Art Wank

• Episode 236 - Decoding ‘Australian Abstraction’ with Rhonda Davis and Kon Gouriotis — Macquarie University Gallery

  Send us a textThis week Art Wank met Rhonda Davis, Curator of Macquarie University Gallery, and Kon Gouriotis, curator and editor of Artist Profile magazine. They recently curated an exhibition at Macquarie Gallery titled Australian Abstraction. We spoke with them about their thinking behind the exhibition, how they chose the artists involved, and the Macqaurie university Art Collection. 'The Australian Abstraction exhibition series continues its exploration of the evolving nature of abstraction within the Australian context. This second stage retraces the diversity, episodic developments, and layered narratives that have shaped abstraction as an enduring force in Australian art.What began as an international movement has been reconfigured and transformed by artists working within the unique socio-political, cultural, and environmental conditions of this country.Sophie Cape, Julia Davis & Lisa Jones in collaboration, Helen Eager, Louise Forthun, Dale Frank, Michael Goss, Gary Gregg, Sean Hogan, Michael Johnson, Kirtika Kain, Donald Laycock, Ian Milliss, Kyle Murrell, NOT, Louise Olsen, Ana Pollak, Jeannette Siebols, Aida Tomescu, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn and Chris WiseCurated by Rhonda Davis and Kon Gouriotis'About the collection at Macquarie University - 'Our collection adorns the entire campus with artwork on display in the library, the faculties, the hospital, the clinics, and the administration buildings, where staff, students and visitors collectively encounter art as part of the everyday life of Macquarie’s expansive campus.The paintings and sculptures add robust vitality, freshness and bursts of colour to the physical environment of the campus − its visual presence is certainly much felt, discussed and enjoyed.'

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• Episode 235 - Aida Tomescu - Patience over time

  Send us a textIn this episode, we chat with the extraordinary Aida Tomescu, one of Australia’s most respected abstract painters. Born in Romania and based in Sydney, Aida has spent her career exploring the emotional and structural possibilities of paint, building a language that’s as physical as it is poetic.We talk about her process: the scraping, layering, and reworking that give her paintings their dense, luminous surfaces. She describes painting as a living conversation, one that demands patience, trust, and deep attention.A major theme in our discussion is the importance of form and the relationships between all the elements within a painting. For Aida, nothing sits in isolation; every shape, colour, and mark holds a relationship to the next. It’s this internal rhythm, this careful balancing of tensions, that gives her work its remarkable sense of harmony and presence. We also spoke with Aida about her teaching career, she taught at National Art School for twenty years, and several of our previous guests have told us what an amazing teacher she was. This conversation is a deep dive into the craft and philosophy of painting — into what it means to spend a lifetime painting. Thanks so much Aida, we loved talking to you. Aida's show opens at Fox Jensen Gallery on 15th November 2025. Aida is represented by Fox Jensen Gallery in Australia , Fox Jensen McCrory in NZ, and Flowers Gallery London and Hong Kong.  

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• Episode 234 - Meditation and beauty with Aaron Aryadharma Matheson

  Send us a textAaron Aryadharma Matheson is an artist living and working at Lennox St Studios, Sydney. He’s been a finalist in the Mosman, Waverley and Waterhouse prizes, and picked up the Richard Ford Travel Award along the way. He studied drawing at the Prince’s Drawing School in London, and later completed a Master of Fine Art at the National Art School in Sydney.This podcast is about art, Buddhism, and living with a chronic illness,multiple sclerosis, and how all those things come together in everyday life. Aaron talks about painting as a way of making sense of things, of finding stillness and meaning through colour, mark and form.  We had such a great chat with Aaron — thanks so much to him for taking the time. Aaron is represented by Liverpool St Gallery. 

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• Episode 233 - From Colour Theory to Creative Practice - Inside the Albers Foundation Residency with Peter Sharp and Michelle Cawthorn

  Send us a textIn this episode of Art Wank, we focus on Australian artists Michelle Cawthorn and Peter Sharp and their recent creative residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut, USA. Together, they reflect on how this experience produced a new body of work and the opportunity to explore the foundations archives. During her residency at the Albers Foundation, Cawthorn immersed herself in collage of birds and particularly focussed on the work of Anni Albers. Sharp engaged directly with the legacy of Josef Albers, exploring how colour, geometry and perception can reveal new ways of seeing the landscape by painting on Albers book on colour, reinterpreting the pages for himself. Michelle Cawthorn – BioMichelle Cawthorn is a Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in drawing and extends across collage, painting, sculpture and installation. Her work explores memory, identity and belonging through an autobiographical lens, often using repetition, pattern and sensory triggers to evoke fragments of experience.Cawthorn holds undergraduate degrees in Fine Art and Art Education from the University of New South Wales, and completed a PhD in Fine Arts in 2021. She has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in over sixty group shows across Australia. Her work is represented by OLSEN Gallery, Sydney.Peter Sharp – BioPeter Sharp is an Australian artist whose practice has, for more than three decades, investigated how the natural world can be understood through abstraction. Working across drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, Sharp captures the structural and rhythmic essence of nature rather than its surface appearance.He holds a Bachelor of Art Education from the City Art Institute (now UNSW Art & Design) and a Master of Fine Arts from UNSW. Sharp has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally.Join us as Michele Cawthorn and Peter Sharp share insights from their transformative experience at the Albers Foundation. Apply for the residency here.Thanks, Peter and Michele, for speaking with us, it was a fascinating insight into your time at the Albers Foundation, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the work that emerges from the experience. 

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• Episode 232 - Talking Landscape, Materials and Meaning with John R. Walker

  Send us a textIn this episode we explore the work and world of Australian artist John R Walker, a painter who invites us to experience the land as a living and layered presence rather than just a view. Born in Sydney in 1957 and now based in Braidwood, New South Wales, Walker’s journey has taken him from city life to a deep engagement with rural environments. His art connects ecology, geology, and memory, revealing what he calls “the experience of being in country.”Walker is known for his large and immersive paintings that map the rhythms and histories of the Australian landscape. His brushwork traces erosion, fire, and growth, capturing both the slow movement of geological time and the immediate sensations of walking through a place. In his Fireground series he responded to the devastation and regeneration of bushfires, showing both the destruction and renewal that shape the land.Over more than thirty years, Walker has exhibited widely in Australia and overseas. His paintings are held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia. His exhibition Journeys and Return at the Orange Regional Gallery in 2023 and 2024 confirmed his reputation as one of the leading painters of country in Australia.In our conversation we discuss how Walker balances materials and philosophy, how walking shapes his art, and why he believes landscape painting today must also tell ecological stories.John is represented by Utopia Art in Sydney Thanks John

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