In this episode, Francisca talks about how publicising the plight of her country, which has seen six million of its inhabitants leaving this beleaguered state, has become the main focus of her artistic practice. She talks about her childhood, leaving for the United States and then the UK for her art education, her Million Bag... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British artist Benjamin Hannavy Cousen talks about how he converts books into visual artworks by mapping each colour mentioned in them with layers of acrylic paint applied with a syringe. He talks about how he creates “an archaeology of memory” and how his English Literature, History of Art and Cultural Memory studies... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British artist Kim Pace talks about the weird, hybrid creatures she paints and sculpts focusing on fluid identity, her upbringing with an artistic mother and eccentric father, her love of ceramics, the influence of Mexican folklore and female surrealists, the importance of drawing and her love of grotesques. Accompanying images on consideringart.com... Continue Reading →

In this episode, South African artist Beezy Bailey talks about his family roots, his time in New York with the likes of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, his Fine Art degree in London, his collaborations with rock stars David Bowie, Dave Matthews and Brian Eno, his alter ego Joyce Ntobe and his response to exhibiting... Continue Reading →

In this episode, sculptor John Atkin talks about the influence on his work of the industrial and rural landscapes of his youth, how Henry Moore came to finance his MA, the inspiration of Wilfred Owen and other literary figures, his love of found objects, how he discovered garment patterns that alluded to the human form,... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British painter Victoria Crowe talks about how her paintings reflect both her external and inner life, how she was attracted to the landscape of the Pentland Hills in Scotland that she made her home, the influence of Russian icons, how she responded artistically to the death of her son, the inspiration of... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Marie-Thérèse Ross talks about how her sculptural skills developed from collages, how she developed the idea for anthropomorphic furniture, how fragmentation expresses the sense of movement in her work, her fascination with birds and animals through which she can sometimes express anger and her recent collaboration with a composer. Accompanying images on... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British artist Marcus Dove talks about how art saved him from a prison sentence, how he came to use explosives as his way of mark making in what he calls “creation through destruction”, how he adapted a missile launcher to blast paint on to his canvas, how his process once put him... Continue Reading →

In this latest episode, prize-winning British painter Andrea Tyrimos talks about how art has been a way for channelling stress, how she began her career mixing street art with fine art, how public art has always been close to her heart, and how in solo exhibitions such as Bipolar Picasso and Resilient, she came to... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British artist Mandy Payne talks about how she gave up dentistry for art, how she is attracted to Brutalist architecture in particular the Grade II listed Park Hill estate in Sheffield, why she paints on concrete and what advice she’d give to others thinking of changing career to become an artist. Top... Continue Reading →

In this episode, American artist Deborah Kruger talks about her textile creations consisting of “feathers” made from recycled plastic in her studio in Mexico, how she learnt to use textiles growing up, how she is highlighting the extinction of bird species as well as the death of many of the world’s languages as she seeks... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, Northern Irish artist Claire Morgan talks about how an early trauma has had a profound impact on her life, how she was drawn to taxidermy for her installations, how concern for the environment is a key component of her works and how her art has been a journey of self-discovery. Top photo... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Indo-Caribbean artist Suchitra Mattai talks about how her family history of indentured labour informs her art, how textiles are her main focus including saris that hold a symbolic significance, how her work gives a voice to those who have traditionally been silenced including labourers, migrants and those with mental illness, and how... Continue Reading →

