Ben Luke talks to Alfredo Jaar about his influences—from writers to film-makers, musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Jaar, who was born in 1956, in Santiago, Chile and has been based in New York since the early 1980s, addresses social injustice, human suffering, state-sponsored violence, and imbalances in power between the global north and south. He also explores how these issues are framed in the international media. He has responded to some of the most troubling moments in recent human history, from the military coup in his native Chile in 1973 and its aftermath, to the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, to wars and covert operations waged by Western powers over multiple decades, and the relentless displacement of refugees across the world. He has done so through uncompromising, searing, yet often deeply moving installations in multiple media. Among much else, he discusses the profound influence of John Cage, Hans Haacke and Marcel Duchamp, his fascination with Pier Paolo Pasolini, a transformative experience watching Simone Forti, and the poetry of Ben Okri. Plus, he gives insight into his studio life, and answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: “What is art for?”Alfredo Jaar: If It Concerns Us, It Concerns You, Goodman Gallery, London 18 April-24 May; Alfredo Jaar: 50 Years Later, Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, 19 April – 19 May 2023. One Million German Passports, Pinakothek del Moderne, Munich, 29 March-27 August; Alfredo exhibition for the 11th Hiroshima Art Prize at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan, 22 July-15 October, and an exhibition at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago, Chile, opens on 14 September. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Marguerite Humeau about her influences—from writers to film-makers, musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.Humeau was born in 1986 in the French city of Cholet, near Nantes, and lives in London. She creates extraordinary sculptural environments in which the scientific and the speculative are fused. She acknowledges the perilous present state of the planet and the future of humanity while exploring histories of life on earth across millennia, drawing on mainstream and fringe scientific theory, science fiction and various cultural phenomena, to create dramatic tableaux that are hugely distinctive in their visual language and subject matter. She asks fundamental questions about the world we inhabit and the meaning of human existence. She discusses her early love of the painting of Marlene Dumas, her awe at the work of Pierre Huyghe and how Nina Simone is an ongoing role model. She also reflects on her fascination with Leonora Carrington and the musicians Angel Bat Dawid and Bendik Giske. Plus, she gives insight into her studio life and answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: “What is art for?”Marguerite Humeau: meys, White Cube Bermondsey, London, until 14 May; Orisons, Black Cube, San Luis Valley, Colorado, 24 June-June 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Mike Nelson about his influences—from the worlds of literature, film, music and, of course, art—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Nelson, born in 1967 in Loughborough in the UK, is one of the most significant British sculptors and installation artists of this century. He has spent the past three decades assembling materials gathered in junkyards, flea markets, online auctions, even street-corner fly tips into often labyrinthine sculptural environments. He creates distinctive spaces that suggest fictional (and often science-fictional) narratives, while alluding to diverse histories, obscure countercultural or political movements and current affairs as well as his own biography. He discusses the early influence of Graham Sutherland and Francis Bacon, his elation at discovering the work of Paul Thek, how fiction—and science-fiction writers like Stanislaw Lem, J.G. Ballard and the Strugatsky brothers—liberated his approach to art making, and the enduring influence of film-makers including Jean-Luc Godard and Sergei Parajanov.Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons, Hayward Gallery, London, until 7 May. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of this new series of A brush with… Ben Luke talks to Matthew Krishanu about his influences—including writers, composers, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work.Krishanu, who was born in 1980 in Bradford, UK, is one of Britain’s most distinctive painters. He draws on specific photographic images, including those of his family and his childhood in Bangladesh, yet his paintings are richly ambiguous, as he complicates his source material through emotion, memory, geopolitics, references to art history and literature, and the poetics of paint itself. He discusses the transformative experience of seeing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work, the ongoing influence of El Greco, his response to the work of Gwen John and the art in the caves of Ajanta in India, and his oeuvre’s intimate connection with literature, film and music. Plus, he gives insight into his studio life and answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?Matthew Krishanu, Anomie Publishing, 196pp, £30/€35/$40 (hb). Out now in the UK and Europe, published 20 April in the US. Exhibitions: Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, 13 July-19 August; Tanya Leighton, Los Angeles, 11 November-11 December (tbc). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Amy Sillman about her influences—including writers, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Sillman, who was born in 1955 in Detroit, Michigan, grew up in Chicago, and lives and works in New York, is one of the most brilliant and original painters working today. Her art is steeped in the history of painting, but manages to build on traditions while also taking an irreverent and playful approach to the medium’s time-honoured qualities: colour, line, scale, shape, figure and ground. She also pushes her painting into experimental territory through animated drawings and zines. Among a wealth of references, she discusses the early influence of Saul Steinberg, her passion for the work of artists as diverse as Prunella Clough, Maria Lassnig and Howard Hodgkin, and the enduring influence of Gertrude Stein and Fred Moten. She reflects on a life-changing trip to India and the diverse cultural landscape of late-1970s New York. Plus, she gives insight into her life in the studio and answers the ultimate question: what is art for?Amy Sillman: Temporary Object, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, from 26 April. Faux Pas: Selected Writings and Drawings, After 8 Books, 300pp, €20/£20/£24.95 (pb); amysillman.