Art Wank

Paul Connor is an Australian painter whose practice centres on landscape, observation and environmental engagement. Originally trained in architecture, he later completed a Master of Fine Art at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, graduating with first-class honours. Connor has exhibited for more than three decades and is represented in collections throughout Australia and internationally. Known for his expressive interpretations of place, he continues to build upon the rich tradition of Australian landscape painting while addressing contemporary concerns about the environment and cultural connection to country. In this episode, we explore the work and career of Australian artist Paul Connor, a painter whose practice is deeply rooted in the tradition of landscape painting while engaging with contemporary ideas about memory, place and environmental change. Drawing inspiration from direct observation, Connor's work captures both the physical reality and emotional resonance of the Australian landscape. His paintings often evolve from plein air studies, transforming observed scenes into layered compositions that reflect the way places are remembered and reimagined.Connor's background is unusual in that he initially studied architecture before completing a Master of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales. This combination of architectural thinking and painterly observation has influenced his approach to space, structure and composition. Throughout his career he has exhibited widely, with works held in public and private collections across Australia, Hong Kong and England, and displayed at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. The discussion also looks at Connor's significant contribution to Australian art through his role as founding director of the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize. The prize helped revive interest in outdoor painting and encouraged artists to engage directly with the landscape. Alongside his artistic practice, Connor has demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental conservation, serving as a trustee of both The Australian Museum and the Lizard Island Reef Research Station. We examine the evolution of his work from industrial and urban subjects to dramatic coastal environments, remote landscapes and ecological themes. Connor's paintings invite viewers to slow down and reconsider familiar places, revealing the complexity, beauty and fragility of the natural world. His achievements include being a finalist in major Australian art prizes such as the Glover Prize, Mosman Art Prize and Calleen Art Award, and winning the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize in 2024. Paul is represented by Defiance Gallery.

Kirtika Kain is an Australian artist of Dalit heritage whose work explores identity, culture, migration, memory and belonging. Through her art and conversations, she brings personal and collective stories into the spotlight, creating space for voices and experiences that are often overlooked.Her work reflects the complexities of being Dalit, Australian and part of a diverse global community, while celebrating resilience, creativity and the power of storytelling.Kirtika Kain was born in New Delhi, India and now works on Darug Country, Sydney. Considerations of caste and identity underpin her materially driven practice, which seeks to reimagine personal and collective narratives. Kain’s work has been exhibited widely, both locally and internationally, with notable exhibitions including Adelaide Biennale, 2026; Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2025; the 24th Biennale of Sydney, 2024; and the 13th Bamako Encounters at the African Biennale of Photography, Mali, 2022.Kirtika is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney

Gary Deirmendjian is a Sydney-based contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, photography, video, and site-specific intervention. Working predominantly in public and shared spaces, he is recognised for creating thought-provoking works that challenge audiences through scale, immersion, and unexpected encounters. His projects often explore the social, political, and environmental conditions that shape everyday life, encouraging viewers to re-examine familiar surroundings with fresh eyes.Deirmendjian has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally, receiving numerous commissions for public artworks, temporary installations, and moving-image projects. Career highlights include presence (2017), a major moving-image commission for Sydney's Wynyard Station, and pulse (2020), commissioned for Federation Square in Melbourne. He was awarded the British School at Rome Residency in 2017 and is the author of the monograph A Prevailing Sense of Disquiet as well as Common Ground, a collection of observations and images drawn from his long-running social media art practice. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the National Art School, where he has taught since 2012.This week on Art Wank, we sit down with acclaimed Sydney artist Gary Deirmendjian, whose expansive practice spans sculpture, installation, photography, video, and public intervention. Known for transforming ordinary moments into extraordinary encounters, Gary has built a career around paying close attention to the world around him and inviting others to do the same. His projects challenge audiences to slow down, look again, and find meaning in the overlooked details of everyday life.In this episode, Gary discusses his relationship with the urban environment, sharing how the streets, public spaces, and chance observations that make up daily life continue to inspire his work. We explore the idea of curiosity as an artistic tool and the ways in which public art can interrupt routine experiences, creating moments of reflection, wonder, humour, and sometimes discomfort.Throughout the discussion, Gary reflects on the importance of observation, experimentation, and remaining responsive to the complexities of contemporary life. Thoughtful, insightful, and deeply engaged with the world around him, he offers a compelling perspective on what it means to be an artist working within public space today.Gary is now represented by LNL Gallery in Sydney.

In this episode of Art Wank, we speak with Katrina Cashman, Gallery Manager and Senior Curator at the National Art School, about the exhibition currently on display at the NAS Gallery, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste.'Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste celebrates the legacy and significant achievements of Margaret Olley AC – National Art School alum and one of Australia’s most beloved painters – through the lens of the European artistic tradition intimisme, which honours the quiet poetry of domestic life and the interior world.Drawing from significant public and private collections, Margaret Olley: Australian Intimiste traces Olley’s preoccupations from early interiors to her later richly textured compositions featuring floral arrangements, antiques, and domestic objects. Each painting is more than a still life – it is a portrait, a sensory memory, and a trace of the artist’s personal world, animated by beauty.Curated by NAS Gallery Manager and Senior Curator Katrina Cashman curator in consultation with author and curator Christine France OAM, the exhibition explores Olley’s oeuvre as it relates to place and relationships. Rather than maintaining a separate painting studio, she worked primarily in her own home and those of family and friends. While she occasionally painted landscapes, portraits, and sketched outdoors – particularly while travelling – her principal subjects were interior spaces, window views, and intimate tabletop arrangements, capturing the resonance of light, memory, and everyday experience.Though working within intimiste traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Olley led an unconventional life, rejecting traditional domestic roles. Her work was never static, echoing the rhythms of a personal world in flux – shaped by the seasons, light, and her enduring dialogue with art history. Australian Intimiste celebrates Olley’s remarkable six-decade career since graduating from the National Art School and honours the formative relationships and creative communities that sustained her practice.The exhibition includes more than sixty artworks by Margaret Olley AC and a selection of works by her National Art School friends, teachers and peers including Jean Bellette, Margaret Cilento, Douglas Dundas, Russell Drysdale, Frank Medworth, David Strachan and Tony Tuckson among others. It also includes Sir William Dobell’s famous 1948 Archibald Prize winning portrait of Margaret Olley that caused such a sensation in the day.A substantial publication accompanies the exhibition, including essays by Katrina Cashman, Dr Georgina Cole, Christine France OAM, Dr Emily Gray and Dr Michael Hill. Publication supported by The Gordon Darling Foundation. Project supported by NAS Gallery Ambassadors.'The exhibition runs unti October 24th at the National Art School, Forbes St, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 11-5pm Monday to Saturday

In this episode of Artwank, we talk with Australian artist Peter Stevens about his practice, career, and connection to landscape. Stevens has worked as a professional artist for more than 30 years, building a body of work that spans painting, printmaking, and mixed media. His work is represented by Defiance Gallery in Sydney and is held in both public and private collections.Peter studied at Sydney College of the Arts, completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts before undertaking postgraduate studies in printmaking. Over his career he has been a finalist in major Australian art prizes including the Paddington Art Prize and the Mosman Art Prize, and has been selected multiple times for the Salon des Refusés. His work is held by institutions including Artbank, Western Sydney University, Sydney University, and James Cook University in Townsville.The conversation explores the development of his visual language and the role of sustained studio practice. Peter discusses how his approach has evolved over time while remaining grounded in close observation of the natural environment. He reflects on the challenges of maintaining a long term creative career and the importance of continuing to experiment with materials, colour, and composition. We also discuss Yuraygir, his exhibition with Defiance Gallery, inspired by time spent in Wooli and the surrounding landscapes of Yuraygir National Park on the New South Wales coast. Peter talks about the influence of rivers, estuaries, birds, trees, tides, and changing weather on his work and why Australian places continue to provide a strong foundation for his practice.This episode offers an insight into the working life of an established Australian artist and the ongoing relationship between landscape, observation, and painting. Peter shares.His exhibition opens 29th August 2026 at Defiance Gallery, Sydney.

Australian artist Dan Kyle joins the podcast to discuss his painting practice and his long connection to the landscapes of the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury regions of New South Wales. A graduate of the National Art School, Kyle has built a career focused on exploring the Australian bush through works that sit between observation and abstraction. His paintings draw on daily experiences of living and working close to the natural environment, reflecting changing light, weather, seasons and the ongoing relationship between people and place.In this conversation, Kyle shares how his surroundings influence his creative process, the challenges and rewards of making landscape painting relevant to contemporary audiences, and the importance of spending time observing the land. He also reflects on the impact of environmental events including drought, fire and flooding on both the landscape and his work. The discussion offers insight into the development of his artistic practice, his life as a painter in regional New South Wales, and his commitment to interpreting the Australian landscape through a personal lens. Kyle's work has been exhibited across Australia and is held in private and institutional collections. He was awarded the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2020 and continues to exhibit regularly while working from his studio on the edge of the Blue Mountains.

