A brush with... Sutapa Biswas

A brush with... Sutapa Biswas

Author: The Art Newspaper November 22, 2023 Duration: 1:01:45

Sutapa Biswas talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Biswas was born in Santinekethan, India, in 1962, and her work in painting, drawing, photography and video explores race and gender within the context of colonialism and its legacies. Made over five decades since the early 1980s, her art is both rigorously consistent in its themes and thrillingly diverse in mood and mode—by turns poetic, activist and even satirical. She discusses her studies in art and art history with Griselda Pollock, among others, at the University of Leeds in the 1980s, where she challenged the Eurocentric framing of the course, and made crucial early pieces including the painting Housewives with Steak-knives (1983-85). She reflects on her family history, and the traumatic journey to the UK from India, and how this haunts her work today. She discusses the influence of artists including Leonor Fini, Johannes Vermeer and Mary Kelly, film-makers like Satyajit Ray and Jean Cocteau, and writers including Marcel Proust. And she answers our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?


Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990, Tate Britain, London, until 7 April 2024; The Time of Our Lives, Drawing Room, London, 25 January-21 April 2024; Photographing 80s Britain: A Critical Decade, Tate Britain, London, 21 November 2024-5 May 2025.


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Ever wondered what really makes an artist tick? A brush with... from The Art Newspaper goes beyond the finished work to explore the daily rhythms and deep inspirations that fuel the creative process. Each episode is a quiet, focused conversation between host Ben Luke and a leading international artist, structured around a set of deceptively simple questions. You’ll hear them discuss the historical and contemporary figures they look to, the museums they find themselves drawn back to repeatedly, and the books, music, and films that shape their thinking. Crucially, Luke invites them to describe the mundane magic of the studio-what actually happens there day to day. This approach reveals the person behind the practice in a way that feels intimate and genuine. Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the podcast builds a rich portrait of artistic life, one thoughtful dialogue at a time. It’s for anyone curious about the web of influences and habits that culminate in a piece of art, offering a rare glimpse into the minds that shape our visual culture. Tune in for conversations that are less about interrogation and more about discovery, where the answers often surprise even the artists themselves.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 135

A brush with...
Podcast Episodes
A brush with... Alberta Whittle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:42
Alberta Whittle talks to Ben Luke about her influences in art, books, music and other media and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Over the last few years, Whittle has emerged as one of the most…
A brush with... Tino Sehgal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:09
Tino Sehgal talks to Ben Luke about his unique work, which transforms the space in which it is shown through the power of movement and sound. Sehgal, who is based in Berlin, moved to art from dance after studying choreog…
A brush with... Oscar Murillo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:13
Oscar Murillo talks to Ben Luke about the defining cultural experiences and influences of his life. Oscar first shot to fame in the art world with paintings that attracted huge attention in 2013—canvases with loose, scra…
A brush with... Ellen Gallagher [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:33
Ellen Gallagher talks about her life and work through the art, literature, music and other cultural experiences that have profoundly affected her. She tells Ben Luke about the extraordinary opportunity she had to live wi…
A brush with... Julian Opie [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:56
Ben Luke talks to Julian Opie about his life and work by exploring the artists that have inspired him, his literary and musical influences and the cultural experiences that have most affected him. He talks about the earl…
A brush with... Cristina Iglesias [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:38
Ben Luke talks to Cristina Iglesias about her life and work. She recalls how Disney's Fantasia made an impression on her as a child, how Velázquez's Spinners (Las Hilanderas) started her lifelong love of the collection o…
A brush with... Michael Rakowitz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:52
Ben Luke talks to the US-based artist about his influences and life-changing cultural experiences. They discuss his public sculpture in Margate, April Is the Cruellest Month, with its nods to TS Eliot and Siegfried Sasso…
A brush with... Do Ho Suh [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:18
Ben Luke talks to the Seoul-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh about his influences and life-changing cultural experiences. They discuss his recreations of his various homes in coloured fabric and how his early work in…
A brush with... Doris Salcedo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:19
Ben Luke talks to Doris Salcedo about her life and work through the artists she most admires, the writers she returns to and the music she listens to. She recalls her epiphany when confronted with the works of Francisco…
A brush with... Ali Banisadr [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:33
As he prepares for a two-part exhibition in Florence, the Tehran-born, Brooklyn-based artist discusses his life and work through the cultural epiphanies and influences that have shaped him. He talks about drawing in the…