Ben Luke

Ben Luke is a contributing editor and podcast host at The Art Newspaper

Frieze New York, the Cranach in Hitler’s Munich apartment, Ajamu X—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Sutton and Kabir Jhala discuss this year's Frieze New York, other fairs across the city this week and the upcoming New York auctions. Ben Luke speaks to Martin Bailey about a Cranach painting discovered to have once hung in Hitler's home, and hears from Charlotte Keenan of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool on a photography series by Ajamu X.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

Nine shows to see during Frieze New York

Check out our top picks from the many exhibitions taking place across the city

The Big Review | Venice Biennale 2026: In Minor Keys ★★★½

Staged a year after the death of its curator, Koyo Kouoh, the Venice Biennale’s main exhibition unfolds as a sometimes-cacophonous procession guided by sentinels and hybrid beings in a rich but uneven show

Venice Biennale Special 2026—podcast

In this week's special Venice Biennale episode, Ben Luke reviews In Minor Keys along with Louisa Buck and Jane Morris, interviews artists Gabrielle Goliath and Lubaina Himid and meets writer Saidiya Hartman. Digital editor Alexander Morrison hears about a collateral event by Belarus Free Theatre, and Ben Luke learns about the restoration of two paintings by Tintoretto.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

In Minor Keys: how Venice's international exhibition was brought to life after the death of artistic director Koyo Kouoh

Our guide to the themes and strands of this year's international exhibition, and some of the key artists on display

Zurbarán in London, the Carnegie International, Walter Sickert’s Ennui—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Luke takes a tour of the Zurbarán survey at the National Gallery in London, speaks to the director of the Carnegie Museum of Art ahead of this year's Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, and learns about a Walter Sickert painting on view at Charleston in Sussex.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

A brush with... Andrew Cranston—podcast

Andrew Cranston talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Chernobyl 40 years on, Paula Rego at Munch in Oslo, Gluck’s flower painting—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Luke discusses an exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, learns about Paula Rego's interest in Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, and explores a floral still life by Gluck featured in a new group exhibition at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

A brush with... Sanya Kantarovsky—podcast

Sanya Kantarovsky talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Museum openings: V&A East and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Plus, William Blake in Dublin—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Luke gets a sneak peak of London's new V&A East Museum, speaks to California-based correspondent Jori Finkel about the new home of Lacma's collection, and learns about a work by William Blake on show at the National Gallery of Ireland

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

A Brush With... Hurvin Anderson—podcast

Hurvin Anderson talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Comment | Catherine Opie shows us that in dark times, looking for joy can be radical

The artist's new show at the National Portrait Gallery offers plenty of reasons to be cheerful

Marcel Duchamp at MoMA, Dorothea Tanning book, Leonora Carrington at the Freud Museum, London—podcast

In this Surrealism-themed episode, Ben Luke discusses the first major US survey of Marcel Duchamp in half a century, Alyce Mahon’s new book on Dorothea Tanning, and a painting by Leonora Carrington

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

Readymades, replicas, reiterations: MoMA show explores Marcel Duchamp the inventor

The first major US exhibition of the conceptual artist in more than five decades presents his multi-sensory work and habit of making and remaking as “very, very today”

A Brush With... Lorna Simpson—podcast

Lorna Simpson talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects
Raphaelpodcast

Should English museums charge tourists? Plus, Raphael at the Met and Senga Nengudi at the Whitechapel Gallery—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Luke discusses the UK government’s response to a report about the future of Arts Council England, talks to the curator of a new Raphael exhibition in New York, and takes a look at a work by the multimedia artist Senga Nengudi

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David. Clack and Alexander Morrison
A brush withinterview

A brush with… Karen Archey, head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums

The curator talks about her love of Alice Neel—and keeping the meaning of art a secret

Matisse’s explosive finale and a new chapter for Hong Kong? Plus, Schiaparelli and Dalí—podcast

In this week's episode, Ben Luke talks to the curator of a landmark new Matisse exhibition in Paris, discusses the art market in Hong Kong with our chief contributing editor Gareth Harris, and takes a closer look at a Dali painting that inspired Elsa Schiaparelli, as a show devoted to the designer opens at London's V&A

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David. Clack and Alexander Morrison

‘Every minute was a minute to create’: Paris show presents Henri Matisse’s dazzling finale

The exhibition at the Grand Palais includes more than 300 works from the last 13 years of the artist’s life

New Museum extension opens, NextGen collectors, a Wardian Case in Oxford – podcast

In this week's episode of The Week in Art, Ben Luke discusses the newly-enlarged New Museum, talks to Georgina Adam about her new book on the latest generation of art collectors, and hears from the curator of a new exhibition on botany at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David. Clack and Alexander Morrison

Art communities and heritage in Iran, moderate recovery in the art market, Sydney Biennale—podcast

Ben Luke talks to Sarvy Geranpayeh about the continuing violence in the Middle East, discusses the new Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report with its author Clare McAndrew, and speaks to our reporter in Australia, Elizabeth Fortescue, about a new installation at the Sydney Biennale.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David. Clack and Alexander Morrison
Artistscomment

Artists agonise over when a work is finished—but should we viewers care?

The thorny issue is relevant to current exhibitions of work by Howard Hodgkin, Henri Matisse and Paul Cezanne

Conflictpodcast

War in the Middle East, the Whitney Biennial, and a newly-discovered Rembrandt in Amsterdam—podcast

Ben Luke talks to The Art Newspaper's Melissa Gronlund about the outbreak of war in a region that has invested heavily in arts and culture, while Ben Sutton discusses the 82nd Whitney Biennial in New York. Plus, a newly-discovered Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison

A brush with… Danh Vo—podcast

Danh Vo talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Venice Biennale details revealed, Beatriz González and Tracey Emin in London—podcast

Ben Luke speaks to Jane Morris about the 2026 Biennale artists and framework, takes a tour of the late González's show at the Barbican. Plus, a conversation about a long-hidden Emin work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison
A brush withinterview

A brush with… Martina Droth, director of the Yale Center for British Art

From a year studying at the Cyprus School of Art to musical discoveries on NTS Radio, the museum director shares her cultural influences

A Brush With... Veronica Ryan—podcast

Veronica Ryan talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Comment | Time for a rethink: women artists were never meant to merely be canon fodder

Exhibitions pairing Munch with Paula Modersohn-Becker and Maria Lassnig provide opportunities to subvert the established order

London National Gallery’s deficit bombshell, Simon Schama on birds and art, Vilhelm Hammershøi—podcast

In this week’s episode, Ben Luke heard about surprise cuts at the National Gallery, a new exhibition at the Mauritshuis, and the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi