Talk Art

It’s the holidays... and our gift to you is the gift of laughter!!! What better way to celebrate Christmas than to chat (and laugh lots) with our dear friend LONDON HUGHES??!! London is a pioneer, rebel and renaissance woman: stand-up comedian, presenter (Alan Carr was her early mentor), podcaster (Spotify's 'London Actually'), actor ('Fleabag') and now screenwriter with a forthcoming USA TV serie...

This special episode of Talk Art is an interview with the late, great, legendary artist Joyce Pensato. Joyce was one of Russell & Robert’s favourite painters, who in recent years became a close friend to both. We were honoured to be invited by Joyce to visit her in New York on 28th May 2019 to record what became her last interview. We discuss growing up in Brooklyn, the encouragement of her fa...

Robert & Russell meet British artist Haroon Mirza, best known for installations that test the interplay and friction between sound, light waves and electric current. He devises sculptures, performances and immersive installations, such as  The National Apavillion of Then and Now  (2011) – an anechoic chamber with a circle of light that grows brighter in response to increasing dr...

Talk Art New York!!!! Russell & Robert meet multidisciplinary artist Jon Key. Key is a queer black man originally from the small rural town Seale, Alabama now living and working in Bushwick, NY. A writer, designer and painter, his work excavates the lineage and history of his identity through four themes: Southerness, Blackness, Queerness, and Family. Through the process of writ...

Talk Art Live in London! Russell & Robert meet British artist Helen Cammock, nominated for the Turner Prize 2019 and winner of the 2018 Max Mara Arts Prize for Women. This special episode was recorded live in front of a sold-out audience at Art Assembly in Walthamstow, organised by Art Fund and the National Art Pass. Learn more at: www.artfund.org/talkart Helen Cammock works across film, photo...

WARNING: this episode of Talk Art contains strong language! Russell & Robert meet legendary English artist Caroline Coon. We discuss 50 years of painting in Ladbroke Grove, feminism, her longterm political activism, the importance of being socially conscious, decriminalising sex work, growing up in Kent, punk rock, managing The Clash & writing for Melody Maker in the 1970s. We explore the...

Russell & Robert meet artist David Dawson for a private, after-hours tour of 'Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits', the breathtaking new exhibition he has curated at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. We discuss being assistant/head of studio for the last 20 years of Freud's life, Leigh Bowery, going to Taboo nightclub, Freud's early drawings and paintings inspired by surrealism, his grandfather...

Russell & Robert meet iconic British actor Sir Ian McKellen CBE at his home in East London. We have a private tour of Ian’s art collection including stunning works by L.S. Lowry, David Hockney, Andrew Logan, textile artist John Allen and an Antony Gormley cast iron figure he chose to display in the River Thames at the end of his garden! We learn about Ian’s childhood in Bolton and how his fath...

Robert & Russell meet artists Teresa Farrell and Alvaro Barrington (Tt x AB) at their joint show at Emalin gallery, East London. Titled 'TALL BOYS & A DOUBLE ESPRESSO', the exhibition celebrates creative collaboration and the importance of friendships/conversation when making art. We discuss how the duo first met at Hunter college and the ways they continue to inspire, critique and challen...

Robert & Russell meet music icon Michael Stipe, best known as lead singer of R.E.M. We discuss his lifelong love of taking photographs (more than 37,000 so far), his childhood Nikon camera (a gift from his father), self-portraits, making sculptures, his friendship with Patti Smith, meeting members of the Beat Generation such as Allen Ginsberg & William Burroughs and why he dislikes his own...

It's Talk Art's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Russell & Robert meet American painter Jamian Juliano-Villani in her Brooklyn studio to discuss topics as varied as being a noisy neighbour, Weezer's Green Album, an encyclopedic knowledge of both music & art history, watching Live Leak to stay tough, political correctness, a childhood growing up in her parents silk-screening factory printing merchandi...

Russell & Robert meet legendary American performance artist and musician Kembra Pfahler. We discuss growing up in California, her early performance art installations in 1980s Lower East Side (including sleeping in a storefront window for The Extremist Show at ABC No Rio), the impact of the AIDS crisis and how forming her band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black helped transform her life....

Talk Art Live in London, with Ruinart! Russell & Robert meet Vik Muniz, the superstar Brazilian artist best-known for his complex photography made with a diverse range of materials including sugar, toys, diamonds and even trash to recreate and interpret famous images, such as the 'Mona Lisa' (which he executed in peanut butter and jelly), or a Picasso (created entirely with raw paint pigment)....

