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Podcast listeners click here to see images of the works Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed on merely viewing the work. Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you a few of those to you in this episode. See images of the works we talk about below. Links * Tickets for talk with Caroline Zilinsky at the Art Gallery of NSW (Artists in Conversation) * YouTube video - Anthony White * Vincent Fantauzzo podcast episode * Prudence Flint podcast episode * Ben Quilty podcast episode * Scott Bevan podcast episode on William Dobell 2:40    ‘Heath’, 2008, oil on canvas, 106 x 140cm (Collection of the Art Gallery of NSW, highly commended and winner of the Archibald Prize People’s Choice award 2008. Portrait of Heath Ledger) 10:40    ‘Baby’, 2015, oil on linen, 105 x 90.5cm (Finalist in Archibald Portrait Prize 2015) 15:45.  ‘Kandahar’ 2011, oil on linen, 140 x 190cmPhoto: Australian War Memorial 18:00   ‘Captain S. after Afghanistan’ 2012, oil on linen, 210 x 230cmFinalist Archibald Prize 2012Photo: AGNSW/ Mim Stirling 20:30    ‘Margaret Olley’, 1948, oil on hardboard, 114.3 x 85.7 cm boardCollection: Art Gallery of NSWWinner Archibald Prize 1948 23:45.    ‘Storm Approaching, Wangi’, 1948, oil on cardboard on composition board, 32.9 x 56cmWinner Wynne Prize 1948

Podcast guests talk with me about the flow state! See below for timestamps and links to each guest's full podcast interview and video 3:39 Julie Nicholson and Fiona Verity - Podcast | Instagram video 6:40 Ann Thomson - Podcast | YouTube 7:54 Joshua Yeldham - Podcast | YouTube 10:15 Antonia Perricone Mrljak - Podcast | YouTube 11:25 Wendy Sharpe - Podcast | YouTube 12:51 Lewis Miller - Podcast | YouTube 13:50 Aida Tomescu - Podcast | YouTube 16:30 David Griggs - Podcast | YouTube 17:27 Idris Murphy - Podcast | YouTube 18:40 Kathrin Longhurst - Podcast | YouTube 20:50 Anthony White - Podcast | YouTube (coming soon) 22:07 Bernard Ollis - Podcast | YouTube 23:59 Kim Leutwyler - Podcast | YouTube 25:20 Tim Maguire - Podcast | YouTube 26:40 Belinda Street - Podcast | YouTube 27:58 Yvette Coppersmith - Podcast | YouTube (coming soon) 29:30 Tim Storrier - Podcast | YouTube 31:15 Jacqui Stockdale - Podcast | YouTube 32:02 Sandi Hester - YouTube Links  Sandi Hester interview on ...

Above 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 * Jan Senbergs on Instagram * Jan Senbergs at Niagara Galleries * Talking with Painters YouTube channel * Talking with Painters on Instagram * Talking with Painters on Facebook * Subscribe to the TWP newsletter * PDF version  of transcript for tablet/desktop  With over six decades of work as a painter, printmaker and draughtsman, leading artist Jan Senbergs has exhibited in over 50 solo shows and has been the subject of three survey shows including a major retrospective curated by the National Gallery of Victoria in 2016. A rare accomplishment. His art evolved from early masterly screenprints to large scale paintings and with subject matter as varied as urban and natural landscapes, industrial themes, surreal structures and forms and aerial map-like works. This episode has been a long time coming. Covid threw out our plans for an early 2020 meeting but two years later we met in Jan's inspirational studio in Melbourne. His voice has been affected by some health issues and so this episode is coming to you by way of transcript (below) and an intro on the podcast. As I was setting up my audio equipment on the day of the interview, Jan and I chatted about the time he had spent in London in his 20s. We talked about other Australian artists who were there at that time. That’s where the recording of the interview began. Jan Senbergs I was the younger artist who came into that area and I didn't know anybody. I didn't want to bother the local Antipodeans (laughs) so I usually went out by myself. I headed for the National Gallery on one occasion and ran into Arthur Boyd heading there too. We travelled together on the bus from Pimlico to Trafalgar Square. It was very nice because we walked through the Gallery making comments. It's lovely to do that with another painter. We walked past one room and Arthur stopped and said, 'There's a good painting in this room.’ It was a big dog watching over a dying nymph, by Piero di Cosimo. He was such an interesting painter. Afterwards, Arthur suggested we go and have a drink, so we went across the road and had a couple of beers and then he said 'You'll have to excuse me, but I've got to go back home. I've got a few duties there.' We shook hands and I never saw him again.  Maria Stoljar You never saw him again? JS No, but what was nice about it was the generosity of the older person to somebody younger who had just arrived.  MS How lovely. But you knew a lot of famous Australian artists like Fred Williams, for example. He was a friend of yours, wasn't he? JS Yeah, I knew Fred. When I first started showing around, I mixed with some of the older artists. At that time there were hardly any younger artists around.

