This week the talented Mr. Brad Kelly, author and co-host of the Art of Darkness podcast joins me! After a month of insanity and parody, we're getting back to our roots a little bit and talking about metaphysics and artistic expression.
No fluff, let's talk about some of the real historical landmarks on this subject, like Dante, Goethe, and Jung among others -- including checkered names like HP Lovecraft and downright infamous names like L Ron Hubbard. But beyond the lives and tales of some of great writers and thinkers, what really beckons the human to partake in any sort of art? Why create, why even consume? What are some of the innate, primordial mechanisms at play here? What is the adaptational value, and why are dreams such a critical piece of this subject?
We also focus on some of the grimier aspects of the artist. How much does one have to sacrifice for their art, what should you be willing to give up, and what does any one of us stand to gain? If it's not a realistic monetary income in many cases, it doesn't particularly help you "peacock" for a mate, and you'll have to give some free time and resources up for it in the process... is it really worth it? Absolutely, but why it's worth it is a more complex question.
Certainly, even when considering the cave paintings of the hunt, these pictures weren't just meant to catalogue the past, they were meant to help visualize the future. Perhaps, in more cases than not, art is the propulsion in the old concept "god of the scientific gaps" -- meaning that gods and metaphysics provide the heuristic explanations for the scientific principles we cannot yet grasp, and art helps us slowly wrap our minds around that which is yet out of reach. After all isn't this what seemingly all of science fiction has done for modern science, time and time again?
For much of this conversation we focus on the classical artistic grind of the writer -- specifically, laboring over a manuscript -- but we do a great deal to keep the comparisons solid all the way through about the artistic process as a whole. And after all, there are very few artistic processes that do not require some vague form of writing in one way or another.
As a longtime fictional author and cohost of a podcast that does deep, biographical dives on flawed and legendary historical artists, Brad Kelly has a quite a bit to say on this subject.
He even takes us down some interesting tarot card rabbit holes to help elaborate the concept of the artistic process! It was a true pleasure to have him on, and I thoroughly recommend everyone check out his podcast ART OF DARKNESS, and his latest fictional book, HOUSE OF SLEEP.
And don't forget to support that black hoodie rap and all your favorite independent artists! This week's amazing featured artists:
