If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably James Bond... Dive into the surreal with Art Dad Doesn't Like, as we dissect Rachel MacLean's deepfake film, 'Duck.' Submerging us in a green-tinted world drenched in mystery and deception, ‘Duck’ presents a reality where subterfuge and suspicion undermine one’s every belief. MacLean resurrects cinematic icons Sean Connery and Marilyn Monroe, employing deepfake technology as a digital necromancer to summon spectres of the past. But t...
Mar 30, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 55
This episode, our father-daughter relationship is on the rocks as Dad grapples with Julien Berthier’s work, ‘L’invisible.’ A polystyrene and epoxy resin boulder mounted on a worn-out boat, L’invisible zips along the coast near Marseilles, disrupting serene Mediterranean views. But is it really a feat of engineering as the media claims? Are there hidden messages within this stony façade? And, since we’d be remiss as an art podcast not to talk about Walter Benjamin, does encountering this work onl...
Mar 14, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Playing the guitar in a dirndl, balancing wine glasses on your arms, smoking a cigarette, dressing up in a toilet paper dress – all things you used to be able to do (and maybe still can?) when having your passport photo taken. In this week's episode, we thumb through Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf's zany portfolio of "could-be" passport pictures. Usually governed by strict regulations and grim standardisations, passport photos are rarely flattering, and normally… normal. But what if, amid...
Feb 29, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 53
If choosing one song to listen to for eternity sounds daunting, fear not—John Cage has you covered with his avant-garde epic, Organ2/ASLSP ('As Slow As Possible'). It's the ultimate "hold my beer" in the music world, stretching a single composition over 639 years. That's right, this tune hopes to outlive us all. Join us as we dive deep into this glacial-paced masterpiece, ponder the apocalypse, and explore the profound depth (or utter boredom?) of silence. See images here ! Music from Uppbeat ....
Feb 15, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Ageing autocrats and decrepit dictators take the wheel in this rollicking episode, where we dive into Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's 2007 installation, 'Old People's Home'. Picture this: titans of 20th-century global politics—think Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, and Leonid Brezhnev—dozing off in wheelchairs, gripping landmines and whips, while they apathetically bump into each other. This simultaneously comedic and discomforting piece asks: Are our leaders metaphorically asleep at the wheel? What emoti...
Feb 01, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Potty training and learning to crawl - two significant events when raising a child... and in art history? This week we discuss the late William Pope, also known as Pope.L. Painstakingly dragging himself along the streets of 1970s New York, and slowly (literally) chewing over the news as presented by the Wall Street Journal while sitting on a precariously situated toilet, Pope.L's work turned a critical eye on abject social classes, economic vulnerability, and human endurance in modern society. I...
Jan 18, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Merry Christmas from Art Dad Doesn't Like! This year we once again exchange artistic gifts, eliciting startlingly different reactions. From undead Welsh Christmas horses to Palestinian protest art, this year's Christmas Special uncovers various facets of the holiday season from around the world. But the key question is, will Dad's gifting of the Krampus artwork from last year be avenged? See images here ! Works discussed: The Way to Bethlehem , Sliman Mansour, 2021, oil on canvas, 120cm x 120cm....
Dec 21, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 49
How often do you think about the Roman Empire? It's the question taking over TikTok at the moment, but one that hardly needs to be posed to Dad. This week, we're talking about Čiurlionis Gym , an installation by Lithuanian artist Augustas Serapinas that was presented at this year's Art Basel. How do we gender gyms and academic disciplines? What similarities are there between Ancient Rome and Lizzie's childhood? Is Arnold Schwarzenegger on par with Michelangelo? Find the answers to these question...
Nov 30, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 48
'Writhing' (as Dad says) around in a pocket of shrink-wrap, participants in Belgian artist Lawrence Malstaf's 'Shrink!' move from a foetal position to a pose reminiscent of cruxifiction. Focussing on immersive, interactive artworks, Malstaf draws on his work as a scenographer for theatre and dance performances to create unique experiences for his audience - including being vacuum-sealed like a steak. Is this artwork more than a reflection on 'man as meat' - could it be a metaphor for life itself...
Nov 16, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 47
This episode we dive into art nouveau designer Daisy Makeig-Jones' world of whimsy and magic as we look at the many manifestations of Wedgwood. The creators of a wide range of products, from Josiah Wedgwood's iconic neoclassical jasperware to a Web3 digitisation of the Portland Vase, Wedgwood has consistently drawn inspiration from the past to fuel commercially successful collections. We discuss 'fussy' Edwardian interior design, fairies, and Dad's housesitting tips. See images here ! Works disc...
