Making a Mark

This episode of Making a Mark explores a new body of work by Lahore-based artist Ali Kazim (b. 1979), including the artist's first major body of etchings. Kazim introduces Alphabets, 19 prints illustrating a different letter from the Urdu alphabet. From the gallery in London, the artist discusses his choice of imagery and the significance of different motifs such as the tiger, a hoopoe bird, pyjamas and the Koh-I-Noor diamond, each charting and illuminating the diverse and complex history of South Asia.Kazim discusses a related series of watercolours, the medium he is best known for, and what inspires him, which includes Mughal miniature painting, the Bengal School’s watercolourists, and discovering collection displays at the Lahore Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in the UK.Kazim's new body of work highlights the urgency of maintaining a connection to our native languages in an era of migration and exile.Contributors include senior director David Cleaton-Roberts who discusses the exceptional techniques Kazim used to make the prints, and writer and curator, Hammad Nasar, who explains the subject matter in further detail. Presented by writer and critic, Charlotte Mullins.Artworks discussed in the episode can be viewed online via https://cristearoberts.com/podcast/Photo: Ali Kazim working on his 'Alphabet' prints at Simon Lawson Prints in London, 2025.Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London. Photo: Darrell Tuffs#alikazim #pakistaniartist #etchings #contemporaryprintmaking #workonpaper #watercolour #alphabets #urdualphabet #urduworlds #printstudio #makingamark #talkart #artpodcast 

To celebrate the gallery’s thirtieth anniversary, we meet Alan Cristea and David Cleaton-Roberts for a special episode of the podcast series Making a Mark.  Alan and David have spent the past three decades working with an exceptional roster of artists who have continued to shape the gallery since its establishment. Learn how the gallery was founded in 1995 and how, through an innovative artist led programme, it exists today as one of the world’s leading art galleries and print publishers specialising in original prints and works on paper. Michael Craig-Martin, who worked with Alan in the years prior to the gallery opening, describes his experiences of making works and exhibiting with the team over the past three decades. Fellow print dealer Joni Moisant Weyl, founder of Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl in New York, who represents Gemini G.E.L., one of the leading print publishers in the US, also shares her memories of the gallery, alongside Sir Nicholas Serota, former director of  Tate and current chairman of Arts Council England, who describes the gallery’s unparalleled output in London and beyond.  Discover what has been driving Alan and David and their team for all these years, and what is next in store for the gallery. Presented by writer and critic, Charlotte Mullins. Photo: David Cleaton-Roberts, Kathleen Dempsey, Alan Cristea at the London Original Print Fair, 1998 © Cristea Roberts Gallery, London #makingamark #talkart #artpodcast ##galleryowner #printpublisher #printdealer #printgallery #artbusiness #printmaking #contemporaryprintmaking #nicholasserota #geminigel #michaelcraigmartin

This episode of Making a Mark focusses on a previously unexplored element of artist Idris Khan’s (b. 1978) practice; his developments in printmaking, a medium that now sits alongside his photography, installation and painting. We meet Khan in his London studio where, amongst his works in progress and shelves of hundreds of letter stamps, he is finishing his newest series of prints, After the reflection, 2025. Khan discusses music, colour harmony and the abstract qualities of language that inform his work, including the recent use of advanced software to create editions layered with bands of colour, musical scores and text. Contributors include writer Craig Burnett; senior director David Cleaton-Roberts; and writer and curator, Hammad Nasar. Presented by writer and critic, Charlotte Mullins. Making a Mark is a podcast by Cristea Roberts Gallery exploring exploring artists' approach to drawing and printmaking. Artworks discussed in the episode can be viewed online via https://cristearoberts.com/podcast/  Photo: Stephen White & Co #IdrisKhan #printmaking #silkscreen #screenprint #worksonpaper #workonpaper #monet #vivaldi #degas #oldmasters #repetition #makingamark #talkart #artpodcast #artiststudio

The tenth episode of Making a Mark explores Jim Dine’s (b. 1935) lifelong relationship with hand-tools. Tools have been a constant for the artist, not only as implements used to mark his plates and blocks, but also as ‘objects of desire,’ appearing as subject matter in his art for over six decades.    We meet Jim Dine in his studio in Paris, where he discusses the first print he ever made aged 17 years old in his grandfather’s basement using a piece of wood and chisel. From tracing his early interactions with tools, to introducing new monumental woodcut prints depicting hammers, Dine also talks about the various printers he has worked with including the late Aldo Crommelynck and Kurt Zein.   Contributors include master printer Julia D’Amario, an etching printer who has worked with Dine since the 1990s, and gallery founder and co-director Alan Cristea, who describes the works and ideas of an artist that he first met 45 years ago and whose achievements in printmaking remain unparalleled today.  Presented by writer and critic, Charlotte Mullins. Artworks discussed in the episode can be viewed online via https://cristearoberts.com/podcast/ Photo: Daniel Clarke  #jimdine #americanartist #handtools #printmaking #worksonpaper #workonpaper #painting #drawing #woodcutprint #artiststudio #printstudio #makingamark #talkart #artpodcast 

This episode of Making a Mark explores works on paper by Ian Davenport (b.1966), one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists whose practice delves into the realms of colour, process and materiality.  We meet Davenport, well known for his abstract paintings, in his studio in South London to find out more about what inspires him, from art history to contemporary music, and how he creates his works on paper and prints, some measuring over three metres in length and made up of as many as forty different colours. Discover Davenport’s artistic evolution as one of the generation of Young British Artists, whose work is now collected worldwide. Set to a soundtrack featuring the artist’s drumming, we also hear from curator and writer Jonathan Watkins who staged Davenport’s first institutional show in the UK in 2004. Gallery co-director David Cleaton-Roberts, who has worked with Davenport for over twenty years, describes the complex printing techniques the artist employs to create mesmerising colour arrangements. Presented by writer and critic, Charlotte Mullins. Making a Mark is a podcast by Cristea Roberts Gallery exploring the relationship between artists and printmaking.⁠ Artworks discussed in the episode can be viewed online via https://cristearoberts.com/podcast/ Photo: Ian Davenport Studio #iandavenport #printmaking #silkscreen #screenprint #worksonpaper #workonpaper #painting #drawing #interactionofcolor #josefalbers #yba #turnerprize #makingamark #talkart #artpodcast #artiststudio