Primo and Payne: Great Art Explained

In this episode, Leslie Primo and James Payne take on the controversial legacy of L.S. Lowry, the painter of industrial Britain whose matchstick figures, factory chimneys and grey Manchester streets have become instantly recognisable — and yet remain oddly sidelined by the art establishment. From his training under a French Impressionist to his lifelong secret day job, the conversation explores wh...

Faith Ringgold made quilts, wrote children’s books, and became one of the most politically charged artists in American art. So, how did an artist who started her career with landscapes and flowers become a fierce critic of racism, sexism, war until her death aged 94?In this episode of Primo and Payne: Great Art Explained, James Payne and Leslie Primo take a deep dive into the life and works of Fai...

Born in Bradford, UK, David Hockney never hid the parts of his identity that set him apart from his contemporaries - his accent, his sexuality, his manner of dress. His work frequently focuses on everyday pleasures, rather than grand historical or political themes, and he has consistently embraced new technologies, from Polaroids to iPads, reducing hierarchies between “high” and “low” culture. In...

In this episode of Primo and Payne: Great Art Explained, James Payne and Leslie Primo take a deep dive into the life and works of Michelangelo. Michelangelo had a complex relationship with social class in Renaissance Italy. Born into a modestly well-off but declining Florentine family, he was acutely aware of status and often sought to elevate his own position to elevate his family name. Coming fr...

We like to believe that, no matter your background, artistic talent will always rise to the surface. Yet we know that while creativity is universal, access, platforms, connections, money and time are not. These structural barriers for working class artists begin early and compound over time. In this podcast, James Payne and Leslie Primo combine lived experience with cultural analysis to unpack the...

J.M.W. Turner was pure working class. So, how does the son of a barber from Covent Garden become known as one of art history's greatest painters? Turner didn't sound like his contemporaries at the Royal Academy, he broke all the rules of traditional painting, and liked to stick his head out of moving train windows. 250 years after his birth, he's remembered as one of Britain's favo...