In this episode, this internationally acclaimed British painter talks about his recent peripatetic life, why he favours painting bleak and barren landscapes, how his works are derived and evolved from personal memories and how his needing to make sense of the world through his work is a lonely but satisfying process. Accompanying images on consideringart.com... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British painter Jo Holdsworth tells how she developed her style of elongated, anonymous figures with long shadows, how she became a professional artist after a corporate career, how she achieves a psychological depth to her work and how commissions stretch her. Accompanying images on consideringart.com All images are ©Jo Holdsworth You can... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Marcus Jansen talks about his unusual upbringing in both New York and Mönchengladbach, the influence of street artists and German Expressionists on his work, how he joined the US Army in 1989 and took part in the first Gulf War, how art saved him when he developed PTSD and how the war... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, Robert Fitzmaurice talks about the art that excited him even as a young boy, how his father’s POW experience in World War II sowed the seed for his interest in family dynamics, how his practice was influenced by the Constructivist painter Adrian Heath, how themes of masculinity and militarism developed, and how... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Anthony Daley talks about how he reacted to racism at school after arriving from Jamaica as a young boy, his attitude towards black arts movements, his dislike of strict artistic definitions, his relationship with colour, how Old Master painters influence his process, and his approach to teaching painting. Accompanying images on consideringart.com... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, Aoife van Linden Tol tells why she chose art initially over science, how her interest in explosives began, about some of her explosive artworks, how she became fascinated by cosmology, how her artist residency at the European Space Agency was “life changing”, and how her resultant ESA project Star Storm unfolded. Accompanying... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British artist Sally Loughridge talks about how her horizons were broadened at art school in Oxford, how she expressed the movement of ballet dancers after viewing them in rehearsals, her career in costume design in TV, film and theatre, and her love of printmaking. Accompanying images on consideringart.com All images are ©Sally... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Hughie O’Donoghue talks about how his father’s wartime experiences became a subject of his paintings, his rejection of conceptual art, how he was inspired by the landscape of County Mayo in Ireland, how a beached ship became a recurring motif in his work, how his paintings are multi-layered both physically and psychologically,... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, octogenarian master glass artist Peter Layton talks about the excitement he still feels for working with glass, how he turned to the medium from ceramics, how he set up his London Glassblowing Company to keep alive the ancient tradition of glassblowing as an art form, emulating artists such as van Gogh and... Continue Reading →

In this episode, photographer and microscopist Steve Gschmeissner talks about his scientific background, how he uses a scanning electron microscope to photograph subjects not visible to the naked eye, how he creates beautiful pictures through skilful colouring and how he has been embraced by the art world for album covers, exhibitions, fashion and for the... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, Welsh painter Ceri Pritchard talks about being brought up by two artist parents, why he dropped sculpture for painting, how he came to live in Mexico, why creating unsettling works is more interesting to him than the comfortable and reassuring, his love of worlds within worlds in his paintings, his use of... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast, Nigerian artist Gbolohan Ayoola talks about the art scene in his hometown of Lagos, the state of the art market for Nigerians and Africans in general, the deficiencies of an art college education, the influences that drive him as an artist, his “blue woman” series, how current issues such as police... Continue Reading →

In this latest podcast, Brett Murray describes his upbringing as a white person in apartheid South Africa, how the 1976 Soweto riots changed his life, how he used his art to help in the struggle against the apartheid regime, his self-exile in London and his triumphant return when the African National Congress was unbanned, how... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, Thomas Allen describes his current woodland life, how sociological theories inform his work, his opinion that human beings need to be “de-centred” from the natural world, how Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious inspired his so-called contemporary cave paintings, and the new work being prepared for his Mall Galleries exhibition next year.... Continue Reading →

In this podcast, eminent UK sculptor and drawer Nicola Hicks talks about the privilege of having both parents as artists, her difficulties fitting in at school, the problems of early success, her raw sculpting style, the darkness of her subject matter, and how working on her latest exhibition, Dump Circus, helped her through the anxiety... Continue Reading →

In this latest podcast, Australian painter and illustrator Felicity Marshall talks about how disaster struck her in the 1980s, how she is inspired by the nature in the Victorian coastal area in which she lives, how she trained in classical ballet in addition to studying Fine Art, how 17 years working in the film industry... Continue Reading →

Sculptor, painter and photographer Philipp Humm tells how he became a business man having failed to get into art school, how he kept up his art during a glittering career in the high tech industry until the urge to become a full-time artist overcame him, and how he has updated and condensed Goethe’s Faust to... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast, Lisa Micklewright talks about her rich artistic family tradition, the influence of the Slade School of Fine Art on her oeuvre, the inspirations for her landscapes, her use of technology to find locations and her love of the aerial perspective. Accompanying images on consideringart.com All images are ©Lisa Micklewright You can... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast, American abstract artist Angela Heisch talks about her upbringing in New Zealand, her gradual progression into abstract art, her early influences and inspirations, and the development of her distinctive visual language which has brought her success in New York and now her first solo UK show in London. Angela Heisch talking... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast episode, photographer Jane Hilton talks about her passion for the American west and the extraordinary stories behind some of her award-winning series that have featured, among others, modern-day cowboys, rodeo riders, sex workers and drag queens. Accompanying images on consideringart.com Images from Drag Queen Cowboys, 2019 All images are ©Jane Hilton... Continue Reading →