We interview the winners of the 2026 Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize, presented at Manly Art Gallery & Museum in August 2026.Ceramicist Scott Duncan took out the Art category with his work Choice Quality, a ceramic piece inspired by everyday packaging materials such as fruit box cardboard. Drawing on his experience as a chef, Duncan explores cycles of consumption, waste and renewal through his practice. The work incorporates handmade beads created from recycled waste clay, transforming discarded material into something valuable and enduring.In this episode, Scott discusses what winning the prize means to him, his connection to Manly, and his creative practice at Kil.n.it Studio in Glebe. We also talk about the ideas behind Choice Quality and how his work encourages us to reconsider the materials we use, discard and overlook in everyday life.Scott is represented by Arthouse Gallery in SydneyWe speak with Nahum McLean, Ben Styles and Stefan Lie, winners of the Design category at the 2026 Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize, about their project Motherboard.Designers, researchers and surfers, the trio work at the Material Ecologies Design Lab at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where they develop innovative materials from diverse waste streams. Their work explores how design can help address environmental challenges by rethinking the materials and systems that shape everyday products.Motherboard responds to a long-standing tension within surfing: the sport's deep dependence on healthy coastal ecosystems alongside the environmental impacts of the petrochemical materials traditionally used to manufacture surfboards. The project reimagines the surfboard by replacing its conventional foam core with a material grown from kombucha SCOBY, offering a glimpse of a more sustainable future for board design.In this episode, Nahum, Ben and Stefan discuss the research and experimentation behind Motherboard, the potential of bio-based materials, and the role of design in creating alternatives to resource-intensive manufacturing. We also explore how their shared passions for surfing, environmental stewardship and material innovation have shaped this award-winning work.

In this episode of Art Wank, we chat with artist Sophie Cape about the winding path that led her from elite sport to a life in contemporary art. Before establishing herself as an artist, Sophie competed at a high level in both skiing and cycling, dedicating years to training, competition, and the pursuit of performance. She reflects on the mindset required to succeed in sport and how those experiences continue to shape the way she approaches her work today.Sophie also shares what it was like growing up with artist Ann Cape as her mother. Surrounded by creativity from an early age, art was always present in her life, although it would take many years and several career changes before she fully embraced it as her own path. We discuss the influence of family, the balance between inspiration and independence, and how her creative identity developed over time.A major turning point came with a series of injuries that ultimately brought her sporting career to an end.Sophie speaks candidly about the emotional impact of stepping away from elite competition and the challenge of rebuilding a sense of purpose after sport. What followed was a gradual shift towards art making, where she found a new outlet for curiosity, experimentation, and ambition.We delve into Sophie's distinctive creative process, which often invites chance and the natural environment into the making of the work. Rather than treating the canvas as a static surface, she subjects it to weather, landscape, and time. Canvases are dragged across the ground, exposed to wind and rain, or left outdoors for weeks at a time, allowing the elements to leave their own marks. The resulting works become collaborations between artist and environment, capturing traces of movement, place, and duration.We also celebrate Sophie's success as winner of the Hadley's Art Prize, a significant milestone that brought wider recognition to her practice. She reflects on what the award meant for her career and the opportunities that followed, alongside the realities of sustaining a creative life.Sophie is represented by Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney

In this episode, artist Sandi Hester discusses her career as a painter, teacher, and YouTube creator. She shares the story behind her move from the United States to Exeter, England, and reflects on the practical and creative changes that came with relocating to a new country. Sandi talks about setting up a new studio, adjusting to life in Devon, and finding inspiration in her new surroundings. The conversation also explores her approach to making art, developing a consistent practice, and balancing painting with creating online content. Sandi reflects on the lessons she has learned from building an audience, growing as an artist, and staying focused through periods of change. The episode offers insight into the realities of a creative career and how a major life move can open the door to new ideas, experiences, and directions in an artist’s work. Sandi's work was in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibiton 2026 You can look at Sandi's work, art classes and youtube trhough her website sandihester.com