Russell Tovey and Robert Diament
395 episodes listed below
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview artists about their materials, biography, and process.
Talk Art treats visual art as something lived with, remembered, collected, restored, argued toward, and felt. Its conversations move from studios and retrospectives to childhood encounters, road trips, colour, paper, sculpture, film, photography, and the emotional intelligence of looking closely.
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Talk Art is an interview-format podcast co-hosted by actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament, with each episode built around an extended one-on-one conversation with a single guest from the visual art world. Most episodes feature a contemporary artist speaking ahead of a gallery or museum show, walking through their biography, materials, and the specific work on view, as in the episodes with Mickalene Thomas and Carsten Höller. Some episodes profile artists no longer able to speak for themselves, using close family, archivists, or filmmakers as proxies, as with Nick Willing discussing his mother Paula Rego's studio and process. The show regularly brings in guests from adjacent creative fields, including screenwriter Russell T Davies on his lifelong drawing habit and spoken word poet Joelle Taylor on prison workshops and 'artivism'. Recurring subject matter includes how personal history, trauma, and politics feed into an artist's chosen materials and imagery, and named institutions such as Tate, Hayward Gallery, Victoria Miro, and the Royal College of Art recur across episodes as touchstones. Episodes run roughly an hour to 75 minutes and are structured as unhurried, biography-driven conversations rather than news roundups or critical reviews. The intended audience is listeners who want to hear artists (or those closest to them) describe their own process, choices, and formative experiences, rather than outside commentary. The hosts bring an insider's vantage point — Tovey as a public figure with personal art-world ties and Diament as a working gallerist — which shapes the specificity of the questions and the access secured. The show periodically runs holiday-themed specials, including Christmas and New Year's Day episodes with prominent guests. Taken together, the show functions as a rolling oral history of contemporary and recent-historical art practice, told largely in the words of the artists or their closest collaborators.
Made for: Listeners interested in contemporary visual art, artist studio practice, and firsthand accounts of how working artists develop their materials and subject matter.
What sets it apart: Hosted by a working gallerist and a public figure with art-world access, the show produces long, biography-focused interviews directly with artists or their close collaborators rather than outside criticism or gallery reviews.
Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament host Talk Art, a podcast dedicated to the world of art featuring exclusive interviews with leading artists, curators & gallerists, and even occasionally their talented friends from other industries like acting, music and journalism. Listen in to explore the magic of art and why it connects us all in such fantastic ways. Follow the official Instagram @TalkArt for images of artworks discussed in each episode and to follow Russell and Robert's latest art adventures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Talk Art makes creative practice audible by following artists from formative influences and working materials to the choices inside finished work.
Talk Art turns an artist interview into a close reading of how creative lives are built. Russell Tovey and Robert Diament ask guests to connect finished work with the drawings, images, materials and early ambitions behind it, giving visual arts conversations a useful sense of…
A drawing board becomes your front-row seat to the choices hiding behind finished work.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A reflective studio visit that makes Paula Rego's working habits feel close, concrete and still active.
Robert Diamant's visit to Paula Rego's North London studio gives this Talk Art episode the feeling of a return to a formative room. Hosting alone, he frames Rego as a lifelong touchstone, then sits with Nick Willing among the paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, brushes,…
Carsten Holler turns games, slides, desserts, and perception into a lively Talk Art conversation about changing how the body pays attention.
Talk Art opens the year with Carsten Holler, using The Book of Games as a way into an art practice built on risk, altered perception, and the body's sudden wakefulness.
Joelle Taylor makes performance poetry feel like a self-built stage, a fight for recognition, and a living art form.
Joelle Taylor's Talk Art conversation frames poetry as a live, physical act as much as a written one. She recalls coming up outside the familiar route of magazines, chapbooks, and prizes, instead building stages, running spaces, and finding audiences through performance.
A warm Talk Art conversation follows Russell T Davies back to comics, drawing, Doctor Who, and the cartoonist still waiting in the wings.
Russell T Davies' visit to Talk Art turns his familiar public image as a screenwriter and showrunner back toward drawing: school comics, Doctor Who sketches, a roomful of felt pens, and the cartoon-strip instinct he still seems to trust.
Mickalene Thomas traces a childhood fascination with glamorous magazine images into the layered language of her art.
