Ben Luke

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

'Velvet terrorism': what is it like in Pussy Riot's Russia?

Plus, Shirin Neshat on Iran's uprising and Puerto Rican art after Hurricane Maria

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. Produced by David Clack and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

A brush with... Theaster Gates

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Agnes Martin to Frankie Knuckles

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

Is Qatar's Fifa World Cup a lesson in artwashing?

Plus, how long left of the good times in the New York auction world? And abstract Black figuration

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speakers Hannah McGivern and Georgina Adam. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Climate action: what is the art world doing?

Plus, the US National Gallery of Art’s women artists fund and one of the last paintings of Paula Modersohn-Becker

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speaker Louisa Buck. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

London's National Gallery revamp row: is it a sensitive makeover or like 'an airport lounge'?

Plus, contemporary art in Lagos and Chagall's falling angel

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

How did a clergyman come to own hundreds of Edward Hopper works? We delve into the Whitney's archive controversy

Plus, a horror show in London and a Flemish masterpiece in Bruges

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

'How dare YOU?': we speak to Just Stop Oil, the eco activists who threw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Plus, Art Basel's inaugural Paris+ fair and an enigmatic Frank Bowling painting

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speaker Melanie Gerlis. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Twenty-five years after it opened, artists still find it hard to love the Guggenheim Bilbao

Architect Frank Gehry claimed his design for the Spanish satellite museum was neutral and would not compete with the art within—did he succeed?

Art boom as the UK busts: how the economic crisis is affecting the market

Plus, Cecilia Vicuña; 20th-century women artists at Frieze Masters; and Modigliani in Philadelphia

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. With guest speaker Anny Shaw. Produced by David. Clack and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Van Dyck or copies? The curious case of the socialite, the scholar and the Old Masters

Plus, Joan Mitchell and Claude Monet at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and England's Tudors head to New York

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

A brush with... John Akomfrah

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Jackson Pollock to Virginia Woolf

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

Full frontal Freud: a deep dive into the life and work of the raw, unflinching portraitist

As a string of exhibitions celebrating 100 years since the artist's birth open, we look at a major show at London's National Gallery, a new book of his letters and his paintings of horses

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

The Big Review: Milton Avery at the Royal Academy of Arts in London ★★★★☆

The American artist was a brilliant colourist who pushed figuration to its limits but never went the way of “the abstract boys”. Plus, what the other critics said about the show

A brush with... William Kentridge

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Manet to Shostakovich

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

Why is art at the heart of Italy’s far-right political party?

Plus, Carnegie International, the US's longest-running contemporary art exhibition, and a mystifying egg sculpture

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speaker James Imam. Produced by David. Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

A brush with... Anicka Yi

An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Donna Haraway to Isamu Noguchi

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Do good monarchs make bad art collectors? Inside the British Royal Collection

Plus, how UK museums can respond to the energy crisis, and a haunting Henry Fuseli painting

Sponsored byChristie's

Glenn Brown—Gagosian-backed appropriator of Old Masters—to open London museum dedicated to his art

Hoping to increase his visibility, Brown will self-fund a Marylebone space that will combine his work with those of historic artists in his private collection

A brush with... Glenn Brown

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Salvador Dalí to Maria Lassnig

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Is art censorship on the rise? How freedom of expression is being curbed across the globe

Plus, a striking photograph by Diane Arbus and the Guggenheim Bilbao at 25

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Gareth Harris. Produced by David. Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Brazil turns 200—and its National Museum rises from the ashes

Plus, the £50m Joshua Reynolds painting and Michael Heizer’s City

Hosted by Ben Luke and Benjamin Sutton. With guest speaker Martin Bailey. Produced by David. Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's
Tatecomment

Fair or not, Tate's discrimination row has damaged its reputation among the very artists it needs to attract

The institution denies claims that it refused to allow the increasingly prominent Black performance artist Jade Montserrat to participate in a project for Tate Exchange

A brush with... Adam Pendleton

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences from Joan Jonas to Julius Eastman

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

A brush with… Pierre Huyghe

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from John Cage to Marcel Duchamp

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

A brush with... Zadie Xa

An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Lee Bul to Ursula K. Le Guin

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects
A brush withinterview

Paintings made by Sicilian prisoners and the poetry of Maxine Kumin: Megan Rooney on her greatest influences

The artist tells us about her favourite music, artists and the cultural experience that changed the way she sees the world on the A brush with..., podcast

Copyrightcomment

Copying is a creative act established across centuries—despite what the US's 'fair use' ruling might suggest

The decision made in the case of Andy Warhol's usage of Lynn Goldsmith's Prince image threatens a long tradition of appropriation and quotation

A brush with... Lina Iris Viktor

An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Chris Ofili to Sylvia Plath

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects