings the sun hides below the horizon and a low light illuminates the mysterious landscape. It might be a manicured garden or a hill covered in trees and there will probably be water nearby. Perhaps the sea, a lake, a channel. Perfectly still but brightly reflecting the sky.
One thing’s for sure. You’re going to venture in for a closer look. At first it might look familiar but as you get closer you realise it’s not a place that you’re likely to find on this earth. You’ll discover things you di...2018-09-251h 09Talking with PaintersEp 54: Ann ThomsonAnn Thomson is one of Australia’s most significant artists. She’s been painting for over 60 years, has exhibited in over 40 solo shows and there’s no sign of her slowing down. Her works are filled with colour and movement which command the viewer’s attention. They’re all about feeling and touch, delving into abstraction in her unique way.
She’s won the Wynne prize, the Geelong Contemporary art prize, the Kedumba Drawing prize, the Tattersall’s art prize and others. She’s also an acclaimed sculptor and, as with her paintings, likes to work in large scale. He...2018-09-091h 06Talking with PaintersEp 53: Laura JonesWhat do you imagine when you think of a painting of flowers by a woman artist? It might be a Margaret Olley still life set in her crowded Paddington terrace or a Margaret Preston with a striped tablecloth or it might be a close up Georgia O’Keefe with all its erotic interpretations.
But it might also be considered less serious – just a pretty picture painted in a domestic setting. It was partly for that reason that Laura Jones initially resisted the flower as subject matter, until it was clear to her that that’s what she should...2018-08-2755 minTalking with PaintersEp 52: Gina KalabishisGina Kalabishis’s work is about relationships and connection; connecting with nature and connecting with each other.
Her recent show at Flinders Lane Gallery, ‘Bundanon Floor to Sky’, drew on her time spent within the landscape of Bundanon, the gift that artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne gave to the Australian people. Bundanon is a property of over 1000 hectares on the Shoalhaven river in NSW which offers residencies to artists and writers, an extensive education program and much more.
From her time at Bundanon, Kalabishis has produced an astonishing body of work. Her triptych ‘Bundanon...2018-08-1254 minTalking with PaintersEp 51: Marc EtheringtonThere’s the Archibald portraits but there’s also the other stuff; a painting of a home aquarium where a scuba diver is caught in the tentacles of an octopus, the cast of Seinfeld are looking for their car in that famous episode, Michael Jackson and Bubbles the chimp sit in a cloud while a jet skiier zooms along a lake below.
There are also the stills from movies and TV shows from Jaws and Rambo to Magnum PI and the Dukes of Hazzard. Welcome to the wonderful world of Marc Etherington’s art.
Etherington is a se...2018-07-2937 minTalking with PaintersEp 50: Andrew Lloyd GreensmithIf you are an Archibald tragic like me, you might have first noticed Andrew Lloyd Greensmith’s work when it was hanging in the Art Gallery of NSW last year in that arresting portrait of 102 year old Eileen Kramer.
It was his first ever Archibald entry and he has been selected this year again with his portrait of lecturer and feminist Susan Carland.
What you might not know about Greensmith, though, is that he’s also a renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon and was the leader of one of the teams which worked together to sepa...2018-07-1548 minTalking with PaintersEp 49: Bernard OllisBernard Ollis’s art takes you on a journey. It might be down a windy road down a back lane in Sydney, across a bridge in Paris or you might find yourself in a park or a swimming pool or a fishing boat and you might meet people or animals along the way.
But you’ll also be turning corners and seeing what’s beyond the buildings and fences around you without ever leaving that 2D plane. His wonderful use of perspective and colour takes us to a moment in twisted space which is surprising and brimming with o...2018-07-0155 minTalking with PaintersEp 48: Dee SmartYou may know Dee Smart from the popular Australian television series Water Rats or Home and Away or from her feature film roles but you can now add the Archibald prize to that list.
She has been shortlisted in the famous portrait prize two years in a row, this year with a striking painting of choreographer and dancer Meryl Tankard.
