Russell and Robert meet Lubaina Himid CBE, the Turner Prize winning artist and cultural activist. Born in Zanzibar in 1954, Lubaina Himid is a British painter who has dedicated her four-decades-long career to uncovering marginalised and silenced histories, figures, and cultural expressions. She studied Theatre Design at Wimbledon College of Art and went on to receive an MA in Cultural History from the Royal College of Art. Himid currently lives and works in Preston, UK, and is a professor at the...
Feb 12, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 8Ep. 12
Talk Art Season 8 continues!!! Robert & Russell meet leading designer Robert Stilin, from his apartment in Soho, New York!! World renowned for his timeless, elegant interior design work and furniture design, Stilin is an avid art collector and serves on the Director’s Council at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has run his own design firm for over 25 years and has introduced numerous clients to artist's works, galleries and museums, encouraging them to live with and discover the art th...
Feb 05, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 12
Talk Art continues!! Russell and Robert meet artist Robert Andy Coombs, all the way from Miami Beach!!! We discuss photography, queerness, disability, sexuality, nudity, beauty and representation!!! Coombs was born and raised in Michigan’s upper peninsula in a little town bordering Wisconsin. Being a closeted gay male in a conservative rural environment, Coombs couldn’t wait to leave his small town behind. He received a scholarship to Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids where he st...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 8Ep. 10
Russell & Robert meet artists Ronan McKenzie and Joy Yamusangie at new multifunctional creative space HOME, on Hornsey Road, North London. We explore their current joint-exhibition 'WATA, Further Explorations'. Taking root in Mckenzie and Yamusangie’s first formal collaboration, a short film of the same name (produced at the beginning of 2020), 'WATA' weaves together considerations of ancestry, cross cultural connections, music and migration. To watch 'WATA' online during lockdown, and to le...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 9
Russell and Robert meet Dame Julia Peyton-Jones DBE, legendary British curator and gallery director, currently Senior Global Director at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in London, Paris and Salzburg. She formerly worked as Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery in London for 25 years – the number of visitors to the gallery increased six-fold to over a million people a year in her tenure. We meet in her private Green Park office to discuss curating, painting, her passion for making her own artworks and wo...
Jan 15, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Talk Art LIVE!!! Recorded on stage in London's Kings Cross!!! Robert & Russell meet Yinka Ilori MBE, the London based multidisciplinary artist of a British-Nigerian heritage, who specialises in storytelling by fusing his British and Nigerian heritage to tell new stories in contemporary design. This episode was recorded live at Kings Place for the London Podcast Festival, on Tuesday 22nd September 2020. Ilori began his practice in 2011 up-cycling vintage furniture, inspired by the traditional...
Jan 08, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 8Ep. 7
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! TALK ART CONTINUES!!! Russell & Robert meet iconic British artist Dr Chila Kumari Singh Burman who has recently transformed the front of Tate Britain into a celebration of bright lights and swirling colour for their annual Winter Commission. This extraordinary work has brought much needed joy to Londoners during the recent lockdown, due to its outdoors location on Tate's Millbank façade. Since the late-1970s, Burman has explored the experiences and aesthetics of Asian femi...
Jan 01, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Merry Christmas Everyone!!! For this special Christmas Talk Art, Russell & Robert meet Stephen Fry, the legendary British actor, writer, comedian and all-round national treasure!!! This feature-length special episode was recorded remotely during lockdown from his home in Norfolk! We learn about Stendhal Syndrome where people faint upon looking at artworks of great beauty, the history of the Royal Academy (where he is a trustee), his admiration for Velázquez's 'Portrait of Pope Innocent X', h...
Dec 24, 2020•1 hr 50 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Season 8 continues!!! Russell & Robert meet leading artist Lindsey Mendick in Margate on the eve of Robert's 40th birthday!!! We adore the autobiographical works of Lindsey Mendick whose personal memories are launchpads for complex, ambitious immersive installations filled to the brim with wild and exuberant ceramic sculptures and more recently paintings and textile works (which she collaborates on with her mother). Mendick's work has a gothic sensibility with themes of gruesomeness, disgust...
Dec 18, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Season 8 continues with an intimate, feature-length special episode! Russell & Robert chat with Torkwase Dyson (b. 1973, Chicago, Illinois) from her studio in New York. Dyson describes herself as a painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Examining environmental racism as well as the history and future of black spatial liberation strategies, Dyson’s abstract works grapple with the ways in which space is perceived and...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 8Ep. 3
New Talk Art!!! For this special episode, we partner with Winsor & Newton to explore oil painting with two super-talented, contemporary artists! In part 1, Russell & Robert meet Adelaide Damoah RWA FRSA, a British painter and performance artist of Ghanaian descent who uses her body as the starting point for much of her work. Themes of particular interest include feminism, colonialism, religion and spirituality. We discuss her fresh approach to painting including her use of her own body a...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 8Ep. 2
TALK ART returns for SEASON 8!!! YES, lucky number EIGHT!!! Russell & Robert meet Tyler Mitchell (American, b. 1995), the leading photographer and filmmaker in London where he's been working recently! Based in Brooklyn, Mitchell works across many genres to explore and document a new aesthetic of Blackness. His work is regularly published in avant-garde magazines, commissioned by prominent fashion houses, and exhibited in top tier institutions. One of our favourite galleries, Jack Shainman, N...
Dec 04, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 8Ep. 1
For the final episode of Season 7, Russell & Robert meet Lauren Weedman, best known for her standout role as Doris on HBO's television series Looking (alongside Russell!). As well as being a leading actress and comedian (not comedienne - as we discuss!!!!!!), one of her longterm passions is painting and making art. On her instagram @ThisOneIsTitled , started during lockdown, Weedman revealed 'The Quarantine Series' of unique figurative paintings, which she sells from $200 via Instagram and h...
Nov 25, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 14
Talk Art EXCLUSIVE!!! Russell and Robert meet Tracey Emin CBE RA for an intimate, private tour of her major new exhibition with Edvard Munch at the Royal Academy of the Arts in central London. Running until 28th February 2021, this feature-length interview was recorded during lockdown within this extraordinary exhibition. 'The Loneliness of the Soul' is scheduled to open to the public in early December 2020. Talk Art fun fact: Emin is the first guest to come onto our podcast TWICE! Emin has been...
Nov 20, 2020•1 hr 43 min•Season 7Ep. 13
NYC Special Episode!!! Robert and Russell meet artist Salman Toor (b. 1983) at his studio in Brooklyn, New York as he puts the finishing touches to his paintings for his first institutional solo show at Whitney Museum of American Art. Known for his small-scale figurative works that combine academic technique and a quick, sketch-like style, Toor offers intimate views into the imagined lives of young, queer Brown men residing between New York City and South Asia. Recurring colour palettes and refe...
Nov 13, 2020•55 min•Season 7Ep. 12
Talk Art Season 7 continues!! Russell and Robert meet Lucy Jones (b.1955), the British artist world renowned for her raw, wild landscapes and distinctively provocative self-portraits, characterised by expressive brushwork and bold use of vibrant colour. Balancing an intricate rendering of line and space in her landscapes with the powerful simplicity of her portraits, Jones’s paintings conduct a journey through both interior landscapes and the external world beyond. Lucy Jones’ distinctively prov...
Nov 06, 2020•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 11
Talk Art Special Episode!!!! Russell and Robert meet three incredible emerging artists Charlotte McDonald, Aflie Kungu and Rose Electra Harris!!! We are very excited to continue our partnership with Bombay Sapphire, celebrating their new #RipeForDiscovery Artist Series. Russell recently worked alongside Bombay Sapphire as co-curator to choose three fantastic emerging artists to create unique limited edition artworks for new #BombayBramble gin bottle labels! Listen to learn all about the artworks...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Season 7 continues with another Talk Art exclusive! Russell & Robert meet artist Jadé Fadojutimi for a special tour of ' Jesture', her recent London solo exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. Fadojutimi created this remarkable new series of paintings during lockdown. Next year, she will participate in Liverpool Biennial 2021 as well solo exhibitions at Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami), The Hepworth (Wakefield) and Taka Ishii (Tokyo). The title of the exhibition, Jesture , touches on ...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Talk Art exclusive!!! We meet a living LEGEND!! For episode 8, Russell and Robert meet the iconic British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith CH CBE RDI (born 5 July 1946). We discuss a lifetime of collecting art, his recent award of Companion of Honour from the Queen, setting up a new foundation with the aim of giving advice to creative people, his support of artists at the Royal Academy Schools and Slade including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and James Lloyd and the lasting impact artists like David Hock...
Oct 22, 2020•50 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Russell and Robert meet legendary UK based queer artist/photographer Sunil Gupta (b. 1953, New Delhi India). From Here to Eternity is Gupta's first major retrospective, offering a complex and layered view of his unique transcontinental photographic vision. Born in New Delhi, India, relocated to Montreal, Canada, before studying at the Royal College of Art in London, Gupta has been using photography as a critical practice since the 1970s. Subversive, impulsive, personal and political, Sunil Gupta...
