Podd: Artist Decoded by Yoshino

AD 276 | Saman Kesh

18 april 2025 | 68 min

AD 275 | Tomas Watson

31 mars 2025 | 98 min

AD 274 | Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson

28 februari 2025 | 75 min

Pasqual Gutierrez is a writer, director and actor. Sundance 2025 Comedy “Serious People” was his debut into feature filmmaking alongside veteran documentary filmmaker Ben Mullinkosson who co-wrote and directed. Gutierrez is also 1/2 of music video directing duo CLIQUA who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry including The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Rosalia, Madonna, and more. Gutierrez is developing his second feature, a sequel to Serious People.

Ben Mullinkosson was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and trained in directing at Chapman University. After graduating Ben spent 15 years directing commercial work and documentary films between Los Angeles and Shanghai. Ben's newest film, SERIOUS PEOPLE, directed with Pasqual Gutierrez premiered at Sundance 2025 Film Festival. The film is sold by 2AM.

He is most well known for his feature length film DON'T BE A DICK ABOUT IT which won the Audience Award at the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam in 2018 and is currently distributed in North America by Oscilloscope Laboratories. en also recently premiered his five-year project, THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS, which won the Special Jury Mention prize at CPH:DOX in March 2023 and was sold to MUBI. The film was represented for sales by CAA and a is co-production between Kindred Spirit (Executive producer of THE FAREWELL and HONEY BOY) and /avelength (Executive producer of CUSP and WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR). Among Ben's advertisements, SAMSUNG: VOICES OF LIFE with Agency Leo Burnett won a silver lion at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival in 2016. His UNESCO World Heritage Ad with agency TBWA, THE LEFT HAND, was nominated for the ADC awards in 2020. His other clients include Facebook, Beats, Vivo, Yelp, The Home Depot, VANS, Converse, Apple, Red Bull, VICE and Nowness.

His short film, GNARLY IN PINK, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and premiered online as a NYT Op-Doc. A number of his other short films have received Vimeo Staff Picks and others have millions of views.

Ben is repped for commercials by Florence in Los Angeles. He also speaks Chinese fluently and is an X Games gold medalist for halfpipe skateboard competition in China.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

How the idea for Serious People came to Pasqual in a dream (00:03:15)
Pasqual and Ben’s writing process for Serious People (00:08:26)
Developing the film’s narrative and structure (00:11:38)
Casting Miguel Huerta as the doppelgänger (00:16:17)
Pasqual’s reflections on parenting (00:23:46)
Friendship, the creative process, and working with friends (00:29:23)
Being authentic and leaning into one’s childlike sensibilities (00:45:32)
Shifting our perspective and opening ourselves up for magic to be observed (00:59:36)
Final thoughts and future plans (01:09:26)

artistdecoded.com Ben’s Links: benmullinkosson.com instagram.com/benmullinkosson Pasqual’s Links: pasqualgutierrez.com instagram.com/pasqualgutierrez instagram.com/cliquamundo

AD 273 | Shuchi Talati

31 januari 2025 | 85 min

Shuchi Talati is a filmmaker from India whose work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, and South Asian identity. Her feature film, Girls Will Be Girls, premiered at Sundance where it won an Audience Award and a Special Jury Award. Shuchi was a Gotham Awards Breakthrough Director nominee and a John Cassavetes Award nominee at the Spirit Awards. During development, Girls was supported by the Aide Aux Cinémas du Monde and Sørfond grants, Gotham Week, Berlinale Project Market and Script Station, and Cine Qua Non Script Lab. Shuchi’s short film, A Period Piece, was selected for SXSW and her film Mae and Ash won numerous awards before becoming a Vimeo Staff Pick. Shuchi’s documentary credits include story producing the Emmy-nominated film Being Mary Tyler Moore which premiered at SXSW. Shuchi also story produced the vérité series, We Are: The Brooklyn Saints, directed by Rudy Valdez for Netflix, and Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas for HBO, where one of her episodes was nominated for a GLAAD Award. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and an alum of Berlinale Talents. She lives in NYC and is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, the Bitchitra Collective, and the Freelance Solidarity Project.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Shuchi shares her childhood love for books, her exposure to Bollywood and Hollywood films, and her introduction to cinema in university (00:03:45)
Making her first documentary (00:11:40)
The influence of observation in storytelling (00:14:55)
Interrogating values to harness a unique point of view (00:20:49)
Learning then unlearning techniques in film school and her project “Me and Ash” (00:25:29)
Capitalism vs. creative expression (00:27:50)
Shuchi’s writing/directing process for “Girls Will Be Girls,” and giving oneself space to mature with the process (00:30:43)
Discussing alternative ways of living (00:38:47)
A discussion on relationships, vulnerability, and the complexity of human behavior (00:55:06)
Shuchi’s daily habits, teaching screenwriting, creative accountability, and the importance of a creative community (01:08:47)
Shuchi’s decision to quit using social media (01:20:43)

artistdecoded.com shuchitalati.com

AD 272 | Landon Van Soest

27 december 2024 | 73 min

AD 271 | Jacob Rosenberg

22 november 2024 | 157 min

Growing up in Northern California, Jacob Rosenberg developed his passion for video and film as a skateboarder in the early 1990s, making acclaimed videos for Plan B Skateboards under the mentorship of the late founder Mike Ternasky. Upon his graduation from Emerson College, Rosenberg began his professional career directing music videos, short films, and commercials where he has directed and produced talent names such as LeBron James, Quincy Jones, Snoop Dogg, and Latto. Rosenberg served for a decade as a partner at the independent studio Bandito Brothers, spearheading forward-thinking digital workflows as their CTO and in-house director. He contributed expertise to productions such as Avatar and Act of Valor as well as numerous documentaries including Shine A Light and S.O.P.. In 2012, Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Waiting for Lightning, premiered at SXSW, going on to be released by Samuel Goldwyn Films. The documentary feature painted an intimate portrait of childhood friend and skateboard legend Danny Way, who in 2005 attempted to jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard. With a penchant for telling deeply human stories, Rosenberg’s documentaries range on subjects from land speed racing to skateboarding, photography, technology, and the world of magician Franco Pascali. His award-winning broadcast work has included campaigns for Ford, INFINITI, HUMMER, NBA, MLB, Royal Caribbean, Burger King, Beats, Advil, Intel, and countless others. Rosenberg’s latest works include co-curating a first-of-its-kind museum exhibit on the emergence of skateboard videos in the 1990s at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, as well as his first photo book RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES, documenting a decade of Bay Area hip-hop and skate culture. The book focuses on Jacob’s story, coming up as a filmmaker for Plan B and then a photographer for the rap collective Hieroglyphics—which culminated in filming, editing, and directing their first group music video “You Never Knew” in 1998.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Jacob speaks about his new book, Right Before My Eyes (00:09:32)
Magic, childlike curiosity, and the film “The Red Balloon” (00:13:19)
Jacob shares his experience creating “Waiting For Lightning,” a documentary about skateboarder Danny Way (00:18:51)
Jacob reflects on how creative pursuits helped him navigate childhood trauma (00:22:08)
Finding acceptance through skateboarding (00:29:52)
Jacob opens up about childhood trauma and how it fostered his ability to empathize with others (00:38:14)
Yoshino shares how teaching boxing to kids highlights their natural embrace of diversity, connecting it to skateboarding’s cultural inclusivity (00:40:42)
Jacob reflects on how childhood influences like Star Wars and Public Enemy shaped his creativity (00:52:09)
Jacob recounts meeting his mentor, Mike Ternasky (Co-Founder of Plan B and H Street Skateboards), at a skate camp in 1988 (00:58:04)
How authenticity and small acts of kindness create meaningful connections (01:04:56)
The conversation explores empathy as a counter to divisiveness in politics and mass media (01:07:46)
Yoshino reflects on experiencing racism while traveling (01:18:15)
Jacob discusses creating Plan B’s iconic skate videos: Questionable, Virtual Reality, and Secondhand Smoke (01:21:54)
Jacob highlights a museum exhibit celebrating 1990s skateboarding videos as cultural and documentary art (01:32:10)
Joan Scheckel and her embodied storytelling technique (01:35:36)
The importance of open-hearted living and artists staying fearlessly present during turbulent times (01:41:53)
Yoshino and Jacob admire the subtle storytelling in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days (01:51:07)
Jacob discusses his book Right Before My Eyes, chronicling his growth as a filmmaker and skateboarding’s evolution from 1988 to 1998 (01:58:28)
Yoshino and Jacob explore how modern technology overwhelms and disconnects, emphasizing slowing down and finding grounding in nature and analog experiences (02:03:57)

artistdecoded.com jacobrosenberg.tv/shop instagram.com/jacobrosenberg

AD 270 | Joshua Hagler (Æmen Ededéen)

11 november 2024 | 112 min

Joshua Hagler (b. 1979, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) is a first-generation graduate with a graphic design degree from The University of Arizona. A 2018 grant recipient of the Roswell Artist in Residence Program, Hagler has since made New Mexico his permanent home. Currently, he lives with his wife and daughter in the high desert village of Placitas at the foot of the Sandia Mountains. In recent years, his practice has been guided by an approach he calls Nihil, a set of nine self-imposed principles that have grown out of solitary excursions throughout the state. These principles determine all aspects of the work from its imagery and process to the media and objects comprising it. Concept and meaning, as such, naturally unfold out of synchronistic experiences occurring over time.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Romanticizing solitude and isolation (00:05:53)
Joshua describes his meditative practice (00:09:06)
Yoshino reflects on how names and labels impact our perception of reality (00:14:15)
Joshua discusses his project “Nihil” (00:17:24)
How Joshua’s personal grief has shaped his work (00:23:28)
Joshua and Yoshino share personal anecdotes and experiences with encountering spiritual signs (00:29:41)
Yoshino discusses the challenge of describing spiritual experiences. Joshua adds that people often exist in a projected reality, shaped by narratives and labels, which sometimes diverge from actual reality (00:46:21)
Exploring ideas around purpose (00:51:23)
The danger of equating success with self-worth (00:58:39)
Joshua shares his experiences about how his project “Nihil” began and ended (01:17:45)
Yoshino uses the metaphor of the “Easter egg” in video games to explain an artist’s desire for others to understand the depth of their work (01:25:41)
The benefits of living in simplicity and not being attached to outcomes (01:30:47)
Joshua shares a recent interaction with a younger artist, offering advice on handling the pressures of age and expected timelines (01:37:59)

artistdecoded.com joshuahagler.com instagram.com/aemenededeen

Slow Creativity | Yoshinocast #18

1 november 2024 | 11 min

AD 269 | Nouel Riel

21 oktober 2024 | 109 min

“As an artist, I am interested in observing the transmutation process of unconscious material moving into conscious awareness. I work in painting, photography, writing, performance and video. My paintings utilize inner visions and depth psychology to form works layered with symbolism and metaphor. In photography, I employ an experimental process on film that focuses on Jungian Intuitive and Feeling typology. By blurring, altering or disrupting the straight forward information in a photograph, the image moves from analysis to an abstraction - allowing the viewer’s point of focus to relax, moving closer to the body and the Self. This subtle shift of perception is why I describe my photographs as Portals of Feeling.”

Nouel Riel is a Los Angeles based Artist. Following many years performing as a competitive gymnast she earned a full athletic scholarship to The University of Minnesota. There she studied Apparel Design, continuing that focus at The Art Institute of Portland. Since receiving her BFA from Santa Fe University of Art and Design in 2014, she has shown in solo and group exhibitions in Santa Fe, NM, Los Angeles, New York, and London. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Yoshino and Nouel reconnect after not seeing each other for over four years (00:06:30)
Nouel reads The Layers by Stanley Kunitz, and the conversation explores the poem’s meaning and personal resonance for her (00:08:23)
How Yoshino and Nouel met (00:13:05)
Archetypes and Jungian psychology (00:18:56)
Nouel talks about her background in competitive gymnastics (00:24:24)
Finding art as a tool for self-discovery and healing (00:38:52)
Giving a voice for our dark energy and integrating with our shadow-self (00:48:38)
Embracing different types of intelligences and trying to not take things personally (00:56:23)
Exploring loneliness and how it could relate to the missing connection with the Devine feminine and masculine (01:08:20)
Nostalgia, popular culture, and the perception of self (01:25:21)
The importance of representation in mass media and Yoshino’s personal experiences dealing with racism (01:32:12)

artistdecoded.com nouelriel.com instagram.com/nouelriel

AD 268 | Sah D'Simone

14 oktober 2024 | 77 min

Cancer Sticks | Yoshinocast #17

12 oktober 2024 | 8 min

When I was a child, I was repulsed by my father’s smoking addiction. I can still smell the acrid scent of his clothes, laden with a residual stench that never quite went away. He used to carry an old handkerchief in his front shirt pocket. Even at a young age, I thought it was odd when he would blow his nose into it and then stuff it back. I found it even more disgusting when he would spit on it and then subsequently wipe my face with the same putrid handkerchief. I felt a sense of betrayal enter my body whenever he would do this. Maybe he thought of me as some sort of sick puppy, like how a dog licks the fur of it’s young as an act of compassion. Perhaps his dad did the same thing to him too? I guess I’ll never know.

Around the age of six or seven, I asked my father if he would quit smoking. He replied, “I will quit when you turn nine.”

Can you guess what happened when my ninth birthday came around?

This cycle of broken promises continued for the next few years until he and my mother divorced when I was 14. That same year he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

When I was 16, I visited him at my grandmother's house. I opened the front door and locked eyes with him. He was ecstatic to tell me a story about where he had recently traveled. I was confused because he wasn't allowed to go anywhere unsupervised by this point.

“Son... I have to take you to this place! We... we were traveling in a helicopter to this beautiful remote island. There were all types of dinosaurs there. From brontosaurus to pterodactyl... I even saw a T-Rex!!!”

It was such an absurd thing to say; it took me a while to process what he was telling me.

“Dad... are you talking about Jurassic Park??”

“You've been there already!” he replied with a sense of disappointment on his face.

After this instance, I rarely visited him. My mother had custody over me, so I watched him from afar as he slowly began to deteriorate. It was a confusing emotional time for me back then. Looking back now, I know I distanced myself as a defense mechanism. I was ashamed of what my father was going through. While other fathers seemed to be present in their children’s lives, mine was dwindling away, becoming a fragment of his former self. I didn't understand what he was going through then. How could I have?

I remember a few family members telling me I would regret not visiting him more before he passed away. But to be honest, I don't regret distancing myself. After his death, I learned about my father's checkered past. I'm still processing the things I found out about him—how he was a gambler, a womanizer, and a failed businessman. He lived his life in ways I disagree with. In many ways, I have tried to be the exact opposite of him.

The photos you see here were taken for several reasons. First, I find the graphics on these cigarette packages to be disturbing, hilarious, and problematic at the same time. The disclaimers are, for lack of a better term, utter bullshit. The cigarette companies don't care about the health of the people who purchase them. But I guess that's a symptom of living in a society that values predatory capitalism. Finally, these photos are for you, Dad. May you rest in peace. I'll see you in the next life so we can reconcile our differences. Hopefully.

_

Yoshino is a multi-hyphenate artist and the host of Artist Decoded. Yoshino’s essay “Cancer Sticks” can be read at Yoshino’s Diary on Substack. Yoshino’s Links: yoshinostudios.com yoshino.substack.com instagram.com/yoshinostudios twitter.com/yoshinostudios

AD 267 | Jia Sung

30 september 2024 | 98 min

Jia Sung is a Singaporean Chinese artist and educator whose practice spans painting, artist books, textiles, printmaking, writing, and translation. Drawing on motifs from Chinese mythology and Buddhist iconography, Sung uses the familiar visual language of folklore to examine and subvert conventional archetypes of femininity, queerness and otherness. Her recent work explores threads of ecofeminism, ethnoecology, the ecological capacities of the body, invasive species as family, and the potentials of collective and constant human transformation through interspecies dynamics. Her approach draws from that of the Chinese zhiguai tradition, that genre of ‘strange tales’ cannot be translated directly through the lens of horror. The supernatural, the monstrous, the spiritual, seep into the tidy confines of ordinary existence, often humorous, arbitrary, smearing at the boundaries of our reality and then slinking away just as rapidly. Here is shapeshifter, here is trickster, things that inhabit liminal space and refuse to be held in place or form; the profane invades the interior, wilderness enters the domestic space, phenomena defy causation and morality, creature refutes taxonomy. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Jia’s childhood, early influences, and why she chose to dedicate her life to the arts (00:06:14)
Formative books, films, and mythologies for Jia, Jennifer, and Yoshino (00:08:05)
Art as a lifestyle and sketching/journaling as a form of expression (00:15:52)
Jia explains her experiences going to RISD (00:17:03)
Teaching art and guiding students – Jia shares her approach to teaching, focusing on personal expression over technique (00:18:46)
Returning to unfinished work (00:22:42)
Balancing chaos and creativity – reflections on how emotional turmoil can fuel or take away from creative work (00:28:11)
Identity, ego, and output in art – how artists' identities are tied to their creative output and the challenges that brings (00:33:32)
Discussing various levels of consciousness (00:40:44)
Challenges of art school and institutional expectations – Jia reflects on the pressures and baggage that come from a formal art education (00:43:48)
Breaking away from art jargon and structured critique to find a personal voice (00:54:27)
Lightheartedly discussing astrology (01:04:04)
The Artist Decoded Tarot and Jia’s “The Trickster’s Journey” tarot (01:10:27)
Discussing the potential future of AI (01:18:17)
Jia’s advice to her younger self (01:30:41)

Episode co-host: Jennifer Sodini

artistdecoded.com jia-sung.com instagram.com/jiazilla

The Stories We Tell Ourselves | Yoshinocast #16

22 september 2024 | 33 min

AD 266 | James Mountford

9 september 2024 | 78 min

AD 265 | Justin Tyler Close

27 augusti 2024 | 64 min

AD 264 | Rose Ides

12 augusti 2024 | 52 min

AD 263 | Erik Davis

15 juli 2024 | 76 min

Introducing The Artist Decoded Tarot with Jennifer Sodini-Aronovich and Yoshino

18 juni 2024 | 64 min

AD 262 | John Wentz

14 april 2024 | 76 min

AD 261 | Tim Bettinson (Vancouver Sleep Clinic)

22 mars 2024 | 107 min

AD 260 | Saman Kesh

11 mars 2024 | 78 min

AD 259 | Daniele Bolelli

4 mars 2024 | 117 min

Photo Roulette | Yoshinocast #15

28 december 2023 | 6 min

AD 258 | Wesley Stringer

23 december 2023 | 70 min

AD 257 | James “Munky” Shaffer (Korn + Venera)

30 november 2023 | 68 min

AD 256 | Paul Yoon

9 oktober 2023 | 75 min

AD 255 | Johan Van Mullem

25 september 2023 | 98 min

AD 254 | Jacqueline Castel

8 september 2023 | 86 min

AD 253 | Dan Lam

4 september 2023 | 68 min

The Inner Symphony | Yoshinocast #14

23 juni 2023 | 8 min

AD 252 | Christine Kuan

12 juni 2023 | 62 min

Christine Kuan is President & Executive Director of Creative Capital, a nonprofit grantmaking organization funding artists creating experimental and groundbreaking new work in the visual arts, performing arts, film, technology, literature, socially engaged, and multidisciplinary forms. Before joining Creative Capital, Kuan was CEO & Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and held roles as Chief Curator & Director of Strategic Partnerships at Artsy, Chief Curatorial Officer & VP for External Affairs at Artstor, and Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Art Online/Grove Art Online at Oxford University Press. She has also worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and taught at the University of Iowa, Peking University, Rutgers University, and Stanford University Arts Leadership program. Kuan holds an MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a BA in Art History and English Literature from Rutgers University. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Intuition (0:09:49)
How Creative Capital fosters the careers of multi-disciplinary artists (00:13:43)
How Creative Capital supports diversity and equality within the arts (00:16:30)
How Creative Capital is often the first organization to fund artists (00:21:18)
The “Wild Futures” grant cycle (00:22:23)
Jordan Weber’s “4 MX” project (00:25:11)
Early funded projects including Lynn Hershman Leeson‘s “Women Art Revolution” (00:28:08)
Christine encourages people to pursue a career in the arts (00:33:24)
Creating harmony between the arts and institutions (00:36:18)
Focusing our attention towards quality time and experiences (00:40:11)
How artists are selected by Creative Capital (00:48:36)
Christine’s advice for artists and creatives (00:58:04)

Books Referenced:

“Deep Work” by Cal Newport
“The Kybalion” by The Three Initiates

People Mentioned:

James Baldwin
Angela Merkel
Spike Lee
Jibz Cameron
Titus Kaphar
Cassils
Jordan Weber
Jesse Krimes
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Samora Pinderhughes
Simone Leigh
Lorraine O'Grady

artistdecoded.com creative-capital.org instagram.com/kuannyc

AD 251 | Mitch Horowitz

5 juni 2023 | 73 min

Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. He is the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America, One Simple Idea, The Miracle Club, Daydream Believer, Uncertain Places, and the forthcoming Modern Occultism. Mitch hosted, co-wrote, and produced a feature documentary about the occult classic The Kybalion directed by Emmy-nominee Ronni Thomas and shot on location in Egypt. The movie premiered as the #3 documentary on iTunes. Mitch plays a newscaster in the forthcoming Paramount feature thriller My Animal directed by Jacqueline Castel, an official selection of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Mitch’s books have been translated into French, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Portuguese. His work is censored in China.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Mitch’s currently unreleased book, “Modern Occultism” (00:04:33)
Mitch’s concept, “The Ten Day Miracle Challenge” (00:07:00)
Having an obsessive intellect (00:09:53)
Nurturing one’s intrinsic nature (00:11:19)
Positive lessons Mitch learned while working in publishing (00:13:41)
Learning from suffering (00:17:17)
Emotions informing memories (00:20:31)
Anton Lavey’s teachings (00:24:03)
Truth comes in the form of a lie - G. I. Gurdjieff (00:26:34)
Finding one’s personal truth (00:31:49)
The films of Ruben Östlund (00:35:19)
“The Wish Machine” in Andrei Tarkovsky‘s film Stalker (00:38:39)
The effects of technological information overload and Anton Lavey’s “The Augmentive Principle” (00:42:32)
Fear and a wish being one and the same (00:47:27)
Building character through difficult situations (00:54:23)
Mitch’s fascination with the work of G. I. Gurdjieff (00:57:09)
Separating the art from the artist (00:59:42)
Limiting judgments against others (01:06:38)

Books Referenced:

Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel)
Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill)
The Third Mind (Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs)

Films / TV Shows Referenced:

The Square
Force Majore
Stalker
Anti-Christ
The Last Ship
The Last of Us
Alone

People Mentioned:

Jacqueline Castel
Carlos Castaneda
Jack Parsons
Brion Gysin
William S. Burroughs
G. I. Gurdjieff
Vernon Howard
Ruben Östlund
Andrei Tarkovsky
Anton Lavey
Emily St. John Mandel
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Napolean Hill
Grant Morrison
Alan Moore

ArtistDecoded.com MitchHorowitz.com Mitch’s Twitter Mitch’s Instagram

AD 250 | Cj Hendry

11 april 2023 | 61 min

And Then Awoke The Butterfly | Yoshinocast #13

7 april 2023 | 8 min

Duality and Technology with Brett Amory | AD 249

6 april 2023 | 77 min

Brett Amory’s multidisciplinary practice is based on the intersection of quotidian and habitual engagements with the everyday world. His works consider moments of visual perception that precede interpretation. Working primarily in painting and installation, he uses the ordinary as a vehicle for extending the familiar into the realms of the unfamiliar. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including at the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; and de Young Museum, San Francisco. Brett Amory earned an MFA from Stanford University and a BFA from the Academy of Arts University. He lives and works in Oakland California.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Introduction (00:00:00)
Brett’s introduction to art through skateboarding (00:11:42)
Using experiences to inform one’s creative process (00:21:45)
Honing into instincts (00:26:27)
Being challenged to draw better (00:30:22)
The combination of aesthetics and meaning (00:37:35)
The evolution of Brett’s work over the course of 25 years (00:41:33)
“The Waiting Series” (00:43:33)
Getting his MFA @ Stanford (00:48:31)
Conclusions Brett has come to after completing his MFA @ Stanford (00:51:23)
What the MFA application process is like @ Stanford (00:56:47)
Phenomenology (01:01:08)
Brett’s recent work regarding duality and technology (01:04:00)
Stoicism (01:09:40)
GANs / AI (01:12:27)

Artists / People Mentioned:

William Strobeck (Skateboard Film Director)
George Romero (Director)
Marshall McLuhan (Writer)
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Philosopher)
Paul Cézanne (Painter)
René Descartes (Philosopher)
Martin Heidegger (Philospher)

Books Mentioned:

Techgnosis (Erik Davis)
The Singularity is Nearer (Ray Kurzweil)

Article Read In Episode Intro: "What is Embodiment? Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of the Body" by Moses May-Hobbs

artistdecoded.com brettamory.com instagram.com/brettamory

Intro To Yoshino’s Diary + “Wandering and Wondering" | Yoshinocast #12

27 mars 2023 | 12 min

And The Journey Continues... | Yoshino Interviewed by Noah Wainwright | Yoshinocast #11

17 mars 2023 | 65 min

Embodying Love and Compassion | Yoshinocast #10

9 mars 2023 | 22 min

Quantum Leap with Raymond Lee | AD 248

6 februari 2023 | 88 min

Raymond Lee stars as Dr. Ben Song on the new NBC drama “Quantum Leap.” Ben is a brilliant quantum physicist leaping through time to put right what once went wrong. Lee also stars in the AMC series “Kevin Can F*** Himself,” which begins its second season Aug. 22. Previously, he was a series regular on Alan Ball’s HBO series “Here and Now.” Additional recurring roles include the HBO Max series “Made for Love,” Fox’s “Prodigal Son,” Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” and ABC’s “Scandal.” On the film side, he is currently appearing in the box office smash “Top Gun: Maverick.” Theater credits include the world premiere productions of “Vietgone” at Manhattan Theater Club, for which he was awarded the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Debut; “Office Hour,” opposite Sandra Oh, and “Cambodian Rock Band” at the South Coast Repertory. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Raymond and Yoshino being Cal State Long Beach alums (00:06:31)
Raymond dropping out of high school and how that affected him psychologically while growing up (00:07:27)
Problems with the education system (00:010:05)
Finding a love for performance in his youth (00:13:07)
Discovering acting through theatre and deciding to become a professional actor while he was in college (00:14:49)
Raymond’s approach to acting (00:18:37)
The importance of having discipline and maintaining solid habits (00:22:53)
Embodying characters and manifesting roles (00:25:59)
Yoshino shares a personal story highlighting the impact art can have on its viewers (00:36:05)
The impact art has made on Raymond’s life (00:39:02)
The Kybalion and embracing polarities (00:43:56)
The Rashomon Effect (00:47:32)
Manifesting goals (00:51:18)
Honing into and practicing intuition (00:59:22)
Raymond and Yoshino speaking about acquiring skill sets (01:10:56)
Final words of advice from Raymond (01:22:11)

Artists / People Mentioned:

Sandra Oh (Actor)
Joseph Lee (Painter / Actor)
Akira Kurosawa (Film Director)
Rubens Charles Cobrinha (BJJ Practioner)

Books Mentioned:

The Kybalion

Films / TV Series Mentioned:

Dopesick (2021)
Rashomon (1950)

artistdecoded.com Raymond Lee’s IMDB instagram.com/raymomomo

The Power of Observation | Yoshinocast #9

17 december 2022 | 11 min

Breaking Through Illusion | Yoshinocast #8

13 december 2022 | 8 min

Growth, Vulnerability, and New Horizons with Elly Smallwood | AD 247

7 december 2022 | 75 min

Body Prophecy with James Hammontree (Black Magnet) x Jesse Draxler | AD 246

8 november 2022 | 92 min

With the release of Black Magnet’s debut album ‘Hallucination Scene’ in 2020 a new Industrial Metal power emerged from the unlikely landscape of Oklahoma City. After anxiously waiting out the pandemic Black Magnet returned to the road in late 2021 and has now dropped ‘Body Prophecy’ the second full-length burst of machine-driven mayhem and electronic deviance. On ‘Body Prophecy’ mastermind, James Hammontree welds the frenetic vitality of post-punk and metal energy with driving synthetic club beats, factory force physicality, and alluringly stark melodic pulses. Tracks like ‘Floating in Nothing’ and ‘Violent Mechanix’ feature both intensely catchy hooks and hammering brutal noise. ‘Sold Me Sad’ is a quietly deranged lullaby that takes an atmospheric turn. The throbbing drug-addled lurch of the Manson / Reznor-esque ‘Incubate’ is, at the end of the album, treated to a completely re-imagined and extended club-style remix by scene legend Justin K. Broadrick (Godflesh, Zonal, etc). For all its harsher, scraping atmospheres and pummeling aggression ‘Body Prophecy’ always remains an eminently tight, memorable album molded for the stage and constructed to keep bodies in motion and listeners transfixed.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

How The Kybalion impacted James’s life/creative practice
Hermeticism and the 7 Hermetic principles
Folklore behind “Ring Around The Rosie”
Draxler’s visual contribution to Black Magnet’s newest album “Body Prophecy”
Recording “Body Prophecy” during the early stages of the pandemic
James working with Justin K Broadrick
Suffering through challenging material to grow one’s creative perspective
Looking past genres to develop a deeper relationship with artworks
Tapping into your highest vibration, frequency, and energy
Creating art with absolute honesty
Embracing the paradox
Transforming negative outlooks into positive perspectives
“The Pregnant Void” in Taoism

Artists / People Mentioned:

Salvador Dalí (Surrealist Painter)
Francis Bacon (Painter)
Max Ernst (Surrealist Painter)
Mitch Horowitz (Author / Occult Historian)
Jay Cheel (Director)
Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)
Alejandro Jodorosky (Director)
David Lynch (Director)
Alan Watts (Writer)

Bands / Musicians Mentioned:

Justin K. Broadrick
Godflesh
Jesu
Vatican Shadow
Killing Joke
The Birthday Party
Big Black
Meshuggah
Blood Incantation
Greg Puciato

Books Mentioned:

The Kybalion
The Lord of the Rings
The Occult: A History
Man, Myth, and Magic Series
The Hellbound Heart
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Films / TV Series Mentioned:

Midsommar
Cursed Films
Serpent and the Rainbow
Twilight Zone Movie
The Birds
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
Stalker
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Hereditary
The Witch
The Crow
The Wizard of OZ
Weeds
Hellraiser

artistdecoded.com blckmgnt.bandcamp.com instagram.com/bl4ckm4gnet

Set and Setting with Dorian Concept | AD 245

30 oktober 2022 | 98 min

Oliver Johnson aka Dorian Concept will release his new album What We Do For Others on 28th October on Brainfeeder Records. It’s the third studio album by the Austrian producer and synthesizer savant, famed for his singular, beautifully detailed sonic tapestries and wild, utterly joyful live keyboard jam videos. What We Do For Others is a relaxed, quietly confident and intimate record, founded on delightfully loose arrangements, feedbacked soundscapes and blessed with snatches of cryptic vocals that are presented more as additional instrumentation rather than lyrical phrases. All the elements and layers were recorded without interruptions and deliberately not edited. “I think that's why this record has something of a ‘band sound’” says Oliver. “It's me playing all kinds of different key- instruments, singing and using fx-units to create these freeform compositions.” The title came to Oliver in a dream and stuck with him. “One thing I often find interesting about my creative process is that when I believe to be making something that others could like, it tends to not really connect with people,” he says. “Whereas when I get to that special place and just work from my gut – the music tends to often speak to the outside world naturally.” Johnson says that he tried questioning his internal voice of self-judgment and temper his constant urge for improvement during the making of the album. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Dorian’s earliest memories of being introduced to music through film soundtracks such as Batman Returns (1992)
Sound synthesis
The earliest influences on Dorian
Dorian being influenced by Dj Spinna’s “Heavy Beats Vol. 2” in his youth
Experimenting and improvising with Micro Korgs
Dorian learning how to play the piano around the age of 6
Prepared piano
The importance of having teachers that can nurture one’s individual creativity
Connections between music and video games
8 to 16-bit music used in early console games
Psychedelics
Set and setting
Questioning one’s perspective on using time
The intentionality of decisions made throughout one’s life
The compulsion for creating art
Dorian’s reasons for choosing to become a professional artist
His new album “What We Do For Others”
His track, Survival Instinct being the “heartpiece” of his album
Drawing parallels between creating a sculpture and creating music
Presenting complex points of view to a wider audience
Commercialization vs. arthouse creations
Breaking rules and questioning the process
Paradigm shifts in one’s own unique consciousness
Dorian creating lo-fi music videos for himself with the use of archival footage and processed through Blender

Artists Mentioned:

Dimlite (Musician)
Mike Slott (Musician)
Tupac (Rapper)
DJ Spinna (DJ)
John Coletrain (Saxophonist)
Edgard Varès (Composer)
Aphex Twin (Musician)
Little Snake (Musician)

artistdecoded.com dorianconcept.com

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power with Nina Menkes | AD 244

20 oktober 2022 | 67 min

Quality Over Opinion with Louis Cole

3 oktober 2022 | 74 min

Embracing The Shadow Self with Joseph Lee | AD 243

29 augusti 2022 | 92 min

The Tenets of Nihil with Joshua Hagler | AD 242

22 augusti 2022 | 89 min

The long arc of Joshua Hagler's oeuvre, with its focus on painting, could be traced by its slow, physical and conceptual disintegration - of it's imagery, politics, art historical underpinnings, and philosophical erudition - from its early pictorial messaging to a need, in more recent years, for direct physical experience of the numinous. Material layering is at the core of Hagler's work, combining a range of self-developed painting processes which force a loss of skilled control, making for radical pictorial transformation. The works situates itself in the paradox of absence and presence, the internal and external, and the sacred and profane. Whatever research occurs with regard to issues such as mass shooting, wildfires, and religiosity in America, only demonstrates itself to the degree that it's relevant to the artist's own background and direct life experience. The personal is thus foregrounded and given preference over academic defenses, which are subverted at every opportunity. Hagler's distinct signature manages to span paintings both physically slight and vast, figurative and abstract. The work is intentional about avoiding redundancy common in an era of self-conscious branding, preferring endless evolution, while seeking to ground itself in deeper authenticity over time.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The Tenets of Nihil
Exile & Absence (The Archaic Brother) - The first tenet of Nihil
The reasons why Josh moved from California to New Mexico in 2017
Paradoxes
Private vs. public conversations
Arvo Pärt’s compositional style, “tintinnabuli”
Josh’s observations in abandoned spaces throughout New Mexico
Believing in consciousness
Axis Mundi
Patterns emerging out of observations
The Archaic Brother
How being a father has given him a deeper meaning and appreciation for life
The role meditation has played in his life

Artists Mentioned:

Ruben Östlund (Director)
Arvo Pärt (Composer)
Mark Rothko (Painter)
Aja Daashuur (Medium)

Books Mentioned:

The Daemon (Anthony Peake)
The Seat of the Soul (Gary Zukav)

Films Mentioned:

The Square (2017)
Force Majeure (2014)

artistdecoded.com joshuahagler.com instagram.com/haglerjosh

The Soul and The Higher Calling | Yoshinocast #7

17 augusti 2022 | 20 min

On Mediumship And Connecting With Spirit Guides with Aja Daashuur | AD 241

5 augusti 2022 | 74 min

On Having Purpose | Yoshinocast #6

23 juli 2022 | 12 min

Writing Down The Bones with Natalie Goldberg | AD 240

20 juli 2022 | 50 min

Sleep, Creativity, and Neuroscience | Yoshinocast #5

17 juli 2022 | 9 min

Trusting Your Intuition | Yoshinocast #4

15 juli 2022 | 9 min

Never Surrender Your Voice and Your Vision with Lidia Yuknavitch | AD 239

3 juli 2022 | 78 min

Lidia Yuknavitch is the nationally bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, the story collection Verge, and the memoir The Chronology of Water. She is the recipient of two Oregon Book Awards and has been a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and the PEN Center USA Creative Nonfiction Award. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

“One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are, and to live without belief—that is a fate more terrible than dying.” - The Book of Joan
Having grit and an unwillingness to surrender as an artist
False notions around the idea of transcendence
Social conditioning
Patriarchy
The umbilical cord as a metaphoric symbol in Lidia’s writing
Objective correlatives
Intergenerational trauma
Her writing center “Corporeal Writing”
How her newest book “Thrust” is a love letter dedicated to her son and mother
“The edges of everything are always shimmering” - Lidia
Enzo circles
Having a competitive spirit as an athlete
Lidia feeling comfort in the water
The connection between colonization and the way we view the gender binary
Lidia’s process of researching while she is writing a book

People / Artists Mentioned:

VOWWS (Band)
Jesse Draxler (Visual Artist)
David Lynch (Filmmaker)
Melissa Febos (Writer)
Terese Marie Mailhot (Writer)
Judith Butler (Philosopher)
Danez Smith (Poet)
David Cronenberg (Filmmaker)
Viggo Mortensen (Actor)
Kristen Stewart (Actor)
Jane Campion (Director)
Philip K. Dick (Writer)
Brandon Cronenberg (Director)
Percy Bysshe Shelley (Poet)
Elizabeth Moss (Actor)
Margaret Atwood (Writer)

Books Mentioned:

The Misfit’s Manifesto
Thrust
The Book of Joan
It Didn’t Start With You
Frankenstein

Films / TV Shows Mentioned:

eXistenZ (1999)
Crimes of the Future (2022)
Titane (2021)
Blade Runner (1982)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Possessor (2020)
Mary Shelley (2017)
Shirley (2020)
The Handmaid’s Tale (2017)

artistdecoded.com lidiayuknavitch.net instagram.com/lidiamiles twitter.com/LidiaYuknavitch

The Clash of Industry and Nature with Martin Wittfooth | AD 238

27 juni 2022 | 98 min

Martin Wittfooth was born in Toronto, Canada in 1981 and works in two studios in Kingston, New York, and Savannah, Georgia. He earned his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2008. Wittfooth’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Akron Art Museum in Ohio, and La Halle Saint-Pierre in Paris, with solo exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Copenhagen. His paintings have also appeared in numerous publications, including Juxtapoz, The New York Times Art Review, and Vice, and cover features in New American Paintings, Hi-Fructose, Chronogram, and American Artist Magazine. Wittfooth’s paintings, drawings, installations, and sculptural works investigate themes of the intersection and clash of industry and nature, and the human influence on the environment. Many of his works explore the theme of shamanism - rituals and practices as old as our species - through which we have attempted to dialogue with nature: the nature outside of ourselves and the nature within. His creative language uses the combination of allegory and symbolism to convey visual narratives. Martin Wittfooth is represented by Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, Denmark. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Martin’s upcoming solo exhibit “The Plasticene Era,” which opens on September 17th, 2022 @ Gallery Poulsen in Cøpenhagen
The longest amount of time he has spent on one painting
Getting inspiration from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
The pre-career retrospective
Creating an exquisite corpse with oneself
Martin growing up in Finland
Martin working as an illustrator directly out of college
3D printing
World building
Speaking about one’s personal observations of the world through one’s paintings
The Siren in Greek mythology
Google’s “sentient” AI, LaMDA
Creating meaning out of one’s own life
Balancing being a working artist and having a family
Being a community-focused artist

People / Artists Mentioned:

Gerhard Richter (Visual Artist)
David Cronenberg (Director)
Bret Easton Ellis (Writer)
Darren Aronofsky (Director)
Adrian Ghenie (Painter)
Justin Mortimer (Painter)
Cecily Brown (Painter)
Anish Kapoor (Sculptor)
James Turrell (Artist)
Albert Einstein (Physicist)
Blake Lemoine (Google AI Engineer)

Books Mentioned:

American Psycho
Less Than Zero

Films / TV Shows Mentioned:

Crimes of the Future (2022)
Mother! (2017)
The Shining (1980)

martinwittfooth.com instagram.com/martinwittfooth

Dowsing Voice with Emma Ruth Rundle | AD 227

20 juni 2022 | 76 min

Arkhon with Zola Jesus | AD 236

6 juni 2022 | 95 min

There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned -- not to somewhere new, but to a place that's already wrapped inside you, somewhere previously obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it's also a gift, because once it's opened, once you're inside of it, it can show you the truth.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Nika’s newest album “Arkhon”
Accepting the past and exploring the unknown
How her life drastically changed after the release of her album “Okovi” in 2017
Her journey creating her albums: Taiga, Okovi, and Arkhon
“When you’re trying to make music to fit into a world that already exists. It’s much less interesting.” - Nika
Problems with viewing one’s art within the lens of commerce and commercial viability
Having confidence in one’s own unique process
The healing powers of meditation
Having full faith and trust in the muse
Transcendental Meditation
Creating music in isolation
The Definite Chief Aim
Losing touch with one’s internal dialogue
Cultivating purpose
Returning to nature to understand that we are part of a greater ecosystem
Human hubris
Being mindful of how one expends their energy
Changing the world through our artistic contributions
Being completely honest with oneself
Subverting the algorithm
Defining success and value for ourselves
Exploring ideas surrounding monetary success and prosperity
“If you could only have a couple of things in your life, what would they be?” - Nika
Existentialism
“I want to focus on my experience. Not on how other people are experiencing me.” - Nika

People / Artists Mentioned:

Alex DeGroot (Producer & Musician)
David Lynch (Filmmaker)
Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)
Mitch Horowitz (Writer)
Jesse Draxler (Artist)
Napolean Hill (Writer)
Margaret Atwood (Writer)
Joan Didion (Writer)

Books Mentioned:

“Catching The Big Fish” by David Lynch
“The Body Keeps The Score” by Bessel van der Kolk
“Daydream Believer” by Mitch Horowitz
“The White Album” by Joan Didion
“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion

Films Mentioned:

Arrival (2016)
Don’t Look Up (2021)

artistdecoded.com zolajesus.com instagram.com/zolajesus twitter.com/zolajesus

Cursed Films 2 with Jay Cheel | AD 235

23 maj 2022 | 90 min

Jay Cheel’s career in non-fiction filmmaking has focused mostly on character-based portraits of quirky, passionate obsessives, realized in a highly cinematic style. His debut feature Beauty Day premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of their Canadian Front Programming Series. The film was also an official selection at the Hot Docs International Film Festival and was nominated for a Genie Award in 2012. His second feature How to Build a Time Machine premiered at Hot Docs and went on to screen at AFI Docs, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and DOC NYC. His latest is Cursed Films, a five-part documentary series produced for AMC Networks and Shudder. The show focuses on the legends surrounding some of Hollywood’s most troubled horror film productions and has gone on to become the highest-rated documentary series on the platform. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Jay’s short film Twisted
Him being exposed to horror films at a young age
Recognizing the importance of a director in a film production at a young age
What piqued Jay’s original interest in entering film as a career
His podcast Film Junk, which holds a Guinness World Records for the longest-running film podcast
His short film Beauty Day
Creating deep interpersonal connections with crew members on a film set
The need for control as it relates to artistic pursuits
How Jay’s perspective of curses has changed while working on the Cursed Films project
How the film, The Exorcist, negatively impacted the cultural lexicon by reinforcing the existence of the devil
Predatory capitalism
Personal tragedies that happened for Jay while filming Cursed Films
The importance of providing context in a documentary project
The Manson murders
The murders and tragedies that have occurred in Benedict Canyon in LA
Ethical decisions they had to make regarding what scenes to show in Cannibal Holocaust
Naive actors getting involved in Cannibal Holocaust, and Carl Gabriel Yorke signing on without reading the script

People / Artists Mentioned:

John Carpenter (Filmmaker)
Lidia Yuknavitch (Writer)
Gary Oldman (Actor)
Robert Deniro (Actor)
Tim Burton (Director)
Bill Pullman (Actor)
Steve Rash (Director)
Judy Garland (Actor)
Lorna Luft (Actor)
Roman Polanski (Director)
Dianne Lake (Writer / Former Manson Family Member)
Julian Wasser (Photographer)
Ruggero Deodato (Director)
Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)

Cursed Films Episodes Mentioned:

Twilight Zone: The Movie
The Exorcist
The Wizard of Oz (S2 E1)
Rosemary’s Baby (S2 E2)
Stalker (S2 E3)
The Serpent and the Rainbow (S2 E4)
Cannibal Holocaust (S2 E5)

TV Shows + Films Mentioned:

The Day After (1983)
The Thing (1982)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
They Live (1988)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
American Movie (1999)
Ed Wood (1994)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1977)
Weekend (1967)
Andrei Rublev (1966)

artistdecoded.com jaycheel.com instagram.com/jaywesleycheel twitter.com/JayCheel

Totems and Vessels with Mia Bergeron and John McLeod | AD 234

6 maj 2022 | 71 min

Mia Bergeron's Bio

Mia Bergeron is a classically trained oil painter that uses modern techniques and concepts to create layered imaginative works. Imagery in her work often oscillates between the fictitious and the observed in equal parts. Rooted in her upbringing in New York City with continuous exposure to modern art, her paintings also reveal her choice to study classical painting in Florence, Italy under Charles H. Cecil in her twenties. Heavily influenced by historical artists such as Diego Velázquez, Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and John Singer Sargent, her paintings are also shaped by contemporary artists such as Alex Kanevsky, Ann Gale, and Adrian Ghenie. For Mia, the process of making paintings is similar to meditation. Each painting is the listening and contemplating of the surrounding world. The minutes at the easel are similar to focusing on the breath- there are times when the scrutiny is welcomed and quiet, and other times when the mind is loud and unintelligible. It is this dynamic contrast that is at the center of Mia’s paintings. This dualistic nature of life is what pushes and inspires her work. Mia has been published numerous times in international magazines. Her painting “Tranquil Ghosts” was the cover image for the January 2022 Issue of American Art Collector Magazine. She continues to teach throughout the United States and Europe. She and her husband, artist John McLeod, lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

John McLeod's Bio

Living and working in Chattanooga, Tennessee, John McLeod graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi in 2001. His earliest influences come from studying ancient Mesoamerican and Egyptian sculpture and imagery. John works with a wide range of materials and methods to explore emotional experiences, communicate beliefs in visual terms, create enigmatic situations, or simply to share beauty, pain, or both. Featured in Beautiful Bizarre and American Art Collector magazines, his work is collected internationally. John is currently represented at Abend Gallery. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

How Mia and John originally met
Their experiences living in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Their newest duo show “Totems and Vessels” @ Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, South Carolina
Mia and John describing each of their processes
Cultivating a solid relationship
Creating a work/life balance in their lives
How John sees the confluence between all of his vast interests and hobbies
Finding a meditation practice through physical activities
The joy that comes from having multiple creative outlets
The anxiety of constant self-improvement
Meditative qualities and subject matter within Mia’s work
Understanding the technical aspects of a painting in order to express more personal ideas

Books Mentioned:

“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion

artistdecoded.com miabergeron.com johnmcleodart.com robertlangestudios.com/shows/totems-and-vessels

Writing and Directing “Dual” with Riley Stearns | AD 233

20 april 2022 | 61 min

Healing, Feeling, and Honesty with Saman Kesh | AD 232

5 april 2022 | 64 min

Cosmic Habit Force with Mitch Horowitz | AD 231

28 mars 2022 | 81 min

Cultivating Skills and Creative Longevity with Rina Yang | AD 230

21 mars 2022 | 77 min

Rina Yang is a director of photography based in London. She grew up in a small city in Japan, where she studied still life and portrait painting. She has been selected for the BAFTA Breakthrough 2020, and she is also the first female DOP ever to win a cinematography award at the British Arrows, as well as being nominated for the best cinematographer in fiction at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 19', making history in both commercials and narrative categories. Her recent narrative projects include NANNY (Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner), Euphoria (HBO/A24), and her upcoming feature with MGM Studios, entitled ‘Flint Strong’. Topics Discussed:

Rina’s outlook creating goals for herself
Rina’s creative stamina
Taking breaks between shoots
How she structures her time
The differences between shooting a feature film, music video, and a commercial
How she started cinematography
Her experiences growing up in Japan then moving to London
Working hard at a very young age
Getting accepted into university by creating a short film about an older man’s running journey
Technique vs. intuition
Building technical knowledge as a cinematographer
The importance of communicating to your crew as a DP
Existential realizations spurred by the pandemic
Personal values
Her journey into becoming a successful cinematographer
How her childhood affected her outlook on work
The occasional lonely reality of being a working cinematographer
Exploring purpose
The feeling of being an underdog
Creative longevity
The importance of exposure and PR
Being patient in cultivating skills in any artistic medium
Giving up too soon

Projects Discussed That Rina Has Worked On:

Nanny (Directed by Nikyatu Jusu)
Euphoria
Flint Strong (Directed by Rachel Morrison; Written by Barry Jenkins)

Books Referenced:

“The Miracle of a Definite Chief Aim” by Mitch Horowitz
“What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami

Movies Referenced:

Tokyo Sonata (Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

artistdecoded.com rinayang.com instagram.com/the_rinayang twitter.com/the_rinayang

On Her Sundance Short Film "Work" with April Maxey | AD 229

25 februari 2022 | 63 min

April Maxey was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and is currently based in Los Angeles. She was 1 of 8 Directors chosen to be a part of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, where she made her short film Work, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. April was recently selected for AWD’s Directing the Actor Lab. She is also an alumna of the prestigious Berlinale Talents Short Film Station. Her drama pilot screenplay for Work was a top 5 finalist in the New Orleans Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Her previous short film, After You Left, won the Shorts Jury Prize at the Milwaukee Film Festival and has screened at Academy and BAFTA-Qualifying festivals such as Palm Springs Int’l Shortfest, Flickerfest, HollyShorts, and Outfest Fusion. April’s short films have collectively screened at over 60 festivals across 14 countries and won 8 awards internationally, such as the 100Autori Award for Best Screenplay at the Sicilia Queer Film Fest in Italy, and Best International Narrative Short at Kashish Mumbai Queer Film Festival in India for her 2012 short Polaroid Girl. April was also a guest writer/director on the lesbian web series Same Same, and her episodes premiered at Newfest in 2016. April’s directing approach is informed by her background in working as a cinematographer, editor, and actor. She is most interested in working on stories that center on underrepresented perspectives that challenge the mainstream. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute in Film/Video.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Destigmatizing sex work and sex workers
Shame culture
Her short film that premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival entitled “Work”
Challenging the traditional patriarchal lens
Writer Amy Tan’s Masterclass
Following one’s own creative sensibilities
Her writing process
April’s experiences working with AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women
Underground lap dance parties in New York
“Election” a 1999 film by director Alexander Payne
“2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything” a book by Mauro F. Guillén
April’s advice to her younger self
The Nostalgia Bone on the Throughline podcast

artistdecoded.com aprilmaxey.com instagram.com/amaxey422

Getting Deeper Into The NFT Subcultures with Micol @ Vertical Crypto Art | AD 228

14 februari 2022 | 55 min

Drawing Outside The Lines with Shantell Martin | AD 227

8 februari 2022 | 59 min

Shantell Martin is one of today’s most groundbreaking multimedia artists. Known for her ongoing exploration of the vast potential of the spontaneous hand-drawn lines, below the surface of her signature black and white drawing is an exploration of the reciprocal relationship between artist and viewer, in which a work of art is more than an object of admiration. Exploring themes such as intersectionality, identity, and play, Shantell is a cultural facilitator, forging new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology.

Simultaneously with her work as a fine artist, exhibiting at institutions such as Albright-Knox, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, and MoMa, Shantell’s practice continuously pushes the boundaries of creative expression through thoughtful, innovative collaborations with artists, brands, and cultural institutions such as Pulitzer Prize-winning performance artist Kendrick Lamar, acclaimed designer Kelly Wearstler, the New York City Ballet, Tiffany & Co., and Nike. Shantell is also fascinated with the relationships between storytelling, visual art, and technology. She is an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) and completed a two-year tenure at an MIT Media Lab as a visiting Scholar, where she worked with the social computing group to use drawing as a medium to explore the interaction of social processes with physical spaces.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Tapping into child-like sensibilities as an adult
Moving from darkness into light
Creating artwork with a “good intention”
“What if we asked all children, who are you at the core, instead of what do you want to be?” - Shantell Martin
Letting go of societal baggage in order to create our own way
Creating purpose
Spontaneously creating artwork
Drawing and how it can have an impact on one’s mental health
Physically drawing vs. drawing digitally
Expressing one’s self through various mediums, not being restricted by a single medium
“Kites”by Martin with the Boston Ballet, ChoreograpHER
“The Importance of Conversation” by Martin, an NFT Project in collaboration with Nifty Gateway
“You are where you are meant to be”, Martin’s personal affirmation to herself
“Does progress really exist, or is it the scenery that changes?” - Shantell Martin
Having existential thoughts
The power of making and sharing
Finding herself when she moved to Japan from the UK in the early 2000s
“There’s a freedom in being lost in the sense that you get to discover and find yourself.” - Shantell Martin
The perspective of success and failure in Taoism

artistdecoded.com shantellmartin.art instagram.com/shantell_martin twitter.com/shantell_martin

Deconstructing The Female Form with Stephanie Hanes | AD 226

25 januari 2022 | 77 min

Stephanie E. Hanes was born in Alberta, Canada in 1985. In 2009 they received a BFA from The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax, Canada. Hanes is a recent MFA Graduate of Ceramics at the Rhode Island School Of Design in 2017 and received the prestigious Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship for a graduate student with exceptional promise. Stephanie was one of the artists awarded the 2020 NCECA Emerging Artist Prize. In addition, they have exhibited Internationally with a solo show at C.R.E.T.A Rome Gallery in Italy and several group shows at Lefebvre et Fils Gallery in Paris, France. Their ceramic sculptures have been exhibited throughout the USA in New York City, Providence, Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles. Hanes is a full-time lecturer in 3D4M at the University of Washington in Seattle, where they teach sculpture and ceramics.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The male gaze vs the female gaze
The art of turning the internal world into external objects
Female bodies always changing to suit the patriarchal norms of the time
Using the techniques of “chiaroscuro” and “englaze luster” in their sculptures
Their research into queer and feminist theories
Identity and gender expression
Pansexuality
Grappling with pain and suffering
“À Priori” and “À Posteriori”
Immanuel Kant’s writing on metaphysics
Semiotics
Following false prophets in our patriarchal society
Their residency in Rome in 2014 where they started creating ceramic sculptures and where they created their body of work entitled, “Into The Looking Glass” @ C.R.E.T.A. Rome.
The Medusa in symbolizm
The extinguishing of female powers by the patriarchy
Their decision into why they decided to get an MFA
Teaching her university students about gender, equality, and diversity
Making ideas palatable in art
“Find a way to make work no matter what”

Authors and Book Recommendations:

Bell Hooks
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto” by Legacy Russell
“A Cyborg Manifesto” by Donna J. Haraway

Artists Mentioned:

Films and Documentaries Mentioned:

artistdecoded.com stephaniehanes.net instagram.com/stephanie.hanes

Sundance Film Festival & New Frontier 2022 with Shari Frilot | AD 225

17 januari 2022 | 69 min

Shari Frilot is a filmmaker who has produced television for the CBS affiliate in Boston and for WNYC and WNET in New York before creating her own independent award-winning films, including Strange & Charmed, A Cosmic Demonstration of Sexuality, What Is A Line?, and the feature documentary, Black Nations / Queer Nations? She is the recipient of multiple grants, including the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Media Arts Foundation. She is presently working on a feature film project about the crisis in water supply with producer Effie Brown's production company, Duly Noted Inc. In tandem with filmmaking, Shari also maintains a career in festival programming, occupying a distinguished position on the curatorial vanguard through her pioneering development of immersive cinematic environments. As the Festival Director of the MIX Festival in New York (1992-1996) she co-founded the first gay Latin American film festivals, MIX BRASIL and MIX MEXICO film festivals. As Co-Director of Programming for OUTFEST (1998-2001), she founded the Platinum section which introduced cinematic performance installation and performance to the festival. She is presently in her 22nd year as a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. She is the curator and driving creative force behind New Frontier, an exhibition and commissioning initiative that focuses on cinematic work being created at the intersections of art, film, and new media technology. New Frontier 2022 Projects Discussed:

“On The Morning You Wake (To The End of The World)” by Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Arnaud Colinart, and Pierre Zandrowicz
“The State of Global Peace” by Daanish Masood Alavi
“Gondwana” by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts
“Suga” by Valencia James
“The Inside World” by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy
“Web 3.0 / NFT Meetups” by Amelia Winger-Bearskin and Jesse Damiani
“32 Sounds” by Sam Green
“Seven Grams” by Karim Ben Khelifa

Welcome To Artist Decoded by Yoshino

10 januari 2022 | 2 min

Yoshinocast #3 - "Searching For Answers"

3 januari 2022 | 9 min

Yoshinocast #2 - "Onto New Horizons"

27 december 2021 | 64 min

Creating Virtual Models and NFTs with Shavonne Wong | AD 224

20 december 2021 | 68 min

NFTs and The Cassandra Complex with Sarah Zucker | AD 223

13 december 2021 | 108 min

Copyright Infringement + Her New Exhibit “Blonde” with Cj Hendry | AD 222

9 december 2021 | 67 min

Cinematography For "tick, Tick... BOOM!" and "In The Heights" with Alice Brooks | AD 221

8 december 2021 | 46 min

Writing and Creativity with Mitch Horowitz | AD 220

28 november 2021 | 64 min

Alternative-ism & The Digital Underground w/ Skygolpe x Jesse Draxler | AD 219

24 november 2021 | 139 min

From Legendary Illustrator To Museum Exhibited Artist with Chris Hopkins | AD 218

22 november 2021 | 93 min

After a high profile career designing, drawing and painting images for movie poster art in Hollywood — Return of the Jedi, Labyrinth, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — Chris now feels driven to produce works which celebrate compelling stories of American perseverance — the Tuskegee Airmen, First Nations peoples of America’s Pacific Northwest, and the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII.

It’s been an unusual career path, to say the least. Chris was a star on the Southern Oregon College wrestling team when he dropped out in 1974 rather than bow to the inevitable pressure to become a high school wrestling coach. He loaded up his ’68 sky blue Camaro and hit the road, picking up jobs from southern California to Montana and living out of his car. After he ran out of gas in Boise, Idaho, he settled there for a year and a half and worked as a bouncer at the Bronco Hut (the college bar where he met his wife), a lift operator at a ski resort, and as an utterly unqualified counselor at a home shelter for troubled boys. All the time he created art — drawing behind the bar, sculpting unflattering portraits of ski resort personnel, and carving the bar’s Billy club into a more appealing shape. Chris’ older brother convinced him he’d soon be too old for this bohemian, aimless lifestyle and that he might want to apply to the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He put together a crude portfolio, submitted an application and remembers “it surprised the crap out of me when I was actually accepted”. In the middle of the college program, Chris still hadn’t figured out a painting system that he liked, so one weekend he locked himself in a room and refused to come out until he’d conquered it. In 1979, he graduated from Art Center with honors. A diploma from art school, so what next? Pouring and finishing concrete for foundations, walkways, driveways and most everything else that required concrete until he heard that legendary illustrators Charles White III and David Willardson were starting a studio and looking for young talent. Chris’ persistence paid off and he was hired. After months of sketching he was finally assigned to paint the marquee art for The Mountain Men. Soon afterwards he discovered the airbrush and the whole process became fun, especially incorporating brushwork with airbrush techniques. He painted the clouds, skies, and water all from his Pacific Northwest childhood memories, and was known as The Sky King, a tribute to his unmatched ability to paint natural backgrounds After four years, Chris left Willardson and White ready for his next challenge — painting people. Yes, he learned to do that, too painting and drawing the comprehensive and finished poster and magazine promotional art for Return of the Jedi, Peggy Sue Got Married, Labyrinth, The Abyss, and who could forget the portrait of the studly Harrison Ford on the Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom theatrical advance poster art?

In 1988 he picked up his family and relocated to the state of Washington where he’s once again tackled a new, but classic, technique. Now he’s brush-painting stories of American perseverance. Show Notes:

Chris’s early job experiences
Working for Charles White III and David Willardson
Traveling as an artist for the Air Force
Chris’s revolutionary work with airbrushes
Painting the Tuskegee Airmen and The Japanese Incarceration
“Hidden Heroes: The Nisei Soldiers of WWII”
Future exhibitions
Resilience

www.artistdecoded.com

www.chrishopkinsart.com

www.instagram.com/chrishopkinsart

Museum of Crypto Art with Colborn Bell x Jesse Draxler x Yoshino | AD 217

18 november 2021 | 94 min

Daughter’s of Cain with Ethel Cain | AD 216

15 november 2021 | 80 min

Cinematography for Mayday and Lady Bird with Sam Levy x David Alexander Willis x Yoshino | AD 215

9 november 2021 | 60 min

Liminal Spaces with John Wentz | AD 214

1 november 2021 | 101 min

Yoshinocast #1 - "Focusing On Getting 1% Better"

26 oktober 2021 | 14 min

Creating Meaning and Turning Interests Into A Career with Joe Sill | AD 213

25 oktober 2021 | 104 min

What We Say vs. What We Mean with Liana Finck | AD 212

19 augusti 2021 | 50 min

The Illusion of Control with Ayoto Ataraxia | AD 211

14 augusti 2021 | 67 min

On Her New Album "Celestial Blues" with Kris Esfandiari (King Woman) | AD 210

26 juli 2021 | 52 min

On His New Solo Album, "House of Lull. House of When” with Alexis Marshall | AD 209

19 juli 2021 | 69 min

Poet, artist, and Daughters vocalist Alexis Marshall has announced his solo debut LP HOUSE OF LULL. HOUSE OF WHEN for July 23rd via Sargent House and along with it the first song and video for “Hounds In The Abyss”. Directed by Jeremy W., Marshall notes of the video’s concept “The long stare into the room of self—the universe’s middle distance—the many hidden doors we locate, the many rooms we find. Populated not only by whom else we are, but by places, we have been. The places we are. We don’t always pull away from the hot stove.”’

Produced by Seth Manchester the album is crafted around moments of spontaneity and sonic detritus. For the album, Marshall brought together an impressive group of collaborators to execute his vision, a vision that for the first time was under his full creative direction. Jon Syverson (Daughters), Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), Evan Patterson (Jaye Jayle, Young Widows) joined Marshall in Pawtucket, Rhode Island at Machines with Magnets studio with no material. The strategy was to embrace new sounds, employ the element of chance, and capture the creative process in a song format. The genesis of a song could be anything—a fragmented piano line, a drum pattern—but the impetus was often a non-musical sound. Marshall sourced a lot of his textural contributions from a hardware store all contributing to a proto-industrial rattle-and-rumble reminiscent of early Einstürzende Neubaten. The resulting material stands to be the boldest and exciting work of his career.

Show Notes:

00:06:21 - Artwork acting as a mirror to the viewer
00:08:12 - Positive and negative feedback from his band, Daughters
00:10:54 - Alexis’s personal growth
00:14:48 - Success, addiction, and trauma
00:21:30 - Romanticism and selfishness
00:25:17 - Discussing the progression of society
00:32:45 - His new solo album, “House of Lull. House of When”
00:40:14 - Arts affect on Alexis
00:48:37 - The recording process for “House of Lull. House of When”
00:53:46 - Lessons from Daughters comeback album and subsequent
01:02:34 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/asfmarshall

Alexis Marshall's "House of Lull, House of When" on Bandcamp

On His New Show "People & Things" with Emilio Villalba | AD 208

13 juli 2021 | 93 min

Cinematography For The Handmaid's Tale with Stuart Biddlecombe x Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 207

8 juli 2021 | 65 min

AD Movie Club #1 | Tokyo Sonata (Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa - 2008)

28 juni 2021 | 63 min

Sculpting Vessels and Americans Interned with Jan Hopkins | AD 206

22 juni 2021 | 69 min

Jan Hopkins is a master at creating sculptural vessels and figurative sculptures from unusual natural materials such as citrus, melon and pomegranate peels, lotus pods, fish skin, leaves, and seed pods. Each piece is a marriage of deep sensitivity and reverence to materials with a heavy emphasis on concept and innovation. Jan studied basketry with indigenous and contemporary artists, learning the art of meticulous construction, the basics of how to gather and prepare materials, and understanding new concepts in design beyond traditional construction. In the early 90s, challenged with the depletion and unavailability of many of the natural basketry materials, she began experimenting and innovating new ways of processing organic materials that she successfully uses in her work today. Her initial aspiration was to preserve the beauty of the materials she began to by constructing vessel forms. Jan’s work evolved to more figurative work with narratives sewn into each intricately designed piece.

Jan and her husband Chris have also embarked on a deeply personal collaborative project about a part of her family’s history, The Japanese American incarceration during WWII. Piece by piece, Jan is puzzling together family stories that are both heartbreaking and inspiring. Jan states, “This project has changed the essence of my work and has challenged me to innovate new ways of construction and storytelling.” Their two-person show was exhibited at the Schack Art Center, Everett, WA in 2018. A future exhibit is scheduled to open at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art on Bainbridge Island in 2022, The timing of this exhibit marks the 80th Remembrance anniversary of the first Japanese Americans taken away from their homes on Bainbridge Island and sent to Manzanar Concentration Camp. An award-winning artist, Jan has exhibited across the United States and featured 8 years at SOFA International Expos, held annually in New York, Chicago, and Santa Fe. Her work is included in museum permanent collections across the country including the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA, Museum of Art and Design in New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI.

Show Notes:

00:04:27 - Jan’s experience being a part of a family of artists
00:10:48 - Jan’s journey towards artistry
00:17:12 - Great ideas finding us
00:20:15 - Results-oriented thinking, taking you away from the process
00:22:23 - Intuition and spirituality
00:26:34 - The elements and materials that guide Jan’s art practice
00:31:27 - Jan's focus on narrative artwork
00:39:15 - The inspiration behind Jan’s exhibit “Americans Interned”
00:58:56 - The power of cultural art
01:03:27 - Wrap Up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.janhopkinsart.blogspot.com

www.instagram.com/janhopkinsart

The Occult, The Esoteric, and Hypnagogia with Mitch Horowitz x Jesse Draxler | MIND/WAVE #9

14 juni 2021 | 95 min

Filling In The Cracks with Damon Davis | AD 205

4 juni 2021 | 54 min

Allowing Interests To Guide You with Jingna Zhang | AD 204

31 maj 2021 | 53 min

Photography, Community, and Friendship with Graham Dunn | AD 203

24 maj 2021 | 79 min

AD NON-WEEKLY ROUND UP #8 with Jesse Draxler

19 maj 2021 | 109 min

Empathy, Change, and Cultural Nuance with Nadia Waheed | AD 202

17 maj 2021 | 120 min

The Three R’s with Nicholas Lam | AD 201

10 maj 2021 | 72 min

The Journey of a Multi-Disciplinary Artist with Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 200

3 maj 2021 | 75 min

Justin Daashuur Hopkins is a multidisciplinary storyteller (Director and Cinematographer, Musician and Composer, Graphic Designer, and Gallerist).

