WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.359 I want you to imagine, just for a second, trying 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.419 to build a resume. Okay. And on this resume, 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:10.880 you have to include the absolute undisputed pinnacle 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.900 of the high art museum world. Right, the real 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:16.339 heavy hitters. Exactly. Yeah. But you also have 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.460 to include massive global tech and finance corporations. 00:00:19.899 --> 00:00:22.620 Which is already a weird mix. It is. And then, 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:24.820 just to keep things interesting, you have to 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:28.519 list a calendar exclusively featuring cats. I 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:30.980 mean, it sounds like a fabricated document. Usually, 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.159 if an artist builds a portfolio around prestigious 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.880 fine art institutions, they guard that credibility 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:38.979 fiercely. They don't typically place global banking 00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:42.520 conglomerates or pet calendars next to a museum 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.659 exhibition on their CV. It just doesn't happen. 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:47.159 No. It would normally confuse a curator or totally 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.259 alienate a commercial art director. Okay. Let's 00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:51.979 unpack this. Because for the subject of our deep 00:00:51.979 --> 00:00:56.380 dives today, that... bizarre, contradictory resume 00:00:56.380 --> 00:01:00.039 is simply a reflection of reality. It really 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:02.340 is. Today, our mission is to explore the fascinating, 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:05.359 paradox -filled career of the American photographer 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.680 and artist Noah Sheldon. Using his Wikipedia 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:11.780 biography as our guiding source. Exactly. And 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:13.939 we are looking at what it means to be a truly 00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:16.459 adaptable creative in the modern world. Like, 00:01:16.459 --> 00:01:18.680 how does someone manage to exist in all these 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.129 different... often opposing spaces at once well 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:23.290 it requires a really rare kind of fluency we 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:25.629 are talking about someone who can walk into an 00:01:25.629 --> 00:01:28.209 austere gallery space one day and a corporate 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.609 boardroom the next um without losing their unique 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:35.299 visual signature Which is so hard to do. Very 00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:37.459 hard. Typically, there is a very rigid dividing 00:01:37.459 --> 00:01:40.719 line. The high art world can be notoriously skeptical 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:42.980 of artists who do heavy commercial work. They 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:45.260 view them as compromised. Right. And conversely, 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:47.239 the commercial world often views fine artists 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:50.519 as too conceptual or maybe just too unreliable 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:53.819 to handle a massive, high -stakes global ad campaign. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.519 But Sheldon operates in this strange, liminal 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.519 space where he is fully embraced by both. He 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:02.370 really does. Let's start at the foundation. Because 00:02:02.370 --> 00:02:04.969 the geographic journey alone is a wild contrast. 00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:07.790 Oh, absolutely. Sheldon was born in 1975 in Fort 00:02:07.790 --> 00:02:10.990 Wayne, Indiana. So you have this very quintessential 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:14.229 American Midwestern beginning. Grounded. Yeah, 00:02:14.250 --> 00:02:17.310 grounded. But today he is an artist based in 00:02:17.310 --> 00:02:19.969 two of the most massive, incredibly distinct 00:02:19.969 --> 00:02:23.810 global hubs on the planet. Yeah. Shanghai and 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:26.449 New York City. The cultural whiplash there is 00:02:26.449 --> 00:02:28.710 just significant. I can't even imagine. Right. 00:02:28.770 --> 00:02:31.110 Because Fort Wayne represents the American heartland. 00:02:31.659 --> 00:02:34.099 And then you transition to Shanghai and New York 00:02:34.099 --> 00:02:38.240 to pulsating hyperdense megacities that basically 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:41.139 operate at maximum velocity. Total sensory overload. 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:44.180 Exactly. To navigate between the quiet spaces 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:46.979 of the Midwest. and the overload of those global 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:49.939 capitals, it requires an immense amount of visual 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:53.080 and cultural agility. Yeah. It trains an artist 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:55.800 to observe how totally different societies organize 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:57.840 themselves. And that agility definitely shows 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.219 up in his academic path, which I actually found 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:02.060 incredibly surprising when reading through the 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.060 source material. It's like a huge pivot. Right. 00:03:04.139 --> 00:03:06.000 Because he starts off studying in the New England 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.740 Conservatory of Music. But then he moves over 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:10.800 to Sarah Lawrence College, where he earns his 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:14.400 Bachelor of Arts in 1998. Right. And... If that 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.979 wasn't enough of an intellectual detour, he goes 00:03:16.979 --> 00:03:19.840 on to complete his Master of Fine Arts, his MFA 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.080 at Columbia University in New York in 2000. What's 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.449 fascinating here is that... initial immersion 00:03:25.449 --> 00:03:27.870 in music before transitioning into the visual 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.389 arts. I really want to dig into that. Yeah, because 00:03:30.389 --> 00:03:33.110 when you study at a conservatory, you are dealing 00:03:33.110 --> 00:03:36.530 in an entirely invisible medium. Wow. You are 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.430 learning the architecture of sound, how to manipulate 00:03:39.430 --> 00:03:43.189 time, rhythm, harmony, and perhaps most importantly, 00:03:43.409 --> 00:03:46.969 rests. Pauses. You learn the value of silence. 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:48.889 I've always wondered about that translation. 00:03:48.990 --> 00:03:51.569 Like, how do you take an education steeped in 00:03:51.569 --> 00:03:54.340 auditory concepts like tempo or a musical rest 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:56.919 and apply that to a still photograph? It's a 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:58.860 great question. Because a photograph doesn't 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.039 move and it doesn't make a sound. It comes down 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:03.840 to composition and negative space. Okay. A musical 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.280 rest is just silence, right? But that silence 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.139 gives the notes their impact. Without the pause, 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.599 it's just noise. Exactly. So in a photograph, 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:15.099 negative space, say the empty wall behind a subject 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:17.639 or the vast sky above a building, that functions 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.180 the exact same way. It gives the focal point 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:23.220 room to breathe. Right. An artist trained in 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:26.620 music understands rhythm visually. They know 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.639 how to lead the viewer's eye across an image 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:32.480 the same way a composer leads a listener's ear 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:34.959 through a melody. This is so cool. It creates 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.959 a highly structured but incredibly fluid aesthetic. 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:40.790 That makes so much sense. Yeah. It's like he 00:04:40.790 --> 00:04:43.350 isn't just looking for a career path. He's hunting 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:46.769 for the right vocabulary to express how he sees 00:04:46.769 --> 00:04:49.230 the world. Yes. From the American heartland to 00:04:49.230 --> 00:04:52.709 an Ivy League MFA, from musical scores to camera 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:55.089 lenses. And the institutions that essentially 00:04:55.089 --> 00:04:57.269 dictate the historical record of contemporary 00:04:57.269 --> 00:05:00.250 art, they recognize that vocabulary very quickly. 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:02.470 You really did. Yeah. Let's dive into that museum 00:05:02.470 --> 00:05:04.730 and gallery circuit because his institutional 00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:08.000 footprint is heavy. Very heavy. The source notes 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.199 his artwork has been exhibited at major venues 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:12.240 in the U .S. and abroad. We are talking about 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.079 the ICA, the Institute of Contemporary Art. We 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:18.060 were talking about MoMA PS1, plus major galleries 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.560 like D 'Amelio Terrace and Cherry and Martin. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:24.339 Which is huge. It is. But for someone outside 00:05:24.339 --> 00:05:27.259 the art world, it can be hard to gauge the scale 00:05:27.259 --> 00:05:29.100 of these places. Like, what does that actually 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:32.670 mean? To put it in perspective, MoMA PS1 is the 00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:35.430 contemporary art space affiliated with the Museum 00:05:35.430 --> 00:05:38.449 of Modern Art in Queens, New York. Okay. Exhibiting 00:05:38.449 --> 00:05:40.870 there is essentially receiving a stamp of approval 00:05:40.870 --> 00:05:43.610 from the highest echelons of the art establishment. 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:46.050 It's the big leagues. The absolute big leagues. 00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:49.009 These institutions don't just display beautiful 00:05:49.009 --> 00:05:52.509 pictures. They curate the ongoing global dialogue 00:05:52.509 --> 00:05:55.850 about what art means right now. Right. Being 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:58.689 included in those spaces means curators believe 00:05:58.689 --> 00:06:01.569 your work is pushing the medium forward. And 00:06:01.569 --> 00:06:03.889 it wasn't just curators quietly placing his work 00:06:03.889 --> 00:06:07.009 in a museum. The critics were loudly championing 00:06:07.009 --> 00:06:08.910 it, too. Oh, yeah. I want to bring in a very 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:11.850 specific detail from the source. In March 2007, 00:06:12.209 --> 00:06:14.889 the legendary art critic Roberta Smith wrote 00:06:14.889 --> 00:06:17.310 a review in the New York Times covering Sheldon's 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:19.790 solo exhibition at the New York City gallery 00:06:19.790 --> 00:06:22.490 D 'Amelio Terrace. Such a prestigious review. 