She took up drawing and painting over 15 years ago and honed her craft while still acting. It was inspiring to hear her talk openly about the catalyst for taking that direction – in the middle of a s...2018-06-1745 minTalking with PaintersEp 47: Steve LopesSteve Lopes is not looking to make a pretty picture. For a work to be enduring he believes ‘there has to be a level of poison in it’, some gritty quality that keeps you coming back.
His powerful painting which won the Gallipoli Art Prize this year contains that little bit of poison. It lures the viewer with an evocative sunset only to reveal the reminders of battle trenches and detritus scattered across the landscape.
Lopes has been painting figurative work for over twenty years starting at a time when it was decidedly unfashionable. He has b...2018-06-0349 minTalking with PaintersEp 46: John WolseleyJohn Wolseley is one of Australia’s most important artists. He portrays the Australian landscape and its ecosystems from the roots of a tree to a whole floodplain; from trees, birds and fish to a tiny beetle.
Using a variety of techniques, he says he creates a kind of inventory or document of the state of the earth, revealing both the energy and beauty of it. To do that he physically immerses himself in nature, spending long periods at a time camping and observing the country from Tasmania to central Australia to Arnhem land.
Wolseley has...2018-05-2049 minTalking with PaintersEp 45: Wendy SharpeWendy Sharpe is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and significant painters. She won the Art Gallery of NSW’s Sulman prize in 1986 and has been powering through the art world ever since.
She went on to win Australia’s most well-known art award, the Archibald prize, she’s won the Portia Geach – twice – and many other awards. She’s reportedly been finalist more times than any other artist in the Sulman prize and this year is no exception with her brilliant work ‘Erskineville train station’.
Sharpe has had 57 solo shows, has received many major commissions which...2018-05-071h 02Talking with PaintersEp 44: Tim AllenImagine you’re out in the wilderness at least an hour’s walk from any sign of human life. It could be very hot, it could be freezing, and in front of you lies a canyon or a snow bank or a river glittering in the sun. Just you, the landscape and your paints. This is how Tim Allen often starts off his expressive landscapes and it’s become an important part of his practice.
Allen won one of Australia’s most watched landscape prizes last year; the Paddington Art prize. He has also won the Kedumba drawing...2018-04-1756 minTalking with PaintersEp 43: ‘Salient: Contemporary artists at the Western Front’
See the Talking with Painters YouTube video below
In 2017 a group of twelve Australian artists travelled to Belgium and France to the first World War battlefields of the western front.
They created work en plein air, in their hotel rooms and in their studios, documenting their impressions of what they saw and experienced.
This powerful exhibition has just started its tour around Australia at New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in Armidale, NSW.
In this episode you’ll hear from artists Wendy Sharpe, Amanda Penrose Hart and Euan Macleod as wel...2018-04-0829 minTalking with PaintersEp 42: Lottie ConsalvoLottie Consalvo is not only a painter. She works across performance art, photography, video and sculpture. She’s had 9 solo shows in painting alone in just 8 years and has had many more performances and group shows.
In 2015 she was one of only 10 artists chosen to take part in a residency in Sydney with world famous performance artist Marina Abramovic and her solo exhibition of painting and sculpture ‘In the remembering’ opened recently at Heide Museum of Modern Art, one of Australia’s most important museums. What’s most surprising is that this is all at only 32 years of age.
...2018-03-2551 minTalking with PaintersEp 41: Megan SeresAlthough she first went to art school at 15, it wasn’t until she was 38 that Megan Seres started on her path to become a practising artist – when she enrolled in Sydney’s National Art School.
Then in 2016, encouraged by a friend, she reluctantly entered the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and was shocked when it was announced she’d won. The winning portrait of her daughter Scarlett dressed as a colonial girl thrust her into the limelight and she has been creating works which have been catching the attention of art lovers ever since. In the last few...2018-02-2657 minTalking with PaintersEp 40: Peter O’DohertyIf he doesn’t have a paintbrush in his hand it’s likely he’ll have a guitar because Peter O’Doherty is as much a musician and songwriter as he is a painter.
It wasn’t long after leaving high school that he filled in for a guitarist of his brother’s band who had gone on holidays and ended up never leaving. That band was Mental As Anything which rocketed to fame in Australia in the late 70s and 80s.
During those years he taught himself to paint and that life – immersed in music and art...2018-02-2540 minTalking with PaintersEp 39: Renee FrenchBorn in the US and currently living in Australia, Renee French is an artist acclaimed for her hundreds, if not thousands, of drawings in the form of original works, art books, graphic novels, underground comix and children’s books which she has created over the last 25 years.
Her art has been exhibited in solo shows in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo (several which sold out) as well as in many group shows. And now there is a waiting list for her paintings. They are effectively sold before they are started even though she has only been pa...2018-02-1153 minTalking with PaintersEp 38: William MackinnonWilliam Mackinnon’s landscapes are at the same time familiar and unexpected. Car headlights illuminate a dark country road revealing improbable markings; a coastal scene viewed through a tangle of gums unveil pink and aqua islands in the distance; a suburban setting is dominated by a flattened brick path and geometrically striped grass verge.
He calls them ‘psychological landscapes’ which explore his environment and his response to it, using everyday imagery to evoke human experiences. Through his use of materials and colour he takes us into his mind’s eye. And it’s fascinating.
Like many artis...2018-01-2836 minTalking with PaintersEp 37: Vincent FantauzzoVincent Fantauzzo is one of Australia’s most popular portrait artists. He has won the Doug Moran National Portrait prize, is a four time winner of the Archibald People’s Choice award and was recently commissioned to paint the official portrait of former prime minister Julia Gillard for the Parliament House collection.
But his wasn’t a smooth path to success. He grew up in a tough neighbourhood where you literally had to fight to get by and he learnt to survive by becoming someone that went against his true nature.
Unaware he had dyslexia, he stru...2017-12-1048 minTalking with PaintersEp 36: Paul RyanPaul Ryan has had a huge year – 3 solo shows across Australia with Nanda Hobbs, Edwina Corlette and James Makin galleries as well as work being shown with all three at Sydney Contemporary. He has exhibited his work in over 20 solo shows.
He’s won numerous art prizes and has been shortlisted many times – 13 times in the Archibald Prize – and on two occasions he achieved the rare distinction of being a finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes in the Art Gallery of NSW in the one year.
His work is characterised by the liberal applicat...2017-11-2641 minTalking with PaintersEp 35: Prudence FlintPrudence Flint paints women. Usually in an interior setting and often in an intimate, solitary moment. Her subject might be in the bathroom, showering, or lying on a bed staring at the ceiling or in the kitchen drinking a glass of water.
She explores that moment in time in a unique way, through her use of light, colour, portrayal of space and magnificent use of distortion.
Flint has won many art awards including the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award and the Len Fox Painting Award. Her work has also been...2017-11-1259 minTalking with PaintersEp 34: Ken DoneKen Done has the most widely recognised name and work of any living Australian painter. His paintings are about the good things in life – happiness, joy, beauty. And they’re about colour. Lots of colour.
He had his first solo show 37 years ago when he was 40 after a successful career in advertising. Since then he has had nearly 100 solo shows, received an Order of Australia, gained celebrity status in Japan and has been a finalist on multiple occasions in the Archibald, Wynne, Sulman, Dobell and Mosman art prizes.
But of course, Done is also known for hi...2017-10-2957 minTalking with PaintersEp 33: Aida TomescuClick here to hear extended interview on YouTube and scroll down for my four YouTube videos of Aida Tomescu
She fled communist Romania in 1980, arriving in Australia knowing no-one. But Aida Tomescu has gone on to become one of Australia’s most important abstract painters.
She has exhibited in over 30 solo shows – including a major survey of her work in 2009 with the Drill Hall Gallery – and her work is held in many public and private collections both in Australia and internationally.
Tomescu has also won many awards including the Sulman, Wynne and Dobell prizes...2017-10-1657 minTalking with PaintersEp 32: Vanessa StockardVanessa Stockard’s work is powerful. If you look into the eyes of her ‘Self-portrait as new mum’ which is hanging in the Archibald Prize this year you’ll probably see something different to the person standing next to you.
Her expert use of colour and mixture of some looser and other more deliberate marks makes it one of those beguiling paintings where the expression is so subtle that it’s open to multiple interpretations.