Born into an artistic household, to renowned Illustrator Chris Hopkins and internationally collected sculptor Jan Hopkins, Justin was raised in Mukilteo, Washington, but now lives and works in Los Angeles. At the age of fifteen, he was already doing professional work for multiple clients, including conceptual merchandising and design for Costco, sound design and illustration for RedBull, and music for ESPN TV spots. He also shot the short film “Baristas,” which played to enthusiastic audiences in New York, LA, and Seattle.

At the age of eighteen, Justin was hired at Olio Inc, an architectural firm specializing in major hotels in places like Vegas and Dubai. He spent the next five years doing architectural and sound design for international clients. In 2009, he struck out on his own, working as a freelance illustrator and fine art painter. He moved to New York and began showing in numerous international exhibitions, in addition to garnering attention for his commercial work. Upon his return to Los Angeles, Justin co-founded NOH/WAVE, an art agency, and production company, with gallery space downtown. This has given him the opportunity to curate shows by internationally acclaimed artists. His unique aesthetic and attention to detail have made him a sought-after director of film and mixed media video for clients including Universal, RCA, Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Def Jam, and Domino Records.

Show Notes:

0:00:00 - Introduction
0:05:00 - Analysis of “Woman in the Dunes” by Hiroshi Teshigahara
0:11:56 - Lineage of NOH/WAVE
0:13:19 - Being A Multidisciplinary Artist
0:16:15 - Justin's Transition From Music to Film
0:17:50 - Justin’s Family Allowed For Freedom of Expression
0:22:10 - Gravitating Toward The Arts
0:24:17 - Yoshino’s Filmmaking and Photography
0:26:39 - Professional Careers, Making Money, and Artistic Struggle
0:30:51 - Romanticizing Artists VS Personal Experiences
0:35:23 - Sacrificing For The Work
0:40:04 - Learning From Each Other
0:41:12 - Evolution of The Self & More “Woman in the Dunes”
0:48:58 - Analysis of “Tokyo Sonata” by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
0:55:21 - Not Examining Just From Surface Level
0:58:10 - “An Artist Says a Hard Thing in a Simple Way”
1:00:27 - All About The Subtext of Information
1:03:55 - Demonization of Drugs and Art
1:05:17 - Investing and Monetization of Ignorance
1:08:58 - Mythology and Psychology
1:10:32 - Film and Book Recommendations
1:11:26 - Advice to Artists and Creatives
1:14:02 - Wrap Up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.justindaashuurhopkins.com

www.instagram.com/justindaashuurhopkins

Respecting The Unexpected with Johan Van Mullem | AD 199

23 april 2021 | 58 min

Documentation Through Art with Mauro C. Martinez | AD 198

17 april 2021 | 54 min

Creating Oddworld: Soulstorm with Lorne Lanning x Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 197

6 april 2021 | 211 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

Lorne Lanning is an American game designer, director, writer, and voice actor. He is co-founder and creator of Oddworld Inhabitants. He is best known for creating the Oddworld series including the games Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. The next Oddworld game titled Oddworld: Soulstorm will be released on April 6, 2021. Initially studying photo-realism and commercial illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Lanning soon attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, where he graduated with a BFA in Character Animation.

Working as a Technical Director at TRW, Lanning later moved to Rhythm & Hues Studios in Hollywood, where he would later meet producer Sherry McKenna, who helped co-found Oddworld Inhabitants.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Lorne’s journey from fine art into developing video games
The change of perception within art
Perceiving the value of art
Art as a form of commerce
“Fragility of the perishable”
The dark side of globalization
Lorne’s passion for environmentalism
The genesis of emerging technology in the late 80s
The power of visualization and how to sell big ideas
Making your own luck
Lorne working for a military defense company
Marketing yourself as an artist
Following an intuitive pursuit
Staying hungry within your craft
Understanding “what your audience is eating”
Being a talent vs. being a creator
Finding business opportunities
Video games
Artists’s unique perception and ability to express that
The symbiosis of engineering and art
Compromising with a team while making a video game
Understanding various subjects and adjacent industries
Empathy within video games
Game speak
The impact of George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” on Lorne’s storytelling process
“Lo-brow access points to high art.”
Emulating the player interacting with real-world objects.
Self-publishing
Oddworld’s latest release, “Soulstorm”
The depth of character creation, controls, and tone of the story
The new generation of gaming technology
Systems of monetization within emerging technologies

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/oddworldinc

Practicing The Medical Arts with Dr. Bruce Hoffman | MIND/WAVE #8

31 mars 2021 | 59 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

Dr. Bruce Hoffman did not choose the Medical Arts as a vocation. Originally, he wanted to be a writer and poet. His interest in health and healing developed later in life, after a long and winding road of self-discovery, life experience, and learning. He only applied to medical school, so he could complete a residency in psychiatry and subsequently study Jungian analysis to understand the human condition and behavior. As life would have it, his destiny took him on a different journey. He never did formally pursue a psychiatry residency or Jungian Analytic Training, but his love for art, poetry, and psychology remain. Dr. Hoffman was born and educated in South Africa and obtained his medical degree from the University of Cape Town. After two years of compulsory military training, his distaste for the local regime convinced him to emigrate to Canada in 1986 where he pursued family medical practice in rural Saskatchewan, Canada. Once ensconced in the practice of family medicine, he quickly realized that his interests in medicine were broader than just drugs and surgery. The allopathic medical practice was limited to treating symptoms and illnesses but failed short in restoring the patient’s health entirely. Bruce embarked on a journey to understand what constitutes the human experience, what are the triggers and mediators that perpetuate human suffering. He wanted to assist his patients not only to be free of disease but to realize their maximum potential. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Dr. Hoffman’s early interest in poetry and writing
Exposure to alternative lifestyles
Exploration of oneness
Properly diagnosing patients
The pitfalls of having a purely allopathic approach to treating patients
The “7-levels” diagnosis
The failures of Western medicine
Non-duality
Reframing negative events in life to reexamine them as positive experiences
Unconsciously placing ourselves in a type of purgatory
Practicing the “medical arts”
Remaining intuitive throughout one’s entire life
Creating a new curriculum for “healers”
Beauty, truth, and meaning

www.artistdecoded.com

www.hoffmancentre.com

www.instagram.com/drbrucehoffman

A Crash Course In NFTs + Simulation Theory with Jesse Damiani | AD 196

28 mars 2021 | 65 min

Breaking Free From Debt And Addiction with Nolwen Cifuentes | AD 195

7 mars 2021 | 75 min

Evolving Representation with Brian Booth Craig | AD 194

25 februari 2021 | 93 min

On Her New Show "Static” with Vanessa Prager | AD 193

17 februari 2021 | 48 min

On Their Sundance Short Film "Raspberry” with Julian Doan x Raymond Lee | AD 192

10 februari 2021 | 49 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

Julian Doan is a second-generation Vietnamese American filmmaker. He enjoys exploring the uncomfortable corners of our existence through awkward, yet heartfelt comedy. His past projects include the sentient zombie digital series “Everyone I Love Is Dead”. He is currently working on the editorial team of HBO's “In Treatment”. He loves the great outdoors and looks forward to seeing a Vietnamese American film renaissance in his lifetime. He is thrilled to be premiering “Raspberry” at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and is beyond thankful for the stunning cast and crew who all brought this film to life. Raymond Lee was a series regular in Alan Ball’s HBO series, “Here and Now” opposite Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter. He has recurring roles on “Prodigal Son”, “Mozart in the Jungle”, and Scandal. Theater credits include the world premiere productions of “Vietgone at Manhattan Theater Club”, which he was awarded the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Debut, “Office Hour” opposite Sandra Oh at South Coast Repertory, and “Cambodian Rock Band” also at South Coast Repertory. He will be next seen in the PARAMOUNT feature film “Top Gun: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly and as a series regular in upcoming the AMC series “Kevin Can F*ck Himself”. Raymond resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The subject and absurdity of death
Speaking openly about death
The origins of “Raspberry”
Being emotionally available towards inspiration
The creative process behind character creation
Yoshino’s personal approach to photography and inspiration
Processing death and dealing with loss
Reactions to “Raspberry”
The tone of the film
Subtle nuances of expression
The differences between Eastern and Western thoughts
Julian and Raymond’s collaborative relationship
Creatively pushing yourself and others
Asian men within the arts and film
Advice to artists and creatives

www.artistdecoded.com

On Writing "It Didn’t Start With You" + Inner Generational Trauma with Mark Wolynn | MIND/WAVE #7

31 januari 2021 | 61 min

The Overview Effect with Chris Illingworth (GoGo Penguin) | AD 191

29 januari 2021 | 63 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

When a musical ensemble chooses to self-title an album mid-career, it usually signifies their conviction that they’ve struck upon the motherlode, hit the jackpot, stepped up, and generally arrived at a point they’ve always strived for but never quite attained. Coming from GoGo Penguin at this stage in the game, it’s quite a bold statement: the instrumental trio from Manchester, England have fielded plaudits and rave reviews for inspiration and originality at every turn since 2013, when they settled on their dream line-up of Chris Illingworth (piano), Rob Turner (drums), and Nick Blacka (bass). Fusing jazz, classical and electronic influences (amongst others) with a thirst for innovation, they’ve been garlanded as makers of one of the Mercury Prize album of the year (in ’14), and have enjoyed success on record and in the live arena matched by precious few vocal-free groups post-millennium. After that prestigious Mercury nomination for 2014’s v2.0 album, Chris, Nick, and Rob worked hard, consolidating their musical bond across a further two albums, which were written and recorded while juggling hectic touring commitments. For GoGo Penguin – their fourth album together (and the third to be released by the legendary Blue Note label) – they decided to jump off the rollercoaster and devote the majority of their working time in 2019 to pushing at the limits of their music. “In the past, we'd have to get in the studio and finish the album in what felt like three days. This time we had six months of writing, and two weeks of recording, so everyone had a lot more time to contribute to each track. There was more experimentation, trying things out and often throwing them away. As a result, the album is more sophisticated. We had quite simple lives in the past. We were younger, so there wasn't so much drama, and there hadn’t been so many important events in our lives that fed into the music. This time, there's a lot more facing the realities of becoming older, and mortality, and watching people that you care about being very close to death. At the same time, Chris became a dad. The longer you live, the more complicated your reality becomes, so we felt our music had to reflect that.” - Rob Turner (GoGo Penguin) Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Emotions while writing the newest GoGo Penguin album
Personality conveyed through music and art
The positive and negative dualities of life
Conflicting emotions
Spirituality
Personal Philosophies
“The Overview Effect”
Empathy
GoGo Penguin’s desire to be “genreless”
Self-imposed limitations and creative limitations imposed by ourselves
The state of music
Breaking away from boundaries within your art
Conformity and intentionality behind the composition
Chris’s background as a classical musician
Finding inspiration
Reverting back to one’s child-like state
Driving force
Examining one’s self, so that others are positively affected
Being present-minded
Being the master of your own work

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/gogo_penguin

www.gogopenguin.co.uk

Programming Sundance and New Frontier 2021 with Shari Frilot | AD 190

8 januari 2021 | 66 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

Shari Frilot is a filmmaker who has produced television for the CBS affiliate in Boston and for WNYC and WNET in New York before creating her own independent award-winning films, including Strange & Charmed, A Cosmic Demonstration of Sexuality, What Is A Line?, and the feature documentary, Black Nations / Queer Nations? She is the recipient of multiple grants, including the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Media Arts Foundation. She is presently working on a feature film project about the crisis in water supply with producer Effie Brown's production company, Duly Noted Inc. In tandem with filmmaking, Shari also maintains a career in festival programming, occupying a distinguished position on the curatorial vanguard through her pioneering development of immersive cinematic environments. As the Festival Director of the MIX Festival in New York (1992-1996) she co-founded the first gay Latin American film festivals, MIX BRASIL and MIX MEXICO film festivals. As Co-Director of Programming for OUTFEST (1998-2001), she founded the Platinum section which introduced cinematic performance installation and performance to the festival. She is presently in her 22nd year as a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. She is the curator and driving creative force behind New Frontier, an exhibition and commissioning initiative that focuses on cinematic work being created at the intersections of art, film, and new media technology.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Collective consciousness and being on the cusp of the new year
Shifts within communities
Finding confluence within multiple subjects
Art and science working together
Visualization
Shari’s love of culture, and her work within curation and art
Wave-particle dualities
Measuring the concept of love within our life
The differences in seeing something versus feeling something
Neuroplasticity
Perceiving reality
Storytelling
Sundance Festival and New Frontier 2021, and the innovations that are taking place
Subjective and objective truths
Empathy
The lost art of listening
Shari’s experiences with filmmaking and changing the framework of the industry itself
The complications within creating and presenting Sundance’s 2021 festival
Focusing on humanity
Pushing into the new year with aspirations of inclusivity and connectedness
Finding clarity within your vision

www.artistdecoded.com

www.sundance.org/programs/new-frontier

www.festival.sundance.org

Destigmatizing Mental Health Issues w/ Mark Henick | MIND/WAVE #6

31 december 2020 | 54 min

Embracing Endless Curiosities with Sean Cheetham x Kate Zambrano | AD 189

26 december 2020 | 66 min

The Confluence of Art and Food with Laura Fried (Active Cultures) | AD 188

22 december 2020 | 53 min

"On Creative Partnerships and Collaboration" with Cliqua | AD 187

14 december 2020 | 67 min

The Ends with Densil McFarlane (The OBGMs) | AD 186

7 december 2020 | 54 min

Current Journeys with Adam Hall | AD 185

30 november 2020 | 54 min

www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Adam Hall:

As a visual artist, Adam Hall began working mostly with charcoals and oils. Self-taught, he attempts to mix traditional style with contemporary. Using palette knives and layering techniques he creates a true richness and depth to his work. Adam believes every painting is his next opportunity in truly expressing his vision and vibe through landscape. “Art is such a powerful tool and I strive to use it in the most positive way I know how.”

While his passion for art began growing up in Wellsburg, West Virginia, his professional artistic career began nearly two decades ago in Nashville. When he was not on the road touring with bands all over the world, Adam slowly became involved with a local design firm whose clientele took great interest and demand for his art. Eventually, he started working full time with major record labels and recording artists in Nashville, all the while pursuing his dream to become a full-time artist.

Today, his work has been represented in galleries all over the United States and has been featured in such magazines as American Art Collector Magazine & Fine Art Connoisseur. Adam Hall proudly resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife Thais. Adam spends most of his time in his studio in Historic Franklin and continues to discover a fulfilling purpose through art. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The benefits of technology during COVID
Adam’s early career in the music industry
Utilizing elements from outside fields of study and incorporating them into your artistic practice
Adding different experiences and tools to your “toolkit”
Adam’s changing perspectives on painting
The dynamic of a career vs. a hobby
Being disciplined and producing organic results
Healthy competition
Surrounding yourself with individuals who are greater than you
Humility
Faith and understanding how it relates to our experiences
Being in a constant state of questioning
The notion of personal truth(s)
Religion and ideologies
Inclusivity and exclusivity
Remaining open to other aspects of the world
Adam’s experiences traveling to Africa
Morality and ethics
Intentions behind our actions
The meaning behind Adam’s ocean paintings
The emotion that translates through a person’s artwork
Adam’s experiences as a father
Micro-decisions within our daily lives
Striving creatively through parenting
“Current Journeys”

Links:

www.artistdecoded.com www.adamhallart.com www.instagram.com/adamhallart

Flicker: Your Brain On Movies with Jeffrey Martin Zacks x Columbia Tatone | AD 184

23 november 2020 | 59 min

Philosophy And Self-Portraiture with David Uzochukwu | AD 183

12 november 2020 | 49 min

Antebellum with Gerard Bush x Christopher Renz | AD 182

26 oktober 2020 | 43 min

"Tomorrow" with Justin Mortimer | AD 181

16 oktober 2020 | 76 min

Mind Over Matter with Mike Lee x Columbia Tatone | AD 180

11 oktober 2020 | 53 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Mike: Mike Lee is a world-ranked professional boxer who has fought in some of the world’s most iconic arenas like Madison Square Garden, Cowboys Stadium & The MGM Grand in front of millions of fans. In 2014 Mike was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, ankylosing spondylitis, that almost ended his career. In and out of hospitals for over two years he became tired of all the medications and treatments. Mike began searching for all-natural alternatives which lead him to discover CBD and all of its incredible physical and mental benefits! Using his background in finance and business, Mike felt that creating Soul CBD would be the perfect way to share his knowledge while helping others to defeat whatever battles with the pain they may be facing.

Columbia Tatone is an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer. Known for her dynamic cinematic action and relational, relevant storytelling, she often features unique elements of sci-fi in her work. Tatone studied Jazz at Berklee's College of Music in Boston and later received her Business degree at Vanguard University. As a commercial, music video, and narrative director, Columbia empowers her audience through eye-popping, thought-provoking action sequences. As a champion for women and the underrepresented, Tatone often uses her work to promote social justice while also taking us into different realities that highlight the emotional scar tissue of life. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Fight and flight mode
The state of flow
The fullness of living out your destiny
Mike’s early stages of boxing
Performing with gratitude and happiness
Mike’s autoimmune illness
Empathy and wellness
Grit
Eastern Medicine
Looking at pain as a gift
Mind over body
Reprogramming of your mind
How COVID has put everyone on an equal playing field
Identity
Mike’s work with his company “Soul CBD”

www.artistdecoded.com

Mike’s Instagram

Soul CBD’s Instagram

Columbia’s Instagram

Treading Your Own Path with Edon Guraziu | AD 179

10 oktober 2020 | 61 min

“Table of Losses” with Jesse Draxler | AD 178

30 september 2020 | 70 min

“Soft Powers” with Yasmine Nasser Diaz | AD 177

29 september 2020 | 78 min

The Gentle Language with Pádraig Ó Tuama | AD 176

24 september 2020 | 60 min

The Cosmic Nod with Colin Frangicetto (Circa Survive) | AD 175

13 september 2020 | 63 min

Painting On Skin with Carlos Torres | AD 174

27 augusti 2020 | 43 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Carlos: Carlos Torres has been tattooing for over 20 years and is mostly self-taught. Early in his career, Carlos worked at a couple of tattoo shops before he got his big break at So. Cal Tattoo in San Pedro, CA. It was there he learned the most and built his tattoo portfolio. Carlos specializes in black & grey realism and surrealism tattoos and loves creating original pieces of art. In addition to tattooing, he enjoys photography, painting, sculpting, teaching workshops, and traveling. His travels to international and domestic conventions have earned him awards including Best Small Black & Gray, Best Large Black & Gray, and Best Backpiece. In October of 2017, Carlos opened his own studio, The Raven and The Wolves. This fine art gallery and tattoo studio is located in the heart of downtown Long Beach and is home to 8 artists. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Carlos’ start in tattooing
The power of mentorship
Apprenticeship in the tattoo practice
Intuition and learning to be in-tune with your gut
The ever-changing nature of tattooing
The art of tattooing in relation to other mediums
Carlos’ love for realism
Being a “loose painter on skin”
Mastering a medium
Mood and stress having a factor in tattooing
The human element, and subjectivity towards ideas
The clients desire for a tattoo, versus the artist’s interpretation and advice
Carlos’ recent work within oil paints
Freedom
Growing up in the ghetto
Staying positive in the midst of life
Teaching making you a better artist
Being informed by toggling back between art medium
Covid-19 and Carlos’ time spend thinking about lif
Taking time off and implementing fresh ideas into your ar
Creatives becoming caricatures of themselves
Having child-like sensibilities with your art practice
“Holding onto your dinosaurs
Observing people losing their creative instinct
The cliche’s of adulthood
Storing ideas and inspiration

www.artistdecoded.com

Carlos’ Instagram

Carlos’ Website

Sowing Seeds For The Future While Living In The Present with Sophia Rokhlin | AD 173

18 augusti 2020 | 51 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Sophia: Sophia Rokhlin is an author, speaker, and nonprofit organizer dedicated to supporting the conservation of indigenous wisdom and territory. Through engaged botany and ecology, she bridges the worlds of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science. She is a Program Coordinator at the Chaikuni Institute, supporting sustainable ayahuasca cultivation and reforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. She is a co-author of When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism, and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance (Watkins, 2019) on the global spread of ayahuasca. She helps coordinate Folk Medicine, a live-stream benefit for communities of the Amazon rainforest impacted by COVID-19. She sits in the Ayahuasca Community Committee for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. Her research appears in publications including the New York Times and the BBC. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The beginning stages of Sophia’s work with indigenous people groups
How human communities understand and grow in community with each other
The differences between the “American path” vs the path that indigenous people groups take
The association of wavelengths and the togetherness of individuals
How western culture has lost a sense of togetherness
The concept of reciprocity
“Sowing seeds for the future, while living in the present”
Capitalism and the approach to success
Coronavirus and it’s affect to our larger structures
Working together in teams
Happiness
Technology and social innovations
How indigenous people groups approach health and wellness
America viewing health in an allopathic way
Environmentalism
The romanticization of interconnectedness
The traditional and modern uses of Ayahuasca
Meditation, present-mindedness, and prayer
The loss of ritual within modern society
Being honest with yourself
Living in a world full of tools, but having the lack of community to utilize them
Human wisdom
The mindset of jumping from interest to interest, rather than going deeper into a context
Art being an expression of exploration

www.artistdecoded.com

Sophia’s Instagram

Sophia’s Website

Happiness and Evolutionary Psychology with William Von Hippel | AD 172

6 augusti 2020 | 52 min

Greetings From The Wild Wild West with Cj Hendry | AD 171

28 juli 2020 | 78 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About CJ: Cj Hendry (b. 1988) is a New York based artist originally from Brisbane, Australia. Globally renowned for her large-scale, photo-realistic drawings of consumer goods and immense, interactive exhibitions, she has developed a dedicated following through her unique brand of technical mastery and conceptual depth.

A self-professed “lover of products”, Hendry is heir to the Pop Art tradition that firmly established depictions of everyday objects and mass culture in the art historical canon. In the footsteps of Andy Warhol, Hendry generates instantaneously appealing images that celebrate kitsch aesthetics and it’s ubiquitous presence in contemporary digital culture. More recently, the artist has incorporated new subject matter to delve into deep-seated concerns and anxieties of current society. After seven years of studying architecture and finance in Australia, Hendry abandoned the endeavor in 2014 to pursue art full-time. She has since presented 6 solo exhibitions across Australia, the U.S., and Asia. In 2017, the artist collaborated with esteemed fashion house Christian Louboutin to present her first works in color during the 2017 edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Adaptability
Not being bogged down by life and “going on with the show”
The dynamic of achieving greatness without falling into individualistic, isolated, and greedy viewpoints.
Discipline, and its relation to our daily life.
The importance of community, and how opening yourself up and allowing people to be involved with what you are doing brings about a particular level of freedom.
The concept of creative energy - Being relaxed, calm, and effortless within your life and art practice.
Art not about being able to draw something well. Rather, art being more about the conceptual nature behind it.
Creatively letting go of what others think about you, and doing work that is fulfilling for yourself within art.
The concept of working hard and living humbly.
Triumphing in the midst of defeats.

www.artistdecoded.com

CJ Hendry’s Instagram

CJ Hendry’s Website

Clusters of People Shapeshifting Into One with Anna Park | AD 170

23 juli 2020 | 75 min

The Intersection Between Art, Science, and Spirituality with Ryan York x Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 169

17 juli 2020 | 44 min

On Fear with Daniele Bolleli | MIND/WAVE #5

7 juli 2020 | 6 min

Being Guided By The Process with Jerome Lagarrigue | AD 168

2 juli 2020 | 75 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Jerome: Acclaimed and revered painter, Jerome Lagarrigue, was born in France to a father who was an illustrator and a mother who was a writer and journalist. Being rooted within a world of creativity and culture, Jerome’s life - from youth to adulthood, can be described as a type of compelling metamorphosis, including experiences both from a creative and racial point of view which directly saturates his current work as a painter. Finding love within depicting movement inside of his work, Jerome continues to create powerful work that calls into question particular aspects of the world we live in and frames the subtle and reflective essence of human beings.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Jerome being exposed to two different cultures, and how it offered both confusing and later, harmonious element to his life as a whole
The topic of race – its objectivity, functionality, horrific nature, and the struggles that have come with being associated with a specific race
Jerome’s upbringing - living both in France and Harlem, and how he was always drawing as a child
The effects of social injustices on racial identity
The layered nature of the social justice protests and riots
Capitalism shaping the way we live our lives
The genesis of creativity
Decisions of engaging in a subject matter
Searching continually within art
The power in saying no
Creative instinct
The wave and the weight of the reaction to coronavirus
Captivation within the movement and process of painting
Stanly Kubrick’s process and its relation to creativity
The growth from the mentality of seeing the world as either one or another absolute into viewing the world as being “gray”
An Individual’s desire to be comfortable rather than be challenged
Jerome’s decision to paint riots
The connection of energy, nature, and humanism within paining
Feeling, rather than reacting

www.artistdecoded.com

www.jeromelagarrigue.com

Jerome’s Instagram

Digital Marketing In The Modern Age with CJ Johnson | AD 167

28 juni 2020 | 57 min

Questioning Existence with Steven Assael x John Wentz | AD 166

28 juni 2020 | 103 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Steven: Steven Assael (born in 1957), is an award-winning American painter, credited most for his masterful artistry within his figure work and modern re-envisioning of the neo-classical, naturalist, and romantic techniques of old. Being captivated with what the human form and image represent, ever-changing and seemingly random elements and deeply rooted emotional intelligence, Assael traverses what it is to be human, and the subtleties included within an organic connection. Assael’s latest work includes his collaboration between himself and his represented gallery titled “Now We Meet Again” which focuses on individuals presenting images of loved ones, or individuals of significance to Assael through Zoom calls. Working through the purpose of the painting, Assael paints not only the image, but interweaves the very emotional framework and intentions the recipient presented beforehand. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Seeking out advantages within painting and connecting with people during quarantine
Separation bringing us together
The intimate process of working with models and how they directly or indirectly affect the painting
Allowing for change within his overall creative vision
Teaching painting over Zoom
What makes a good teacher
The search for finding the right questions to ask
Experience motivating change and providing a renewal of what you want
Creating situations of exploration for oneself
Extracting the right vocabulary while creating
The element of control and power that children express when drawing different objects
Understanding the dynamic of copying a subject while painting, and how that evolves into a deeper exploration of shapes, tone, atmospheres, and the figure itself.
Giving breadth to form
A great work of art being infectious
The nature of romanticism
Working from life being an “inquiry into your own humanness”
The idea of questioning and rebelling within a visual outlook
Human nature
The environment of New York throughout the last forty years, and how it has changed
The importance of theatre and the work of actors
Symmetry and asymmetry, and its importance within artform and observation
“Everything is everything” approach to life
Learning what to see flowing into learning how to paint
Nature being sporadic, and how we must become “like water” in order to succeed in our strategies in life
A commercialized outlook within the art world
Art becoming entertainment
Faith and doubt
Questioning of spirituality and existence

www.artistdecoded.com

www.stevenassael.com

www.instagram.com/stevenassael

All Together Now with Damian Kulash (OK Go) | AD 165

23 juni 2020 | 51 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Damian: Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and music video director who is best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go. Damien was born in Washington DC and spent a large amount of time studying at the Interlochen Arts Camp. He was active in bands at his time at Brown University, eventually winning a prize in music composition.

From the time span of 2005-2007 while the band released and was touring off of the “Oh No” album, the music video “A Million Ways” ended up being the most downloaded video with over 9 million downloads. The band decided to cut ties with their major record label deals with EMI and Capitol Records, and eventually started their own label, Paracadute, in 2010. OK Go released their most recent album completely free on their website, which includes rarities, B-sides, and covers of other songs.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Damian discusses how both he and his family contracted coronavirus and how in hindsight, the time spent quarantined yielded different effects and revelations that Damian was not expecting.
Damian speaks on how he personally finds hope within the world and how it comes to him emotionally rather than a linearly or algorithmically.
“When the world breaks down or the rules shift in such a drastic way, it’s a little like the shackles come off and everything begins to reconfigure. That is terrifying but it also brings an element of hope…”
Deconstruction and equalization of power structures within the world and hope shining through the cracks of society shifting.
The depth of what we experience and how it relates to the “Truth”.
Life being a puzzle with the pieces everchanging, how it relates to our humanity, and how we see others and ourselves change.
Giving yourself the freedom to tread new waters, and to genuinely feel emotions.
Dynamic of how we are all working together for a common goal.
Collaboration and calling back to others who have to tread the path before us. “We are not individual actors”

www.artistdecoded.com

Damian’s Letter For “All Together Now”

Rebecca Solnit - “'The Impossible Has Already Happened': What Coronavirus Can Teach Us About Hope”

Mutable Set with Blake Mills x Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 164

19 juni 2020 | 67 min

Failure Is An Illusion with Christine Yuan | AD 163

16 juni 2020 | 52 min

“Be Water (A Bruce Lee Story)” with Bao Nguyen | AD 162

11 juni 2020 | 51 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Bao: Bao Nguyen is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles and Saigon. As the child of Vietnamese war refugees, he first pursued law to appease his parents but soon found his passion in film. His directorial debut, Live from New York!, opened the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and the Firelight Media Documentary Lab. He earned his BA at New York University and his MFA at the School of Visual Arts.

About “Be Water” In 1971, before his superstardom, Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong to get the opportunities to be a lead actor that eluded him in America. In the two years before his untimely death, Lee completed four films, which changed the history of film and made him a household name. Through rare archival footage, memories of family and friends, and his own words, the story of that time and Lee’s prior experiences are told with an intimacy and immediacy that have infrequently been used in earlier tellings of his legend. Growing up and living between the West and the East, Lee was ahead of his time in thinking about the transnational audience. He experienced the racist reaction of an American film industry inundated by a subservient and menacing image of Asian people—and learned he’d have to tell his own stories to escape it. Director Bao Nguyen elegantly weaves Lee’s personal struggle for visibility with that of his times and reminds us that though it was for a short time, Lee’s star burned so brightly we still see it today. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Nguyen’s views on the coronavirus and the recent protests in the US
Racial equality
Nguyen’s experiences as a child, having parents who were war refugees from Vietnam, his experiences drawing out of curiosity for storytelling, and how it eventually developed into a multi-dimensional, intentional, and intimate form of filmmaking
Bruce Lee’s impact on American and Asian American culture, which captured Bao’s attention in a unique way
Within his early films, Bruce “was fighting for his voice to be heard.”
As Bao matured and entered college, his views on social justice and the stories that could be told through these particular individuals began to flourish.
The more intimate, immature version of Bruce’s life stood out within Bao’s research. Within this point of time, Lee was taught how to have a strong sense of identity as an Asian American.
Bao and Yoshino speak on the idea of having no regrets and letting go with particular things in life, and how being grateful and present-minded is vital.
Yoshino and Bao talk about the role of a teacher and the dynamic they have with their students. A great teacher differs from a normal teacher in their ability to allow students to explore themselves honestly.
Bruce’s desired to have his cultural viewpoints expressed in American culture
Creating an atmosphere of connectivity

www.artistdecoded.com

Vimeo - Bao Nguyen

Sundance - “Be Water”

On Identity And Representation with Ludovic Nkoth | AD 161

8 juni 2020 | 42 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Ludovic: On October 16, 1994, Ludovic Nkoth (LNkoth) was born in Cameroon, West Africa. Growing up in African, Ludovic learned to express himself creatively at a very young age. Through his vibrant use of color and ability to capture life through a distinct lens, Ludovic’s past time was consumed with rough sketches of the beautiful cities of Cameroon.

Ludovic’s work is heavily informed by the events in his life which led him to move, as a young boy of 13 years old, from his native Cameroon to the United States. Leaving his birth-mother and family, the young man found solace and comfort in the creative process while being raised primarily as a stranger in a strange land. It wasn’t until he migrated to the united states that he began to reconsider his own culture as a catalyst to locate his identity. For Ludovic, who learned to speak English as a teenager in a world completely alien to him, still – at times – finds himself displaced in his adopted country. In the states, he is viewed as an African, but in Africa, he is viewed American – leaving the passionate young artist in a sort of ambiguous and cyclical displacement of identity. Given the contentious issues of identity, patriotism, Confederate ideologies and racial bias growing in the States at the time of this writing, the paintings and his perspective seem of increasing relevance. As such, the work presents a complex but highly personal investigation of a very personalized view of Africa; his family history; and the cultures, traditions, and ideas of Africa and its diaspora pre-and post-colonialism. They are approached with a type of naive brusqueness, an immediacy and boldness of colour that suggests both a passion and sense of discovery. African symbols such as masks, patterns, and other symbols of identity and culture remain consistent throughout. He states that through creation, the works attempt to “regain the things that were taking away from [his] people. Things such as power, culture, the idea of self and the idea of being black and proud.”

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Film by Werner Herzog “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
The origins of creativity
Growing up in Cameroon and moving to the US at the age of 13
Meeting artist Kerry James Marshall
Identity
The civil war in his native country of Cameroon
Loving one’s self
Understanding traditional “voodoo” practices in Africa versus the demonization of “voodoo” by European settlers
Comparing the historical colonization patterns of the United States and Africa
The importance of preserving Cameroonian tradition
Clarity through the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine
Political structures in Cameroon

www.artistdecoded.com

www.lnkoth.com

Sifting Through Abstraction with Janna Watson | AD 160

23 maj 2020 | 46 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Janna: Canadian painter Janna Watson uses abstraction as both an escape from and return to the real. As the world we know dematerializes into paint strokes, so too does her paint take stage as its very own character in a multi-act drama of composition. Bundles of colour, made up of discrete yet inseparable instances of pigment—what Watson refers to as “moments”—are teeming and poised as though caught mid-multiplication. Sweeps of paint re-direct sharply and fold over themselves; thin, rigid ink lines cut into the pictorial field as rudimentary elements in an increasingly complex system of painterly language. All the components play out on a surface of slow, chromatic gradation. Like many of Watson’s players, these backdrops tenderly gesture toward the familiar, stopping just short of representation. The result is a conceptual project (and distinct, stylistic signature) that speaks to a contemporary milieu in which abstract painting is not the retreat of meaning into an unrecognizable realm, but rather the emergence of medium as a “figure” in its own self-inscribed world of feeling and being. Watson does more than reveal paint’s potential to emote—she gives it a space to reveal itself, in its own time.

Janna Watson holds an honours degree in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design, and since graduating has exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally in over thirty solo exhibitions. Her work has appeared in notable public collections including those of TD Bank, CIBC, Telus, the Ritz-Carlton, ONi ONE, the Soho Metropolitan Hotel, and Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2013, she was commissioned to create an impressive, 11-foot painting for the lobby of AURA, Canada’s tallest residential building. Watson’s paintings circulate regularly at international fairs, including Art Toronto, CONTEXT Art Miami, and in Seattle, where they were recently featured by Artsy in its list of “10 Works to Collect at the Seattle Art Fair.” Watson’s work has been covered by publications such as The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, NOW Magazine, and House & Home. Janna Watson also runs Studio Watson, a business dedicated to redefining interiors with hand-tufted floor pieces inspired by the artist’s abstract compositions. She lives and works in Toronto.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Janna’s experience as a youth growing up in a small town in northern Ontario with her father being a Pentecostal pastor.
“Living in somewhat of a bubble… “naive atmosphere” as a child.” She was an introvert and spent her growing life in the church, which Janna says added to the naïve atmosphere.
Janna reflects about her experiences coming out at the age of 18, her process of beginning to question the very faith she grew up believing, and how the world might be moving around her.
Janna explains how she came to a particular point of surrender in the wrestling of her faith and personal life. – Critical point within her story; being a major catalyst for who she is today.
Janna realized later on in her life how much she needed to “touch into” the spiritual world and tap into surrender.
The process of covering all of her paintings with resin during a rough period in her life. “Shiny and sexy – glossing over the flaws.”
Janna explains speaking in tongues and how she personally uses it within her prayer life and her thoughts on how speaking in this manner somehow transports her to her subconscious state of mind to be able to translate those feelings in her artwork.
Janna’s grandfather pushing her to draw the “essence of things” in her drawings and how they needed to be wilder. He taught her the art of abstraction.
Janna reflects on the title of her show speaking to the way we are currently living our lives as the coronavirus is occurring.

www.artistdecoded.com

www.jannawatson.com

Finding Meaning with David Cheifetz | AD 159

21 maj 2020 | 37 min

On Painting, Fashion, And Social Awareness with Erin Nicole Henry | AD 158

18 maj 2020 | 44 min

“Tides” A Guided Meditation with Aja Daashuur | MIND/WAVE #4

4 maj 2020 | 22 min

Inward with Yung Pueblo | AD 157

3 maj 2020 | 53 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Young Pueblo: The inward movement can be summarized as follows: we observe ourselves, we accept what we find without judgment, we let it go, and the actual release causes our transformation. We are already always changing, but when we focus on healing we can change in the direction of our choosing; these are moments when we intentionally reclaim our power. Every moment we take to know ourselves, we return as someone new.- Yung Pueblo Diego Perez is a meditator, writer, and speaker who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name Yung Pueblo. Online he reaches hundreds of thousands of people every month through his written works that focus on the reality of self-healing, the movement from self-love to unconditional love, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. His first book, Inward, was self-published and quickly became a bestseller on Amazon. A revised and expanded edition of Inward has recently been published and is now available in bookstores around the world. The name Yung Pueblo means young people; it serves to remind him of his Ecuadorian roots, his experiences in activism, and that the collective of humanity is in the midst of important growth. Diego's practice of Vipassana meditation, as taught by S.N. Goenka, has given him a deeper understanding of liberation that inspires his writing. Through writing and speaking he aims to support the healing of the individual, knowing that when people release their personal burdens it helps humanity build a global peace. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

A discussion on Yung Pueblo's recent book, “Inward”
How creativity has emerged from letting go in his meditation journey, and exploring healing through writing
Attending meditation retreats and his practice of Vipassana
The importance of practicing meditation even for individuals who haven't had major life traumas
Selfless and unconditional love
Self-love A reflection on Yung Pueblo's addiction to pleasure and his awareness of how much it dictated his life
The idea of embracing change, and being present in the moment
Overcoming an aversion to introspective reflection of himself, and becoming ok with being alone
Finding balance amongst his writing practice, administrative work, and meditation
Books: Bhagavad Gita

www.artistdecoded.com

yungpueblo.com

instagram.com/yung_pueblo

Combining Creative Skill Sets with Daan Noppen | AD 156

28 april 2020 | 55 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Daan: Daan Noppen (1977), born in Arnhem (The Netherlands) is an international artist mainly working in drawing and painting. He is best known for his realistic larger than life drawings of portraits and bodies. Physics and it’s relation to our being, our emotions, plays a big part in his work. The artist plays with notions of reality by projecting time as a physical dimension. Rather than becoming something ‘scientific’ this opens up a visual world of our hidden layers of our desires, our pain and our cry for being loved. ‘Amsterdam based artist Daan Noppen brings a special dynamism to his pencil drawings of still life and portraits. His works are not only eye-catching for their precise layering of details, but also in their massive size that gives his subjects a more palpable presence. A closer look at each piece reveals mathematical equations in between the pencil lines that relate to our reality. More recent works express the artist’s continued fascination with mathematics, geometry, and physics, as his figures appear to be gauged, dissipate, and intermingle in a void of empty vector space’. - Hi-Fructose Magazine (March 2016) Daan Noppen’s work has been exhibited in New York(USA), New Orleans(USA), Mexico DF(Mexico), Shanghai(China), Metz(France), Luxembourg(Luxembourg), Munchen(Germany), Traun(Austria), Antwerp(Belgium) and in Amstedam (The Netherlands). The artists Symmetry I&II drawing recently won an A’design Award 2016 in the category Arts, craft and ready made.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

His origin story within the arts
The breaking down of traditional gender roles
A residency that he did at Andrew Salgado’s studio in London
The differentiation between tasteful nudes and pornography
Using different creative skill sets in conjunction with your current art medium
Book: “The Way Of The Superior Man” by David Deida

www.artistdecoded.com

daannoppen.com

instagram.com/daannoppen

5 Feelings To Honor In The Midst Of A Crisis with Yore | MIND/WAVE #3

13 april 2020 | 6 min

A Guided Meditation with Cory Allen | MIND/WAVE #2

10 april 2020 | 33 min

Cognitive Dissonance with Allie X | AD 155

9 april 2020 | 51 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Allie X: Somewhere amidst the outer reaches of iconoclastic pop darling Allie X’s mind, you’ll find the limits of a surreal hamlet inspired by the East Coast’s infamous playground of the pedigreed, Cape Cod. That said, it doesn’t take long for all the overbearing, Americana-worshipping idyll to melt into a gloomy, grandiose fantasy world of Allie’s creation. A distinct departure from her previous effort — the irreverent, observational Super Sunset — this new writing is an intimate, healing journey focused inwards. Told through the perspective of character rooted in Allie’s own reluctant reflections upon her teenage alienation, it’s an invitation to recontextualize the banality of our shared suburban coming-of-age angst via wry romanticization and darkly-dreamlike production. To rethink ostracization and ennui as a vehicle to unite, rather than isolate, all of the anxiety-ridden outsiders.

“I was waiting for the right moment and place and maturity level where I could comfortably and accurately put these feelings into song,” Allie says, before adding, “This sort of margin in time, and space helped me dive in, and explore some repressed feelings.”

Interestingly enough, her new work was created within the span of few whirlwind weeks. A literal world away from the hook-driven writing rooms of Los Angeles. Thanks to the help of like-minded Swedish producer, Oscar Görres, and co-writer James Alan Ghaleb, lead single “Fresh Laundry” unfurled into a gaudily melancholic, whimsical encapsulation of the surreal world Allie always dreamed of belonging to.