Mickalene Thomas's Talk Art appearance turns on a vivid early memory: the magazine page she loved as a child, where poised women appeared with notes on college, beauty, leisure and aspiration.
Art historian Tamar Avishai interviews critics, curators, and writers about single paintings and ideas.
Jennifer Dasal narrates art history's overlooked lives, from Picasso's police file to Rauschenberg and Twombly's romance.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins and James Deakins interview film crew about the craft behind specific shots.
Robert Bound interviews artists and reviews new film, book, and music releases with critics.
Sound art from places, recordings, and memory.
Talk Art hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diamant interview Joelle Taylor, a British spoken word poet who won the T.S.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview Belgian-Swedish artist Carsten Höller on a Talk Art New Year's Day Special, speaking from London where he has launched The Book of Games, a Taschen collection of interactive games co-initiated with Hans-Ulrich Obrist since 1992.
A warm welcome turns toward drawing.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview Mickalene Thomas on Talk Art ahead of her retrospective All About Love at the Hayward Gallery in London, her first major UK museum exhibition.
Robert arrives in North London with the air of a visit that matters.
Robert Diamant discusses the Gwen John retrospective exhibition 'Strange Beauties' at the National Museum in Cardiff, exploring the emotional depth and contemporary relevance of her paintings and works on paper.
This episode of Talk Art features an interview with artist Isaac Julien, discussing his multidisciplinary work, including his recent installation 'All That Changes You Metamorphosis' at Victoria Miro and his upcoming retrospective.
This episode features an interview with photographer Robin DePuy about her project 'American,' a collaboration with WePresent that explores diverse portraits and cultural identity in the United States.
This episode celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Rubell family's art collection, featuring an interview with Mera, Don, and Jason Rubell at their Miami museum, highlighting their pioneering passion and support for artists.
This episode previews Michael Craig-Martin's major retrospective at the Royal Academy in London, exploring his six-decade career as a visually alert artist known for precise, colorful paintings and conceptual influences.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an episode featuring a contemporary artist, discussing their career and artistic development.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce a discussion about fetishism in art objects and interview a guest whose work embodies this concept.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce a guest artist, reminiscing about first encountering their work at a London art fair.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce musician Tom Rasmussen, discussing their new album and its themes of liberation and healing.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an episode featuring an artist with an installation at Tate Britain, discussing family, love, and upcoming art events.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diamant host a field trip to Cork Street in Mayfair to explore its regenerated galleries with expert guest Louisa Buck, discussing the street's art history and upcoming gallery tour.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament host a live episode in Margate, interviewing a poet about a new poetry collection and discussing art's role in their life.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce a podcast episode exploring primal instincts and human nature through the work of a featured artist.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview artist Andrew Logan about his career, collaborations, and museum.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce comedian Grace Campbell as their guest on Talk Art, discussing her rebellious mission and feminist perspective.
This episode of TalkArt features an interview with artist Doron Langberg at Victoria Miro Gallery, discussing his new exhibition and the psychological themes of fantasy in his work.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament discuss Andy Warhol's Endangered Species series and a current exhibition in London.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an interview with a legendary feminist artist, discussing her impact and recent retrospective.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce a painter and author whose book inspired a musical, discussing gratitude and his journey after a life-changing accident.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament discuss their partnership with BMW and preview an interview with artist Julie Merritu about her new art car for Le Mans.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an episode featuring a multi-talented guest described as a gay superhero.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce a foraging painter who finds inspiration in New York City's flora, exploring repetition in art.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce legendary costume designer Sandy Powell, discussing her career and impact on film and culture.
Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce and interview legendary TV producer Ryan Murphy about his love for art and his career.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an episode featuring a Swedish artist whose work explores femininity and domesticity, with a new London exhibition titled 'Homewrecker'.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament introduce an interview with painter Andrew Cranston, discussing his exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield and his use of book covers as painting surfaces.
Hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament interview artist Jordan Eagles, who uses blood as a medium, discussing his work and current exhibition.
This episode of TalkArt features an interview with artist Navot Miller, discussing his recent exhibition 'The Good Years' at Carl Friedman Gallery in Margate, his artistic progress since graduating, and themes of queer identity in his work.
This episode features a discussion with two emerging London gallerists who started their galleries during the pandemic, exploring how crisis periods foster radical new approaches to supporting artists and redefining gallery spaces.