Art Wank

• Episode 210 - Justin Williams

  Send us a textWe interviewed artist Justin Williams at COMA Gallery in Marrickville, Sydney, during his solo show, Waiting for Lavender, on until 22nd February 2025.Justin lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, splitting his time between there and a studio in Paris. We had a great conversation about his journey as an artist, including his early years working in New York. His work is narrative-driven, deeply personal, and rooted in family histories, with multiple stories overlapping within a single painting. He employs a belt sander to disrupt the surface after painting, allowing him to push and pull layers, creating unexpected textures and depth.Thanks for talking to us, Justin, we look forward to watching your career flourish. 

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• Episode 209 - Myfanwy Gullifer

  Send us a textMyfanwy Gullifer is represented by King Street Gallery in Sydney. We had a great time chatting with Myf over Zoom before Christmas while she was at her farm in Walcha, NSW. We discussed her ceramic art practice, the challenges of being an artist, balancing life between the farm and the city, and much more.Thanks Myf. Her show will be later in 2025 at King St. Gallery. 'Myfanwy Gullifer graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.Myfanwy’s upcoming 2025 solo exhibition at King Street Gallery on William will showcase a new series of porcelain works. Please register your interest at [email protected] for a preview.Her work has been exhibited at the Melbourne Art Fair, the Korean International Art Fair and various regional gallery shows such as Interconnected at New England Regional Art Museum, 2022; Paint my place at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, 2016; and In [two] Art at Maitland Regional Gallery, 2012, which toured across New South Wales.In 2019, Myfanwy was a finalist in Still: National Still Life Award at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, and in 2016, the same gallery awarded her the Artist in Residence at Moonee Beach.Her work can be found in various public and private collections from across Australia, such as the New England Regional Art Gallery, Tamworth Regional Gallery, the Laverty Collection and the Open-Air Gallery, Walcha, where she lives and works. Notably, in 2010, Newcastle Art Gallery acquired two of her sculptures on behalf of the Les Renfrew Bequest, which were subsequently exhibited in Clash: Contemporary Sculptural Ceramics at Newcastle Art Gallery.King Street Gallery has represented Myfanwy since 2012.' King Street Gallery

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• Episode 208 - Nick Smith, director of N. Smith Gallery

  Send us a textBefore Christmas 2024, we had the pleasure of speaking with Nick Smith at his N.Smith Gallery, located at 15 Foster St, Surry Hills, Sydney. Nick is an engaging conversationalist and clearly passionate about his work. He established the gallery in 2021, and it has since grown into one of Sydney's most respected and celebrated art spaces. During our chat, Nick shared his journey in the art world, which began with a role at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., followed by experience working in contemporary galleries before finally opening his own. It's been an incredible and ongoing adventure! 'N.Smith Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Sydney, Australia, that currently represents more than 20 artists and collectives, offering curatorial, collection, and management service advice to museums, corporate, foundations and private clients.The gallery has been home to culturally-significant exhibitions across a variety of media and genres, and has facilitated and participated in projects across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, India, Germany, France, UK, and the USA.In 2021, N.Smith opened the eponymous gallery on Napier Street, Paddington in a former church community hall. In 2024, during the opening week of the Biennale of Sydney, Smith relocated the gallery from Paddington to the vibrant Surry Hills, expanding the gallery’s footprint and ambition.Dedicated to living artists, the gallery has and is fostering the careers of some of the most influential artists working today, and plans to maintain long-term representation of the artists we work with.Supporting culture is at the heart of what we do. Beyond the walls of the gallery we support various arts organisations to achieve their mission, including visual arts, music, theatre,  film, and publishing. N.Smith Gallery is a proud member of the Indigenous Art Code of Conduct.'N.Smith Gallery 

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• Episode 207 - Teddy Hansen, British Danish artist

  Send us a textGary discovered the Alveston Gallery in Notting Hill, London, during his travels and was drawn to the work of Teddy Hansen, who was exhibiting at the time. After a conversation with Fergus Downey, the gallery owner, Gary arranged a Zoom meeting with Teddy to learn more about his practice.We’re releasing this podcast just ahead of the London Art Fair, where the Alveston Gallery will be showcasing Teddy’s work.In our conversation, Teddy shared insights into the influence of Danish culture on his art, his experiences as a young artist in London, and his exciting plans for the future.'Teddy Hansen’s comically surreal wall-hangings celebrate the power of escapist art. Inspiring laughter and perplexity, he infuses natural imagery with absurd narrative to convey a wild sense of humour and a rampant obsession with frogs.Having studied at Falmouth and Leeds University, Hansen began his artistic journey with painting and embroidery before developing into the realm of rug-tufting. During the creation process, each piece follows a dream-like narrative which becomes increasingly complex as the work unfolds. Ultimately, it is this sense of unpredictability that fuels Hansen’s vision, culminating in an immersive and arresting aesthetic.Above all, Hansen strives to emphasise the importance of humour and experimentation by encouraging audiences to take his rugs at face value. Instead of inspiring any kind of hidden notions, they are designed with the sole purpose of evoking joyful escapism.' - Alveston GalleryThanks for the chat, Teddy! We wish you all the best in your future.

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• Episode 206 - Nasim Nasr

  Send us a textNasim Nasr is an Iranian-born Australian artist whose work focuses on the issues facing her home country of Iran and the challenges she has experienced as a woman and female artist. These circumstances ultimately led her to leave Iran at the age of 25. Nasim relocated to Australia with her younger siblings, where she has built a life for herself and her family while establishing herself as a prominent artist.Working across photography, installation, and performance, Nasim has gained significant recognition, with her works recently acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. We had the pleasure of speaking with Nasim about her life journey and her beautiful, thought-provoking art. Enjoy listening to her story, and feel free to reach out to Nasim to see her work or for a studio visit. 'Biography:Born in Tehran, Iran 1984Moved to Adelaide, Australia 2009,  Currently lives and works in SydneySince graduating with a Master Visual Arts (Research), University South Australia, 2011, Nasim Nasr’s art practice has sought to comment upon the transience of cultural identities. With an interest in cultural relationships in contemporary society, her artworks have engaged themes of intercultural dialogue and perspective between the historical and contemporary. Using video, photography, performance,  3D objects and sound, these works highlight notions of cultural difference as experienced in her past and present homelands, between West and East and seeks to create a harmony between the two.Nasim Nasr is a third time finalist at Fisher’s Ghost Art Award and will exhibit at Campbelltown Art Centre Oct-Dec 2024 with her new light box; Impulse 2024, In March 2024 Nasr won AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD from the Art’s Minister Tony Burke and Shadow Art Minister Paul Fletcher at the Paliment House, Canberra. Nasr's latest video work ‘Impulse’ was presented at the 2023 Adelaide Independent Film Festival where it won the best Micro Short Film Award, and was in the official selection at the 2023 A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival Awards in Paris. In 2017 Nasr won People’s Choice Award in The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Art Prize, Monash Art Gallery Melbourne, and her Women in Shadow II video documentation won an award at the 10th Anniversary Edition, A Shaded View on Fashion Film, Maison Jean Paul Gaultier and Club De L’Etoile, Paris, France in 2018. Nasr exhibited in the inaugural Triennial of Asia: We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Museum in New York, October 2020–June 2021, her latest solo presentation Impulse at Mars Gallery, Melbourne March-April 2023. She exhibited at Photo London, Somerset House, London in May 2023. Nasr’s latest photograph Impulse (2023) was reproduced on the front cover of ART COLLECTOR magazine in Australia, issue 104 included 8pp profile story on her practice.'

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