Talking with Painters

Watch a 2 minute highlights video of this episode on the YouTube channel here In this special episode of Talking with Painters , I’m bringing you my conversation with Richard Lewer recorded shortly after he was announced as the winner of the 2026 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Richard won Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize for his powerful portrait of artist...

Watch a short highlights video of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel  In this special International Women’s Day episode I speak with acclaimed artist, and previous podcast guest, Ann Thomson about building a career in the male-dominated art world of the mid-20th century. Born in 1933, Ann’s art education took place during the 1950s and early 60s, a time when male artists like Arthur Boy...

Watch highlights from this conversation on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel I loved this conversation with Mary Tonkin at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney, before the start of her survey exhibition Among the Trees (opening 3 January 2026) . The show brings together paintings, drawings and ceramics dating from 2008, works that reflect Mary’s deep relationship with her family farm in Victor...

A highlights video from this episode will also be coming soon to the Talking with Painters YouTube channel In this episode, I visit the studio of acclaimed abstract painter Aida Tomescu just days before the opening of her exhibition Messiaen at Fox Jensen Gallery in Sydney. The exhibition continues until 20 December 2025. Aida Tomescu on Instagram Aida Tomescu website Aida Tomescu at Fox Jensen Ga...

Watch an edited video version of this episode on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel here Podcast listeners see the works we talk about here or go to talkingwithpainters.com (ep 169) When I travelled to Hobart for the announcement of the Hadley’s Art Prize, I not only interviewed the winner, Sophie Cape (you can hear her in the previous episode), but also had the privilege of speaking with t...

Watch an edited video version of this conversation on the YouTube channel here Sophie Cape has just taken out the $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize for landscape with her powerful painting Thunder Shifts the Shivering Sands. It’s a raw and visceral work on canvas made using rust, charcoal, soil, pigment and binder. In this episode I talk with Sophie about what winning the prize means for her at this poi...

Australia has lost one of its great painters. William Robinson has passed away at the age of 89. I was lucky enough to meet Bill in 2020 when I interviewed his close friend, artist Davida Allen. At Davida’s suggestion, Bill joined the conversation —and what unfolded was something special. In this re-released episode you’ll hear Bill’s warmth, humour and generosity as the two artists reflect togeth...

Watch an  edited video version of this conversation on the YouTube channel here 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 dr...

Watch this interview on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel 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 Indigen...

Catch up on the latest YouTube videos and Instagram reels, and don’t miss the chance to be part of my next Loading Dock interview at the Art Gallery of NSW! Justin Williams (video) Justin Williams – ep 60 podcast interview Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt (video) Loading Dock Interviews Playlist  Nic Plowman (Instagram reel) Sam Eyles (Instagram reel) The Art Room  Sign up to the TWP newslette...

See the video version of the interview on YouTube here My conversation with two remarkable Australian artists, Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt was in front of a fabulous audience at the Tweed Regional Gallery. Robert and Keith completed residencies at the gallery’s Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio, drawing inspiration from objects in Margaret Olley’s recreated home studio at the galle...

Ingrid Hedgcock, director of the Tweed Regional Gallery, shows me around the amazing Margaret Olley Art Centre which is the relocation of Margaret Olley’s home studio from Paddington in Sydney. Famous for being like an Aladdin’s cave of eclectic objects, the recreated home studio contains the sources of many inspirational items which appear in Margaret Olley’s paintings.  Over an...

See an edited version of this episode (5 mins) on the talking with Painters YouTube channel An artist’s residency provides more than just uninterrupted time to work; it’s also a valuable space for risk-taking, experimentation, and self-reflection. That’s what I learned when I caught up with Sophie Perez and Sarah McDonald d uring my recent visit to the Tweed Regional Gallery. They were there...

Podcast listeners click here to view the works Through layers of paint in varying translucency, Karen Black explores not only the physical nature of the female form but through her use of abstraction and considered use of colour she brings out another dimension – an emotional layer.  There is a strong sense of a spontaneous response in her paintings so you may be surprised to hear that readi...

Watch the video version of my interview with Laura Jones here on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel Congratulations to previous podcast guest Laura Jones on winning the Archibald Prize – Australia’s most famous portrait prize  – with a sensitive and meaningful portrait of writer and environmentalist Tim Winton. On Friday I interviewed Laura shortly after the announcement and I’m...

See the video version of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel here.  This is my 5th collection of Loading Dock Interviews of entrants to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. Six brave painters fronted my camera and microphone as they delivered their work to the packing room at the Art Gallery of NSW via the loading dock. Thankyou to these artists (tap on their name for their Instagram page):...

See highlights of this interview on the YouTube Channel Caroline Zilinsky’s paintings freeze pivotal moments in our culture’s history, encouraging us to reflect upon our times, whether it’s the absurdity, the horror or the humour. At the risk of being labelled a conspiracy theorist, she’s attracted to the dilemmas brought on by the internet era and shines a light on the thi...

Podcast listeners click here to see images of the work Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed just on viewing the work. Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you another eight artists’ works in addition to those in ep 155. Clic...

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 ta...

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 &#8...

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 channe...

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 gro...

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 pain...

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 acc...

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 | YouTub...