Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 We are Ageri because we create remedies for life made by life. I'm Scarlet Viper, AKA Mrs. Lee and founder of ageri.co your go-to place for Ageri remedies to help you find love, get rich, awaken your intuition and feel free. So now let's open the remedy kit and discover why we're all Ageri page.
Speaker 0 00:00:21 So what is the artist's remedy? I know for myself, I consider myself an artist. I write, I draw, I sing, I do art in my creations for branding, and I consider we're all creative in artists in our own life, whatever that may be, but what I've learned, and what I wanted to share with you is my remedy as an artist would be to number one, stay in your own lane. So often we compare ourselves and I know when I'm scrolling through social media or I'm looking at different designs and different platforms, I go, oh, so amazing. How can I do anything like that? Or, oh my goodness. And in fact, I get an overwhelmed because there is so much good stuff. And I think, well, what value am I gonna bring? I mean, it's just one thing why bother, you know, cetera, the brain, and the matter in the I'm not good enough comes up.
Speaker 0 00:01:17 And so I've just learned what works is to stay in my own lane is to not compare and to see it as just a full self expression that, uh, one person does make a difference. And whoever that is for whoever experiences it might be yourself could be just a family friend, whoever sees it and feels that sense of expression and love or whatever it is for you, whatever emotion that's enough. And number two is to keep moving. I know that sometimes when I sit down to do a project, I just don't know where to start. And sometimes we can just walk away and go, look, I it's too big. Where do I start? I just start by moving in some way. There'll be a doorway that you can go through. My doorway is I start looking at the images I'll scroll through and I'll find an image, or if I'm doing branding, I'll just look through fonts.
Speaker 0 00:02:14 So I look through other people's work. I just keep moving and I'll see something I like, and I start playing with it. So see how there's a, kind of a, a flow feeling that forms. And cause if you think about the big picture, often there's an overwhelm, but if you start small and just see it as like a doorway into the space that you're going to, that normally never fails. And then number three is to allow yourself processing space. I think, you know, for me, who's a doer <laugh> I think that's been a big one is to actually sit in the space of, um, allowing myself the time to formulate. Because what we forget is when we create something, whatever it is, it actually begins to form its own entity, its own energy, its own life force. And you have to give it time to build.
Speaker 0 00:03:07 So even the act of owning and articulating that first sentence of I'm gonna do this, or I am going to create this artwork or this project or this business, whatever you are creating that will set it off in motion. So you have to keep moving it. Yes. But you also have to allow it to form its space and come up with its own kind of identity. It's it's kind of a miracle what happens. So yeah, give it some time, some processing time as well. So that's my artist remedy that I formed from my own lifetime. So I hope that helps. And I'm so excited now to introduce Tim Olson, to you, founder of Olson gallery, we've known each other for a long time and it's just been a joy to see how, who he is as a person has grown in being able to kind of share with the world, uh, who he is and his incredible point of view on art and on artists. I mean, he is the ultimate artist coach really because he sees all. So without further ado here is Tim Olsen and myself talking about the artist remedy.
Speaker 2 00:04:23 So Tim, tell me, what is your life remedy? You know, you've lived alive so far up to now, what would you advise people? What have you learned? What's it like?
Speaker 1 00:04:34 I think really life's remedy was, um, obviously not to really concern yourself with the opinion of others, but I think, um, to be more centered and it often comes naturally with age. But, um, I think when I basically stopped drinking, started meditating and started realizing that that really I was in charge of everything, myself, that, that most of the perceptions that I had, um, in regard to what was happening to me in life, um, was really my responsibility and really that, um, I had to change my attitude. That life was actually happening for me, not to me.
Speaker 2 00:05:22 Oh, I love that because it is, it's like you get your power back.
Speaker 1 00:05:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, uh, to be virtuous is to realize that even the harsh lessons, um, you know, a great ex a great experiences in regard to you becoming a better person. Mm. And, um, learning how to deal with things, how to cohabitate with other people, even if they're difficult. Um, but she is, but to change the fact that, you know, it gets back to the, the cliches of gratitude that, um, you know, I wake up every day and I go, wow. You know, look what I've got, you know, and it's not necessarily to do with assets it's to do with the integration of interesting people and, and just being able to live a lifestyle it's not really to do with money it's to do with being able to enjoy life from the point of view of, um, it never been boring. And I think my greatest fear in life has always been boredom.
