Art Wank – Details, episodes & analysis

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In 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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Aaron 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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In this episode of Art Wank, we sit down with one of Australia’s most respected – and at times divisive – voices in the art world, John McDonald. Known for his decades-long career as an art critic and columnist, John brings sharp insight, dry humour, and a deep knowledge of art history to the conversation.

We discuss the role and relevance of art prizes in today’s cultural landscape, including whether they truly reflect quality or simply reinforce trends and institutional biases. John shares his candid thoughts on the Archibald Prize, among others, and questions the criteria by which we measure artistic merit in competitive formats.

Our chat turns to the shifting state of the Powerhouse Museum and the controversial changes that have sparked public outcry. John offers a well-informed perspective on how institutions like the Powerhouse serve (or fail to serve) their communities, and what’s at stake when decisions are made without proper consultation.

We also touch on public art and the recent Lindy Lee sculpture installed at the National Gallery of Australia. While acknowledging her important place in Australian art, John questions the processes behind major commissions and whether spectacle sometimes overshadows substance in large-scale public works.

This episode is a lively, thought-provoking conversation about the state of the Australian art world — its politics, pitfalls, and potential — from someone who’s spent a lifetime analysing it. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, John McDonald is never boring, and his insights are well worth a listen.

 If you'd like to read more of John McDonald’s writing, subscribe to his Substack, Everything the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know. 

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We love Troy Emery's work, his playful, soft sculptures are so extraordinary and tactile, when we saw them at the Art Pharmacy office we had to touch them!! Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney represents him. We talked to Troy over zoom as he is based in Melbourne, about taxidermy, natural history museums, materials, degradation of nature, Hermes windows, and much more!! We also talked to Troy about his sculptural paintings.   

Troy will be at 2022 Sydney Contemporary so get down to Carriageworks to see his work in the flesh. 

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Bernard is currently on show at Trevor Victor Harvey Galleries in Seaforth until 26 November 2022 - https://www.instagram.com/trevorvictorharvey/?hl=en

Bernard Ollis is an artist of immense talent and knowledge - it was a pleasure to go and chat with him on the podcast - his studio is a riot of colour filled with awesome art works in paint, oil pastel of all manor of fabulous spaces around the world. Bernard was kind enough to share some of his stories of his vast career in the Arts. This podcast is a must listen for all aspiring and emerging artists.


Learn about Bernard Ollis on his website
http://www.bernardollis.com

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We spoke to Sarah Robson at Manly Art Gallery and Museum, surrounded by her current exhibition, Abstract Realities: The MAG&M Project, alongside artists Julian Goddard (Perth), and David Thomas (Melbourne). This exhibition brings together three artists, to create site-sensitive installations that are temporal, open, and sensory. In addition to their own works, the artists have selected works from public and private collections to consider the fundamental role of contemporary abstraction.

Abstract Realities invites the viewer to experience abstract art as a unique way of questioning and revealing the seeming complexity of being in the world.

We had a deep dive with Sarah about the role of abstract art in the world and how it can be perceived as elitist and not understood. Sarah recently completed her Ph.D. and we spoke to her about undertaking a doctorate and what she gained from the in-depth study.

Thanks, Sarah we really enjoyed the chat. you can see the exhibition at Manly Art gallery until December 4th so get down and walk through the experience! 

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Many thanks to Helen Earl Ceramic artist from NSW. Helen creates ceramics from clay with found objects. They are transitory experience of being in the world. 

Her website is
https://www.helenearl.com

Or you can find out more on her instagram
https://www.instagram.com/helenearlart/

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Abdul Abdullah is one of Australia's leading artists and we were lucky enough to meet and interview him at his studio in St. Leonards, shortly before he moves to Bangkok, Thailand.

'Abdul Abdullah is an Australian multi-disciplinary artist. As a self-described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’ with a post-9/11 mindset, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’. Abdullah’s projects have engaged with different marginalized minority groups and he is particularly interested in the disjuncture between perception/projection of identity and the reality of lived experience. Identifying as a Muslim and having both Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage, Abdullah occupies a precarious space in the political discourse that puts him at odds with popular definitions. He sees himself as an artist working in the peripheries of a peripheral city, in a peripheral country, orbiting a world on the brink. His work has been censored by politicians who have accused him of attacking Australian culture, and once a member of the Christian Democratic party wrote that he wants to “convert young Australians” and that he “worships a moon god”.'

Abdul is represented at Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, and internationally. 

Thanks, Abdul for your time, we really appreciate it. 

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Scott McCracken is an artist from the UK we met through the Turps Banana art school.

You can find out more about Scott on his website
https://www.scottmccracken.co.uk

His work is hard to distill or describe you could call him a painter of still life or even a surrealist or abstract painter. Scott talked to us about many great  in this chat and talks to us about making art, his process and what he has learnt over his arts education and his arts career.

He mentioned an artist who he really admires called Victor Willing - link below.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/victor-willing-2150

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Marnie Ross is well known for being the founder of the Little Things Art prize that is celebrating its 8th year - go check it out it is is currently (opens 14th September 2022) on show at https://saintcloche.com

You can find out more about Marnie and the Little Things Art prize on her website

http://www.marnierossartist.com

The medium Marnie talks about is from Matisse - https://www.matisse.com.au/mm20-water-based-patina