Oct 15, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Talk Art Season 7 continues!! For episode 6, Russell and Robert meet the creative power couple of singer/songwriter DENAI MOORE & film director NADIRA AMRANI!!!! Denai's new album 'Modern Dread', with sleeve art by Nadira, is Talk Art's FAVOURITE album of 2020!!! We discuss the influence of art on both of their creative disciplines and their favourite contemporary artists including Joy Yamusangie , Isaac Julien, Sarah Lucas, Elmgreen & Dragset and the architect Zaha Hadid. We explore col...
Oct 08, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Russell and Robert meet Catherine Opie (b. 1961, Sandusky, OH; lives in Los Angeles), known for her powerfully dynamic photography that examines the ideals and norms surrounding the culturally constructed American dream and American identity. She first gained recognition in the 1990s for her series of studio portraits titled Being and Having, in which she photographed gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals drawn from her circle of friends and artists. Opie has traveled extensively across the ...
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Russell and Robert meet Noel Fielding, legendary comedian, writer, actor, artist, musician, and TV presenter - back on screens this week in The Great British Bake Off! Known for his use of surreal humour and black comedy, Noel first came to prominence in The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe, starring as lead character Vince Noir but also creating many of the costumes, make-up designs and animated segments. In recent years he's also become celebrated for his colourful figurative paintings and his lockd...
Sep 24, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Season 7 continues!!! For episode 3, Russell & Robert meet Jeffry Mitchell a "gay folk artist" (as he describes himself) whose primary mediums are ceramic and drawing. Well versed in ceramic's traditions around the globe (references to Early American glazes, Pennsylvania Dutch pickle jars, asymmetrical Japanese aesthetic decisions and Chinese Foo Dogs abound), Mitchell takes a very direct approach to working, often eschewing refinements that commonly accompany many ceramic processes. The res...
Sep 17, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Season 7 continues!!! For episode 2, Russell & Robert chat to Cassi Namoda (b. 1988, Maputo, Mozambique), a painter and performance artist who explores the intricacies of social dynamics and mixed cultural and racial identity. Capturing scenes of everyday life, from mundane moments to life-changing events, Namoda paints a vibrant and nuanced portrait of post-colonial Mozambique within an increasingly globalised world. Namoda is interested in conveying the dualities between sacrifice, pain an...
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Talk Art returns for Season 7! Russell and Robert meet Marianne Berenhaut, the Belgian-born artist (b. 1934) who for almost 50 years has been gathering, curating and transforming objects found in her immediate surroundings. Her powerful yet delicate sculptures and installations address themes of longing, trauma, absence and memory. Through her vast body of work, spanning five decades, Marianne Berenhaut has created a unique and idiosyncratic visual language. We discuss numerous artworks includin...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Russell & Robert meet Kenny Schachter for Talk Art's Season 6 Finale... and what better way to close this special quarantine season than with art world ROYALTY!!!! Kenny is truly a polymath - dealer, artist, writer, collector, curator, lecturer and all-round LEGEND!!! We admire his deep love of art, the way he champions artists but also how he speaks truth to power, never afraid to call out bad behaviour or corruption. For this feature-length episode, we discuss Kenny's lifelong passion for ...
Aug 10, 2020•1 hr 42 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Russell & Robert meet Jennifer Gilbert, leading curator, gallerist and champion of Outsider Art! As founder of the Jennifer Lauren Gallery, her aim is to champion and exhibit international self-taught, disabled and overlooked artists who create works outside the mainstream art world and art history. Jennifer works closely with UK organisations, studios and communities supporting disabled artists, in order to promote new, unique artists and creators. She is passionate about being a voice and ...
Aug 03, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Talk Art exclusive!!! For this very special, feature-length episode, Russell & Robert speak to legendary artist Wolfgang Tillmans. We discuss growing up in Germany, his move to the Bournemouth, UK to study art, his collaboration with gallerist Maureen Paley and how he went on to become the first photographer to win the Turner Prize in 2000. We explore some of our favourite works including his portraits of Concorde airplanes, his unique approach to installing work, his passion for making musi...
Jul 27, 2020•1 hr 40 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Robert & Russell meet leading British artist Anthea Hamilton, best known for creating strange and surreal artworks and large-scale installations. Recorded on 5th January 2020 at Spiritland, Kings Cross. We discuss the experience of being a Turner Prize nominee, meeting Gaetano Pesce the Italian architect and design pioneer, working with curator Ruba Katrib from New York’s Sculpture Center and the important power of a “yes”. We explore her image archive, often printed-out images including Mos...
Jul 20, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 9
