Artist Decoded by Yoshino

AJA, The Spirit Guide Coach, is a spiritual counselor who specializes in connecting you with the guidance and wisdom of your unique Spiritual team. The advice from your Spirit Guides is incorporated into AJA's intuitive coaching process in order to help you create a plan for breaking negative patterns, finding your path, and accepting the love and support that your Guides surround you with every single day. As the bridge between you and your Guides, AJA considers this to be sacred work and is honored to help those who wish to deepen their connection with their higher self and learn to love themselves on a deeper level. Spirit Guide Life Coaching is an incredibly intimate and rewarding process that allows you to hear the advice and support that your Guides wish to offer you. AJA is a true believer in the innate power every person has to achieve radical expansion through self-love. Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Aja's experiences in mediumship and channeling spirits
• Losing connection with ourselves
• Children being closer to the source
• Daily distractions of the modern era and the connection to feeling disconnected from oneself
• What led Aja to her personal spiritual awakening
• Her experiences speaking with her spirit guides
• Connecting to our higher self
• How people can connect with their guides through meditation
• The importance of journaling
• Tapping into one's own psychic abilities
• Creation and destruction
• Making the right decisions for ourselves
• The most rewarding things about being a medium
• Embodying archetypes
• Actions precipitating change
• Not repeating negative patterns that can hold us back

Books Mentioned:

1. The Body Keeps The Score (Bessel van der Kolk)
2. Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (Clarissa Pinkola Estés)

Films and TV Shows Mentioned:

1. Ghosts (2021)
2. Hereditary (2018)

artistdecoded.com thespiritguidecoach.com instagram.com/thespiritguidecoach

Yoshino is a multi-hyphenate artist and the host of Artist Decoded. Topics Discussed:

• Thinking about habits as a necessity, similar to breathing
• The idea of the Daemon (or Daimon)
• Being a vessel for creative energy to flow through you
• Channeling ourselves to our intuition
• "Everyone is a hero in their birth." - Otto Rank

Artists Mentioned:

• Marie-Louise von Franz (Psychologist)
• Philip K. Dick (Author)
• Otto Rank (Philosopher)

Books Mentioned:

1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick)
2. The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (Otto Rank)

Yoshino's Links: yoshinostudios.com instagram.com/yoshinostudios twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Natalie Goldberg is the author of fifteen books, including Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala, 1986), which has sold over one million copies, has been translated into fourteen languages, and started a revolution in the way we practice writing in this country.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Natalie's first book, "Chicken and In Love" (1979)
• Being afraid of both success and failure before her book, "Writing Down The Bones," came out in 1986
• Having thin values
• "I shop therefore I am." - Barbara Kruger
• Consuming vs. finding meaning
• Natalie writing two books while undergoing treatment for cancer
• Accepting suffering
• Thinking about one's legacy
• Zen Buddhism
• "Writing closes the gap between who you think you are and who you are." - Natalie Goldberg
• What writing has revealed to Natalie
• "Make this moment an occasion to live deeply, happily in peace." - Thich Nhat Hanh
• Managing discursive thoughts
• The pros and cons of the advent of the interview
• The art of haiku writing

People Mentioned:

1. Margaret Atwood (Writer)
2. Amy Tan (Writer)
3. Katagiri Roshi (Sōtō Zen Priest and Teacher)
4. Lidia Yuknavitch (Writer)
5. Barbara Kruger (Artist)
6. Joan Didion (Writer)
7. Viktor Frankl (Neurologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher, Writer)
8. Carson McCullers (Writer)
9. Thich Nhat Hanh (Monk)
10. Masaoka Shiki (Poet)

Books Mentioned That Natalie Goldberg Wrote:

1. Chicken and In Love
2. Writing Down The Bones
3. Let The Whole Thundering World Come Home
4. The Great Spring
5. The True Secret of Writing
6. Three Simple Lines

Books Mentioned:

1. The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
2. Man's Search For Meaning (Viktor Frankl)
3. The Ballad of the Sad Café (Carson McCullers)
4. 2030 (Mauro F. Guillén)

aristdecoded.com nataliegoldberg.com

Yoshino is a multi-hyphenate artist and the host of Artist Decoded. Article Mentioned: Why Your Brain Needs To Dream by Matthew Walker Podcast Mentioned: Sleep Is Non-Negotiable: Dr. Matthew Walker | Rich Roll Podcast Yoshino's Links: yoshinostudios.com instagram.com/yoshinostudios twitter.com/yoshinostudios

Yoshino is a multi-hyphenate artist and the host of Artist Decoded. Show Notes:

• Giving space for one's own stream of consciousness to flow
• The power of writing daily
• "What is your identity?"
• Awakening the spirit

Yoshino's Links: yoshinostudios.com instagram.com/yoshinostudios twitter.com/yoshinostudios

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:

1. VOWWS (Band)
2. Jesse Draxler (Visual Artist)
3. David Lynch (Filmmaker)
4. Melissa Febos (Writer)
5. Terese Marie Mailhot (Writer)
6. Judith Butler (Philosopher)
7. Danez Smith (Poet)
8. David Cronenberg (Filmmaker)
9. Viggo Mortensen (Actor)
10. Kristen Stewart (Actor)
11. Jane Campion (Director)
12. Philip K. Dick (Writer)
13. Brandon Cronenberg (Director)
14. Percy Bysshe Shelley (Poet)
15. Elizabeth Moss (Actor)
16. Margaret Atwood (Writer)

