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 we...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 30 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...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 11 min
Riley Stearns grew up in Pflugerville, TX, a suburb of Austin. His feature debut FAULTS premiered at SXSW in 2014 and went on to play festivals around the world. THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE, his second feature, also premiered at SXSW in 2017. The film was released by Bleecker Street domestically and Universal Pictures internationally. DUAL is Stearns’ third feature as writer/director and first as a producer. When not making films you can find Stearns on the mats training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Topics ...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Saman Kesh (born Saman Keshavarz) is an Iranian-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his narrative music video work for notable artists such as Basement Jaxx, Calvin Harris, Kygo, Placebo, !!! Chk Chk Chk, Vitalic, Apparat and Porter Robinson. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Living and being isolated in the desert The Definite Chief Aim - a concept by Napolean Hill through way of Mitch Horowitz Grieving the death of his girlfriend Jean Guo Gaining momentum throu...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Explaining his new book Cosmic Habit Force Exploring the psychology of mediocrity Harnessing honest self-expression and creativity Asking oneself with brutal honesty, “What do I really want from life?” Breaking through social conditioning The Miracle of a Definite Chief Aim Concentration producing force Gaining perspective on...
Mar 28, 2022•1 hr 21 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 (...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 17 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 Sc...
Feb 25, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Curious & creative mind working at the intersection of art, blockchain, and Web3. Founder and CEO of Vertical Crypto Art - a web3 native studio & artist-first community dedicated to NFTs, crypto art, and elevating web3 culture in the metaverse. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Micol working with creators in the tech industry at Facebook and Instagram Artists living off of making art and tokenizing work The origins of her platform, Vertical Crypto Art Helping artists navigate the new ter...
Feb 14, 2022•55 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 ...
Feb 08, 2022•59 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...
Jan 25, 2022•1 hr 17 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...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Artist Decoded is a weekly podcast hosted by Yoshino . Join us as we dive into the habits, mindsets, and inner workings of some of today's greatest artists and creative thinkers. Trailer Credits (in order of appearance): Adam Hall Kate Zambrano Densil McFarlane @ The OBGMs Kris Esfandiari (King Woman) William von Hippel, Ph.D. (The Social Leap)...
Jan 10, 2022•2 min
Yoshino is a visual artist, writer, entrepreneur, and host of Artist Decoded. Show Notes: The power of introspection and self-analysis The pitfalls of following false prophets “Getting lost in the forest” Seeking answers Pantheism Art as a communication mechanism Critical thinking “You and you alone hold the answers to your questions.” Yoshino’s Links: yoshinostudios.com nohwave.co instagram.com/yoshinostudios twitter.com/yoshinostudios...
Jan 03, 2022•9 min
Yoshino is a visual artist, writer, entrepreneur, and host of Artist Decoded. Show Notes: Identity and persona Leaving the commercial and fashion photography world Martial arts Exploring the idea of what it means to be an artist Living a life of fluidity Capitalism Growing up Christian Spirituality Moving to the desert from LA The Conversation Art Podcast Links: iTunes Spotify Michael Shaw’s IG The Conversation’s IG Yoshino’s Links: yoshinostudios.com nohwave.co...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Fashion and advertising photographer from Singapore turned 3D virtual model creator, Shavonne Wong creates artworks with her virtual models that juxtapose realism and surrealism together, placing the virtual models in scenes that cannot be done with a real human model. She is part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2020 and has recently done an NFT for the first-ever NFT cover of Vogue. Show Notes: Shavonne’s past fashion photography career Romanticizing the struggling artist lifestyle Stere...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Sarah Zucker is an artist + writer based in Los Angeles. Her art merges the gorgeous and grotesque through humor, psychedelia, mysticism, and the interplay of cutting edge + obsolete technologies. She works across mediums, specializing in mixing digital and analog video techniques and the use of VHS. Her GIF art has been viewed over 6.7 billion times on Giphy. She has been involved in Crypto Art since early 2019, tokenizing single and limited editions of her screen-based artwork on the blockchai...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 48 min
CJ Hendry (b. 1988) is a New York-based artist originally from Brisbane, Australia. Hendry transforms her fascination with contemporary material culture into large-scale, hyper-photorealistic drawings. Cj Hendry’s exhibits aren’t intended to be passively observed but, rather, actively experienced through engaging, fun, and thought-provoking exhibits. For her exhibit Monochrome, Hendry and her team built an entire multi-room “home” inside a warehouse with each room entirely monochrome-colored fro...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Alice Brooks (ASC) is a cinematographer who has photographed award-winning feature films, television shows, and commercials. Her next feature project is director Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the hit musical WICKED. Brooks most recently photographed tick tick…BOOM! for Netflix and Imagine Entertainment, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and produced by Ron Howard. Her other recent work includes the 2021 summer release of Miranda’s IN THE HEIGHTS directed by Chu. The film’s cinematography received wide...