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Joan Jonas about her influences—including those from the worlds of literature, film, music and, of course, art—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.Jonas, who was born in 1936 in New York and still lives in the city today, is one of the most significant and pioneering artists in the history of video and performance. She draws inspiration from a wealth of cultures and traditions, alluding to everything from fairy tales to ancient myths, scientific study and art history, and brings them together in multidisciplinary installations involving live action, drawing, spoken word, music, sound and video. She discusses her early interest in Minoan culture and Renaissance depictions of space, life-changing visits to Japan and Iceland, and writers as diverse as Jorge Luis Borges, Halldór Laxness, and Susan Howe. Plus, she gives insights into her studio life and has a stirring answer to the ultimate question: what is art for?Joan Jonas: Moving off the Land, Walther König, 272 pp, €25. Drawing in Circles, with Eiko Otake, Castelli Gallery, New York, 14 March-1 April; Joan Jonas, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, until 26 February. Joan Jonas, Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, NY, US, until 13 March. Her retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, opens in spring 2024 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Haroon Mirza about his influences—from writers to composers and musicians, film-makers and, of course, artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Mirza, born in London in 1977, creates installations using sound, light, objects and video. These complex and evolving experiences immerse the viewer in varied sensory phenomena while building fascinating connections between their materials, formally and in the meanings they produce. He reflects on his early interest in Salvador Dalí’s sense of space and time; the impact of seeing the exhibition Sensation in 1997 at the Royal Academy in London; the relationship between science and science fiction; and the complex process of translating ideas from his head to a practical language. We gain insight into Mirza’s studio life and daily rituals and he answers the ultimate question: what is art for?Haroon Mirza, Lisson Gallery, London, 24 February-8 April. You can listen to Haroon’s Modular Opera EP at haroonmirza.bandcamp.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British painter Tess Jaray talks to Ben Luke about her influences—including those from the worlds of literature, music and, of course, art—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.For more than 60 years, Jaray relentlessly explored pictorial and architectural space through abstract painting. Born in Vienna in 1937 but based in the UK since she was a child, she achieved notable success early in her career but is only now gaining the recognition that she has long deserved for building one of the most singular and consistent bodies of work in recent British painting. Steeped in the history of her medium, she balances hard edges and precise handling with a distinctive colour sense that lends it a powerful emotional resonance.Among much else, she discusses her instinctive response to the landscape of Worcestershire, England, where she grew up; the impact of the New York School on the UK art scene of the 1960s; her trip to Morocco in Henri Matisse’s footsteps; the enduring influence of Italian architecture and painting; and her friendship with the writer W.G. Sebald. Plus, she gives insight into her studio life and answers the ultimate question: what is art for?Tess Jaray, Karsten Schubert, London, 16 March-15 April. Gwangju Biennale: Soft and Weak Like Water, Gwangju, South Korea, 7 April-9 July. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Alicja Kwade about her influences—including writers, musicians and, of course, artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Kwade, born in 1979 in Katowice, Poland, and based in Berlin, makes spellbinding sculptural installations that play with perception and question the structures of reality and society. She grapples with philosophical concerns and draws on scientific and mathematic theory, while engaging with time-honoured sculptural properties—space, material, weight and surface. She discusses her early, and ongoing, interest in Gordon Matta-Clark, Leonardo and Jean-Paul Sartre; how music helps her create in the studio; and how, as she has said, “My muse is the blank space, the not-knowing and not-understanding.” Plus, she answers our usual questions, including: “What is art for?”Alicja Kwade: Petrichor, 303 Gallery, New York, until 17 December. In Relation to the Sun, to Sequences of Events within 8016 Hours, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, until 22 December 2022 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Luke talks to Nick Cave about his influences—including those from the worlds of literature, music, film and, of course, art—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Cave, born in Fulton, Missouri, US, in 1959, creates elaborate sculptures and found-object installations. He’s best known for his Soundsuits, which blend sculpture, performance, fashion and social activism. His work veers from the intimate and homespun object to vast installations and performances involving multiple participants. Among much else, he discusses his early encounters with the work of Anselm Kiefer and Barkley Hendricks; his passion for the couture of Elsa Schiaparelli; the enduring influence of George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic; and a seminal sequence in the film The Wiz. Plus, he answers all our usual questions, including the ultimate one: what is art for?Nick Cave: Forothermore, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, until 10 April 2023. In the Black Fantastic, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands, until 9 April 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.