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Talk Art
Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling (QuarARTine special episode)
On this week's Talk Art, we're feeling the POWER of LOVE! Russell & Robert chat to the captivating superstar duo of Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling from their home in Oxfordshire.
As passionate art collectors, we learn about the artists they admire and collect including Rebecca Warren, Julie Mehretu, Tracey Emin, Donna Huanca, Raymond Pettibon, George Rouy, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jack Whitten, Raqib Shaw, Cy Gavin, Christina Quarles and Ellie’s favourite - a neon of a double cross by Jonathan Horowitz in rainbow colours. We hear about the shyness of their first date visiting two exhibitions in London: Anselm Kiefer at White Cube followed by Robert Rauschenberg at Tate Modern. As their relationship grew, visiting exhibitions has become an integral part of their life as well as art fairs like Frieze and Art Basel!
Ellie discusses her dedication to female artists and how her art collection has evolved since meeting Caspar, the works she used to collect were “dark stuff” gothic in style like ship wrecks or skeletons, skulls or ghosts! Whilst Caspar reminisces about his first art purchase growing up of a poster by Sir Terry Frost, his admiration for his uncle the legendary gallerist Jay Jopling (White Cube), how he advises his friends to support and collect art, and how he even experimented with screen printing and painting during his teens inspired by Rauschenberg, Richard Prince and Andy Warhol.
With no motivation for investment, Ellie feels a close correlation between the art she loves and the songs she writes, something she explored whilst writing her forthcoming new album 'Brightest Blue': “I love the idea that you can buy something, that I can stare at for a long time and then it could maybe draw a song or a lyric out of me”. The album's title directly inspired by a Doug Wheeler artwork the couple saw at David Zwirner's gallery in New York. The intense installation of a blue room was “like walking into another world”.
Art also inspires her music's visuals, collaborating with creative director Imogen Snell as well as photographers Louie Banks, Ronan Park and Rankin. We discuss her musical collaborator SerpentWithFeet who appears on her new album but also recently sang at her and Caspar's wedding in Yorkshire. We remember her collaborator the late rapper Juice Wrld and the impact of his passing on artists like Katherine Bernhardt and the international art and music communities.
Finally we discuss Caspar's experiences working for Sotheby's but also within the film industry, his current studying for his MBA at Oxford University, the recent news of the Gallery Climate Coalition and how the art world is approaching sustainability, online viewing rooms, the positives and negatives of buying art (and clothes) online, and the escapism in lockdown watching period drama Downtown Abbey as well as the joys of completing Kandinsky and Lichtenstein-inspired puzzles!
Ellie's fourth studio album 'Brightest Blue' can be pre-ordered NOW, released in full on 17th July 2020! Follow Ellie & Caspar on Instagram @EllieGoudling and @CasparJopling, @EllieGoulding on Twitter, her official website https://www.elliegoulding.com/. For images of all artworks discussed in this episode visit @TalkArt. We've just joined Twitter too @TalkArt. If you've enjoyed this episode PLEASE leave...