Nov 02, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Time to blow out the candles! To celebrate Dad's birthday, this week he takes the reins and presents a mixed pack of artworks created by artists from vastly different schools and time periods (including Dad's infamous bête noire, Picasso). We discuss Dad's secret addiction, the French Revolution, hearing colours and the challenges of modernity. See images here ! Works discussed: Composition 8, Wassily Kandinsky, 1923 Group X/Altarpiece, Hilma af Klint, 1915 Yellow - Red - Blue, Wassily Kandinsky...
Oct 19, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Can peeling a potato be a work of art? Planting a tree? Putting roses in bottles in a brutalist gallery space? This week we discuss Michael Sailstorfer's installation 'To the People' at the Penman Foundation in Tehran and the artist's claims that his work harkens back to the inimitable Joseph Beuys' concept of social sculpture. Are Sailstorfer's claims legitimate, or does the emperor simply have no clothes? We discuss Greek mythology, the language of flowers, and Dad's forays into landscaping to...
Oct 05, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 44
A fractured sphere placed precariously on a porphyry disk, surrounded by spouts of water, 'The Sphere' (or 'Große Kugelkaryatide N.Y.') by renowned German artist Fritz König was the centrepiece of Austen J. Tobin Plaza. With the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center rising as monolithic symbols of the promise of achieving world peace through trade (and of course, American commercialism), The Sphere stood for three decades before falling victim to the 9/11 attacks. The only piece of art to surviv...
Sep 21, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Agnes Martin is a titan of 20th century art; her peaceful paintings convey a sense of equilibrium born from mathematical harmony. Her grid paintings, painstakingly created, became world-renowned, while Martin herself retreated to the deserts of New Mexico. Painting "with her back to the world", Martin sought to encapsulate our innermost senses of joy and innocence. But can Dad get around her pale pastel canvases, which nearly fade to plain white when viewed from afar? Find out how far Dad has co...
Aug 31, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 42
With diametrically opposed aesthetics, 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' have gone head to head in the box office, and now also on 'Art Dad Doesn't Like!' This week, we pit two artistic representatives of the cinematic sensations against each other: Shōmei Tōmatsu's moving photograph Atom Bomb Damage: Wristwatch Stopped at 11:02, August 9, 1945, Nagasaki (1961) and Catherine Théry's Barbie-doll intervention in David's The Death of Marat. But which artwork will Dad prefer? A haunting artefact from the f...
Aug 17, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 41
We're back! After a short break, we're back with a special episode where we delve into political art of a special kind: art made by politicians. From a peanut-farming president, to an art professor prime minister, to the world's most (in)famous art school rejectee, we explore six politicians who have turned to away from canvassing and towards the canvas. See images here ! **We are now switching to a fortnightly format! See you in two weeks!** Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppb...
Aug 03, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 40
A round table undulates on the backs of 18 headless straw figures as a ball rolls around, approaching but never quite attaching itself to the beleaguered scarecrow-esque creatures. Does that sound like art Dad would like? With hidden political messages and metaphors for social dynamics, could Round Table by South Korean artist Choe U-Ram win Dad over? Listen to this episode to find out, as we talk about kinetic art, presidential scandals and whether Dad could become a dictator. See the artwork h...
Jul 20, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 39
This week we discuss German artist Sebastian Maas, whose contemporary takes on Rubens' Baroque masterpieces seek to interrogate gender and Orientalism. But will Dad think that his recreations of 'The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus' and 'The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt' can really add anything to the works of a great master? Or will Dad criticise Rubens' own skills? Find out in this episode! See images here !
Jul 13, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Smog has long been the enemy of art - seeping into gallery spaces and threatening the masterpieces housed there, the omnipresence of smog even contributed to the National Gallery of London's move from Pall Mall to its current location in Trafalgar Square. But what if art itself could clean up our filthy air? This week we discuss Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde's 'Landscape of the Future' project, and its core element: the smog free ring. Does a cube of condensed smog make for a better gift than a ...
Jul 06, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 37
(Updated audio!) Bismarck is a towering figure in history, but you know what towers over him? A giraffe. This week we discuss the two sculptures at the centre of Julian von Bismarck's - German artist and relative of the inimitable Otto von Bismarck - exhibition at Berlinische Galerie, 'When Platitudes Become Form.' Featuring a giraffe (made using an actual giraffe pelt) and a recreation of a monument to Bismarck (the elder) in Bremen, Julian's works raise questions about the 'scramble for Africa...
Jun 29, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 36
When is a house not a home? For one thing, when it's an impenetrable concrete block. This week, we discuss an artwork that was both celebrated as winner of the Turner prize, and derided as the worst of British art: Rachel Whiteread's 'House'. Standing for only 11 weeks before it was demolished, Whiteread's work raises questions about memory, urban development and socio-economic status. Or... it's just a "lump of concrete," in the words of the man who knocked it down. We ponder abandoning art, bu...
Jun 22, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 35
(TW // SA) In a strong, dynamic pose, his jacket fluttering in the wind, Jacob Zuma is depicted as a prototypical, unassailable and vigorous leader... until you look down. South African artist Brett Murray's The Spear makes a mockery of the (now former) South African President, stripping him of his pants and the vestiges of his dignity. Zuma was a controversial President, beset by corruption charges (one of which would eventually lead to his resignation from the presidency) and scandal. He launc...
Jun 15, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 34
"Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to; Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you": This week, we're discussing the Battle of Waterloo, the subject of ABBA's 1974 Eurovision hit! While ABBA may be responsible for introducing Waterloo to many of us, they're not the first artists to use the battle as creative material. Between 1981 and 1983, John Brack depicted the battle on canvas in his appropriately named artwork, "The Battle". This week we confront Dad with Brack's slightly comic, histori...
Jun 08, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Still life normally conjures images of vases lushly filled with flowers and bowls of fruit, or famous artworks from the Golden Age of Dutch art in the 1500s and 1600s. But could a Big Mac and a COVID test also be worthy of immortalisation on canvas? Still life painting wallowed at the bottom of the hierarchy of genres established by the French Académie de peinture et de sculpture. With his love of academia, it's no wonder that Dad also puts paintings of commonplace, inanimate objects at the bott...
Jun 01, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 32
'Strictly nothing else' is a common refrain when writing shopping lists or trying to faithfully and frugally follow them in the supermarket. This week, Dad and Lizzie discuss Australian ceramicist Kenny Pittock's '52 ceramic replicas of shipping lists found while working in a Melbourne supermarket' (2022). The work, currently on show at the NGV, leaves nothing to the imagination in its title, but provides plenty for us to ponder in its contents. From multilingualism, to family dynamics, to discr...
May 25, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Hendrick van Steenwyck, and Hieronymous Bosch; it's not uncommon for all these masters, all closely connected, to be mentioned in the same breath. But what about Raqib Shaw? This week, we explore how Shaw - born in Calcutta and now based in London - is connected to these Flemish and Dutch painters of the 16th century. We chat about being as rich as Croesus, and the power of intensely rich iconography. See images here !...
May 18, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 30
To celebrate Mother's Day in Australia on Sunday, this week we have a very special guest... Dad and Lizzie compete to win Mum's affection by convincing her that we have presented her with the best art she doesn't like. From sinister(?) spiders by Louise Bourgeois to a plague-ridden medieval fresco, join us as we celebrate Veronica with some choice artworks. See images here !
May 11, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Joseph Marr makes lickable sugar sculptures, but are they likeable ? This week we talk about sugar! From Renaissance Italy to Berghain today, what makes sugar sculptures special? What will Dad make of these highly Instagrammable creations? And most importantly, does he know the key to getting into Berghain? See images here ! And find us on Instagram @artdadpod . - Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/jonny-boyle/tres-french License code: WCBAFRBTLK0C1KMI...
May 04, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 28
A small child sits in her bedroom with a hyper-realistic sloth and a peacock: Is this a nightmare or a pyjama party with welcome guests? This week we're discussing the weird (and according to Dad, not so wonderful) visual world of Australian artist Patricia Piccinini. From a eulogy for a deep sea fish, to a pig-based organ farm, to an orangutan posing in the style of a Mother and child, Piccininis works offer up a wealth of material for analysis. But will Dad see the works as witty or worrisome?...
Apr 27, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 27
From Kandinsky cats to surrealist dreamscapes, this week we celebrate half a year of Art Dad Doesn't Like with an AI art special! We collaborate with AI to create images riffing off art history to test each other's knowledge and taste. See images on our Instagram @artdadpod !
Apr 20, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 26