Books Mentioned:

1. The Misfit's Manifesto
2. Thrust
3. The Book of Joan
4. It Didn't Start With You
5. Frankenstein

Films / TV Shows Mentioned:

1. eXistenZ (1999)
2. Crimes of the Future (2022)
3. Titane (2021)
4. Blade Runner (1982)
5. Dead Ringers (1988)
6. Possessor (2020)
7. Mary Shelley (2017)
8. Shirley (2020)
9. The Handmaid's Tale (2017)

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

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:

1. Gerhard Richter (Visual Artist)
2. David Cronenberg (Director)
3. Bret Easton Ellis (Writer)
4. Darren Aronofsky (Director)
5. Adrian Ghenie (Painter)
6. Justin Mortimer (Painter)
7. Cecily Brown (Painter)
8. Anish Kapoor (Sculptor)
9. James Turrell (Artist)
10. Albert Einstein (Physicist)
11. Blake Lemoine (Google AI Engineer)

Books Mentioned:

1. American Psycho
2. Less Than Zero

Films / TV Shows Mentioned:

1. Crimes of the Future (2022)
2. Mother! (2017)
3. The Shining (1980)

martinwittfooth.com instagram.com/martinwittfooth

Emma Ruth Rundle is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and visual artist.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Emma leaving Cal Arts to move to Wellington, New Zealand
• Outsider art
• Yoshino's introduction into photography
• Finding one's flow state
• Tapping into the collective consciousness within one's art
• Exploring the role of an artist
• Her newest album and visual art project "Dowsing Voice"
• Traveling to Wales to record "Dowsing Voice"
• Unblocking the gateway of the mind to allow the muse to enter
• Emma exploring getting her MFA
• Journaling
• Arthurian legends and Celtic myths
• Feeling less lonely when you can connect with an artist's body of work
• Finding people you can connect with along the way
• Post-narrative work

People / Artists Mentioned:

1. Henry Darger (Artist)
2. Maja Ruznic (Painter)
3. Vivian Maier (Photographer)
4. Francis Bacon (Painter)
5. Sibylle Baier (Folk Singer)
6. Nick Drake (Singer-Songwriter)
7. Joan Didion (Writer)
8. Margaret Atwood (Writer)
9. Olivia Laing (Writer)
10. Phil Hale (Artist)
11. Shape of Despair (Band)
12. Patrick Walker (Musician)
13. Lidia Yuknavitch (Writer)
14. Mizmor (Band)
15. Mary Maddux of Meditation Oasis
16. Wim Wenders (Director)
17. Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)
18. Dave Elitch (Drummer)

Books Mentioned:

1. "Everybody" by Olivia Laing
2. The Mabinogion
3. Poetic Edda
4. "The Misfit's Manifesto" by Lidia Yuknavitch

Films / TV Shows Mentioned:

1. Wings of Desire (1987)
2. Midsomer Murders (1997)
3. Slow TV - Norway
4. Stalker (1979)

artistdecoded.com emmaruthrundle.com instagram.com/emmaruthrundle twitter.com/emmaruthrundle

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:

1. Alex DeGroot (Producer & Musician)
2. David Lynch (Filmmaker)
3. Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)
4. Mitch Horowitz (Writer)
5. Jesse Draxler (Artist)
6. Napolean Hill (Writer)
7. Margaret Atwood (Writer)
8. Joan Didion (Writer)

Books Mentioned:

1. "Catching The Big Fish" by David Lynch
2. "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel van der Kolk
3. "Daydream Believer" by Mitch Horowitz
4. "The White Album" by Joan Didion
5. "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion

Films Mentioned:

1. Arrival (2016)
2. Don't Look Up (2021)

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

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:

1. John Carpenter (Filmmaker)
2. Lidia Yuknavitch (Writer)
3. Gary Oldman (Actor)
4. Robert Deniro (Actor)
5. Tim Burton (Director)
6. Bill Pullman (Actor)
7. Steve Rash (Director)
8. Judy Garland (Actor)
9. Lorna Luft (Actor)
10. Roman Polanski (Director)
11. Dianne Lake (Writer / Former Manson Family Member)
12. Julian Wasser (Photographer)
13. Ruggero Deodato (Director)
14. Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)

Cursed Films Episodes Mentioned:

1. Twilight Zone: The Movie
2. The Exorcist
3. The Wizard of Oz (S2 E1)
4. Rosemary's Baby (S2 E2)
5. Stalker (S2 E3)
6. The Serpent and the Rainbow (S2 E4)
7. Cannibal Holocaust (S2 E5)

TV Shows + Films Mentioned:

1. The Day After (1983)
2. The Thing (1982)
3. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
4. They Live (1988)
5. Prince of Darkness (1987)
6. Be Kind Rewind (2008)
7. American Movie (1999)
8. Ed Wood (1994)
9. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1977)
10. Weekend (1967)
11. Andrei Rublev (1966)

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