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

Wesley Stringer (b. 1985) was born in Oklahoma City and has worked as a photographer for the past 13 years. Stringer began photographing while a BFA student at the University of Oklahoma. His practice is concerned with the natural environment, both in its untouched state, as well as how it relates to the spaces people occupy. The printed image is as important to Stringer’s work as the physical and textural presence: his photographs frequently take the shape of handmade books or boxes. In addition, the artist prints many of his photographs on translucent gampi paper and mounts them by hand to heavier weight papers, giving each artwork evidence of its making. Stringer’s photographs and handmade books have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and in France. In 2013, Stringer’s photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. In 2016, Stringer was a finalist for the Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers, which resulted in a group exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach. Working in collaboration with artist Daniel Brush, Stringer’s photographs were exhibited at L’École School in Paris (2017) and L’École School in New York (2018). In 2019, his photographs were exhibited at Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York (2019), and in 2020, Stringer’s work was acquired by the library of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2020). Stringer's work is represented by Michael Hulett at The Hulett Collection in Tulsa, Oklahoma.   

James “Munky” Shaffer is best known as co-founder and guitarist for American rock band Korn. With a career spanning three decades, his latest project Venera ventures into experimental electronic territory. Venera L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged as Venera in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics, and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process that seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise, and select collaborations. Venera released their self-titled debut album on Oct. 13 via Ipecac Recordings.  Topics Discussed In This Episode: Treating everyone with kindness (00:04:34) James’s newest project Venera (00:08:37) Unexpected occurrences while making music for Venera (00:18:29) How he experimented with new playing styles in Venera (00:21:34) Switching studios or environments to channel into different ways of creating and experimenting (00:24:19) Understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses / working with producer Ross Robinson (00:26:29) Exploring the origin of Korn’s unique sound (00:29:30) Discussing alternate realities (00:31:26) Creating time for creative practices (00:35:58) James’s daily habits and rituals (00:37:23) James’s struggle with addiction and how he overcame it (00:42:06) Spiritual transcendence (00:45:00) How James originally got into music (00:50:02) The importance of having a creative outlet in one’s life (00:54:28) artistdecoded.com instagram.com/munky_korn instagram.com/_veneramusic veneramusic.com kornofficial.com

Paul Yoon is the author of four previous works of fiction: Once the Shore, which was a New York Times Notable Book; Snow Hunters, which won the Young Lions Fiction Award; The Mountain, which was an NPR Best Book of the Year; and Run Me to Earth, which was one of Time magazine’s Must-Read Books of 2020 and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives in the Hudson Valley, New York. ArtistDecoded.com Paul’s Website The Hive and The Honey

Johan Van Mullem (Belgian painter born in 1959) persisted in his youthful search for wrinkled faces, seeking the beauty he recognized in an experience engraved on the faces and in the hands.  Since then, the face remains the major subject of his work but over time reversing the imprint of it on his own face while these subjects seem to rejuvenate, disappearing or emerging in a halo of light in old-fashioned sfumato, offering the gaze an escape into the world of emotion, because Johan van Mullem's work is an invitation to introspection, to a journey whose omnipresent emotional charge cannot leave indifferent as the depth is often dizzying.  The superimposition and erasure of the many smooth layers of the diluted inks further accentuate this feeling of inexpressible presence on the canvas. The self-taught mastery of the specific and unique technicality of his work because only executed in etching ink (an extension of his experience as an engraver) gives his work an additional exceptional character.  Complete artist, designer, painter, and sculptor, (but also poet and musician) Johan Van Mullem strives to create a multiple, diverse but absolutely coherent work offering links and bridges to all our senses awakened by this work that projects as much into the past as into a contemporaneity. artistdecoded.com johanvanmullem.com fine-arts-museum.be/en/exhibitions/johan-van-mullem instagram.com/johanvanmullem

Jacqueline Castel is an internationally award-winning director, screenwriter, and curator based in NYC. Her short film work has been featured at more than fifty festivals worldwide, including Sundance, SXSW, Rotterdam, BAMcinemaFest, Sitges, and Fantasia. She has written for and directed cult auteurs John Carpenter and Jim Jarmusch, and collaborated on a film with David Lynch for his Festival of Disruption in 2018. Her most recent short film, a portrait of Cannes award-winning actor Caleb Landry Jones, debuted on NOWNESS in 2021. Castel’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The BBC, Dazed, VICE, Italian Vogue, Interview Magazine, and on AMC’s Shudder. She earned her BFA with honors at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. My Animal is her feature film debut. artistdecoded.com jacquelinecastel.com instagram.com/jacquelinecastel myanimalfilm.com

Internationally acclaimed, prominent contemporary artist and social media Influencer; Dan Lam is an artist based out of Texas, US. Lam’s sculptural work expresses and plays with sensational dichotomies by combining unconventional materials, organic forms, and bright colors. With contrasting themes verging on beauty and grotesqueness at once, Lam’s art provokes its viewers to ponder meaning and existence while inspiring feelings of familiarity and wonder. Curiosity, play, and fun are the foundation of where Lam’s work begins. Her experimentation results in beautiful sculptures created with various materials such as foams, polyurethanes, resins, acrylics, and polymers, which defines her style. She has exhibited worldwide, and celebrity clients include Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, The Game, and Lily Aldridge. Notable art collectors, such as the Tisch family, have acquired her work. In addition, Lam has collaborated with prominent companies, including Facebook and Virgin, and renowned art producers, Meow Wolf. Her pieces have been featured in Architectural Digest, Travel and Leisure, and Forbes, amongst many other international media outlets. artistdecoded.com bydanlam.com instagram.com/sopopomo

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

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

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