We meet Bengi Ünsal, Director of ICA London which is celebrating its landmark 75th year. She is the second woman to serve as the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts and has been successfully refocusing their commitment to live music, live performances alongside extensive visual arts, film and education programmes. (As we discover in this episode, the first female Director was Dorothy Morland from 1952-1968, who was also the longest running the ICA for 18 years).The Institute of Contemporary Arts is much more than a museum. Since its inception in 1947 as the first truly multi-disciplinary arts organisation, the ICA has always been a progressive, alternative, and a safe place for artists who are looking beyond the mainstream: the ones who are willing to go beyond the status quo, and those who take risks and defy definitions.Today, the ICA remains at the heart of contemporary culture in London, commissioning, producing, and presenting urgent new work in film, music, performance, digital art, and the visual arts, by the most vital and provocative artists of our time.Follow @ICAlondon and @BengiUnsalVisit @CounterEditions for 8 new fundraising prints to celebrate 75 Years of the ICA. Find prints here: https://www.countereditions.comBefore the ICA, Bengi was the head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts centre and one of the most-visited attractions in the country. During her tenure, she was responsible for a year-round programme of more than 200 gigs and contemporary music performances across its venues. She oversaw the award-winning artist-curated Meltdown festival, alongside guest curators M.I.A in 2017, Robert Smith (2018), Nile Rodgers (2019) and Grace Jones, who brought together artists including Peaches and Skunk Anansie for the 27th edition earlier this year. Under her leadership, the Southbank Centre launched its first regular club night, Concrete Lates, in 2018, and futuretense, a weekly free slot for international emerging music talent, delivered in partnership with BBC Music Introducing. As multifaceted as her work, Ünsal is a DJ, has run her own events company, launched a festival, and has worked for radio and music TV channels, Universal Music and BMG. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talk Art special episode with WePresent! We meet Durk Dehner to discuss TOM OF FINLAND as the 40th anniversary of the ToF Foundation approaches. Since first meeting Tom in 1978, Durk worked closely with the artist, serving from time to time as Tom's muse which continued until Tom's death in 1991. We also chat with Richard Villiani, the foundation's Creative Director.In 1984, the nonprofit Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) was established by Durk and Touko Laaksonen a.k.a. Tom of Finland (b.1920, Kaarina). As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homoerotic art, the Foundation’s original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today ToFF continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality. Unlike many artists, Tom of Finland’s work has always been appreciated by a grass-roots audience as his work was first seen in commercial settings such as magazine illustration, posters and advertising. From the perspective of art historians, Tom’s work had an effect on global culture unmatched by that of virtually any other artist. Tom’s work had a defining impact on the way Gay men throughout the world were perceived and more importantly, how they perceived themselves. Tom’s work has, therefore, had a ripple effect throughout Gay and Straight culture, influencing lifestyle, political tolerance, design, fashion and art.Follow @TomOfFinlandFoundation & support ToFF by donating, shopping or getting involved via their official website: www.TomOfFinland.orgJoin the global community of ToF! It really is a loving, creative, safe space for all.Russell Tovey is WeTransfer’s third Guest Curator across 2023 where he spotlights LGBTQIA+ artists that have inspired him. The selected artists of the Guest Curatorship have been given a platform on WePresent, the arts arm of WeTransfer, and on these TalkArt episodes.  As part of this collaboration, WePresent will also launch Russell Tovey’s documentary Life is Excellent and present a tour of four performances of BLUE NOW, a live version of Derek Jarman’s film BLUE directed by Neil Bartlett and performed by Russell Tovey alongside three other performers. As a certified B Corporation™, WeTransfer has long been a champion of using business as a force for good. Since its founding in 2009, WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of its advertising space to support artists and social causes, and commissioned original projects for its Oscar-winning arts platform WePresent. Last year, WeTransfer also launched its Supporting Act Foundation to support emerging creative talent through arts education, grants, and an annual prize.Follow @WePresent on Instagram and visit https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/ to stay up to date on Russell Tovey’s Guest Curatorship on WePresent. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We meet legendary artist Sylvia Snowden from her home in Washington DC where she has been painting for the past 60+ years!Known for her use of abundantly thick, layered paint, Snowden has developed a visual language in which gems of colour and texture emerge from densely-worked under layers. From dark and earthy tones to the vibrant and artificial, Snowden’s command of chromatic range is the fuel of her expressionistic style. Over the course of her more than five-decade-long career, in which she has always painted in series, Snowden developed an adroitness with her medium. She initially employed oil paint and pastels then moved toward acrylic–a less toxic and faster-drying alternative–after having children. Snowden paints sculpturally, her compositions range from larger-than-life to portrait-sized. Her process allows visible evidence of constructed layers and employs impasto that interacts with her bold figures caught in motion with physical weight.Snowden’s voluminous bodies, often contrapposto, are surrounded by peaks of shifting chroma in a physical manifestation of feeling; she depicts the tension and intensity of life, and the troubled, optimistic, and dramatic elements of our sublime existence. Snowden encapsulates the psychological essence of her subjects–some of whom were unhoused and transient, displaced by gentrification, others with whom she had intimate or long-term relationships–their triumphs, paranoia, agony, and anger are all visible; these works convey an emotionally turbulent environment. Snowden’s expressive paintings reference the immediate lives of these individuals, and act as interpretations of each subject's psyche. As a serial painter, Snowden alternates between representation and abstraction, exhausting her emotional self between each mode as she articulates the struggles and successes of humanity.Sylvia Snowden (b.1942, Raleigh, NC) spent her childhood in New Orleans. Aged 14, she and her family moved to Washington, D.C. Snowden’s parents Dr. George W. Snowden & Mrs. Jessie Burns Snowden encouraged her artistic pursuits at a young age, which led to her enrolment in the art department at Howard University. Snowden received a scholarship to Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME and has a certificate from La Grande Chaumier in Paris, France. She holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Howard University. At Howard University she studied under David C. Driskell. She has taught at Howard University, Cornell and Yale, has served as an artist-in-residence, a panelist, visiting artist, lecturer/instructor and curator in universities, galleries and art schools both in the United States and internationally.Visit Sylvia's new exhibition 'M Street on White' until 28th October 2023 in London at Edel Assanti: https://edelassanti.com/exhibitions/118-sylvia-snowden-m-street-on-white/Follow Sylvia's galleries @EdelAssanti and @ParraschHeijnen and @FranklinParraschGalleryVisit Sylvia's official website: https://sylviasnowden.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talk Art special episode with WePresent! We meet artist FIZA KHATRI to discuss their recent paintings. Their work represents intimate portraits and gatherings of human and nonhuman inhabitants of their community. They remix imagery from lived experiences, imagined fantasies, sacred landscapes, and archival research to imbricate the social, sacral, and political stakes of building ecosystems of cohabitation.  Fiza Khatri was born and grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. They currently live in New Haven, CT and are an MFA candidate at the Yale School of Art in Painting and Printmaking. Follow @fklmnop on Instagram and visit Fiza's website: https://www.fizakhatri.com/Russell Tovey is WeTransfer’s third Guest Curator across 2023 where he spotlights LGBTQIA+ artists that have inspired him. The selected artists of the Guest Curatorship have been given a platform on WePresent, the arts arm of WeTransfer, and on these TalkArt episodes.  As part of this collaboration, WePresent will also launch Russell Tovey’s documentary Life is Excellent and present a tour of four performances of BLUE NOW, a live version of Derek Jarman’s film BLUE directed by Neil Bartlett and performed by Russell Tovey alongside three other performers. As a certified B Corporation™, WeTransfer has long been a champion of using business as a force for good. Since its founding in 2009, WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of its advertising space to support artists and social causes, and commissioned original projects for its Oscar-winning arts platform WePresent. Last year, WeTransfer also launched its Supporting Act Foundation to support emerging creative talent through arts education, grants, and an annual prize.With more then more than 80 million monthly active users in 190 countries, WeTransfer is a platform by creators for creators. Its ecosystem of creative productivity tools makes it easy to collaborate, share and deliver work. Follow @WePresent on Instagram and visit https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/ to stay up to date on Russell Tovey’s Guest Curatorship on WePresent, the arts arm of WeTransfer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Legendary artist Julian Schnabel discusses his 40-year painting career, including his innovative use of materials and sustaining the use of found materials and chance-based processes. The podcast explores topics such as the validation of art, the power of art, the exploration of man-made and natural objects, the origin of paintings and the concept of identity in art, experimenting with bleach on velvet, the difference between painting and making movies, and memories of artistic collaborations and the 1980s art scene.