Meanwhile, tracks like “Regulars” explores the struggle of a fish-out-of water forced to adhere to the conventional, while the Troye Sivan duet “Love Me Wrong” expounds upon these feelings — turning it toward the often fraught relationships with our family that we eventually end up internalizing. A carefully constructed meditation on universal themes of identity and belonging, most importantly, this new work is also a declaration of the autonomy we have when it comes to redefining ourselves and our place in the world. Although, Allie herself may still be on a journey toward reconciling with her past, by allowing herself to continue exploring the margins of contemporary pop, she’s ended up finding herself, at last, a little bit closer to home. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Her collaboration with Mitski (singer / songwriter) for their song “Susie Save Your Love”
Cognitive dissonance
Her writing process for her newest album, Cape God, which was inspired by the 2015 HBO documentary entitled “Heroin: Cape Cod USA” directed by Steven Okazaki
Sifting through disparate elements
Challenges faced in her music career
Adaptive resilience

www.artistdecoded.com

alliex.com

instagram.com/alliex

Opening The Flood Gates with Ron Hicks | AD 154

4 april 2020 | 57 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Ron: Ron Hicks was born in Columbus, Ohio but spent most of his childhood growing up in the modest and friendly neighborhood of Park Hill in Denver, Colorado. Ron always knew he would be an artist. Ron's family later relocated back to Ohio where during high school he was awarded several awards, and honors for various art shows and competitions. His talent became obvious and noted throughout his high school career, and Ron was awarded a full scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH. He later returned to Denver then subsequently earned a degree in Advertising Design. After college, Ron applied his degree, and natural talent to working for ad agencies, magazines, and as a freelance illustrator. He would soon realize his true passion. Ron's natural talent, and eye for beauty encouraged a shift in the direction of his style of painting. "I see things very abstractly, so I think of myself as a painter who sees shape, value, edges and texture. It could be the most mundane thing to any passer-by, but I find great beauty in that. I can't imagine not painting...not creating. If I'm not painting, creating, and sharing my gift then what's the point?" - Ron Hicks

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The recent LA Art Show with his paintings on view at the Gallery 1261 booth
His early art inspiration as a child specifically from his mother
Starting a Saturday art program at the Columbus College of Art and Design in high school
Moving back to Denver to finish college, and a short-winded pursuit in advertising design before diving into his art career
An early mentorship that allowed him to tap into the "soul" of his art, and thoughts on developing an intuitive toolbox
Hicks' evolution of his art, and the abstract dialogue that comes through his paintings
Creating honesty in his art but leaving room for his viewers' interpretation of his works
Processing the traumas of thirty years of racial profiling

www.artistdecoded.com

ronhicks.com

instagram.com/ronhicksart

Creating Your Own Creative Community with Ibarionex Perello @ The Candid Frame | AD 153

1 april 2020 | 56 min

Everything Happens For A Reason with Denna Thomsen | AD 152

29 mars 2020 | 72 min

Cultivating Wisdom Through Authentic Dialogue with Michael Phillip | AD 151

24 mars 2020 | 73 min

The Art of Self Defense with Riley Stearns | AD 150

18 mars 2020 | 88 min

Taking Action In Spite of Fear with Akira Beard | AD 149

17 mars 2020 | 79 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Akira: “Making pictures is one of the earliest memories I recall. Before learning to write the alphabet I was drawing from my imagination in crayons. And over all the years that followed, there has never been a period where I didn’t continue the practice. I remember for example just after graduating high school and living on my own as a dishwasher with no ambitions in life but to get drunk and high. But when the party was over I would be in the kitchen of a house I didn’t live in, drawing past dawn. Or even when I was a student at the University of California Berkeley, on my way towards a corporate life, having never conceived even the possibility where art could be a profession, I filled my notebooks not with words from lectures, but with sketches of teachers and classmates. And though later I would become a ‘professional artist’, I sometimes look back at such moments if confused with the roots of my creativity. It started purely as an act of autonomy, where nothing outside myself influenced or affected it. I simply drew because I enjoyed it above all else. Sure, like anyone I’ve had plenty of typical life experiences that have brought their own joy, but nothing compares in consistency and meaningfulness that making art has provided. Even during those unavoidable periods with living that challenge us most, drastic life change/loss/death, art has functioned as a medium with giving meaning to suffering, transforming it into an experience with healing. This I hope, begins to describe the art I make. The drawings and paintings you see on this site, are similar to snapshots where the lens points in Life's direction with penetrating force. Every piece reflects a story only Life could tell. Up until my middle twenties it was enough to make art for its own sake. When I discovered making pictures offered so much more in such ways, a journey of exploration began. It’s fascinating to see how far it has come, and continuing forward never knowing where it may go.” - Akira Beard Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Akira's journey into tattoo art versus his drawing and painting practice, and how concepts of spontaneity, the subconscious mind, and thinking work into his creative decision-making
Using art initially as a necessity to undo years of emotional repression
Getting out of his head, and living in the present moment
Winning the Redbull art competition, and recontextualizing his preconceived notions of commercial art
Akira's personal experience with expectations, and their effects both on relationships and art
Leaving UC Berkeley, and corporate career aspirations for art school
The important mentorship of an art professor
Reflection on his time as a vagabond
Incorporating uncomfortability into his life
Beginning his practice in jiu-jitsu and self defense
Documentaries: "The Real Mr. Miyagi" and " Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present"
Thoughts on the hero's journey, and the human experience

www.artistdecoded.com

www.akirabeard.com

https://www.instagram.com/akirabeard/

Freedom Through Expression with Jennifer Pochinski | AD 148

14 mars 2020 | 65 min

Specific Training And The Socratic Method with Kit Dale | AD 147

6 mars 2020 | 72 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Kit: Kit Dale was born on January 24, 1986, in Melbourne, Australia, growing up in the area’s eastern suburbs. During his formative years Dale practiced a number of athletic activities, from karate to inline hockey, as well as Australian football (Aussie rules), a sport he competed in extensively prior to jiu-jitsu. Australian rules football is widely recognized as one of the most physical sports in the world, generally played by large individuals. Although a very athletic competitor himself, Kit lacked the physicality of some of the other players, a handicap Dale sought to overcome by learning a few grappling tricks, starting his jiu-jitsu training in 2008 with Robert Parmakovski – a man who would, years later, become Kit’s own student. BJJ came natural to Dale, who soon started allocating more of his time to grappling and less to Aussie rules football. While climbing the ranks of jiu-jitsu Dale trained with Bernie Jenkins (up to blue belt) and Peter De Been (up to brown belt), while also doing plenty of training and experimentation on his own or with friends/students. Once the highly decorated grappler, Yuri Simões moved to Australia, Kit started training with the Brazilian. The two established a strong relationship as friends and training partners, and it was Yuri who promoted Dale to black belt on June, 2013. At the time of the ceremony, Dale had just under 5 years of training, this being one of the fastest rises to the rank recorded by then. Dale would later move to California, USA, one of jiu-jitsu’s epicenters in order to improve his grappling skills while also attempting further his acting career. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

His early interests that led him to BJJ
His rapid success in the world of BJ
Challenging the status quo in BJJ. Live training as opposed to drilling.
Kit’s method of “Specific Training”
Improvement through active problem-solving
His personal keys to a rewarding and happy life
His recent interest in a career as an actor
His relationship to problem-solving and the Socratic Method
How he applies his methodology of BJJ mastery to the rest of his life.

www.artistdecoded.com

kitdaletraining.com

https://www.instagram.com/kitdaleofficial/

Now Is The Way with Cory Allen | AD 146

29 februari 2020 | 76 min

My Thousand Sounds with Adam Lee | AD 145

21 februari 2020 | 77 min

Painting In A Cabin In The Woods with Alex Kanevsky | AD 144

19 februari 2020 | 86 min

A Bath Full of Ecstasy with Joe Goddard @ Hot Chip X Saman Kesh | AD 143

12 februari 2020 | 55 min

You Won't Get What You Want with Alexis Marshall @ Daughters | AD 142

28 januari 2020 | 53 min

Facing Survival with David Kassan | AD 141

24 januari 2020 | 65 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About David Kassan: Raw, poignant and profoundly honest, David Jon Kassan’s work aesthetically captures humanity in its true form. As an artist, Kassan acts as an empathetic intermediary between the subject he portrays and the viewer. More than simply replicating his subjects Kassan seeks to understand them. He seeks to capture the essence of those he paints, imbuing them with their own voice. They communicate with the viewer interpersonally and we see them through our own eyes. Our gaze transcends the picture plane and permeates deep into the subject’s psyche. We are moved by Kassan’s depictions, captivated by powerfully expressive hands, pensive faces, and flesh that appears warm to touch. Kassan’s portraits pulsate with the lives of his sitters – the weighty streams-of-consciousness of past experiences, feeling and introspection.This is what reality means to Kassan – preserving the realness of nuanced emotion and expression emanatingfrom the people he paints. Kassan’s technical mastery of oil paint combined with adept draftsmanship enables him to fluently represent what he sees. This is evident in the stunning flesh tones Kassan achieves. Transparent layers of oil paint are built up, forming an intricate lattice of veins, blood and skin. Through this light enters and is reflected back, infusing the subject with veridical luminosity. We can also sense movement and life beneath the undulating creases and folds of clothing. It is the artist’s intent to control the medium of oil paint so that it is not part of the viewer to subject equation. Kassan facilitates an interface between subject and viewer with which he is conscious not to interfere. The technical aspect of his work is thus a means to an end; an end rooted in the viewer’s experience.We find inherent contradictions in Kassan’s work as it oscillates between representation and transformation, reality and abstraction.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Kassan's journey creating paintings based on his interactions with Holocaust survivors, and his recent emotionally transcendent experience exhibiting these works at the Fisher Museum of Art at USC.
How his early paintings of his family allowed him to develop a closer relationship with them.
Wanting his students and followers to understand more of why he paints other than how he paints.
The power of overcoming great trauma, and how it inspires Kassan artistically.
Grappling with the issue of how people dehumanize one another.
The balance between the emotional, and technical process of painting.
Making artwork that doesn't necessarily follow trends, or the desires of a gallery.
Working with the Shoah Foundation, and how they help genocide survivors.

www.artistdecoded.com

www.davidkassan.com

https://www.instagram.com/davidkassan/

Taking Risks To Seek Your Greatest Adventure with Antrese Wood | AD 140

8 januari 2020 | 89 min

Reality Is Optional with Hollis Heichemer X Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 139

28 december 2019 | 57 min

Room For Multiplicities with Maja Ruznic X Yore | AD 138

12 december 2019 | 59 min

Adaptation, Curiosity, and Evolution with Josh Peck with Saman Kesh X Yoshino | AD 137

3 december 2019 | 78 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Josh: Josh Peck is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, and YouTube personality. Peck began his career as a child actor in the late 90s and early 2000s, and had an early role on The Amanda Show from 2000 to 2002. Peck rose to prominence for the role of Josh Nichols alongside Drake Bell's character in the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh from 2004 to 2007, and in its two television films in 2006 and 2008.

He then acted in films such as Mean Creek (2004), Drillbit Taylor (2008), The Wackness (2008), ATM (2012), Red Dawn (2012), Battle of the Year (2013), Danny Collins (2015), and Take the 10 (2017). Peck provided the voice of Eddie in the Ice Age franchise since Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), and voiced Casey Jones in the Nickelodeon animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012–2017). He also starred with John Stamos in the Fox comedy series Grandfathered (2015–2016). In 2017, Peck started a comedic lifestyle YouTube channel, Shua Vlogs, featuring David Dobrik and his wife Paige O'Brien.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Peck’s early life moving from New York to LA to pursue his career as an actor.
His reflection on acting for Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh and breaking the mold as a “kid actor”
Growing into his career in films such as Mean Creek, The Wackness, and Red Dawn.
Kesh’s director/ actor relationship with Peck on his recent film, and Peck’s need for clear communication in such a relationship.
Following an almost predestined path of the arts through the support system his single mother provided for him as a child.
Expanding his skill in acting by still attending acting classes.
Finding different means of supporting himself and his family independent acting through branding platforms such as Vine, YouTube, and Instagram.
Peck’s podcast, Curious, and his love for interviews and having conversations with other creatives.

www.artistdecoded.com

https://www.instagram.com/shuapeck/

"Chimera" with Joshua Hagler | AD 136

30 november 2019 | 67 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Josh: Joshua Hagler lived and worked in San Francisco and then Los Angeles for fifteen years before moving to rural New Mexico in late 2017 as a grant recipient of the year-long Roswell Artist in Residence Program. He was born at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho in 1979 and is a first-generation college graduate with a visual communications degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Having not attended an art school or received an MFA, Hagler refers to himself as a working class artist. Not a stranger to class bias in the art world, self-directed research and travel has underpinned Hagler’s career and is essential to how the artist integrates creative influences with his life experience.

While most of Hagler’s early work responded directly to a difficult past within a variety of religious groups and their unspoken implications for the artist and his family, the later work has sought to understand religion in a deeper way. To Hagler’s mind, one finds the seeds of religion in every facet of culture, even, and, perhaps especially, among the so-called secular realms. Religion, for Hagler, is not approached in the pejorative but in a state of acceptance that perhaps it’s through the religious structures inherent in our shared languages and cultures that we access what makes us most human, for better and for worse.

Currently, he is hard at work in the studio preparing for his first U.K. solo exhibition with Unit London. In “Chimera,” Hagler presents a body of new paintings that attempt to dig beneath various forms of loud political language, including censorship, for clues on how the ubiquity of groupthink informs populist world views on both ends of the spectrum. The artist, in practice, hopes to work into the “noise” to exhume something Other in the physical manner in which the work is made.

2018 saw two museum shows at the Brand Library and Art Center in Los Angeles and the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico entitled “The River Lethe” and “Love Letters to the Poorly Regarded” respectively. He has exhibited paintings, sculpture, video, and animation in galleries and museums in North and South America, Europe, and Australia, including a long list of solo exhibitions. Reviews and features about the work have appeared in a variety of publications and media outlets in the U.S. and Europe.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Hagler's move to Roswell, NM
Finding more financial freedoms to make art without worry
His former Christian upbringing and his current art practice
Hagler's recent show “Chimera” @ Unit London, and its relation to process and collaboration
On being a heavy reader, and the impact specific authors have had on him
A discussion on the spiritual experience that exists in the studio, and surpassing the basics of technical expertise into an emotional connection
The discipline of taking on multiple shows, and how it left Hagler with little time to premeditate his art to create better works
His recent two-person show in LA that expresses the feeling of loss based on a six-line W.S. Merwin poem
How artists can become inundated by the commercial, and political art market

www.artistdecoded.com

https://www.instagram.com/haglerjosh/

www.joshuahagler.com

"Disruptors" with Daniel Martin | AD 135

24 november 2019 | 54 min

Planting Seeds of Unconditional Love with Mia Bergeron | AD 134

22 november 2019 | 73 min

"Massa Confusa" with Christian Rex van Minnen | AD 133

4 november 2019 | 85 min

Painting As Meditation with Johan Van Mullem | AD 132

25 oktober 2019 | 68 min

Observations of the Mundane with Zoey Frank | AD 131

17 oktober 2019 | 43 min

AD NON-WEEKLY ROUND UP #7 with Saman Kesh

11 oktober 2019 | 33 min

A Polymath's Approach To Creativity, Balance, and Meditation with Yumi Sakugawa with Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 130

25 september 2019 | 64 min

"DARK" - Season 2 with Nikolaus Summerer | AD 129.2

15 september 2019 | 69 min

"DARK - Season 1" with Nikolaus Summerer with Saman Kesh x Yoshino | AD 129.1

9 september 2019 | 74 min

The Beautiful Flower Is The World with Jerry Hsu | AD 128

7 september 2019 | 93 min

The Turning Point with Paul Cristina | AD 127

26 augusti 2019 | 77 min

AD NON-WEEKLY ROUND UP #6 with John Wentz

14 augusti 2019 | 27 min

"Young American" with Marie Tomanova | AD 126

11 augusti 2019 | 40 min

"LUCE" with Julius Onah | AD 125

6 augusti 2019 | 45 min

AD NON-WEEKLY ROUND UP #5

2 augusti 2019 | 30 min

On Process, Evolution, and Design with Jesse Draxler | AD 124

16 juli 2019 | 84 min

The Fifty Eleven Project with Justin Tyler Close | AD 123

11 juli 2019 | 56 min

AD NON-WEEKLY ROUND UP #4

2 juli 2019 | 41 min

Beauty Within The Details with Kim Kei with Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 122

15 juni 2019 | 95 min

Finding Purpose by Letting Go with Chi @ Truffles Therapy | AD 121

31 maj 2019 | 36 min

Energy, Electricity, and The Mentality of Perhaps with Sergio Barrale | AD 120

30 maj 2019 | 74 min

Visual Therapy with Andrew Thomas Huang with Saman Kesh X Yoshino | AD 119

8 maj 2019 | 69 min

The Power of Journaling with Mari L. McCarthy | AD 118

30 april 2019 | 35 min

Lost In The Woods with Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio) X Kim Dorland | AD 117

31 mars 2019 | 109 min

AD WEEKLY ROUND UP #3

31 mars 2019 | 41 min

Last Man Standing with John Wentz | AD 116

30 mars 2019 | 53 min

Alex Grey Interviewed by Noah Lampert (Sychronicity Podcast) | AD 115

14 mars 2019 | 47 min

"Stray" with Joe Sill | AD 114

6 mars 2019 | 84 min

AD Weekly Round Up #2

28 februari 2019 | 41 min

Capturing A Person's Essence with Brian Higbee | AD 113

19 februari 2019 | 51 min

AD Weekly Round Up #1

13 februari 2019 | 37 min

Autopilot Off with David Cheifetz | AD 112

6 februari 2019 | 66 min

100% with Kilo Kish with Jarell Perry x Yoshino | AD 111

12 januari 2019 | 51 min

https://www.instagram.com/davidcheifetz/

About Kilo: As if spun from ether, the synthy experimental reflections of Kilo Kish (nee Lakisha Kimberly Robinson) strikingly embody what is intangible - the overwhelmingly complex emotions we sometimes feel but cannot find the language to express. A singer-songwriter, multi-disciplinary artist and designer, Kish’s musical offerings have always been deeply intertwined with her work in other mediums. Her debut EP Homeschool (released April 2, 2012), earned praise for its disarming honesty, marking the genesis of a discography informed by Kish’s deeply self-reflective nature and innate curiosity about the boundaries of human interactions with the world. “I think people liked Homeschool because it felt really naive but also natural. That naturalness of it is almost like catching an artist in their garage band stage,” explained Kish. The EP also provides early insight into Kish’s collaborative process, featuring production and vocals from longtime friends the Internet and Pyramid Vitra - Kish had previously connected with Matt Martians ( the Internet) online, and subsequently formed relationships with the rest of the band.

Born in Orlando, Florida, Kish spent much of her early childhood in solitary settings, critiquing and exploring her surroundings autonomously, while at the same time fully immersing herself in creative projects and activities that challenged her world view. She entered her school’s gifted program at the age of five, and the advanced curriculum soon separated her from her peers. Still, the young Kish found that she preferred the company of adults, finding inspiration from the complexity of their realities. Despite having few friends of her age, her family were early advocates of both her independence and creative spirit.

Her mother in particular provided a steady stream of art supplies, books and activities to feed Kish’s voracious young mind. “I would get bored of things really easily. So once I learned how to do something I was always trying to find the next thing to learn,” Kish explained of her lifelong sense of restlessness. Yet even in becoming easily disillusioned with standard childhood activities, Kish still fell under the spell of the popular culture of the ‘90s. When she wasn’t watching a steady stream of music videos on MTV, she listened to the top 40 hits on her favorite local station. In her teenage years, Kish’s musical tastes imploded, expanding into the realm of alternative sounds and internet-based sub-genres. Spurred on by the popularity of pirating platforms like Limewire, she sought out the future-facing crooning of Bjork, and connected with the empowered folk-pop of Regina Spektor.

This plethora of influences coupled with a rejection of any state of stagnation still defines Kish’s music. A year after the release of Homeschool (while still studying at FIT in New York), she completely pivoted directions and released K+. The free mix tape was supported by a digital art zine and immersive listening session. Featuring A$AP Ferg, Childish Gambino, Earl Sweatshirt and more, K+ chronicled the process behind its own making in order to bring the listener closer to the mind of the artist. “At the time, I kind of just considered music as another form of making stuff. I was in college thinking I was going to become a textile designer, but then to see some of my peers blowing up - Matt was with Odd Future and some of my other friends were in A$AP Mob. So I saw it happening around me and it occurred to me that it was possible,” she explained of the time.

The following year, in 2014, she released her second EP Across with the support of French fashion house and record label Maison Kitsune. On its heels came Kish’s debut studio album,Reflections in Real Time (2016) which she released through her own imprint label Kisha Soundscape + Audio. The album, a searing and deeply personal journal entry into the motivations, fears and obsessions of an artist unafraid to document her own fallacies, garnered praise for its earnestness and impeccable musicality. In an interview with Elle that year, Kish even joked that the album’s level of honesty would probably embarrass her later. As her story continues to unfold, and her already-impressive buzz continues to grow, stay tuned for more on one of 2018’s most exciting artists…Kilo Kish.

www.artistdecoded.com

www.kilokish.com

https://www.instagram.com/kilokish/

MIND/WAVE #1: "Reflecting On The Past + Puzzle Theory"

4 januari 2019 | 31 min

Finding Balance Through Abstraction with Nick Runge | AD 110

27 december 2018 | 56 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Nick: Born in 1985, artist Nick Runge grew up in Colorado. Coming from a creative family of professional artists, he was always interested in drawing and imagining ideas visually. Starting in 2004, he began thinking about art as a career and got the chance to begin small jobs in and out of the comic book industry. After 2006, he worked as an illustrator for various comic companies such as IDW, Dark Horse, and many others. While primarily making a living as a cover artist, he began painting more seriously and started exploring the world of film art and traditionally painted projects, doing various official and private commissions. These days he has stepped away from commercial properties, focusing exclusively on fine art and personal work using oils and watercolor.

As a portrait/figurative painter, Nick works from life as well as photography, describing his art as something close to “abstracted realism”, with an objective of expressing as much of the realistic human element of life as possible through a limited and often simplified approach to his rendering or brushwork, giving an illusion of realism while, at the same time, breaking shapes and form down enough to have a close balance with abstraction.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The reasons why he began his career as an artist in illustration
Making the transition from being a professional illustrator to being a fine artist
Steven Pressfield’s book, “The War of Art”
Creating mental devices to help you clearly navigate though your career
His experiences working in the comic book industry
Commercial viability of analog and digital artworks
Pitfalls of the American educational system
The financial realities of being a working artist
Art and design existing everywhere
How the arts are supported and unsupported in America
Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now”
The movie poster that Runge was commissioned to illustrate for the documentary, “The Death of Superman Lives”
Ideologies about tribes and community
AI creating artworks
NOH/WAVE
Art collectives

www.artistdecoded.com

www.nohwaveacademy.com/nick-runge

https://www.instagram.com/nickvrunge/

Acting, Mark Making, and Everything In Between with Joseph Lee | AD 109

19 december 2018 | 59 min

The Conversation: Art Podcast with Michael Shaw | AD 108

20 november 2018 | 65 min

Refreshing Yourself with Linus Sandgren X Saman Kesh | AD 107

18 november 2018 | 68 min

Exploration, The Cornerstone of Artistry with Isaac Bauman X Saman Kesh X Yoshino | AD 106

13 oktober 2018 | 93 min

The Full Catastrophe with Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio) | AD 105

7 oktober 2018 | 82 min

The Devil's In The Detail with Jordan Reyes | AD 104

3 oktober 2018 | 53 min

The Art of Finding Yourself with Rina Yang X Saman Kesh | AD 103

20 augusti 2018 | 53 min

The Symptom of a True Calling with Mia Bergeron feat. Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 102

4 augusti 2018 | 73 min

Mia Bergeron is a figurative oil painter that oscillates between classical and expressionistic painting. Rooted in her upbringing in New York City with continuous exposure to modern art, her paintings also reveal her choice to study classical painting in Florence, Italy under Charles H. Cecil in her twenties. Heavily influenced by historical artists such as Diego Velázquez, Titian, Anthony van Dyck and John Singer Sargent, her paintings are also shaped by current artists such as Alex Kanevsky, Ann Gale, and Adrian Ghenie.

Mia’s education was rooted in formal portraiture from life- she spent thousands of hours painting people and watching tweaks in eyebrows, mouths that shifted with fatigue, shoulders that grew heavy. These changes were minuscule, and yet were the markings and delineations of time. She is enamored with the nuance, variation, and subtlety that observation provides. Although narrative has been an undercurrent in Mia’s work for years, it is only recently, after being consumed with the purely visual tools she continues to discovered, that she has made it her focus.