She’s been painting for over 20 years, had over 15 solo shows in Australia and the US and has been in many more gr...2017-09-2745 minTalking with PaintersEp 31: Jonathan DaltonIn 2007, Archibald prize finalist, Jonathan Dalton, decided to let go of the photography business he had built up in his homeland of Ireland and started teaching himself to paint. Just two years later he won two of the country’s major art prizes.
It was clear he had taken the right path. With the prize money he and his wife spent time travelling and lived in Spain for a few years before arriving in Australia. In the last few years he has exhibited in five solo shows in Ireland, Spain, China and Australia.
His success con...2017-09-1843 minTalking with PaintersEp 30: Amanda Penrose HartArmed with her favourite palette knife which she’s used for the last 10 years, Amanda Penrose Hart dynamically captures the landscape in paint both en plein air and in her studio.
She won the Gallipoli Art Prize this year with her painting ‘The Sphinx, Perpetual Peace’ and her upcoming show at King Street Gallery on William in Sydney will be her 25th solo show. She has won and been shortlisted in other art awards and her portraits have been recognised in the Portia Geach Memorial Award and the Salon des Refusés on numerous occasions.
Over th...2017-09-0545 minTalking with PaintersEp 29: James DrinkwaterHe’s a musician, singer, songwriter, poet and sculptor but of course James Drinkwater is primarily a painter and one of the most exciting contemporary artists creating work in Australia today.
Drinkwater started his art training at 10 years of age and now, at 33, has exhibited in 20 solo shows in Australia, London, Singapore and Berlin. He’s been awarded the coveted Brett Whiteley Travelling Art scholarship and Marten Bequest scholarship, has won a number of art prizes and been finalist in many others including three times in the Wynne prize.
In this episode of the podcast we ta...2017-08-2150 minTalking with PaintersEp 28: Jude RaeJude Rae is as interested in faces as she is in gas bottles and airports with her work crossing genres from portraiture to still life and architectural interiors.
Amongst the very few artists to have won the Portia Geach Memorial Award for portraiture twice, she was also awarded the Bulgari Art Award last year with her painting ‘SL 359’, a meditative still life.
She has exhibited in over 45 solo shows across Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the US, has been involved in many more group shows and her work is held in major public and private coll...2017-08-0840 minTalking with PaintersEp 27: Joanna LogueJoanna Logue is an award-winning painter whose work distinctively reflects her experience of the countryside and bushland. Through her sensual application of paint, she transports the viewer into a dreamlike landscape.
She has exhibited in 34 solo shows and her work has been included in over 65 group shows. Her work is held in public and private collections and she has received many commissions. As this podcast goes online her solo show ‘Heartland’ hangs in Sydney’s King Street Gallery on William.
In this podcast episode, Logue talks about her early life growing up in a small town of NSW before...2017-07-2444 minTalking with PaintersEp 26: Jordy KerwickHe only started painting about 18 months ago, but Jordy Kerwick has caught the attention of art dealers and curators across the world.
As this episode goes online, his first solo show opens at Lindberg Galleries, in Melbourne, Australia. His next will be in New York’s Anna Zorina Gallery and will be followed by another five group shows which are coming up in Europe and the US.
Kerwick attributes part of his success to the power of Instagram, where he has a substantial following – and it’s growing daily. It’s there that he’s connected and made...2017-07-0548 minTalking with PaintersEp 25: Natasha BieniekAt only 32 years of age, Natasha Bieniek has been awarded the Wynne prize for landscape painting, the Portia Geach Memorial award for portrait painting and the Metro art award, has been a five time finalist in the Archibald prize, a three time finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait prize and has been shortlisted in many others.
Impressive as that is, what’s more amazing about Bieniek’s work is its size. Her winning Wynne prize painting ‘Biophilia’ was only 9cm square and her portrait of Wendy Whiteley, which was highly commended by the trustees in the 2016 Archibald prize, is...2017-06-2238 minTalking with PaintersEp 24: Lewis MillerLewis Miller is one of Australia’s greatest living portrait artists. He won Australia’s most famous portrait award, the Archibald prize, in 1998 and has been a finalist 17 times.