Talk Art New York!!! Russell & Robert visit NYC to meet gallerist Jasmin Tsou (JTT Gallery). We discover why she set up her Lower East Side gallery in 2012, initially exhibiting her peers, but soon expanding her program to include emerging artists in a climate that she describes as ‘scary and intimidating.’ Tsou has a very collaborative approach: ongoing conversations with colleagues have shap...

Talk Art NEW YORK!!! Russell & Robert meet painter Katherine Bernhardt in the BIG APPLE. We discuss her early paintings of ET, growing up in St Louis, a teenage exchange trip to Portugal & Morocco that led to a love of ceramics & berber rugs, before eventually moving to Chicago & New York to study art. We explore her love of Georgia O'Keeffe, Chris Ofili, Laura Owens, Stanley Whitn...

Russell & Robert meet artist Wong Ping at Camden Arts Centre, London for a special tour around his solo exhibition 'Heart Digger'. Wong Ping creates digital and sculptural works that reveal very human, often universal fantasies, through absurd narratives. Drawing from his own social encounters, he elaborates his stories into dark humorous tales that touch on political and cultural anxieties. D...

We're back! Talk Art Season 3!! Robert & Russell meet one of the world's most celebrated & iconic curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist. Best known for his groundbreaking work as Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, London, Obrist has curated shows by many of our favourite artists as wide-ranging as Rebecca Warren, Faith Ringgold, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Wolfgang Tillmans, Etel Adnan, Phyllida...

Russell & Robert meet British Vogue columnist & writer Raven Smith. We discover his definition of an Art Bro, the crossover between art & fashion, wandering through the Venice Biennale 2019, seeing a live performance by Rose McGowan, getting caught up in another performance where Raven had to hold a broom handle, drawing David Hockney’s paintings aged 6, writing his first book ‘Trivial...

Part 2 of a very special Talk Art episode diving deep into Edinburgh's creative scene, in partnership with Bombay Sapphire. Celebrating a decade since Russell & Robert first met at the Scottish National Gallery, the duo return to Edinburgh to uncover hidden gems of the city's art festival through a series of conversations with leading artists, curators and gallerists. Part 2: Kate Gray - COLLE...

Part 1 of a very special Talk Art episode diving deep into Edinburgh's creative scene, in partnership with Bombay Sapphire. Celebrating a decade since Russell & Robert first met at the Scottish National Gallery, the duo return to Edinburgh to uncover hidden gems of the city's art festival through a series of conversations with leading artists, curators and gallerists. Part 1: Claire Feeley, JU...

Russell & Robert meet superstar actress, writer, director & keen watercolourist Lena Dunham in her London hotel room for a feature-length Talk Art exclusive! We discuss painting ‘en plein air’ & embracing nature in Wales this Summer, what it was like growing up as daughter of two legendary artists Laurie Simmons & Carroll Dunham and remembering New York as a child during the 1980s...

Russell & Robert meet London–based artist, illustrator, ceramicist and textile designer John Booth. Best-known for his graphic works featuring multi–layered collages of textures and colours, Booth draws inspiration from artists including Karel Appel and Betty Woodman as well as from retro children’s playgrounds and postmodern Italian designers. Born in Scotland in 1984 and raised in Cumbria, B...

Talk Art's LIVE PREMIERE recorded at the Latitude Festival on Sunday 21st July 2019. Russell & Robert meet Deborah Frances-White, the iconic comedian and Guilty Feminist herself. We discuss growing up in Australia, studying at Oxford University, collecting art, feminism and creativity. We mention the Help Refugees charity in this episode. To learn more please visit: www.helprefugees.org Specia...

Russell & Robert meet leading documentary and fashion photographer Jamie Hawkesworth. We discuss Milton Avery, forensic photography, the power of natural light, a dedication to analogue cameras, taking Kate Moss’ portrait in India and documenting landscapes of Antarctica. We learn about Jamie’s early project 'Preston Bus Station' and explore his later collaborations with JW Anderson...

Russell & Robert meet painter Rose Wylie, one of their all-time art heroes, at her Kent home-studio where she’s painting for a New York solo show opening later this year at David Zwirner. We discuss the impact of film on her painting including Gus Van Sant, why the early paintings of Cezanne are the greatest, painting people she respects such as Serena & Venus Williams, alchmey bottles, he...