Talk Art special episode with WePresent!!! We meet TED ROGERS, a multidisciplinary artist based in Margate working predominantly with movement. Ted explores the extremities of movement through the neurodivergent and non binary lens; plowing their unwavering and infectious energy into any and all mediums, with a particular focus on entertainment and the deeper emotional aspects of humanity. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience within their debut solo show at Quench Gallery. They trained professionally in Musical Theatre before moving to London and finding nightlife, queer culture, gogo-dancing, drag, fashion, music and contemporary dance.Ted's collaborations have included renowned contemporary artists such as: Rosie Hastings and Hannah Quinlan, Lindsey Mendick, Jenkin Van Zyl, Holly Blakey, Anthea Hamilton & Lucy Mcormick. Ted is currently the performance artist in Residence at Tracey Emin's TKE studios following a sell out commission to open the studios with a performance called "Valentine”.Follow @ArtPornBlog on Instagram and visit Ted's website: https://www.MxRogers.com/Russell Tovey is WeTransfer’s third Guest Curator across 2023 where he spotlights LGBTQIA+ artists that have inspired him. The selected artists of the Guest Curatorship have been given a platform on WePresent, the arts arm of WeTransfer, and on these TalkArt episodes.  As part of this collaboration, WePresent will also launch Russell Tovey’s documentary Life is Excellent and present a tour of four performances of BLUE NOW, a live version of Derek Jarman’s film BLUE directed by Neil Bartlett and performed by Russell Tovey alongside three other performers. As a certified B Corporation™, WeTransfer has long been a champion of using business as a force for good. Since its founding in 2009, WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of its advertising space to support artists and social causes, and commissioned original projects for its Oscar-winning arts platform WePresent. Last year, WeTransfer also launched its Supporting Act Foundation to support emerging creative talent through arts education, grants, and an annual prize.With more then more than 80 million monthly active users in 190 countries, WeTransfer is a platform by creators for creators. Its ecosystem of creative productivity tools makes it easy to collaborate, share and deliver work. Follow @WePresent on Instagram and visit https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/ to stay up to date on Russell Tovey’s Guest Curatorship on WePresent, the arts arm of WeTransfer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iconic American film director Gus Van Sant discusses his deconstructed Mona Lisa series, friendship with Derek Jarman, how he became a painter in his teens, lasting influence of his art teacher, and how painting informed his filmmaking. He also reflects on his early artistic journey, the artistic nature and impact of 'My Own Private Idaho', and his ventures in making a musical about Andy Warhol.

Talk Art Live with Oliver Hemsley!!! Season 17 FINALE!!! For our second interview with artist Oliver Hemsley, we meet within his debut exhibition at TKE Studios, Margate - the artist studio complex and gallery founded by Tracey Emin. Recorded in front of an intimate audience of art lovers, Margate family and friends, this episode is one of our proudest moments - proud of our talent friend Oliver and his extraordinary exhibition. We discuss his new works on canvas - a new development in his journey making paintings, having predominantly previously worked on paper.Oliver Hemsley is an autobiographical artist who lives in Suffolk with his two dogs. For his first solo exhibition, Hemsley presents a selection of intimate and confronting self-portrait paintings produced in his home studio. CAREGIVERS is an unapologetic and uncompromising look at the body and the personal complexities of an existence that is dependent on the care of others.Hemsley is the first artist to have a solo show curated by Tracey Emin and Elissa Cray at TKE Studios and it has been selected to coincide with Margate Pride. You can read more from Oliver in our recent Talk Art: The Interviews book. Available now! You can listen to our previous 2021 interview with Oliver in the Talk Art podcast archive (click here).Special thanks to Oliver, Tracey and Elissa! We also recommend reading this new review of Oliver's exhibition at ANOTHER Magazine: https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/15075/oliver-hemsley-tracey-emin-exhibition-caregivers-margateVisit Oliver's new exhibition @TKEStudios in Margate, Kent until 15th October 2023. Visit: https://www.TraceyEminFoundation.com/TKE EXHIBITION OPENING HOURS:SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS 12PM - 4PMFor images of all artworks discussed in this episode visit @TalkArt. Talk Art theme music by Jack Northover @JackNorthoverMusic courtesy of HowlTown.comIf you've enjoyed this episode PLEASE leave us your feedback and maybe 5 stars if we're worthy in the Apple Podcast store. For all requests, please email talkart@independenttalent.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We meet leading artist Victoria Cantons from her London studios!!! We discuss her autobiographical as well as confessional work. Cantons presents a record of trauma and healing, alongside a rigorous inquiry into the social constraints surrounding gender politics. Deeply informed by her own experience of limitation and stigma, her work reverberates with notions of freedom, selfhood, representation, power and aspects of the human condition which she writes, despite our divergent identities and experiences, "connect us all." While her incisive and inquisitive creative gaze extends across photography, text and video, painting and drawing remain firmly at the centre of her practice, providing a means of, she writes, "clearing the drainpipes" and exploring the question what can paint and painting do? Her 2022 Flowers Gallery exhibition People Trust People Who Look Like Them presented a series of large self-portraits painted from a personal archive of photographs made over a period of more than a decade in the years before, during, and after intensive facial surgery. Luminous and visceral in their depiction of flesh, the paintings capture the shape-shifting bloom of post-surgical bruising, fading scar tissue, greying hair and the mottled lustre of theatrically applied makeup. Cantons describes the importance of accuracy and honesty in the paintings, saying “I needed to show exactly what this woman has been through.” Cantons is a multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on painting. Her works can be best described as figurative and colourist with political undercurrents. Cantons has a transgender history – having transitioned at thirty-nine – and was an only child, growing up in London with a Catholic mother from Spain and Jewish father of French and Russian descent. Because of this background, Cantons is keenly aware of questions concerning boundaries, stigma and freedom. “What we as individuals present to the world is multifaceted and not always visible, a continuous evolution in response to experience and in relationship to each other.” From its content and imagery to its titles, the human condition, gender, and social identity are at the core of her work.  Cantons’s portraits and still lifes are painted in gestural brushstrokes with a limited, muted, palette that tends to evoke feelings of nostalgia. She often depicts youthful figures who shine their individual light upon the treacherous path to adulthood; much like how the tenderness of Spring paves the way for a scalding summer.Victoria Cantons (b. 1969) lives and works in London. She studied Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon (UAL); followed by Turps Art School, London; and graduated with an MFA in Painting from Slade, UCL in 2021, where she received the Felix Slade Scholarship (2018). Cantons has exhibited her work internationally, with some of her most recent shows at London's Guts Gallery and Flowers Gallery (both 2023), the Tree Art Museum in Beijing (2021), Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles (2020) and White Cube in London (2020).Follow @VictoriaCantons on Instagram and her official website: www.victoriacantons.comVisit her galleries, Flowers Gallery: https://www.flowersgallery.com/artists/1325-victoria-cantons/Guts Gallery: https://gutsgallery.co.uk/artists/44-victoria-cantons/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We meet leading artist RENE MATIĆ to discuss current solo exhibition ‘A Girl For The Living Room’ at Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol. This episode includes a special moment with living legend, and focus of Rene’s new show, TRAVIS ALABANZA. We also explore earlier works exhibited at South London Gallery and their solo show at Quench Gallery, Margate. Plus we discuss a series of fifteen photographs that the Tate museum have acquired for their permanent collection - currently on display at Tate Britain's rehang of Modern and Contemporary British Art.Rene Matić (b. 1997, Peterborough, UK) is a London-based artist and writer whose practice spans across photography, film, and sculpture, converging in a meeting place they describe as "rude(ness)" - an evidencing and honouring of the in-between. Matić draws inspiration from dance and music movements such as Northern soul, Ska, and 2-Tone as a tool to delve into the complex relationship between West Indian and white working-class culture in Britain, whilst privileging queer/ing intimacies, partnerships and pleasure as modes of survival.  In 2022 Martin Parr Foundation commissioned photographic artist Rene Matić to develop a new body of work in Bristol. Rene has created an intimate portrait of their friend Travis Alabanza, a Bristol born and based writer, performer and theatre maker. This new work comprises a mix of portraits alongside diaristic still lifes that document Rene and Travis’s developing relationship as it became “lit by a table lamp instead of a disco ball.”‘We were excited to discover Rene’s work and started to think about the idea of Rene shooting a project in Bristol and what this might look like. In 2022 we gave them a carte blanche to pursue any subject of their choice for this commission, so long as there was a Bristol connection. In ‘a girl for the living room’ Rene has found a way of capturing and expressing their relationship with Travis Alabanza, a Bristol-born and based artist and performer.’ – Martin ParrFollow @Rene.Matic on Instagram and their gallery @ArcadiaMissa, 35 Duke Street, London: https://arcadiamissa.com/rene-matic/A GIRL FOR THE LIVING ROOM BY RENE MATIĆ runs until 17th September 2023 in Bristol.Visit: @MartinParrFdn and https://www.martinparrfoundation.org/exhibitions/a-girl-for-the-living-room/Thanks for listening!!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.