Art Wank

• 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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• Episode 231 - Michael Cusack: Painting, Abstraction and Building the Byron Bay School of Art

  Send us a textIn this episode we speak with Michael Cusack, an accomplished abstract painter, educator, and co-founder of the Byron School of Art in Mullumbimby. Michael’s career has spanned over three decades, with his paintings exhibited widely across Australia and internationally. His work is represented in major public and private collections, and he is known for his richly layered abstractions that explore colour, form, and the tension between control and chance.Michael began teaching at TAFE NSW, where he developed a strong connection to art education and mentoring younger artists. In 2013, alongside fellow artists Emma Walker, James Guppy and Christine Willcocks, Michael co-founded the Byron School of Art. Based in Mullumbimby, the school has grown into a respected independent art institution in the Northern Rivers, offering a range of programs, exhibitions, and a strong sense of creative community outside of the metropolitan art centres.We talk about Michael’s journey from Ireland to Australia, his ongoing fascination with abstraction, and the role of teaching and community-building in sustaining a meaningful artistic practice.Michael is represented in sydney by Olsen Gallery. 

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• Episode 230 - Inside the World of Artist Gina Bruce

  Send us a textIn this episode of the Art Wank Podcast we chat with Sydney-based artist Gina Bruce, known for her haunting, dreamlike paintings that play between strength and subtlety. Gina works across a variety of media, often returning to the same places to capture their changing moods and connections to identity. Her works are bold in mark-making yet beautifully delicate in atmosphere, creating that unique balance she’s become recognised for.We talk about her journey into art, including how she came to study at the National Art School and what drew her into painting in the first place. Gina shares insights into her process – starting with sketches and drawings – before approaching the canvas with quick, decisive marks that bring her ideas to life.The conversation also touches on her trip to Broken Hill. Gina talks about returning to favourite spots time and again, how place and memory become entwined, and why those themes continue to fascinate her.She has been selected for the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award (twice Highly Commended), and the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, to winning the Waverley Art Prize with her diptych Dreamhouse 2. Gina is represented by Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney. 

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