Published by Fiona Verity, Julie Nicholson and Gary Seller
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Come along for the ride with curious artists Julie Nicholson, Fiona Verity and host Gary Seller, as they talk about their creative journey. Hear them interviewing artists, curators, gallery owners, teachers and creatives to guide them, and the listeners, within the arts community. Enjoy the banter whilst they navigate through all the Art W**k. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, artist Sandi Hester discusses her career as a painter, teacher, and YouTube creator. She shares the story behind her move from the United States to Exeter, England, and reflects on the practical and creative changes that came with relocating to a new country. Sandi talks about setting up a new studio, adjusting to life in Devon, and finding inspiration in her new surroundings. The conversation also explores her approach to making art, developing a consistent practice, and balancing painting with creating online content. Sandi reflects on the lessons she has learned from building an audience, growing as an artist, and staying focused through periods of change. The episode offers insight into the realities of a creative career and how a major life move can open the door to new ideas, experiences, and directions in an artist’s work. Sandi's work was in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibiton 2026 You can look at Sandi's work, art classes and youtube trhough her website sandihester.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
John Peart (1945–2013) was one of Australia's most respected abstract painters. Across a career spanning almost five decades, he developed a deeply personal visual language shaped by observation, intuition and a lifelong commitment to painting. From his early years in Brisbane to his long association with Watters Gallery and the artists' community at Wedderburn, Peart continually pushed his work in new directions while remaining true to the act of looking, questioning and making. His achievements included winning the Wynne Prize in 1997 and the Sulman Prize in 2000, and his work is held in every major Australian public collection. In this episode, Julie Nicholson and Gary Seller are joined by artists Euan Macleod and Joe Frost to celebrate Peart's life, work and enduring influence. Rather than a formal biography, this is a conversation between artists who knew him personally and whose own practices have been shaped by his generosity, intelligence and remarkable paintings. Together they discuss Peart's relentless curiosity, his openness to experimentation, his connection to landscape and abstraction, and the way his work balanced structure with freedom. They reflect on his role within the Wedderburn community, his years teaching at the National Art School, and the impact he had on generations of Australian painters. They also consider why his work continues to resonate and what today's artists can learn from his approach to painting as an ongoing process of discovery. About Euan Macleod Euan Macleod is one of Australia's leading contemporary painters. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, he moved to Sydney in 1981 and has built an internationally recognised career exploring the relationship between the human figure and the landscape. Known for his expressive surfaces and psychologically charged paintings, Macleod has received numerous major awards and has taught painting at the National Art School. He knew John Peart for many years and contributed to the 2004 John Peart: Paintings 1964–2004 retrospective publication. About Joe Frost Joe Frost is a Sydney-based painter whose practice moves between observation and abstraction, drawing on memory, place and the experience of everyday life. Exhibiting since 1999, he has developed a distinctive body of work through an improvisational and layered approach to painting. Frost knew John Peart personally, has written extensively about his work, contributed essays to both the 2004 retrospective and the recently published John Peart monograph, and brings unique insight into Peart's practice and legacy. This episode is a thoughtful tribute to one of Australia's most significant painters and a rare opportunity to hear two artists reflect on the life, ideas and lasting influence of a friend, mentor and extraordinary painter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Osvaldo Budet: Upriver Downriver Maitland Regional Art Gallery opens July 11th 2026, opening night 24th July and 25th July a talk and Q & A with Dr Nancy Cushing from University of Newcastle. Puerto Rican Australian artist Osvaldo Budet joins Art Wank to discuss Upriver Downriver , his exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery exploring one of the Hunter region's most debated public monuments: Maitland's Black Boy statue, now more commonly referred to as Jocko Graves. For more than a century, the cast iron figure has stood in the centre of Maitland's civic life. Celebrated by some as a beloved local landmark and questioned by others for its racial imagery and colonial associations, the statue has become a focal point for conversations about history, memory, race, and heritage. Budet's work is informed by his experience growing up in Borikén, Puerto Rico, a place still shaped by colonial structures and histories. In Upriver Downriver , he considers how inherited images and public monuments continue to shape contemporary understandings of identity, authority, and belonging. Rather than offering simple answers, the exhibition asks how communities engage with historical objects whose meanings shift over time. This conversation explores the power of monuments, the persistence of colonial narratives in public space, and the ways artists can help us reimagine our relationships with difficult histories. Osvaldo Budet (b. 1979) is a Puerto Rican artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, photography, video, and research based projects. His work examines the physical, historical, and political dimensions of colonisation and post colonisation, exploring how systems of power shape culture, identity, and memory. Budet received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he studied under Grace Hartigan. Since 2008, he has lived and worked across Puerto Rico, Germany, the United States, and Australia. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, me Collectors Room Berlin, the Museum of Latin American Art, and numerous galleries and institutions throughout Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Through Upriver Downriver , Budet brings a global perspective on colonialism, representation, and historical memory to a distinctly local Australian story, inviting audiences to consider how we preserve, reinterpret, and reckon with the complex objects of our past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Inga Dalrymple is a visual artist whose practice explores painting and drawing as a dialogue between material, gesture and perception. Working between abstraction and observation, she is interested in how paint can hold traces of movement, memory and experience. Inspired by nature and the feelings it can evoke, Inga works through processes of layering, erasing and reworking. These actions become a record of time and thought, revealing decisions and changes made during the making of a work. Gesture sits at the centre of her practice. For Inga, each mark carries memory, emotion and a sense of place, while also acting as a way of thinking through painting. Forms appear and disappear, allowing the surface to guide the work as it develops. In this episode of Art Wank, Inga talks about painting as a process of thinking, the role of gesture and memory, and how abstraction can give form to experiences that are difficult to define. Inga is represented by Otomys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Australian artist Chris Horder joins Art Wank to discuss a painting practice shaped by intuition, chance and decades of experimentation. Known for his atmospheric stain paintings, Horder draws on influences ranging from Eastern ink traditions to Abstract Expressionism, creating works that embrace unpredictability and the unexpected. In this episode, he reflects on leaving school early to pursue art, the influence of travel and literature on his thinking, and the ongoing search for meaning through painting. Chris shares insights into his studio process, the balance between control and accident, and the importance of remaining open to discovery. The conversation ranges from art history and bohemian life to the realities of sustaining a creative career. Horder is a finalist of multiple major art prizes and scholarships including the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and Dobell Prize. His paintings are in major public and private collection in Australia and around the world. Chris is represented by Nanda Hobbs in Sydney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Australian artist Rosemary Lee joins Art Wank to discuss the quiet power of observation, the language of drawing, and finding beauty in the everyday. Awarded the 2025 Dobell Drawing Prize $30,000 acquisitive prize for her work 24–1 (2024), Lee’s meticulously rendered pencil drawing explores the changing urban landscape of Sydney’s Inner West, capturing construction sites, demolition zones and the constant cycle of renewal that shapes contemporary life. Selected from 965 entries, the work impressed judges with its extraordinary detail, visual intensity and nuanced reflection on place and transience. In this episode, Rosemary talks about her artistic journey, the meditative process of drawing, and why subjects that many people overlook have become a source of endless fascination. From the complexities of gentrification and urban change to the challenges and rewards of maintaining a sustained studio practice, she shares the thinking behind the work that earned one of Australia’s most significant drawing awards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of Art Wank, we sit down with acclaimed Australian artist Joe Furlonger, @joefurlonger one of the country’s most respected and enduring painters of landscape and place. For more than four decades, Furlonger has built a remarkable career through an unwavering commitment to drawing, observation and the lived experience of the Australian environment. Known for his expressive mark-making and dynamic compositions, his work moves between figuration and abstraction, capturing the vastness, volatility and poetry of the Australian landscape. From floodplains and drought-stricken country to coastal waters and working harbours, Furlonger’s paintings reveal a deep engagement with the rhythms of the natural world. Born in Cairns and now based in Samford, Queensland, Furlonger has been a finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes on multiple occasions, and his work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and QAGOMA. His celebrated survey exhibition Horizons continues to tour regional Queensland, introducing new audiences to the breadth of his practice. We discuss the central role drawing plays in his daily life, the challenges and rewards of maintaining a long artistic career, and the ways landscape painting can become a vehicle for contemplation, memory and human connection. Joe reflects on his relationship