Mia has been published numerous times in international magazines. Her paintings have placed repeatedly in both national and international competitions, notably in The Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition (2013, 2015). She has participated in the traveling museum show “Women Painting Women”. She has also tried her hand as curator for the successful show “Unfurl” at Gallery 1261 in Denver in 2015. She has served as advanced painting adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, and is a continuing instructor through Townsend Atelier, also in Chattanooga, where she resides.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

How Justin and Mia met
Death of a Coworker
The currency of respect
How Mia got into figurative painting
Mia growing up in NYC
Introverted vs. extroverted tendencies
How Mia got into oil painting
An artist vs. a painter’s mindset
Painting as a meditative practice
Quitting painting then returning to it years later with a fresh perspective
The necessity for a compulsion to create art
The symptom of a true calling
Work-a-holism and obsession
“The Pool Filter Analogy”
Addressing fear
Transcending grief and fear

www.artistdecoded.com

Filmmaking, Cinematography, Mentorship with Tobias Schliessler feat. Aisha Schliessler | AD 101

26 juli 2018 | 65 min

Tobias Schliessler most recently lensed Ava Duvernay’s adaptation of A WRINKLE IN TIME for Disney, starring Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Reese Witherspoon.

Schliessler also recently shot Bill Condon’s visually stunning film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, starring Emma Watson and Luke Evans. Condon and Schliessler first teamed up on the Academy Award winning film DREAMGIRLS, followed by THE FIFTH ESTATE, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and more recently, the beautifully shot MR. HOLMES, starring Ian McKellen.

Last year Schliessler lensed Peter Berg’s Boston Marathon drama PATRIOT’S DAY, starring Mark Wahlberg. Berg and Schliessler previously collaborated on a number of films including: the action/drama LONE SURVIVOR, also starring Mark Wahlberg; the sci-fi thriller BATTLESHIP; HANCOCK, starring Will Smith; the high school football drama FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS; and THE RUNDOWN, starring The Rock.

Other notable credits include Tony Scott’s crime thriller THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123; as well as Antoine Fuqua’s BAIT, starring Jamie Foxx.

A native of Germany, Schliessler studied cinematography at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. He began his career shooting documentaries, and then segued into independent features, television movies, music videos and commercials. Schliessler was honored by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) for his cinematography on Audi’s commercial WAKE UP in 2000, and Lincoln’s Financial spot DOCTOR in 2001. Both are now part of the permanent archives of The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film and Video in New York City. His commercial work also includes ads for such high end brands as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Bank of America, Citibank , AT&T and Verizon.

Aisha Schliessler is a writer and director living in Los Angeles, California.

A third-generation filmmaker, life behind the camera is in her blood. She has worked across a wide range of projects including shorts, music videos and commercials.

Her short documentary, DOBLE 9, about four Cuban exiles connected through Miami’s Calle Ocho domino park, screened at multiple film festivals in 2016 including The Miami International Film Festival and the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana.

In 2017 she wrote and directed THE END, about a lonesome beauty and her unusual dinner date, which won the Audience Choice Award at the New York City Short Film Festival (NYC Shorts). Most recently, Aisha wrote and directed the short film PASSING in collaboration with Zeiss lenses, which will premiere in 2018.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

How he got into cinematography
Tobias’s father’s path into mountain climbing and documentarian filmmaking
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (filmmaker)
Robby Müller (Dutch cinematographer)
Directors he’s worked with, Bill Condon and Peter Berg
Pushing each other creatively in collaborative partnerships
A film Tobias worked on called, “Friday Night Lights”
His experiences on set
Mentoring younger people entering the film industry
Working on “Lone Survivor”
The film, “The American Friend”
The film, “The Square”
Working with directors Peter Berg and Bill Condon

www.artistdecoded.com

AD 100 + The Origin of NOH/WAVE with Justin Daashuur Hopkins | AD 100

10 juli 2018 | 83 min

Spirits, Healing, Clairvoyance with Aja Daashuur | AD 99

2 juli 2018 | 47 min

Creative Parameters, Design, Collaboration with Alexandre Souêtre X Jesse Draxler | AD 98

30 maj 2018 | 55 min

Death-Pop with VOWWS | AD 97

8 maj 2018 | 81 min

Augmenting Human Connection with Martin Starr X Saman Kesh | AD 96

1 maj 2018 | 49 min

Choreographing Mental States with Ania Catherine | AD 95

21 april 2018 | 47 min

The Intersection Between Art, Clairvoyance, and Metaphysics with Mary Grisey | AD 94

24 mars 2018 | 48 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Mary: "How do we understand, connect with and react to traces of the metaphysical? My work is about becoming, a process that encompasses both doing and undoing; energy goes into my materials and then there is a natural or simulated process of destruction. Transformation is central to my practice: a metamorphosis that reveals the ruin and beauty of both the body and the psyche. With the intention of revealing layers and residual deterioration, I unravel, scratch, burn and peel parts of the work. I use many natural materials in my practice—particularly linen, sisal rope and dye—which exude a distinct smell and permeate the senses before the demanding visuality commands attention. This address to the olfactory helps to create an active environment rather than a static installation. My works, unlike the products of conventional fiber practices, bear traces of my hand—bits of imperfect or unfinished warp and weft—and the inexact results of hand-dyeing. Parts of the work are undone, unmade and unraveled, lending credence to their indeterminate nature. While the process of weaving, in its demanding repetition and methodical rhythm, is a contemplative endeavor typically exact in execution, the ruinous state of these works points to my interest in the limits of the physical and preoccupation with the ethereal.

I am fascinated by the connection between the physical and metaphysical, and, in this vein, I take ancient mythology, metamorphosis, ruination and entropy as inspirations in my work. Like ruins, my works are remnants of what was once whole; they are inscribed with traces of their previous life, death endured and the hereafter. My works embody these remnants that prefigure thought and feeling." - Mary Grisey

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Kindred spirits
Her trajectory as an artist
Finding her voice
How a traumatic experience created a shift in the way she created art
The relationship between creating artwork and meditating
Breaking down mental systems
Her spiritual journey
Clairvoyance
Her encounters with ghosts
Working in the metaphysical realm
How she got into tarot card reading

www.artistdecoded.com

www.thewoventarot.com www.marygrisey.com

The Importance of Embracing Failure with Elly Smallwood | AD 93

28 februari 2018 | 59 min

Emotional Intelligence + Turning Weaknesses Into Strengths with Nicole Miglis (Hundred Waters) | AD 92

5 januari 2018 | 56 min

VR Museum with Dado Valentic | AD 91

20 december 2017 | 48 min

The Reality Distortion Field with Norberto Rodriguez X Justin Hopkins | AD 90

30 november 2017 | 69 min

On The Line with Gavin Turek X Jarell Perry X Yoshino | AD 89

28 november 2017 | 55 min

https://www.patreon.com/artistdecoded

About Gavin: It’s impossible not to become infatuated with soulful pop princess Gavin Turek. The LA Native is always clad in a hand-made 70s fringe dress (designed herself in every color) and armed with the best dance moves you’ve ever seen. It’s easy to draw comparisons anywhere from Tina Turner to Beyoncé but really, Gavin is her own force to be reckoned with. Performing always came natural: she grew up with a father who played piano and tagging alongside her mother, who toured coffeeshops singing gospel. Her origin story goes like this: at age three, a teeny tiny Gavin interrupted her mother mid performance, took over the mic and to the astonishment of the audience, finished the song for her. She knew every single lyric, word for word, and whoa, that girl could sing. Suffice to say, a star was born.

Growing up, Gavin obsessively studied two things: music (the likes of Donna Summer, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Diana Ross. Michael Jackson, Giorgio Moroder) and all forms of dance. Originally aspiring to be a professional dancer, she spent months at a time in India and Africa, immersing herself in different cultures. Ghana was where Gavin first discovered her love for fringe and learned that the popular disco-era fad had much deeper origins. Everyday while in Ghana, Gavin learned and performed the traditional dances of the northern region, with falling in love with their massive fringe belts that moved with the music and drums as an extension of body and spirit. As Gavin jokingly told Nylon Magazine, “fringe really makes your hips look good and accentuates the movements.” Another great discovery for her was that in other cultures, dance is much more than a form entertainment, it is a way of life. It is used to celebrate births, weddings, religious worships, achievements and even deaths and afterlife. Upon returning to the United States, Gavin eventually returned to singing and songwriting as her main medium of expression, but when the time came to perform her own music, dance and fringe costumes naturally became a vital component for her live shows.

Two special artists in particular became champions early on for Gavin. Brainfeeder genius TOKiMONSTA has been a longtime friend and collaborator. Early on in both their careers, she asked Gavin to contribute vocals to her productions, which lead to the fan favorite track “Darkest Dim.” Mayer Hawthorne was next, not only inviting Gavin to open his sold out tours but recruiting her as the female counterpart in his retro funk act Tuxedo with producer Jake Uno. (You may recognize her as the golden disco goddess gracing the stage with them everywhere from the legendary Hollywood Bowl to Japan).

In 2015, word of mouth about Gavin’s music and electric live shows spread with the release of her electro R&B infused mini-album “You’re Invited” produced by TOKiMONSTA. The girl power duo followed the release with a sold out tour and received accolades from Billboard, NPR, The Fader, Apple / Beats 1, KCRW, etc. That year,Spin named Gavin as the summer’s Top Artist to Watch and her disco funk-tinged single "Don’t Fight It” as one of the best tracks of 2015.

By 2016, Gavin’s star quality was undeniable. She dominated the stage with guest performances at legendary festivals such as Outside Lands and Coachella and late night performances on Jimmy Kimmel with Mayer Hawthorne and Cee Lo. Her crowning achievement this past year began with the release of her single “On the Line” (produced by Chris Hartz of Passion Pit) last May. In support of the release, she played a beyond sold-out month long residency in Los Angeles. The long time venue promoter said he had never seen anything like it in LA, with lines wrapped around the block in hopes of catching Gavin perform what would soon become her new EP Good Look for You. “On the Line” premiered #1 on HypeMachine very organically thanks to dedicated love from the hippest underground blogs and airplay from six of KCRW’s top tastemakers. KCRW DJ Anne Lit proclaimed it the “song of the summer.”

Gavin preps now to release her EP “Good Look for You” February 17 via her own label Madame Gold Records. A self starter and entrepreneur whose mission is to inspire women of all ages and ethnicities, Madame Gold continues the tradition of female greats taking the reigns of their own success. Gavin considers it an homage to the artists she admires most: Solange, Janelle Monae and TOKiMONSTA. The EP’s single “Good Look for You” (November, 2016) already has garnered attention from Stereogum, Nylon, Okayplayer, etc and the EP release will be celebrated with a live KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic in-studio session and release parties in both Los Angeles and New York this February.

www.artistdecoded.com

www.gavinturek.com

www.instagram.com/gavinturek/

Love In Spite of Everything with Akira Beard | AD 88

20 november 2017 | 86 min

"Making pictures is one of the earliest memories I recall. Before learning to write the alphabet I was drawing from my imagination in crayons. And over all the years that followed, there has never been a period where I didn’t continue the practice. I remember for example just after graduating high school and living on my own as a dishwasher with no ambitions in life but to get drunk and high. But when the party was over I would be in the kitchen of a house I didn’t live in, drawing past dawn. Or even when I was a student at the University of California Berkeley, on my way towards a corporate life, having never conceived even the possibility where art could be a profession, I filled my notebooks not with words from lectures, but with sketches of teachers and classmates. And though later I would become a ‘professional artist’, I sometimes look back at such moments if confused with the roots of my creativity. It started purely as an act of autonomy, where nothing outside myself influenced or affected it. I simply drew because I enjoyed it above all else. Sure, like anyone I’ve had plenty of typical life experiences that have brought their own joy, but nothing compares in consistency and meaningfulness that making art has provided. Even during those unavoidable periods with living that challenges us most, drastic life change/loss/death, art has functioned as a medium with giving meaning to suffering, transforming it into an experience with healing. This I hope, begins to describe the art I make. The drawings and paintings you see on this site, are similar to snapshots with the lens pointed in Life's direction with penetrating force. I hope you enjoy any of what's reflected back. Thanks for visiting." - Akira Beard

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Identity
His Japanese American heritage
Akira’s self portraiture work where he addressed the theme of identity
The idea of “self, culture, nature”
Self-realization
The Buddhist concept of impermanence
The difference between a technician and a fine artist
“The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”
The enigma of love
His body of artwork called “Love In Spite of Everything”
His 4 year path of discovery
Marcus Aurelius
Stoicism
Daily rituals
Anais Nin

www.artistdecoded.com

The Nebulous, A Beautiful Abstraction with Steve Kim | AD 87

17 november 2017 | 84 min

Juxtaposing Disparate Elements with Colin Chillag X Jenna Duncan X Yoshino | AD 86

13 november 2017 | 77 min

Booth and Last Rites Gallery with Casey Gleghorn X Justin Hopkins X Yoshino | AD 85

8 november 2017 | 51 min

The Path Of A Polymath + Self-Discovery + On Gaycation with Ian Daniel | AD 84

7 november 2017 | 102 min

A Compulsion For Knowledge And Exploration with Dave Elitch X Justin Hopkins X Yoshino | AD 83

31 oktober 2017 | 86 min

Dave Elitch first garnered attention with his band Daughters of Mara’s debut album “I am Destroyer” in 2007, but his time touring with the American progressive rock band The Mars Volta in 2009-2010 is what really put him on the map. He has since worked with Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, M83, The 1975, Juliette Lewis, Big Black Delta, as well as many others. He is a regular in the LA session scene, including performing on various records, syncs and film scores for major motion pictures, (most recently “Trolls” and “Logan.”) In addition to playing, he also conducts master-class lectures worldwide and keeps a busy private teaching practice in Los Angeles where he has developed a reputation as THE technique/body mechanic specialist who has helped many of the industries top players as well as educators.

“Ever since I decided that I was going to be a drummer, I wanted to be the best I could possibly be, and I put all my faculties toward that. Eventually that can take a toll, so I kind of hit a wall and needed a break. I’ve always had an appreciation for art, and luckily where I live in LA there are all these rad galleries – the Getty, the Hammer, Thinkspace, C.A.V.E., Giant Robot – so I frequent those. I get a different vantage point on the creative experience. I started getting inspired by documentaries about artists, like The Radiant Child about Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rivers and Tides about Andy Goldsworthy, the Gerhard Richter documentary Painting, Francis Bacon movies on YouTube… It’s just such a fascinating take on making sense of the world around you. Plus, I’ve dedicated my life to knowing all there is to know about drums, and I’m expected to know everything, With art, I can just go from my gut, so there’s a huge sense of freedom and escape for me there.” – Dave Elitch

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The pitfalls of formalized education
The realities of being a musician
Over exposure of art through technology
Distractions of social media
How Dave became a professional drummer
Andy Goldsworthy “Rivers and Tides”
Drawing similarities and differences between his approach to music and his approach to art
The compulsion for knowledge and exploring
Understanding the veil of perception
Creative adaptability
Spirituality in art
Breaking free of systematic thinking
Branding within the art world
The ripple effect of art and commerce interacting with each other

www.artistdecoded.com

The 80s Underground Punk Rock Scene In Los Angeles with Edward C Colver X David Alexander Willis | AD 82

29 oktober 2017 | 41 min

Morbid Curiosities + Exploring Mediums with Guy Maestri | AD 81

3 oktober 2017 | 63 min

Winning the Archibald Prize as Guy Maestri did in 2009 would be a defining moment in most artist’s careers, but he is quick to cite physical immersion in the landscape as revolutionary to his painting practice. It’s easy to gloss over the history of plein-air as a European tradition, born of gentle grasses and mild sunlight. Practiced in Australia, away from the slip of green coastline, plein-air demands rigor of vast dimensions. For Maestri, the material and temporal challenges of extended painting sessions in the hard country around Hill End, Wilcannia and Broken Hill has been instrumental in a new understanding of local art histories and ecologies, as well as the atmospheric and elemental qualities of landscape. Beholden to intimacies of place, the artist stakes out a subtle void or stillness in these dry landscapes without surrendering his animated, almost kinetic approach to paint.

Masquerading as a shady retreat, the studio retains its disciplinarian attitude but demands a different kind of focus. Here the void is more theatrical, Maestri’s compositions orchestrated with operatic tempo. Desiccated road-kill (the anti-trophy of inland highways) perform as contemporary Gothic vanitas, shot through with equal measure of beauty and pathos, the eye and the heart facing off.

A graduate of the National Art School, Maestri won the 2014 Kings School Art Prize and the 2013 Premier’s Plein Air Painting Prize. He is a regular finalist in the Wynne Prize for Landscape at the Art Gallery of NSW and his work is held in several public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery and Parliament House collections.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

His experience studying at The National Art School in Sydney
Education in the arts
Exploring mediums within your artistic practice
How his work has evolved over the years
His paintings of road kill
Discussing self portraiture
How he began experimenting with sculptures
His process creating his sculptures
Morbid curiosities
Wes Anderson

www.artistdecoded.com

The Balance Between Art And Commerce with Virginie Picot @ Iconoclast Image | AD 80

30 september 2017 | 74 min

Invisible with Brad Kunkle | AD 79

18 september 2017 | 57 min

Macro Vs. Micro + On Her New Album Hiss Spun with Chelsea Wolfe | AD 78

12 september 2017 | 52 min

“What I want is to open up. I want to know what's inside me. I want everybody to open up. I'm like an imbecile with a can opener in his hand, wondering where to begin—to open up the earth. I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I'm sure of it.” - Henry Miller

Digging beneath the mess of the world to find the beauty underneath is perhaps the most consistent theme in Chelsea Wolfe’s expansive discography—a theme that ties together her ceaseless explorations in unorthodox textures, haunting melodies, and mining the grandeur embedded within ugliness and pain. With her sixth official album Hiss Spun, Wolfe adopts Miller’s quest to become empowered by embracing the mess of the self, to control the tumult of the soul in hopes of reigning in the chaos of the world around us. “I wanted to write some sort of escapist music; songs that were just about being in your body, and getting free,” Wolfe says of the album before extrapolating on the broader scope of her new collection of songs. “You’re just bombarded with constant bad news, people getting fucked over and killed for shitty reasons or for no reason at all, and it seems like the world has been in tears for months, and then you remember it’s been fucked for a long time, it’s been fucked since the beginning. It’s overwhelming and I have to write about it.”

Hiss Spun was recorded by Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts at the tail end of winter 2017 against a backdrop of deathly quiet snow-blanketed streets and the hissing radiators of warm interiors. While past albums operated on the intimacy of stripped-down folkmusic (The Grime and the Glow, Unknown Rooms), or the throbbing pulse of supplemental electronics (Pain Is Beauty, Abyss), Wolfe’s latest offering wrings its exquisiteness out of a palette of groaning bass, pounding drums, and crunching distortion. It’s an album that inadvertently drew part of its aura from the cold white of the New England winter, though the flesh-and-bone of the material was culled from upheavals in Wolfe’s personal life, and coming to terms with years of vulnerability, anger, self-destruction, and dark family history. Aside from adding low-end heft with gratuitous slabs of fuzz bass, longtime collaborator Ben Chisholm contributed harrowing swaths of sound collages from sources surrounding the artist and her band in recent years—the rumble of street construction at a tour stop in Prague, the howl of a coyote outside Wolfe’s rural house in California, the scrape of machinery on the floor of a warehouse at a down-and-out friend’s workplace. Music is rendered out of dissonance—bomb blasts from the Enola Gay, the shriek of primates, the fluttering pages of a Walt Whitman book are manipulated and seamlessly integrated into the feral and forlorn songs of Hiss Spun.

The album opens with the sickening bang of “Spun”, where a lurching bottom-heavy riff provided by Chisholm and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure) serves as a foundation to a sultry mantra of fever-dream longing and desire. The first third of Hiss Spun—whether it’s the ominous twang and cataclysmic dynamics of “16 Psyche”, the icy keyboard lines, restless pulse and harrowing bellows of Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, SUMAC) on “Vex”, or the patient repetition and devastating choruses of “The Culling—all carry the weight of desperation, lost love, and withdrawal. Wolfe’s introspection and existential dread turns outwards to the crumbling world around us with “Particle Flux”, an examination of the casualties of war set against an aural sea of static. White noise is a constant thread through Hiss Spun, with Wolfe finding solace in the knowledge that radio static is the sound of the universe expanding outwards from the Big Bang—a reminder that even dissonance has ties to creation. The electronic thump of “Offering” serves as an ode to the Salton Sea and the encroaching calamities stemming from climate change. The obsession with white noise and global destruction carries over into “Static Hum”, where the merciless percussive battery of Wolfe’s former bandmateand current drummer Jess Gowrie helps deliver the dire weight of a sonnet dedicated to a “burning planet.” By the time the album closes with “Scrape”, Wolfe has come full circle and turned her examinations back inward, reflecting over her own mortality with arguably the most commanding vocal performance in her entire oeuvre.

“The album is cyclical, like me and my moods,” Wolfe says of Hiss Spun. “Cycles, obsession, spinning, centrifugal force—all with gut feelings as the center of the self.” And it’s an album that Wolfe sees as a kind of exorcism. “I’m at odds with myself… I got tired of trying to disappear. The record became very personal in that way. I wanted to open up more, but also create my own reality.” Every Chelsea Wolfe album is cathartic, but never before has both the artist and her audience so desperately needed this kind of emotional purging. Sargent House is proud to release Hiss Spun to the world on September 22nd, 2017.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Her radio show through Red Bull Music Academy called "Hypnos Hour"
The process of discovering yourself as an artist
The novel "1Q84" written by Haruki Murakami
The film "The Sevent h Seal" directed by Ingmar Bergman
Writing lyrics and song writing
Psychedelics opening up access portals
Her collaboration with Converge
Her new album "Hiss Spun"

www.artistdecoded.com

Okovi with Zola Jesus | AD 77

30 juli 2017 | 48 min

Tire Fire + Developing a Point of View with Jesse Draxler | AD 76

23 juli 2017 | 89 min

"Jesse Draxler is an artist best known for his collage and mixed media works, though with his new exhibition "Tire Fire" we find him returning to the medium that sparked his love of image making, drawing. As a child growing up in rural Wisconsin Draxler drew incessantly. Being that his father was a mechanic he would spend hours upon hours drawing cars, trucks, and engine parts. Later in adolescence, his attention changed as circumstances became bleak.

Draxler’s mother was in a near-fatal car accident when he was nine. Upon her recovery, over a year later, his parents were divorced. His mother, whom he was now living with, soon remarried. Then just months after the wedding she was ran over and killed by her new husband in his truck, an event to which he arrived just moments later.