This summer, works by four notable artists have been added to The Line, London’s first public art walk founded six years ago by Megan Piper and Clive Dutton. Sculptures by Virginia Overton, Eva Rothschild, Tracey Emin and Madge Gill have been added to the northern section alongside the River Lea. The last is a little-known... Continue Reading →

In this latest podcast, Raksha Patel talks about her upbringing in Leicester, how her art turned full circle from focusing on race and identity through surrealism, fantasy and dystopia and back again. Raksha also talks about her art education career, and the need for British artists of South Asian heritage to gain more recognition and... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast, British artist Piers Secunda explains why he developed a technique to paint in a way that dispenses with the canvas, how 9/11 changed his life, how he documents the systematic destruction of cultural artefacts, statues and buildings through his paintings, and his dramatic and emotional experiences on trips to China, Afghanistan... Continue Reading →

In this podcast episode, painter Eleanor Moreton talks about how she sees the home as a place of dysfunction and repression, her use of history as a metaphor for the personal, her interest in murderers, how and why she has reversioned classic Pre-Raphaelite works, how folk traditions can be used as a method of control,... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast episode, Emma Coop tells how flux in her personal life turned her from a conceptual artist into one focusing on landscape. She explains why she favours using chunky graphite sticks as her main medium, how she has an affinity with nature despite being a city dweller, and how she tries to... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast episode, London-born artist Hatty Buchanan tells how some of her conceptual sculptures are drawn from her experiences as a teenager in Soho where she came across all manner of exotic people active in the sub-culture of the club, music and fashion scene. She also talks about her work in theatre production... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast episode, Scots-Italian artist Sarah Hardie talks about how singing filled the family home, how she toyed with the idea of being a portrait painter, how she literally found her voice in her work, how psychoanalytical theories influence her, and about her current prize-winning work Spring Sometimes Rises in Me. Accompanying images... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast, Paul Stone, aka My Dog Sighs, tells the extraordinary story of how a chance encounter with a stencilled rat unlocked a creative urge to make street art, how giving away art made from found items mushroomed into a worldwide phenomenon he named Free Art Friday, how this bolstered his reputation leading... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast episode, Julie Held talks about how painting became a refuge as well as a joy, how seeing an Edvard Munch exhibition as a child changed her life, her obsessions with shoe shops and florists, the psychoanalytical edge to her work and her love of colour especially blue. Accompanying images on consideringart.com... Continue Reading →

In my latest podcast episode, Scottish artist Pinkie Maclure talks about how she got into stained glass accidentally, how her ambition to go to art school was thwarted, her career as a singer and performer, how heroin ruined the lives of many friends, and how the allegorical power and symbolism of medieval stained glass windows... Continue Reading →

British interdisciplinary artist Tatiana de Stempel talks about her work as an art director in film and in theatre design, her experience of residencies in China and India, her love of narrative in her painting, her role as director of Light More Light organising art events in London, her work with the late Indian arts... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast episode, Luke Jerram talks about the ideas behind some of his spectacular and highly popular installations, sculptures and live events that have been shown around the world. These include Park and Slide, originally installed as a playful work in his native Bristol, Play Me I’m Yours in which his team installed... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast episode, British artist Nicole Wassall tells of how she gave up consultancy to realise her dream of becoming an artist, how her artistic approach has been inspired by neuroscientific research, her feelings of enlightenment when seeing certain works by Rothko and Bacon, how a “suffragette” coin inspired a feminist artwork and... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast, UK-based artist Henry Jabbour talks about having to leave his native Lebanon because of constant war and political instability, how he gave up a highly successful career as a medical scientist to follow his passion for art, how he expresses emotion in his paintings through body gesture and rich colour, and... Continue Reading →

In our latest podcast episode, South African artist Teresa Kutala Firmino describes the brutal and violent atmosphere that existed in her home town of Pomfret within the community of 32 Battalion, a special forces insurgency group that fought in the South African Border War between 1966 – 1989. She talks about how the colourful tableaux... Continue Reading →