with the Australian sublime, his years spent travelling and working in remote regions, and the enduring importance of looking closely at the world around us. The conversation coincides with Furlonger’s current exhibition, Into the Blue, showing at @defiancegallery from 6–27 June 2026. The exhibition presents powerful new works inspired by coastal Australia, continuing his exploration of landscape as both physical reality and emotional terrain. This episode offers a rare opportunity to hear from a painter whose work has shaped contemporary Australian landscape painting for generations. #joefurlonger #art #artpodcast #artist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we speak with Andrew Jensen, founder and director of Fox Jensen , one of Australia's leading contemporary art galleries and Fox Jensen Mccrory, alongside Emma Fox and Sarah Mccrory. Andrew discusses the evolution of the gallery, from its beginnings to its current presence in both Sydney and New Zealand. We explore the changing landscape of contemporary art, what makes a successful artist gallery relationship, and how a commercial gallery balances artistic vision with the realities of the art market. The conversation also touches on collecting, the international art scene, the enduring significance of painting, and the role galleries play in supporting artists throughout their careers. Andrew shares insights from decades of experience working closely with established and emerging artists, offering a candid look at the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary art today. Whether you're an artist, collector, curator, or simply interested in contemporary culture, this episode provides a thoughtful perspective on the business, passion and commitment behind running a leading gallery. 'Andrew Jensen opened the gallery in New Zealand in 1988 and over the course of more than thirty-five years it has set itself aside in terms of its seamless presentation of international work alongside the most considered practices from the region. In early 2011 the gallery expanded to Australia opening a second gallery in Sydney. Multiple exhibitions by major artists such as Imi Knoebel, Fred Sandback, Tony Oursler, Helmut Federle, Günter Umberg, Winston Roeth, Lawrence Carroll, Elisabeth Vary and Callum Innes altered and enriched the local conditions. These exhibitions continued to provide the basis for an increasingly expansive approach that has seen the curated aspect of the gallery grow. There have been numerous notable projects over the last decade or more including E=MC2, Naked, The Architecture of Colour, Six Degrees of Separation, Points of Orientation, Detox, Melancholia, The Authority of Death, Farben, Saturation, There’s Joy in Repetition, Portrait without a Face, Eros , Permafrost and more recently Raven, Plastic Soul, Terrain, No One’s Rose & Rain. The galleries’ programs have developed a welcome richness and energy with the inclusion of a newer generation of international artists including Jan Albers, Mark Francis, Hanns Kunitzberger, Sofie Muller, Erin Lawlor, Liat Yossifor, Koen Delaere, Jane Bustin and Gideon Rubin. Alongside this, artists from the region include Aida Tomescu, Tomislav Nikolic, Matthew Allen, Geoff Thornley, Robert Malherbe, Jenny Topfer, Todd Hunter and Gary McMillan. The galleries are also privileged to hold the Estate of Bill & Pip Culbert. With the opening of the major new gallery space in Sydney in late 2025 the galleries have both expanded and consolidated its program. In 2026 the galleries are presenting works by celebrated artists Ian Davenport (UK), Paul Czerlitzki (POL), Ingo Meller (GER), Ulrike Schulze (GER), Gerold Millar (GER) and Lucienne O’Mara (UK). Fox Jensen, Sydney and Fox Jensen McCrory, Auckland are run in close partnership with its artists by Andrew Jensen, Emma Fox and Sarah McCrory. It participates annually in art fairs whilst remaining deeply committed to its galleries’ programs and to publishing.' - Fox Jensen Website Thanks for Andrew Jensen and Emma Fox for having us in their home for the converstauon. Fox jensen Gallery, cnr Brennan &, McEvoy St, Alexandria NSW 2015 Fox Jensen Mcrorym, 10 Putiki St, Gtey Lynn, AKL 1021 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Mason Kimber , a Sydney based artist represented by N.Smith Gallery and Sophie Gannon Gallery . Kimber’s practice moves between textural painting, sculptural relief and installation, exploring the relationship between architecture, memory and surface. We discuss how childhood experiences wandering through his father’s Perth nightclubs shaped his fascination with interiors, texture and built environments, and how these memories continue to inform his paintings today. Kimber reflects on expanding the language of painting through moulding, casting and framing, creating works that sit somewhere between painting, object and architecture. The conversation also touches on studying fresco painting during his residency at the British School at Rome, completing a PhD focused on expanded painting practices, and balancing studio work with teaching at the National Art School and UNSW Art & Design. A conversation about memory, materiality, architecture and the possibilities of painting beyond the flat surface. Magenta House Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lustre is a new temporary exhibition that explores the Allied campaigns in Greece and Crete in 1941 through the works of contemporary artists who walked in their footsteps in 2025. Lustre Force was the code name for the combined Australian, New Zealand and British army units deployed to protect Greece from Nazi attack in 1941. The Allied defence of Greece was overwhelmed in three and a half weeks