Speaker 2 00:06:17 Oh, really? I really knew that about you. Mm. We, we go back a long time and, um, we do. And what I've loved about you and seeing who you are is you are actually very spiritual, you know, which you know, which is where we also meet too, in that discussion around life and, and working on ourselves and evolving who we are and learning from it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I did know about the, the boring thing. So what do you do with that? Like how do you work with that part?
Speaker 1 00:06:47 Well, I, you know, it's, I don't believe in the word being spiritual, you know? Right, right. Yeah. You are spiritual or you're not, I mean, I get really, really skeptical when someone says I'm really spiritual because it's like, you know, sex, if you have to talk about sex, obviously you're not getting it. Those that don't talk about it generally are <laugh>. So spirituality is a sense of being and how you behave and how you conduct yourself, how you, um, basically maintain a, a kind of, um, demure, um, I suppose, um, indifference to, to chaos and, and how you contain yourself. Uh, my mother was an amazing woman in a sense that she was, she was very spiritual, but never talked about being spiritual, but whenever I was stressed or ever, I had a problem in my life and I was upset about something, you know, she'd always say, just think Eastern, you know, and that in itself sort of conjured up Confucius and, and kind of, um, a Zen thing that sort of Zen thing. Yeah. Which is in other words that, you know, and it also gets back to, um, to what, uh, Seneca said, you know, who was the, the great Roman philosopher, you know, um, who was Marcus's advisor, who said that, you know, the best way to deal with anger is with delay.
Speaker 2 00:08:10 Ah, yes. Perfect.
Speaker 1 00:08:11 Yeah, because by the time you get round of being angry, if you delay it, you're not angry at all. <laugh> is that
Speaker 2 00:08:17 Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that. And I'd never thought about that point of view cuz you'd, you don't talk about it in that way. I mean, you'd it, and you know, I'm the same, hopefully, even though I do my work on advertising and what I'm doing in that realm, and don't talk about, I just live it in how I do it with my clients. So that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you bring that into, we're gonna talk about the artist remedy, um, you know, you have worked with so many, I mean, obviously you are born with one, you know, your, your dad, but how what's a remedy for them. What would you say to an artist?
Speaker 1 00:08:54 Well, I think, I think essentially, um, the true home for an artist is in the studio. Um, there are artists who are obviously very good self promoters, um, who know how to do the dance. You know, like Brett Whiteley is the stock as Brett white is the rock star. You know, my father is the Spanish Matador, you know, <laugh>, um, you know, they were very good at their, you know, very good at, at being able to sort of create this theatrical kind of persona, which, I mean, I've met people who didn't like my father's work and then the minute they meet him, they go, oh, it's fabulous. You know, because somehow really the artwork is a byproduct with the person. Of course, of course there's skills and there's talented ability. That's required to be able to make interesting art. But, um, the person often is the icing on the cake in regard to understanding where it all comes from. Um, you know, that, that sort of the, the, the, the cover that, um, that then reaches back into the depth and substance of what the artwork is, you know, and, uh, it begins with the person in, in most cases and ends with the person. Um,
Speaker 2 00:10:08 It's like they're storytellers of their
Speaker 1 00:10:10 Life, the storytellers. Yeah. And really the, the artwork is a reflection of the, of the, of the inner narrative.
Speaker 2 00:10:17 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:10:17 Beautiful.
Speaker 2 00:10:18 Yeah. So what, what is, what would you say to an artist? Like what do you think is their biggest challenge and what is a remedy for them to help them? You know,
Speaker 1 00:10:28 Uh, I look really, and truly the, the best artists I've ever known have been avid readers, lovers of poetry and, um, and an artist when my father was a young man, he lived in, in New York and, uh, he arrived there basically with a suitcase. And, um, he, um, started, you know, collecting glasses in the local restaurant and plates sort of worked as a bus boy and worked his way up to being a, um, you know, one of the sous chefs there. And, um, but he befriended, um, Robert Graves, the famous poet writer and historian, you know, who rode like Cordius or what have you. And he was a much older man and he loved my father cuz he was so charming and was able to sort of, you know, get the Swedish backpackers up that, up to Robert Grave's house, up on the hill <laugh> and you know, there was a lot of, you know, in BCCA Alia of course.