As well as winning and being shortlisted in many other art awards, his works are held in numerous public and private art collections in Australia and internationally. He has had 30 solo shows and his work has been included in over 90 group shows.
Painting from life, he has masterfully captured the likeness of notable sitters including High Court justices, a Nobel laureate, the first man to climb Mount E...2017-06-0850 minTalking with PaintersEp 23: Michael SimmsWith his work currently hanging in Flinders Lane Gallery alongside other leading emerging artists, Michael Simms’ career has taken a leap since he completed his classical training at Sydney’s Julian Ashton Art School in 2014.
In the last 12 months alone he has won three art prizes; the Cambridge Studio Gallery portrait prize, the Cliftons Sydney Art prize and the Cliftons People’s choice award. He was finalist in seven others including the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture and the Percival Tucker Portrait Prize, has exhibited in two solo exhibitions and has been in a number of group shows.
Bu...2017-05-2539 minTalking with PaintersEp 22: Suzanne ArcherSuzanne Archer has been an influential artist in Australia for over four decades, producing superb works across painting, drawing and sculpture.
Born in Surrey, England, Archer has lived in Australia nearly all her adult life. For the past 30 years she has lived in the bushland suburb of Wedderburn, on the outskirts of Sydney, in a thriving artist’s community.
She made her mark in the art world relatively quickly after arriving in Australia in the 60s and has gone on to win many art prizes including the Wynne prize for landscape painting, the Dobell prize for dr...2017-05-1138 minTalking with PaintersEp 21: McLean EdwardsOne of Australia’s most outstanding painters, McLean Edwards had his first solo show at 16 years of age when he was still at high school.
Since then he has had 30 solo exhibitions with his most recent, ‘Marsupials’, about to open in New York at Olsen Gruin Gallery. He is a five time Archibald Prize finalist and has been included in the Archibald as a sitter four times.
His compelling paintings invite us to enter another world where his characters’ lives and motives are limited only by our imaginations.
In this podcast interview, Edwards talks about how that f...2017-04-2734 minTalking with PaintersEp 20: Alesandro LjubicicWatch Alesandro Ljubicic in his studio here
Alesandro Ljubicic’s nature-inspired paintings appear to be emerging from the canvas. He uses an impasto technique, applying thick layers of paint, to create extraordinary works which entice the viewer in for a closer look.
Ljubicic has had seven solo shows, has been involved in many more group shows and has been a finalist in various art competitions including the Doug Moran National Portrait prize, the Mosman art prize and Paddington art prize.
His paintings range from the representational to the pure abstract and he keeps pushing th...2017-04-1236 minTalking with PaintersEp 19: Loribelle SpirovskiLoribelle Spirovski’s career is rising. Fast. Although she only began painting seriously about five years ago, in just over the last two she won the Cambridge Studio Gallery Art prize and has been a finalist in 18 other art competitions including the Black Swan Art Prize, Muswellbrook Art Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award and was semi finalist twice in the Doug Moran National Portrait prize.
She will be showing her work in three solo shows and two group shows over the next 12 months.
Born in the Philippines, Spirovski came to Australia when she was nine...2017-03-3038 minTalking with PaintersEp 18: Jenny SagesJenny Sages was born in Shanghai, China, to Russian parents. Her family migrated to Australia in the 40s when she was a teenager.
After studying at the Franklin School of Art in New York she returned to Australia where she worked as a freelance illustrator and writer, mainly in fashion and travel, for various magazines including Vogue.
It wasn’t until the early 80s, when she went on a trip to the remote Kimberley ranges in Western Australia, that her career in fine art really began. It was there that she fell in love with the peo...2017-03-1628 minTalking with PaintersEp 17: Belynda HenryAcclaimed artist Belynda Henry has been painting professionally for over 20 years and has exhibited in over 25 solo shows across Australia.
Her works inspire an emotional response from many of her viewers achieved through her masterful use of colour, shape and brushstroke. Her shows sell out quickly, often within the first hour of the works becoming available, and she receives many commissions.
Henry predominantly paints landscapes but she was also a finalist in the Archibald prize for portraiture in 2016. She has been selected as a finalist in many other art competitions including four times in the presti...2017-03-0136 min