in April 1941 and in May, Crete fell to a Nazi airborne invasion in just ten days. To record those heroic but doomed campaigns, Australia and New Zealand sent war artists and a photographer. Eighty-five years later, artists from Australia and New Zealand retraced their footsteps, walking the battlefields and visiting the cemeteries where the men and women of Lustre Force and their German foe lie. Lustre showcases the impressions they made of the impact of that journey. Some of the images show that the land and its people have recovered over time; others reveal that some scars take longer to fade. The exhibition opens on 15 May 2026 and is in the Memorial’s Auditorium on the Lower Floor. The Memorial is open every day, 9am to 5pm. Please note that access to the exhibition is dependent on the Auditorium’s use for education and other programs, so we encourage you to call the Memorial in advance on (02) 8262 2900. Entry is free Artists: Amanda Penrose Hart, Euan Mcleoud, Joanna Logue, Alan Daniel Jones, Deirdre Bean, Riste Andrievski, Angelika Androutsopolous, Michael Bradfield, Michelle Hiscock, Steve Lopes, Natalie OConnor and Rodney Pople Historian: Brad Manera, the Senior Historian and Curator of the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Gary has a chat with artist Julie Nicholson about her show, Nostalgia, opening May 21st at CBD Gallery in Sydney. Julie has recently exhibited with CBD Gallery at the Aotearoa Art Fair (NZ), and her work has been widely recognised in national awards such as the Paddington Art Prizre and the Muswellbrook, and held in private collections in Australia and overseas. She co-hosts the popular arts podcast, Art Wank . Her duo solo exhibition, Nostalgia , stems from a sense of homesickness after moving from the UK to Australia at the age of 23. A deep sense of nostalgia has shaped her life, and only recently did she discover that nostalgia was once considered a disease. The works in this exhibition sit within that tension, posing the question of whether nostalgia is something that nurtures us, or something that holds us back. Many of the canvases in the exhibition are split across multiple panels, reflecting the fractured experience of trying to locate familiarity within a foreign landscape. Moments of recognition such as sketching in Berrima in the Southern Highlands, where the landscape can feel momentarily like home are interrupted by distinctly Australian elements, like a palm tree or native plant, which jolt her back into the awareness of distance and displacement. Julie has also titled many of the works using Old English words for landscape elements—such as weald , meaning forest. This reflects her interest in etymology and the evolution of language over time. Just as words shift, fall out of use, and take on new meanings, her understanding of the Australian landscape has also changed. Language, like memory, holds a connection to the past while continually adapting to the present, mirroring her experience of navigating place, identity, and belonging. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Brett McMahon is a Newcastle-based painter whose work explores the structures and rhythms of the natural and built environment. Represented by Nanda Hobbs, McMahon has built a significant practice spanning painting, drawing and installation. His work is known for its distilled, abstract language, bold lines, shifting geometries and a strong sense of spatial tension. Drawing from the coastal bush, industrial architecture and lived experience of place, his paintings sit somewhere between observation and reconstruction, where landscape becomes structure. Over a career spanning more than three decades, McMahon has held over 30 solo exhibitions and exhibited widely across Australia and internationally. His work is held in public, corporate and private collections across Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States. In this conversation, we talk about painting as a way of thinking, the role of environment in shaping visual language, and how a practice evolves over time without losing its core concerns. We also get into scale, material and the push and pull between control and intuition in the studio. Brett is represented by Nanda Hobbs in Sydney Brett's show at Gosford Art Gallery Understory, opens 16th May 2026 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail Joe Frost is an Australian artist. He was born in Sydney in 1974 and has exhibited consistently since 1999. His visual thinking evolved in the urban environment and he is, in a sense, a local painter. Sydney’s remnant industrial areas were the subject of his earliest drawings and paintings and he has made extensive series of work in response to the western reaches of Sydney Harbour, the city’s CBD and the green, suburban precinct of Denistone. At times he has worked en plein air but his renditions of place have more usually been filtered through memory in the studio, where his approach to painting is improvisatory and layered. Over 25 years his process of finding-in-paint has come to manifest a great variety of subject matters, including public places, garden spaces, domestic objects and human figures in social situations. Some paintings land upon abstraction and are no less concerned with the matter of recognition: what is presented on the picture plane and what does the mind make of it? In all of Joe Frost's work a process is in play, whereby meaningful visual structure is divined from the flux of experience. Joe is represented by Liverpool Street Gallery in Sydney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail Sally Anderson’s work is strongly influenced by her personal life, including her experiences of