Speaker 1 00:11:20 Yeah. But Robert Graves was a brilliant man and um, and he said to my father, look, you know, young John, you know, you can paint pretty pictures all your life, but unless you embrace, um, poetry and literature and develop metaphor, um, you know, you, you are never gonna really grow much further. Um, you know, you can paint, you can paint pretty landscapes all your life, but they'll never have much more. So it really changed my father's life to, to, to really start being interested in how other people think, which is really the greatest act of humility is to be interested in how other people think, whether it be through music or poetry or reading or theater or any, any form of the arts. The arts is a, is a mechanism by which or a vehicle by which we get off ourselves and start realizing, um, more about how we feel and think through the, through the thinking and feeling of others. Mm
Speaker 2 00:12:18 Mm. Oh, I love that. Mm it is. And it is a, a great form of learning empathy, I think, you know, which is so needed today.
Speaker 1 00:12:27 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:12:28 I know before you've said to me, when we were talking, having a conversation about, you know, artists, and you mentioned that one of, one of the issues that is a big one for them is that they kind of find it hard to find success or to be with success. Mm. How do you help them through that?
Speaker 1 00:12:44 Yeah, well, um, it's like what Oscar wild once said, you know, it's often worse to be roomed by praise and destroyed by criticism. And I've seen so many artists come undone, particularly after winning the arch ball prize. Oh, wow. You know, it's here, we are in the week of the arch ball prize and, and we know damn well that, um, you know, it's sort of like the whole country, whole country stops or the whole art world stops just like the whole country stops for the Melbourne cup. You know, the announcement of the Archer ball is like, when everyone takes a deep breath and goes, who's gonna win because really it is, you know, I mean, all the it's like the Melbourne cup, every horse eats from the same, you know, um, from the same bail of hay <laugh> and, um, and essentially it's a chalk raffle, you know? Yeah. It's, it's not, it's not so much judged by artists. It's judged by trustees and, um, not necessarily people who are art experts, but, um, but you know, it's, it's, it holds a portraiture, holds a constant fascination and, um, but I've seen so many artists come undone after winning the Archer ball.
Speaker 2 00:13:51 So what is it? Is it almost like the same thing around winning lotto? I suppose, it's that thing of people having to learn to understand how to be with success or to that there are enough or all their stuff comes up. I mean, what do you see? I mean, you see them come up, you bring them on and you help them. Cuz you're amazing at that. And I know you have loyal artists that stick with you cuz you have led them that pathway, which they've managed. What, what do you coach to them when they get to that point of starting to work and they're a bit kind of off kilter? What are you saying?
Speaker 1 00:14:23 Um, well I, I I'm really it's. I mean, how do you politely say put your ego in your back pocket? <laugh> <laugh> um, leafy ego at the front door. Yeah. Um, it's it's artists are very, very, very volatile people and fragile people and, and um, and yeah, extremely vulnerable and um, to, to work, to be an artist is to confront yourself every day. You know, if you're a true artist and you're working from a place of truth, you know, it's very, very confronting, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, an occupation that requires you to really dig deep and you don't always like what you see. Mm it's a, it's a job where, um, it, it requires incredible introspection. And uh, even though you might just be looking at a, um, a landscape or a still life or a figure or creating some form of abstraction, um, it's a kind of, um, personal interrogation, not just what you are doing in regard to creating something that is perceived on a two dimensional surface in regard to painting or three dimensional sculpture or even through photography.
Speaker 1 00:15:38 But I think the longer I've I've been in this business, the more I realize that art is not just about seeing, it's also about feeling and often I have to address, um, the emotions of an artist and the feelings that, of an artist more so than their technique or what they're doing or, you know, whether they're using the right colors or whatever. I mean, I'm not someone to tell someone what to paint, but, but basically, um, to, you know, you've gotta constantly massage them, tell 'em tell them that what they're doing has meaning has substance has has purpose. And that, that really the way they do things is really unique to them. And what it is is, is quite magnificent. I think it's very courageous to be an artist it's very noble to be an artist. I mean, what else have we got when we look through history? When, when we start with the, you know, the, the early, you know, artists that, you know, before Christ the early civilization through Egypt, through Rome, right. Throughout history, what have we got left that really tells us about those people? It's their artwork.