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1. Introducing Talk Art
39:25||Season 1, Ep. 1Welcome to Talk Art! Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament discuss how they first became friends a decade ago, plus more recent adventures at Frieze Art Fair, the Turner Prize, South London Gallery and other exhibition highlights in London, as well as Robert's gallery relocating to the seaside town of Margate, Kent.2. Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE
01:05:51||Season 1, Ep. 2Russell & Robert talk with leading artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE exploring 50 years of art-making. From his early 1960s work as a conceptual artist culminating in the seminal ‘An Oak Tree’ (1973) through to more recent decades as an internationally-renowned painter, sculptor and printmaker as well as his influential role as a teacher to two generations of Young British Artists at Goldsmiths.3. Pedro Pascal
01:00:02||Season 1, Ep. 3Russell & Robert talk with leading actor Pedro Pascal, star of Narcos, Game of Thrones and forthcoming Star Wars 'The Mandalorian'. They discuss his favourite artist, a classic painting on display at Museum of Modern Art that offered Pedro comfort when he moved to New York in the mid 1990s, as well as his more recent art experiences at Tate Modern and Frieze Art Fair whilst filming in London for his latest movie Wonder Woman 1984.4. Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman
53:37||Season 1, Ep. 4We celebrate the holidays with two dear friends, the actresses Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman (both stars of The Job Lot comedy sitcom with Russell). Topics include Olafur Eliasson’s melting ice installation highlighting climate change, Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored room, the paintings of LS Lowry, Beryl Cook, Picasso and Ed Ruscha. Plus we discover which guest once pole danced for Madonna! Happy Christmas everyone. We will return in Spring 2019 with a weekly season. Love Russell and Robert X5. Louisa Buck
50:02||Season 1, Ep. 5Robert & Russell chat with leading British art critic and author Louisa Buck, columnist for the Art Newspaper and a judge of the Turner Prize in 2005. They explore how the art world has evolved since the 1980s and 90s, discover which artwork Grayson Perry made as a commission to commemorate the birth of Louisa's daughter as well as revealing the best, and very worst, interviews she's conducted. Happy International Women's Day!6. Martin Creed
01:00:57||Season 1, Ep. 6Robert & Russell meet legendary artist and ‘poet of the everyday’ Martin Creed (and his dog Jimmy). Find out why this Turner Prize winner doesn’t read reviews of his own work, who his favourite comedians are and how music has informed his art. We delve deep into Creed’s creative output spanning more than 30 years. From a giant kinetic sculpture with the word MOTHERS lit up in neon, a live performance where athletes run through the Tate as fast as they can, to a more recent handmade textile work: a multicoloured neck-warmer (worn by the artist during this very interview).7. Sadie Coles
46:12||Season 1, Ep. 7Robert & Russell meet gallerist Sadie Coles, one of the world’s most respected and successful art dealers. Discover why she set up her gallery in London after managing Jeff Koons’ studio in New York in the mid 1990s; how she first discovered the work of Sarah Lucas and John Currin; the skill of representing new artists on the primary market and the importance of taking a longterm view. We discuss feminism and equality in the workplace and why it's good to be collegiate. Finally we explore childhood trips to visit Tutankhamun at the British Museum, a memorable performance by mime artist/choreographer Lindsay Kemp and a pivotal Nancy Grossman exhibition.
8. Tracey Emin CBE
01:07:57||Season 1, Ep. 8Robert & Russell meet Tracey Emin CBE, one of the world’s most respected, successful and controversial artists. During an hour-long private tour of her current solo exhibition ‘A Fortnight of Tears’, we explore her mother’s recent death, grief, everlasting love, the supernatural, insomnia and abortion. Tracey reveals that nature is one of her biggest influences and how working in a small South of France studio enabled the artist to wholeheartedly and triumphantly return to painting. Learn more about her longterm connection to the work of Edvard Munch, her return to her childhood hometown of Margate and why, surprisingly, she doesn’t keep a diary. For images of all works discussed in this episode, visit our Instagram @TalkArt Please leave us a review and rating if you’ve enjoyed this episode!9. Ryan Gander OBE
56:50||Season 1, Ep. 9Russell & Robert chat to leading conceptual artist Ryan Gander OBE. We explore artist persona, designing a kitchen sink, family ties, the soul of objects and why his art has been so commercially successful in Japan. Ryan reveals how a limited edition Rolex watch transformed into an artwork, why he worked with glow-in-the-dark concrete, the importance of empathy and why we should all ‘let the world take a turn'. For images of works discussed in this episode, visit our Instagram @TalkArt. Ryan’s new BBC Four documentary ‘Me, My Selfie and I’ is available to view on iPlayer until mid April 2019. Please leave us a review and rating if you’ve enjoyed this episode!