home, motherhood and relationships, as well as second hand experiences of landscapes. She explores how meaning and memory are held, stored and carried. Born in Lismore, Sally Anderson began studying Visual Art at Southern Cross University before moving to the College of Fine Art in Sydney. She has been a finalist in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize and the Paddington Art Prize. In 2014 she took part in a residency with the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2017 she won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship through the Art Gallery of NSW and completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. These ideas continue in her upcoming exhibition at N Smith Gallery, opening on 9 April. Called Holding Pattern, River Hug , it builds on her interest in cycles, care, and repetition, with new paintings that shift between abstract and more realistic forms. Sally is represented by N.Smith Gallery (Sydney, Australia) and Edwina Corlette Gallery (Brisbane, Australia). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail Nikky Morgan Smith is an Australian artist whose practice explores the intersection of memory, place, and emotional resonance through a refined visual language. Working across painting and mixed media, her work is characterised by layered surfaces, nuanced colour palettes, and an intuitive balance between abstraction and representation. Drawing inspiration from the Australian landscape as well as personal narratives, Smith’s compositions evoke a sense of atmosphere and quiet contemplation. Her process often involves building and reworking surfaces over time, allowing traces of earlier marks to remain visible and contribute to the depth and history of each piece. Smith has exhibited in a range of group and solo exhibitions, with her work held in private collections. Through her practice, she continues to investigate how environments, both physical and psychological, shape perception, inviting viewers into spaces that feel at once familiar and open to interpretation. She is an artist based in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Completing a cross institutional bachelor of visual arts at SCU/RMIT in 2003, Nikky has staged solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and participated in group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her work has been selected as a finalist in many prestigious awards, most recently the Jacaranda Touring Drawing Prize and has also been the recipient of various artists in residence programs, most recently the Suzzane Bastien Foundation artist in residence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail In late 2025, we met with artist Edward Inchbold in his studio in Sydenham. A self-taught painter, he is deeply interested in the surface and texture of paint, as well as art history and the philosophies surrounding art-making. Edward began his practice in 2020 at the age of 25. Since 2021, he has presented five solo exhibitions, including a recent trilogy at Stella Downer Fine Art spanning eighteen months: Brand New People (2024), Wisteria Lemonade (2025), and Shedding Velvet (2026). This body of work signalled a series of pivotal shifts in both his approach and philosophy, positioning his practice within a broader contemporary context. Inchbold’s paintings are defined by constant reinvention and a resistance to fixed stylistic identities. His compositions are built through processes of compression, erasure, and revision, resulting in dense, atmospheric surfaces. He employs a dynamic and controlled handling of materials, working with brushes, knives, and large scrapers to articulate his images. Alongside his solo practice, Inchbold has participated in numerous group exhibitions since 2021, with presentations at Velvet Lobster (Sydney, 2026), Brenda Colahan Fine Art (Sydney, 2025–26), Straitjacket Art Space (Newcastle, 2025–26), and AK Bellinger (Inverell, 2023–25). His work has been recognised in several art prizes, including the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Awards (2021), the Lethbridge Landscape Prize (Salon), The Lethbridge 2000 (Salon), and the Galerist Emerging Art Prize (2021), where he was highly commended. His paintings are held in private collections both in Australia and internationally. Inchbold approaches painting with a commitment to sincerity, material risk, and sustained inquiry, avoiding irony or sentimentality. His works are driven by tension rather than resolution, seeking to unsettle while holding the viewer’s attention over time. Edward is represented by Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney, and his exhibition Shedding Velvet runs from March 31st - 25th April. - 'Shedding velvet marks a transitional phase in a deer's antler development, one of renewal. While growing, the antlers are wrapped in a soft, living layer called velvet, rich with blood and nutrients. As growth concludes, internal changes slowly withdraw this support, causing the velvet to dry and decay. In response, the deer presses and scrapes its antlers against trees and rough surfaces, gradually peeling away the withered covering. What remains is bare bone. Hardened, exposed, and newly formed, they eventually, through some labour, reveal a structure shaped through both gentle nourishment and the necessity of abrasion. This deliberate and forceful act prepares the animal for the coming season of competition and display.