See a video version of the interview with curator Jackie Dunn here See a video version of the interview with artist Desmond Lazaro here The largest exhibition of Kandinsky's work ever to be seen in Australia has just opened at the Art Gallery of NSW! The exhibition, titled simply 'Kandinsky', brings together over 50 works of one of the 20th century's most innovative and ground breaking painters - Vasily Kandinsky - with 47 paintings from the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York. Curated by the Guggenheim's curator of modern art and provenance Megan Fontanella together with the AGNSW's senior curator Jackie Dunn, these works touch on the most important periods of Kandinsky's artistic career, from the early 'Blue Rider' period, to his time in Germany when teaching at the Bauhaus school right through to his final years in Paris. In this podcast episode (which you can also see on YouTube) I talk with Jackie Dunn about this extraordinary exhibition. She tells me about Kandinsky's life and work, including what the catalysts were for him to become a painter, his use of colour, line and form and his interests in spirituality and music. I also talk with Desmond Lazaro who was commissioned to design a family-friendly space where visitors are invited to follow the path of a colourful labyrinth and create drawings using the shapes that inspired Kandinsky. Lazaro is a British-Indian-Australian artist whose primary ingredient is colour. His practice explores map-making, planetary systems and the concept of the journey. Also, alongside the Kandinsky show is an exhibition of 'spirit drawings' created by British medium Georgiana Houghton in the 1860s and 70s. The exhibition, 'Invisible Friends', brings together a collection of rarely seen swirling, evocative watercolours.  They highlight how significant spiritualism was in early modernism. 'Kandinsky' is a must-see exhibition.  It runs from November 4th to March 10th, 2024.  More details here. To hear the podcast episode press 'play' beneath the above photo. To watch the video versions of the interviews click on the links at the top of this page or see below. Links * 'Kandinsky' at the Art Gallery of NSW * Desmond Lazaro * Tickets for my conversation with Julia Gutman on 15 November 2023 in the Artists in Conversation series * Talking with Painters on Instagram * Talking with Painters on Facebook * Connect with me on LinkedIn https://youtu.be/Pgm4112joG8 https://youtu.be/D3b3WLlsakc 'Composition 8' July 1923, oil on canvas, 140.3 x 200.7 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation 'Blue mountain' 1908-09, oil on canvas, 107.3 x 97.6 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift, photo courtesy Solomon R.

This 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 recent solo show at Nanda Hobbs Gallery he found a way to merge those interests. In Medium Cool: Journalism in Film, works took on titles of films in which journalism and politics were central themes. Beautifully composed assemblages incorporating found objects explored the ideas behind movies such as All the President's men and Network. James has exhibited in over 10 solo shows and has won the Mosman and Blake art prizes. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Wynne and Sulman prizes for a combined total of about 25 times. In this episode Maria has a vibrant (and often humorous) conversation with James in front of an audience at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of the Artists in Conversation series. You can see images of the works they talk about below. Members of the Art Gallery Society can also see a video of this conversation for a limited period on the Art Gallery website. To hear the podcast conversation press 'play' beneath the above photo. Links * James Powditch on Instagram * James Powditch at Nanda\Hobbs Gallery * Video of this interview on the AGNSW website (for members) * Art Gallery Society membership page Get tickets for the Steve Lopes talk at the AGNSW  Samantha Dennison interview on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel 'Once upon a time in Marrickville – Anthony Albanese', acrylic on paper and board 190 x 190 cm Finalist Archibald Prize 2020  Lloyd Cole and the Commotions album cover  New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies album cover   'Citizen Kave' mixed media  200 x 300 cm, Finalist Archibald Prize 2014 ‘Citizen Kane’ 2022 Mixed media, framed 80 x 120cm  'All the President’s men II' 2023 mixed media, 40 x 60cm 'All the President's men' 2023, mixed media 130 x 282cm 'Laura Tingle - the fourth estate' Acrylic and paper on board 204 x 170.1cm Finalist Archibald Prize 2022 Movie poster ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ Digital work, James Powditch Peter Powditch Photograph by Robert Walker (c1970)  ‘Peter Powditch is a dead man smoking’ 2009, Mixed media 193 x 263cm, Finalist Archibald Prize  Family photo, James Powditch ‘Crowdy Head (after Peter Powditch)’,

Risk. Some painters want it in their toolbox while others are terrified by it. But nearly every painter will tell you that you need it in order to move forward in your practice.  It might be using a new material, drastically altering the composition of a nearly completed painting or creating a completely different body of work to what had previously been commercially successful and critically acclaimed. Any way you look at it, you're leaving yourself open to the possibility of failure, disappointment and probably the most painful of all - ridicule.  So whether we call it risk, chance, letting go of control or just leaving yourself open to mistakes, it all amounts to a greater openness to creativity. Taking the leap and seeing what happens. In this episode I bring together clips from eight previous guests about what risk means to them - and how they use it. See below for a list of the artists together with links to the full podcast conversation and YouTube video Press 'play' beneath the above image to listen * Vanessa Stockard  Podcast | YouTube * Paul Ryan  Podcast | YouTube * Guy Warren   Podcast | YouTube * Julian Meagher  Podcast | YouTube * Ken Done  Podcast | YouTube * Juliet Holmes a Court  Podcast | YouTube * Tim Maguire  Podcast | YouTube * Joe Furlonger  Podcast | YouTube   Watch the Idris Murphy YouTube Video Listen to the full Idris Murphy podcast interview Sign up to the TWP newsletter Book tickets for my conversation with Steve Lopes at the Art Gallery of NSW    

More inspiration from the archives! Here are another 12 past podcast guests talking with me about colour. Links to full podcast conversations and YouTube videos on each of the artists in this episode: * 2:13  David Griggs - Podcast | YouTube * 5:00  Laura Jones - Podcast | YouTube * 9:08  Lewis Miller - Podcast | YouTube * 11:10  Lucy Culliton - Podcast | YouTube * 13:13  Robin Eley - Podcast | YouTube * 18: 25  Melinda Harper - Podcast | YouTube * 20:35  Tim Storrier - Podcast | YouTube * 22:35. Wendy Sharpe - Podcast | YouTube * 25:28  Idris Murphy - Podcast | YouTube * 28:22  Aida Tomescu - Podcast | YouTube * 29:31  Bernard Ollis - Podcast | YouTube * 31:19  Emily Imeson - Podcast | YouTube Sign up to the TWP monthly newsletter here Follow the show on Instagram Follow the show on Facebook Connect with me on LinkedIn      

This episode I'm bringing you some gems from the archives. Leading artists talk with me about colour! Episodes of featured artists: * Jo Bertini * Paul Newton * Philip Wolfhagen * Nicholas Harding * John Wolseley * Peter O'Doherty Links * YouTube channel * Talking with Painters website * Sign up to the TWP newsletter * Nicholas Harding talks with me about his Wynne prize painting * John Wolseley talks with me about his watercolour techniques * Short Instagram video of Paul Newton talking about flesh tones (longer YouTube video coming soon)  

Watch an edited version of this conversation (4 mins) on the YouTube channel here Ann Thomson, one of Australia's most important artists, might be in her 90th year but she shows no signs of putting down the brush. A powerful collection of works is currently hanging in a solo show at Sydney's Defiance Gallery and Ann is looking forward to a busy 2024.  A major survey show to be curated by Terence Maloon will open at the S.H.Ervin Gallery in Sydney and travel to Orange Regional Art gallery in country NSW and solo shows at Messums in London and with Stephane Jacob in Paris are also in the calendar. Although Ann resists the label 'abstract artist', it’s her masterful use of colour and her superb mark making that will most likely catch your attention - those luscious brushstrokes and drips. But subjects often emerge; a landscape, tribal elements, creatures of the ocean. You’ll also see collaged passages. Ann is well known for using a textured ‘tarred paper’ which was used by builders. Although it’s in scarce supply (she believes she has bought up all remaining rolls in existence!) she doesn’t treat the material as a precious commodity. If you look closely at ‘Calypso’ for example, you’ll see the section of collaged paper is splattered with drips of paint. That’s because it had previously been lying on the floor of Ann’s studio like a drop sheet. She later pasted the paper onto the canvas where it exists surrounded by bright colours, its own history intact. It was wonderful to catch up with Ann to hear her thoughts on creativity and studio life. She has been a guest on the podcast twice previously – in 2018 talking about her life and art and in 2020 talking about her memories of meeting Ian Fairweather (links below). Ann is represented by Defiance Gallery in Sydney, Mitchell Fine Art in Brisbane, Charles Nodrum Gallery in Melbourne, Messums in London and Stephane Jacob in Paris. To hear our conversation press 'play' beneath the above photo and scroll down for images of selected works included in the show. Latest Talking with Painters YouTube videos * Matthew Clarke * Daniel Boyd * Ruth Levine and Robyn Kinsela * Ann Thomson Other links * 2018 Podcast conversation with Ann Thomson * 2018 YouTube video in Ann Thomson's studio * Podcast conversation with Ann Thomson on Ian Fairweather * Podcast conversation with Claire Roberts on Ian Fairweather * Ann Thomson's website * Article on Artsy Website: 9 Overlooked Women Artists in Their Nineties   https://youtu.be/qLf00VQ3U6E Transcending 2018 Acrylic on linen 153 x 122.5 cm Shield, 2023 acrylic on tarred paper on canvas 120.5 x 81 cm This is one of the two works referred to at about 4mins in the episode. Calypso, 2013 oil on linen 122 x 122cm  