In the following years, Draxler states that he barely remembers a thing. These times of pervasive uncertainty and loss changed him forever and his focus shifted to much darker interests. He was always an outcast from his peers, but from this time on Draxler leaned into his outsider lot in life. It wasn’t until almost two decades later that he began to see a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Themes of bewilderment, isolation, ambiguity, and absurdity are all strongly represented in Draxler’s work, along with frustration and aggression. Yet these are not endpoints but have rather become the in-roads to deeper understanding and acceptance. It is clear he has spent the better part of his life straddling the line between fear and ecstasy, the beautiful and the grotesque. The result is Draxler’s unique ability to present a point of view in which the subtle nuances of the human condition are concisely illuminated, satisfying a psychological and emotional itch that so seldom gets scratched."

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Talks about his show TireFire
Containing multitudes
Finding the balance between commercial work and personal work
Developing a point of view
Susan Rothenberg
Viewing the entirety of your life as an artistic practice
Listening to music as a tool for creating art
Billy Corgan
“The Inner Game of Tennis” by Timothy Gallwey
The intersection of physical activities and artistic practices

www.artistdecoded.com

www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Nomadic Living + The Flow State with John Kilar | AD 75

8 juli 2017 | 50 min

It All Comes Full Circle with Michelle Groskopf | AD 74

30 juni 2017 | 66 min

A Peek Into The Lives of Sex Workers with Scot Sothern | AD 73

21 juni 2017 | 78 min

Every Full Moon with Gems | AD 72

16 juni 2017 | 75 min

Kidmograph | AD 71

13 juni 2017 | 49 min

Drawing Your Own Path with John F. Simon Jr. | AD 70

14 maj 2017 | 69 min

Artistic Evolution with Casey Baugh | AD 69

9 maj 2017 | 49 min

Out of Nothing with Rebecca Farr | AD 68

10 april 2017 | 58 min

Live @ MIND/WAVE w/ Joshua Hagler + Jarell Perry + Maja Ruznic + Yoshino | AD 67

21 mars 2017 | 51 min

The Business of Art with Joe Kennedy @ Unit London | AD 66

14 mars 2017 | 35 min

Banding Together + Mind Expansion + Seeking Creative Freedom with Martin Wittfooth X Sergio Barrale | AD 65

10 februari 2017 | 87 min

Sexuality In Art with Elly Smallwood | AD 64

7 februari 2017 | 70 min

Being Guided By The Process + Lament Asunder with Adam Lee | AD 63

24 januari 2017 | 71 min

On The Warrior's Path + Developing Mental Toughness and Resilience with Daniele Bolleli | AD 62

17 januari 2017 | 65 min

Adventure Painting with Anthony Lister | AD 61

13 januari 2017 | 64 min

Overcoming Obstacles + Becoming Focused and Disciplined with Yoshino X Cory Allen | AD 60

31 december 2016 | 65 min

HONNE | AD 59

16 december 2016 | 34 min

Building A Creative Community with Brian Shevlin (Con Artist Collective) x Michael Donovan | AD 58

7 december 2016 | 85 min

The Importance of Telling Your Own Story with Ben Quilty | AD 57

2 december 2016 | 52 min

Ben Quilty was born in Sydney, Australia in 1973. He has an Honorary Doctorate from Western Sydney University, a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts, a Bachelor of Visual Communication from the School of Design at the University of Western Sydney and certificate level studies in Aboriginal History and Culture from Monash University. Widely known for his thick, gestural oil paintings Quilty has explored a range of themes throughout his career. From the dangerous coming of age rituals of young Australian men, to the complex social history of our country, he is constantly critiquing notions of identity, patriotism and belonging.

He won the 2002 Brett Whitely Traveling Art Scholarship, the 2007 National Self Portrait Prize, the 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the 2011 Archibald Prize and most recently the Prudential Eye Award for Contemporary Art in Singapore.

His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, QAGOMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art along with numerous regional and private collections.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Making work about who you are
Writer's block being a fallacy. How there's no shortage of things to talk about in your artwork.
Curating your artistic vision
His trip to Lebanon and following the Syrian border to view refugee camps
Using writing as a creative medium while traveling
His love and interest in human rights
Myuran Sukumaran's story and Ben's involvement with teaching him how to paint while Myuran was imprisoned in Indonesia for drug trafficking. Myuran was later executed by firing squad for the charges.
The debauchery of young masculinity
Western cultures lacking rites of passage ceremonies
The economic rationalization of education
Contemporary trends in the art market
Dissection of the survival and / or death of painting
David Hockney's iPad art
Spending time with his children
Australian Frontier Wars
Larrikinism
Vincent Namatjira

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/artistdecoded

www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Opening Access Points Of The Mind with Matthew Ryan Herget | AD 56

28 november 2016 | 66 min

Born December 21st, 1990; Matthew Ryan Herget is an emerging self-taught artist from Miami, FL. After attending University for two years, Herget opted to leave formal education to pursue his personal calling in life; to live as a contemporary explorer. Herget's work is what he calls, a "constant collaboration" between himself at all points in his life. The evolution of his work mimics the evolution of his own self - a student of life, the mind, nature, and spirituality; Herget continues to explore anew without losing the childlike confidence that propelled him to the person he is today. Earlier paintings consist of juxtapositions of visual metaphors that tend to represent overcoming personal fears and limitations. These juxtapositions mix serious tones with playful imagery: an ode to finding who he is while at the same time never forgetting where he was. Newer paintings jump in and out of the boundaries of form and abstraction. Occasionally paintings are figurative while others take the shape of full on abstraction: a reflection of where Matthew is currently in his personal journey. Matthew's process in the studio is that of high-energy and adventure. Paintings usually begin with no set concept and evolve into a dialogue of mark-making and feeling between the painter and painting. Dozens of paintings are often worked on at the same time and rotated throughout the studio. His painting style relies heavily on instinct, risk, and uncertainty. Things that are learned today may be dropped tomorrow in an effort to consistently keep oneself open to change and discovery. Herget's main focus is making the process the reward, and to allowing that process and inner voice to mold and evolve what comes of the process, as it pleases. “Each piece is a journey in-and-of itself. I’m constantly trying to take it somewhere that I haven’t been before. The way I paint is kind of a metaphor for who I am, and why I’m here. It’s not about taking it to a point where you can see something; it’s about bringing it to a place where you can feel something. We all have a space suit on; whether it sits in the closet or goes to the moon is a choice we get to make. It’s a constant mission of finding ourselves. I think that pursuit is nurtured by consistently pushing ourselves further than we did yesterday. That’s how we change, grow, and evolve. That’s what these paintings are about. It’s pretty simple, but means a lot to me." Matthew Ryan Herget currently works out of Los Angeles, CA.

Show Notes:

0:00:00 - Introduction
0:00:47 - Live in Art Basel
0:06:08 - Trusting In More Abstract Work
0:10:17 - Psychedelics in Dog Parks
0:15:31 - Psychedelics Opening Mental Portals
0:18:21 - Plants, Shamans, and Community
0:21:06 - Different Mental Access Points Through Psychedelics
0:24:37 - Tie-Dye Shirt Trip
0:25:37 - Artistic Process With Psychedelics
0:27:17 - Social Conditioning and Growing Up
0:32:28 - Dropping Out of College and Manifesting Art Career
0:39:10 - Generational Curses, Eckhart Tolle, and Letting Go
0:47:16 - Manifestation of God
0:48:11 - Time at Artist For Peace and Justice
0:58:33 - Traveling and Experiencing Life
1:02:57 - Advice to Artists
1:05:27 - Wrap Up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/artistdecoded

www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Create Like There's No Tomorrow with Andrew Hem | AD 55

24 november 2016 | 47 min

Born during his parents' flight from Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rogue genocide, Andrew Hem grew up poised in the balance between two cultures - the rural animistic society of his Khmer ancestors, and the dynamic urban arts of the tough Los Angeles neighborhood where his family eventually came to rest. Fascinated by graffiti at an early age, he honed his skills with graphics and composition on the walls of the city before following a passion for figure drawing to a degree in illustration from Art Center College of Design. Working in gouache, oil and acrylic, he weaves atmospheric, richly textured narratives in a vivid palette of twilight blues enlivened by swaths of deep red and splashes of golden light. His haunting impressions of culture and landscape evoke the life of the spirit through the visionary manifestation of memories and dreams.

Over the six years since his graduation from Art Center with a B.F.A. in Illustration, Andrew Hem has exhibited in venues worldwide, from Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York and the Portsmouth Museum of Art in New Hampshire to solo and group exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Miami, Toronto, Zurich and Leece, Italy. He has lectured at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. His personal work has been featured in Beyond Illustration, the Society of Illustrators annual, Communication Arts, Spectrum, American Illustration, 3x3, Swallow and Hi-Fructose, among others, and his illustration clients have included The Atlantic, New Scientist, the Los Angeles Times, the Fort Worth Opera, Adidas and Lucky Brand Jeans. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Show Notes:

00:00 - Introduction
03:18 - Art Center Stories
08:10 - Getting Into Art, Graffiti, and 90s Gangsters
14:48 - Fleeing Genocide as a Baby
16:04 - Cambodia Hand in Hand with Donut Shop
17:52 - Mom on Instagram and Acting
21:55 - Geek in the Day, Tagger by Night
24:03 - Getting Arrested and Quitting Tagging Cold Turkey
26:08 - Santa Monica College
27:01 - Color, Figure Painting, Street Art, and Landscapes
28:45 - Artists Influences
30:54 - Journey From Art Center to the White House
33:41 - Traveling Doing Murals
43:45 - What's Coming Up Next
46:27 - Wrap Up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/artistdecoded

www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Questions To Foster Creative Thinking with Paul Jung | AD 54

14 november 2016 | 68 min

Expect The Unexpected with Eddie Bravo feat. Hannah Vandermolen X Yoshino | AD 53

8 november 2016 | 51 min

Understanding Failure with Olivia Bee | AD 52

26 oktober 2016 | 50 min

The Intersection Between Films and Paintings with Duke Johnson feat. Casey Baugh X Yoshino | AD 51

15 oktober 2016 | 56 min

Cerebral Vs. Emotional Creation with Saman Kesh | AD 50

9 oktober 2016 | 95 min

Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio) feat. Justin Hopkins X Yoshino | AD 49

9 oktober 2016 | 111 min

Embracing and Loving Yourself with Byron Spencer | AD 48

6 oktober 2016 | 65 min

Music As A Vessel For Communication with Tim Bettinson (Vancouver Sleep Clinic) | AD 47

9 september 2016 | 50 min

Reflections On The Human Condition with Jean-Paul Mallozzi | AD 46

15 augusti 2016 | 72 min

Meditation, Psychedelics, and Operating From The Heart with Sean Dunne | AD 45

4 augusti 2016 | 91 min

The Future of VR Storytelling with Shari Frilot | AD 44

3 augusti 2016 | 55 min

Horror Surrealism with Blake Neubert | AD 43

1 augusti 2016 | 60 min

Music Video Directing with Tim Mattia | AD 42

30 juli 2016 | 53 min

The Balance Between Art And Life with Alex Beck | AD 41

26 juli 2016 | 87 min

A Filmmaker's Journey with Grant Singer | AD 40

22 juli 2016 | 57 min

Archetypes and Mythology with WIFE | AD 39

18 juli 2016 | 60 min

Creating Healthy Collaborations + The Mistake Room with Derek DelGaudio + Glenn Kaino | AD 38

5 juli 2016 | 58 min

Discussing Writer's Block + Loving the Present Moment with Matt Skiba | AD 37

1 juli 2016 | 55 min

Constructive Collaborations + The Ebb and Flow of Creating Art with Andrew Thomas Huang | AD 36

22 juni 2016 | 75 min

Searching For "IT" with Tim Barber feat. Michael Donovan | AD 35

20 juni 2016 | 60 min

"Chapters" with Yuna feat. Jarell Perry X Yoshino | AD 34

14 juni 2016 | 89 min

Practicing Self-Development with Isamaya Ffrench | AD 33

11 juni 2016 | 84 min

Being of Service and Creating Value with Noah Lampert X Yoshino | AD 32

24 maj 2016 | 56 min

Filmmaking and Breaking The Mold with Rose McGowan | AD 31

6 maj 2016 | 76 min

Aggressive vs. Gentle Expression + Embracing Your Inner Child with Daniel Sannwald | AD 30

30 april 2016 | 95 min

Death and Decay with Timothy Wilson feat. Justin Hopkins | AD 29

22 april 2016 | 59 min

Trends In The Advertising World + Searching For New Talent with Sabrina Bajaj | AD 28

17 april 2016 | 50 min

Constantly Challenging Her Aesthetic + An Explanation of "Voyeur with Vanessa Prager | AD 27

30 mars 2016 | 89 min

Joshua Hagler X Maja Ruznic feat. Yoshino X Erik Castellanos | AD 26

14 mars 2016 | 106 min

Joshua Hagler has worked for over a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area until recently relocating to Los Angeles. Known mainly for his large-scale semi-figurative canvases, the work has followed a natural evolution in the artists's personal exploration and anxiety around religious thought and its history. Since 2006, he has exhibited his paintings and multi-media installations through North America and Europe, including several solo exhibitions.

Working for over a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, Joshua Hagler recently relocated to Los Angeles. The work has followed a natural evolution in the artists’s personal exploration and anxiety around religious thought and its history. Currently, research and work looks toward Westward Expansion in 19th-century United States as a means of exhuming a kind of poetry of amnesia and redemptive yearning in colonists, settlers and their descendents.

Since 2006, he has exhibited his paintings, videos, and multi-media installations throughout North America and Europe, including several solo exhibitions. “Between Winds,” submitted here for the Transart Triennale is currently a part of Hagler’s traveling solo exhibition “The Adopted” first appearing at La Sierra University in Riverside, California and now at JAUS Gallery in Los Angeles.

In 2013, Hagler traveled for three months with collaborator Maja Ruznic through Eastern and Western Europe and the Middle East making art with war refugees, orphans, and the terminally ill while creating the art book DRIFT. 2013 also included guest lecturing at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, and solo show The Unsurrendered at the university gallery.

In 2012, his animated video projection “The Evangelists” was based on interviews with four middle-aged men dealing with psychological trauma and included Hagler’s former neighbor who burned down their mutual San Francisco apartment building in 2007. The piece was later selected to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and the Royal Institute in Adelaide, Australia.

Maja Ruznic was born in Bosnia & Hercegovina in 1983 and came to the United States as a refugee in 1992. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Ruznic studied Psychology and Art at UC Berkeley and received her MFA from the California College of the Arts in 2009. She has exhibited in Japan, Turkey, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Austria, France, Puerto Rico, Texas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Her painting "The Mother of All Evil" was featured on the cover of New American Paintings in 2011 (Pacific Coast Section, Number 97). Ruznic’s work is included in the Jiminez-Colon Collection (Puerto Rico) and she recently received the Dave Bown (9th semiannual competition) Award of Excellence. She was a featured artist in JUXTAPOZ art magazine in the Septemeber 2014 issue. Last year, Ruznic’s first international solo show, “Yellow Throat Ribs” at Galerie d’Ys was a great success. Congruent with the solo show, Ruznic was also represented by Candyland Gallery at the Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm, Sweden through which the Public Arts Commission acquired two of Ruznic’s paintings. In 2016, Ruznic will have a solo exhibition at Jack Fischer Gallery titled “Soil As Witness”, which will consists of large oil paintings, small works on paper as well as sculptures. She will also be a part of “Werewolf” a group exhibition at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angles, as well as “Between Worlds”, a group exhibition at Arc Gallery in San Francisco, in which all the artists were refugees or deal with the themes of immigration and Diaspora in their work. www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/artistdecoded

www.twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Chadwick Tyler feat. Michael Donovan | AD 25

7 mars 2016 | 112 min

Variant Paths with Seamus Conley feat. John Wentz | AD 24

28 februari 2016 | 103 min

Flesh Sculptures with Asger Carlsen | AD 23

20 februari 2016 | 45 min

Collaborating in the Modern Day + Death of a Coworker with Benjamin Bjorklund feat. Blake Neubert | AD 22

13 februari 2016 | 84 min

Juxtaposition with Phil Hale | AD 21

5 februari 2016 | 81 min

Collaborating With Spike Lee and J.J. Abrams + Independent Cinema + Ideation Through Isolation with Julius Onah | AD 20

31 januari 2016 | 69 min

Craft Vs. Art with Greg Puciato feat. Jesse Draxler X Yoshino | AD 19

24 januari 2016 | 89 min

Inspiration Through A Multitude Of Sources with Emilio Villalba | AD 18

18 januari 2016 | 125 min

On Creating The Weeknd's "In The Night" Music Video" with BRTHR | AD 17

8 januari 2016 | 64 min

A State Of Constant Evolution with Nicolas Uribe | AD 16

1 januari 2016 | 82 min

Final Words For 2015

28 december 2015 | 10 min

Exploring Obsessions + A Documentarian's Long Form Journey with Stacy Kranitz feat. Isaac Bauman | AD 15

14 december 2015 | 89 min

Naive Vs. Sentimental Artists + The Search For Honesty And Clarity with Alex Kanevsky | AD 14

5 december 2015 | 83 min

The On-Going Narrative with Brittany Markert | AD 13

1 december 2015 | 57 min

Honing In On The Subconscious with Nathaniel Evans | AD 12

24 november 2015 | 51 min

The DIY Mentality with Graham Dunn | AD 11

16 november 2015 | 50 min

Harnessing Emotional Vulnerability + Human Connectivity with Justin Tyler Close | AD 10

8 november 2015 | 59 min

Enjoying The Process with Hueman | AD 9

24 oktober 2015 | 62 min

Art Meets Technology + Transhumanism with Luke Gilford | AD 8

14 oktober 2015 | 68 min

The Importance of Collaboration with Daniel Segrove x Justin Hopkins | AD 7

6 oktober 2015 | 61 min

The Pros And Cons Of Film School + Recognizing Healthy Competition with Isaac Bauman | AD 6

29 september 2015 | 90 min

Creation Through Destruction with Jesse Draxler | AD 5

24 september 2015 | 66 min

The Motherland Chronicles with Zhang Jingna | AD 4

21 september 2015 | 65 min

Multidimensional Beings with Michael Donovan | AD 3

15 september 2015 | 80 min

Patience + Student Eyes vs. Painters Eyes with John Wentz | AD 2

8 september 2015 | 81 min

Hard Work + Exploring Uncharted Territory with Casey Baugh | AD 1

3 september 2015 | 76 min

Artist Decoded by Yoshino

"I started this series as a means for exploration, an exploration of self, and an exploration of the perspectives of other artists.

Om podden

Avsnitt

AD 276 | Saman Kesh

AD 275 | Tomas Watson

AD 274 | Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson

AD 273 | Shuchi Talati

AD 272 | Landon Van Soest

AD 271 | Jacob Rosenberg

AD 270 | Joshua Hagler (Æmen Ededéen)

Slow Creativity | Yoshinocast #18

AD 269 | Nouel Riel

AD 268 | Sah D'Simone

Cancer Sticks | Yoshinocast #17

AD 267 | Jia Sung

The Stories We Tell Ourselves | Yoshinocast #16

AD 266 | James Mountford

AD 265 | Justin Tyler Close

AD 264 | Rose Ides

AD 263 | Erik Davis

Introducing The Artist Decoded Tarot with Jennifer Sodini-Aronovich and Yoshino

AD 262 | John Wentz

AD 261 | Tim Bettinson (Vancouver Sleep Clinic)

AD 260 | Saman Kesh

AD 259 | Daniele Bolelli

Photo Roulette | Yoshinocast #15

AD 258 | Wesley Stringer

AD 257 | James “Munky” Shaffer (Korn + Venera)

AD 256 | Paul Yoon

AD 255 | Johan Van Mullem

AD 254 | Jacqueline Castel

AD 253 | Dan Lam

The Inner Symphony | Yoshinocast #14

AD 252 | Christine Kuan

AD 251 | Mitch Horowitz

AD 250 | Cj Hendry

And Then Awoke The Butterfly | Yoshinocast #13

Duality and Technology with Brett Amory | AD 249

Intro To Yoshino’s Diary + “Wandering and Wondering" | Yoshinocast #12

And The Journey Continues... | Yoshino Interviewed by Noah Wainwright | Yoshinocast #11

Embodying Love and Compassion | Yoshinocast #10

Quantum Leap with Raymond Lee | AD 248

The Power of Observation | Yoshinocast #9

Breaking Through Illusion | Yoshinocast #8

Growth, Vulnerability, and New Horizons with Elly Smallwood | AD 247

Body Prophecy with James Hammontree (Black Magnet) x Jesse Draxler | AD 246

Set and Setting with Dorian Concept | AD 245

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power with Nina Menkes | AD 244

Quality Over Opinion with Louis Cole

Embracing The Shadow Self with Joseph Lee | AD 243

The Tenets of Nihil with Joshua Hagler | AD 242

The Soul and The Higher Calling | Yoshinocast #7

On Mediumship And Connecting With Spirit Guides with Aja Daashuur | AD 241

On Having Purpose | Yoshinocast #6

Writing Down The Bones with Natalie Goldberg | AD 240

Sleep, Creativity, and Neuroscience | Yoshinocast #5

Trusting Your Intuition | Yoshinocast #4

Never Surrender Your Voice and Your Vision with Lidia Yuknavitch | AD 239

The Clash of Industry and Nature with Martin Wittfooth | AD 238

Dowsing Voice with Emma Ruth Rundle | AD 227

Arkhon with Zola Jesus | AD 236

Cursed Films 2 with Jay Cheel | AD 235

Totems and Vessels with Mia Bergeron and John McLeod | AD 234

Writing and Directing “Dual” with Riley Stearns | AD 233

Healing, Feeling, and Honesty with Saman Kesh | AD 232

Cosmic Habit Force with Mitch Horowitz | AD 231

Cultivating Skills and Creative Longevity with Rina Yang | AD 230

On Her Sundance Short Film "Work" with April Maxey | AD 229

Getting Deeper Into The NFT Subcultures with Micol @ Vertical Crypto Art | AD 228

Drawing Outside The Lines with Shantell Martin | AD 227

Deconstructing The Female Form with Stephanie Hanes | AD 226

Sundance Film Festival & New Frontier 2022 with Shari Frilot | AD 225

Welcome To Artist Decoded by Yoshino

Yoshinocast #3 - "Searching For Answers"

Yoshinocast #2 - "Onto New Horizons"

Creating Virtual Models and NFTs with Shavonne Wong | AD 224

NFTs and The Cassandra Complex with Sarah Zucker | AD 223

Copyright Infringement + Her New Exhibit “Blonde” with Cj Hendry | AD 222

Cinematography For "tick, Tick... BOOM!" and "In The Heights" with Alice Brooks | AD 221