Speaker 2 00:16:50 That, that is so amazing because I mean, I totally see you as an artist coach. Like I can feel that because when, as an artist and you know, I do as an artist, but not this stuff, but in other ways, and I know what comes up is that fear of being criticized. Yeah. Fear of exposing yourself. And it is, it is a hard journey because you're always battling and balancing, do I do that? Is that okay? What will people think? And I don't wanna be like them. I mean, it it's just a head spin <laugh>. Mm. No, completely. And so, yeah, I totally see because you are seeing everything from behind and above, and it's an amazing position for you because you can see where they need to go. Mm. Is, is there any other thing that you tell them or that you share to help them into that place? Cuz it is it's it's like you're coaching them on a whole life being in that space.
Speaker 1 00:17:44 Yeah. I often say to an artist, what are you reading at the moment? Um, but, but really the, the, the thing to say to them is don't give up, don't give up. Yeah. Uh, I mean every artist has a bad haircut day. You know, it's a situation where you've gotta work through it. And, um, we often in the art world or in the, in the act of creativity throughout, throughout history, we talk about the muse and the muse is the goddess of creativity. Like we there's got that great painting called the three Meers, um, by Belli and, um, and, uh, it it's and tion, it's, it's really, um, a thing where if you believe in the spiritual aspect of creativity, uh, I think artists are really, are really channelers they're vehicles for, for some largest sense of spirit or some spirit or past spirits. It could be multiple spirits.
Speaker 1 00:18:50 I truly believe my father is, is a kind of or channels or is a conduit for someone like, uh, Rubens perhaps. Mm. Uh, because often he paints things and he doesn't understand where it comes from. And I end up telling him things about what he's done. And he said, yeah, that's exactly right. But I didn't realize that, that, that what I, that, that was that, that is what I was doing. That's amazing. And, um, and it's like that with a lot of artists, they, I really do believe that there's something intangible involved with the creative process, but the muse only visits you when you have everything in place. And it, it comes through a lot of hard work, a lot of, a lot of, um, yeah, repetition, lots of failures. You know, when an artist tells me that they've failed this last painting, they did failed.
Speaker 1 00:19:41 I said, well, that's fantastic because then you know how to fix it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But I really believe that the muse only visits those that are basically working from a place of selflessness, integrity, passion, and, and, and really from a place of sincerity where they're not thinking about, who's gonna look at the picture, they're not thinking about who they can sell it to and how much they can get for it, all those things, you know, dam or, or I would in a sense, say bad karma towards the great intangible masterpiece, you know, the piece. Mm yeah. The, the, the, to tell the artist that, that really just stop thinking, stop being overly conscious. Yeah. About what you're doing, forget everything you think, you know, and just do it. And they've come back to me a month later and said, Tim, you're absolutely right. I just decided I didn't care about money anymore. And I didn't give a shit about what so-and-so thought, whether it be an art critic or my wife or my husband, and suddenly the magic happened
Speaker 2 00:20:47 Since. So it's actually very similar with acting because when you do an acting course and I mean, I'm a director and, but I've done an acting course to find out what it was like. And it is personal development. It's personal development because you have to, as you say, face yourself every day and be truthful and sit in the presence of that. Well, I think you are, um, if I was an artist and going to do it, you'd be an amazing person to come and do that with, because your knowledge is so beautiful. Like you have the whole, all sides of it. So, um, I think anyone who's been with you and the gallery is blessed.
Speaker 1 00:21:19 I wish they realized it more <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:21:22 They will don't you work? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:21:23 No, I'm very proud of what I've achieved and very proud of my artists.
Speaker 2 00:21:26 Yeah, no, well done. And, uh, well, thank you.
Speaker 1 00:21:29 My pleasure, my pleasure. And, and thank you for reminding me of all those things that I'd forgotten about. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:21:34 Yeah. Well, that's the idea, you know, and what, what I love about Ridge is, is about that. We have such a rich life of experiences and we have these beautiful wisdoms, and I've certainly a view of anybody actually, um, that has shown itself really prominently, I think, with your book and watching an Australian story, and, you know, like you've had the confidence to kind of really show who you are and in that in itself is an artist and, and what you're doing. So I think you're a great illustration of
Speaker 1 00:22:05 That. I'll never be afraid of who you are. <laugh> that's it.