Watch the edited video version of this podcast episode on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel The exhibition of Francis Giacco's paintings now showing at Australian Galleries in Sydney has been a long time coming. Covid pushed back the scheduling but it was worth the wait! I met Francis at the gallery and we walked through the exhibition talking about several key works which cross portraiture, still life and landscape. Apart from the Archibald, Francis has won the Percival Portrait Painting prize (and other awards) and has been a People's Choice winner in the S.H.Ervin's Salon des Refuses.  Titled 'Recent works: Pictures at an Exhibition (apologies to Mussorgsky)', the show is a combination of recent work and major paintings from the 80s and 90s. It includes Francis' enigmatic multi-figured portrait which won the Archibald prize in 1994. Several other works hanging in this first room were shortlisted in the Archibald and Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.  Influenced by Vermeer and the early Renaissance masters, his work exudes beauty and vitality. He's a keen observer of the effects of light, whether it's streaming from behind a still life or fracturing through a bamboo curtain and the way he depicts detail in the illuminated subject often pushes the real into the abstract. Francis (also known as Frank to those who know him) was my first podcast guest and in the past also taught at Julian Ashton Art School where I first met him. Many of his students have gone on to make paintings which have hung in the Archibald prize themselves and I can think of at least three who are finalists in this year’s exhibition.  The exhibition continues at Australian Galleries until 2 July 2023. To hear the episode click on 'play' above. Click here to watch the shorter 8 minute video version of this episode. Links * YouTube video of this episode * My first podcast interview with Francis in 2016 * Francis Giacco at Australian Galleries * Francis Giacco on Instagram * Francis Giacco on Facebook * Johannes Vermeer * Subscribe to the TWP newsletter https://youtu.be/csBvbFfcwUc Homage to John Reichard (1994) egg emulsion on marine plywood, 202cm x 188cm Archibald Prize Winner, 1994 Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries Lee Lin Chin (1993) egg emulsion on marine plywood, 163cm x 127cm, Archibald Prize Finalist, 1993; Doug Moran Finalist, 1995. Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries White widow 1999-2000 egg emulsion on marine plywood, 132cm x 119cm Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries The piano 1984 oil on canvas, 96cm x 89cm Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries Jenny’s garden #25 – the altar 2020-23 oil on marine plywood, 122cm x 128.5cm Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries Jenny’s garden #20 – commotion 2020-23 oil on marine plywood, 43cm x 88cm Image courtesy of the artist and Australian Galleries Balthus’ cats 2020-23

In 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, in the southern highlands of NSW. See below for links to Instagram videos about that exhibition. To hear this episode click on 'play' beneath the above photo. Links * Full Georgia Spain interview  * Georgia Spain's acceptance speech for the Sulman Prize at the AGNSW * Episode 115 - 'The Archibald Winners' * Sam Leach YouTube video (Part 1) * Sam Leach YouTube video (Part 2) * Tickets for Del Kathryn Barton live interview at the AGNSW 'Artists in Conversation' * Subscribe to the TWP newsletter * 'Once More with Feeling' at Ngununggula, Southern Highlands, 3 June - 13 August * Instagram video - Megan Monte talks about 'Once more with feeling' * Instagram video -  Maria Stoljar at Ngununggula * Karen Black * Ben Quilty  * Solo exhibition by Francis Giacco at Australian Galleries, 15 June to 2 July 2023 ‘Getting down or falling up’, acrylic on canvas, 180.6 x 187.5 cm Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize, 2021 https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs73wXShsoy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs94XEbhR5e/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==  

In this episode I’m taking you back to my interview with Megan Seres who won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2016.  Megan received the $150,000 in prize money for her stunning painting, ‘Scarlett as Colonial girl’, which depicted her daughter in 19th century dress against a golden landscape. Megan hadn't planned on entering the competition, but was persuaded by a friend. When she heard her name announced as the winner, she was completely shocked. To hear the episode press play beneath the above photo. Central photo of Megan Seres supplied by the artist  Links * Megan Seres full Talking with Painters interview (ep 41) * 'The Archibald Winners' (ep 115) * Talking with Painters YouTube channel * My YouTube video of Megan in her studio (2018) * My 15 second video of the painting hanging in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize exhibition in 2016 * Megan Seres' website ‘Scarlett as colonial girl’, 2016, winner of the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2016