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we speak with Alex Wisser, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Cementa Festival, a unique contemporary arts festival held in the rural town of Kandos, New South Wales. Known for transforming a former cement-making town into a hub of experimental art, performance, and community collaboration, Cementa has become one of Australia’s most distinctive regional arts events. Alex shares the story behind Cementa’s founding and how the festival grew from a grassroots idea into a nationally recognised platform for contemporary artists working outside traditional gallery spaces. We discuss the role of regional arts festivals in shaping cultural identity, building creative communities, and bringing ambitious artistic projects to unexpected places. The conversation also explores the relationship between artists and place—how the industrial history, architecture, and landscape of Kandos influence the work presented during the festival. Alex talks about the curatorial philosophy behind Cementa, the challenges and rewards of producing large-scale arts programming in regional Australia, and why collaboration with the local community remains central to the festival’s success. We also dive into Alex’s own artistic practice and how these perspectives inform the direction of Cementa today. Whether you’re an artist, curator, festival producer, or someone interested in the power of art to transform regional communities, this episode offers insight into how creativity can reshape place, spark dialogue, and connect people. Cementa will be held 17-20 September 2026 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail We spoke with artist @meagan.jacobs.art about her life and work in Ampilatwatja, a remote Indigenous art centre. The conversation looks at daily creative practice on Country and the realities of living in a desert community. Meagan Jacobs is an Australian landscape painter whose practice has been shaped by years living and working in remote Indigenous communities. Born in Sydney and now based in Ampilatwatja (Alyawarre Country), her work reflects an ongoing relationship with Country and the desert environment. Her paintings use restrained colour palettes, interlocking forms and open space. Meagan Jacobs is represented by @defiancegallery, where she has held several exhibitions, including North of Capricorn (2025). She is currently included in the group exhibition Gathering at @defiancegallery until 28 March. Jacobs has also worked within remote Indigenous art communities, including as Art Centre Manager for Artists of Ampilatwatja. This work has influenced her approach, grounding her practice in lived experience and time spent in desert landscapes. Episode recorded end of 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail James Erskine is the Founder and Director of Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney, bringing to the role a distinguished career that spans sports management and global entertainment. Before establishing the gallery, Erskine founded SEL Sports & Entertainment, building one of the most respected management companies in the international sporting and media landscape. Through SEL, he managed and advised an extraordinary roster of talent, including legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne, celebrated British broadcaster Michael Parkinson, and world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, among many others. As Director of Liverpool St Gallery, Erskine channels this unique background into a dynamic exhibition program that reflects excellence, character and cultural relevance. His leadership is shaped by first-hand experience at the highest levels of international sport and media — a perspective that distinguishes the gallery within Sydney’s contemporary art landscape. Through Liverpool St Gallery, James Erskine continues to merge worlds, art, sport and storytelling, creating a space defined by authenticity, legacy and vision. Recorded in Sydney end of 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we explore the life and work of Tim Johnson, one of Australia’s most distinctive contemporary artists. Known for blending Western art history, Indigenous knowledge systems, and spiritual iconography, Johnson’s practice spans decades of experimentation, collaboration, and cultural exchange. We discuss Johnson’s role in co-founding Inhibodress in the early 1970s, widely recognised as Australia’s first artist-run initiative. Established in Sydney, Inhibodress became a catalyst for experimental contemporary art, giving artists control over how and where their work was shown. It marked a turning point in Australia’s independent art scene and set the stage for Johnson’s boundary-pushing career. Johnson’s spiritual curiosity led him to engage deeply with Tibetan Buddhism, including meeting Dalai Lama . This encounter reinforced themes already present in his work, compassion, interconnectedness, cosmology, and sacred symbolism—which continue to appear in his layered, richly referential paintings. Johnson’s international reach saw him exhibit alongside renowned German painter Gerhard Richter , positioning his work within a global contemporary art dialogue. These exhibitions highlighted the intellectual and aesthetic strength of Johnson’s cross-cultural visual language. A pivotal moment in Johnson’s life was his close friendship and collaboration with Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri , a leading figure of the Western Desert art movement. Johnson was given a skin name, a profound cultural gesture reflecting kinship and responsibility, signifying trust, respect, and long-term collaboration between the two artists. This relationship deeply informed Johnson’s engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems and Country. Thanks Tim. We hope you enjoy this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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