Dec 08, 2021•46 min
Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. Mitch is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including Occult America ; One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life ; and The Miracle Club . Show Notes: The power of masterminds The New Thought Movement Napole...
Nov 28, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Skygolpe interviewed by Jesse Draxler The essential figures that emerge from Skygolpe’s research have an openly disruptive immediacy and impact. His work represents the artist’s tension towards the definition of a clear idea and a path outlined towards direct introspection. Skygolpe explores the NFT medium in a unique and original way. His single digital editions are sought after by major collectors and demonstrate how works created with a strong meaning and a defined concept can have a lasting ...
Nov 24, 2021•2 hr 19 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 Ore...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 33 min
Colborn Bell is currently the co-founder and curator of the Museum of Crypto Art (M○C△), an immersive digital art center in virtual reality. Unconstrained by the limitations of physical reality, the aim of this project is to create bridges to Metaverse spaces and usher in a creative renaissance that empowers digital artists and reawakens the imaginations of its participants. He is a long-time blockchain and venture investor. Guest Interviewer: Jesse Draxler Show Notes: 00:15:00 - Colborn’s backg...
Nov 18, 2021•1 hr 34 min
Hayden Silas Anhedönia, a Florida native better known as Southern Gothic musician, Ethel Cain, creates her art with the same simple intention behind a Sunday morning sermon; to not only be heard, but also felt. Combining her Southern Baptist upbringing with her love of folk, country, and rock music, as well as all things horror and drama, she aims to create nothing other than a visceral experience that lingers long after consumption. Show Notes: The meaning of her tattoos Religion / Hayden’s pro...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 20 min
After studying filmmaking with Leslie Thornton at Brown University, and French New Wave director Eric Rohmer at The University of Paris-Michelet, Sam Levy began his professional career as an apprentice to cinematographer Harris Savides. Sam first gained recognition as a cinematographer in his own right when he photographed Wendy and Lucy for director Kelly Reichardt - voted one of the “Best 25 Films of the 21st Century” by The New York Times. Sam went on to shoot three films for director Noah Ba...
Nov 09, 2021•1 hr
John Wentz is a contemporary painter born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. His interest in art began at the age of 6 when he first discovered Batman and Spiderman comic books. After years of copying comics panel by panel, he worked in the commercial arts as a muralist, billboard creator, and freelance illustrator. After learning to paint by doing airbrushed billboards, he decided to pursue fine art and work in oils. Since then, he has had 3 solo exhibitions in San Francisco and numerous...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 41 min
Books Referenced In This Yoshinocast Episode: "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel "Atomic Habits" by James Clear "The Miracle of a Definite Chief Aim" by Mitch Horowitz Link To Yoshino's Strava Profile: www.strava.com/athletes/63049717 Other Links: www.artistdecoded.com www.yoshinostudios.com www.nohwave.co...
Oct 26, 2021•14 min
Joe Sill is a filmmaker and founder of world-building lab Impossible Objects. Joe likes to think big. He forged his path as a live-action feature and commercials director, often using visual effects to bring new worlds and ideas to life. His love for telling grand visual stories has led him to work with top brands such as Apple, NASA, Nike, and Tesla, as well as his first foray into feature filmmaking with "Stray”. Recently, Joe decided to double down in the landscape of animation and virtual pr...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 44 min
Liana Finck, New Yorker Cartoonist, who has been deemed by ELLE, "Instagram's favorite cartoonist," and has been featured on Adult Swim and HBO's Very Semi-Serious, as well as authored multiple graphic novels and a cartoon book (and a forthcoming novel as well), and has drawn the cover for a Justin Bieber + Ariana Grande single. Show Notes: 00:03:34 - Artistry and childhood 00:05:26 - Different modes of creating art 00:10:45 - Finding one’s voice as an artist 00:12:54 - Liana’s artistic evolutio...
Aug 19, 2021•50 min
Ayoto Ataraxia 鄭博榕; pingyin: Zheng Borong; born 23 August 1985) is an artist, director, writer, performing artist, producer, poet, and musician. He graduated from Istituto Europeo di Design with cum laude in 2009, and from the School of Visual Arts with honors in New York City, 2013. His works have been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and are part of the Beyond Fashion exhibition of the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography. He is currently hosting Asian Provocat...
Aug 14, 2021•1 hr 7 min
NYC-based Iranian songwriter, producer, and vocalist Kris Esfandiari, also known as King Woman, is set to release a striking full-length album, Celestial Blues , on July 30, 2021, via Relapse Records. Kris Esfandiari (NGHTCRWLR, Dalmatian, Miserable, Sugar High, i8i) founded King Woman in 2009 — a solo project which later gained the talents of guitarist Peter Arensdorf and drummer Joseph Raygoza. Now wiser and holding less animosity than King Woman’s previous sentiments on 2014 EP Doubt and the ...
Jul 26, 2021•52 min