00:06:22.730 --> 00:06:24.610 And I just have to mention, the exhibition had 00:06:24.610 --> 00:06:26.769 the most incredible title. It really did. It 00:06:26.769 --> 00:06:29.550 was called Gentle Textures in an Outpost of Color 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:32.810 and Quiet Ecstasy. Even the title of the exhibition 00:06:32.810 --> 00:06:36.689 feels musical. Quiet ecstasy suggests a very 00:06:36.689 --> 00:06:39.870 specific emotional frequency, something profound 00:06:39.870 --> 00:06:43.189 but not loud or demanding. Here's where it gets 00:06:43.189 --> 00:06:46.050 really interesting, because the quote from Roberta 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.389 Smith's review is just a masterclass in art criticism. 00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:52.750 It is. She praised his approach, observing, and 00:06:52.750 --> 00:06:55.089 I want to quote this exactly, Mr. Sheldon is 00:06:55.089 --> 00:06:57.089 skilled at separating beauty from the material 00:06:57.089 --> 00:06:59.949 world while reminding us that it is just about 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:02.800 everywhere. Coming from one of the most discerning 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.579 voices in art criticism, that is a monumental 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:08.500 validation of his philosophy. It is. But I want 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:10.660 to really dig into the philosophy of that sentence. 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:13.800 Separating beauty from the material world. Let's 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.160 do it. Because photography is inherently bound 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.639 to reality. A painter can sit in a blank room 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.509 and invent a landscape from thin air. completely 00:07:21.509 --> 00:07:24.509 disconnected from the material world. But a photographer 00:07:24.509 --> 00:07:27.389 has to work with what is physically in front 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:29.310 of the lens. You are capturing the light bouncing 00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:31.689 off physical stuff. So how does a photographer 00:07:31.689 --> 00:07:35.529 separate beauty from the very material they are 00:07:35.529 --> 00:07:38.350 forced to capture? That is the core philosophical 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:41.370 challenge of the medium. The material world is 00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:44.610 cluttered, it is functional, it is often dirty, 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.850 and it is largely mundane. I would encourage 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.110 you, the listener, to look around your current 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:53.310 environment right now. Yeah, take a look. Look 00:07:53.310 --> 00:07:55.430 at the dashboard of your car or the clutter on 00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:57.389 your kitchen counter or the sidewalk in front 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:00.110 of you. To separate beauty from that environment 00:08:00.110 --> 00:08:03.029 means the artist has to act as a highly selective 00:08:03.029 --> 00:08:05.730 filter. So it's less about the object itself 00:08:05.730 --> 00:08:08.170 and more about how the camera isolates it. Precisely. 00:08:08.170 --> 00:08:10.550 Imagine walking past a crumpled up, discarded 00:08:10.550 --> 00:08:13.490 receipt on the pavement. Okay. The material reality 00:08:13.490 --> 00:08:16.110 is that it is a piece of trash. But a photographer 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:19.009 with Sheldon's eye might frame that receipt so 00:08:19.009 --> 00:08:21.129 perfectly with the sharp angle of the morning 00:08:21.129 --> 00:08:24.110 shadow and expose the shot to highlight the delicate 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:26.750 texture of the paper that you stop seeing a piece 00:08:26.750 --> 00:08:29.529 of trash. You start seeing a tiny, temporary 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:32.470 sculpture. The stuffiness of the object falls 00:08:32.470 --> 00:08:34.929 away, leaving only geometry, light, and form. 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:38.830 That is wild. He is extracting an aesthetic experience 00:08:38.830 --> 00:08:41.330 from an everyday object that the rest of us just 00:08:41.330 --> 00:08:43.850 walk past without a second thought. And that 00:08:43.850 --> 00:08:45.669 leads directly to the second half of Roberta 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:48.149 Smith's quote, while reminding us that it is 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:51.190 just about everywhere. Yes. He isn't in a multi 00:08:51.190 --> 00:08:53.710 -million dollar studio creating artificial beauty 00:08:53.710 --> 00:08:56.110 with smoke machines and massive lighting rigs. 00:08:56.110 --> 00:08:59.120 He is - uncovering the beauty that already exists 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.980 in the mundane world he's simply pointing his 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:04.679 lens at our daily lives and telling us to look 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:07.679 closer exactly which is a beautiful profound 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:11.169 highly conceptual sentiment And it brings us 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:13.610 to my absolute favorite transition in this entire 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:15.350 deep dive. I know where you're going with this. 00:09:15.429 --> 00:09:17.610 Because the very same artist who is capturing 00:09:17.610 --> 00:09:20.649 quiet ecstasy in everyday objects and getting 00:09:20.649 --> 00:09:22.789 praised by The New York Times for his museum 00:09:22.789 --> 00:09:25.929 -grade fine art is also the photographer behind 00:09:25.929 --> 00:09:29.289 the 2011 United Bamboo Cat calendars. It is brilliant 00:09:29.289 --> 00:09:31.789 and honestly a massive risk. We touched on this 00:09:31.789 --> 00:09:35.889 earlier, but the fine art world. can be notoriously 00:09:35.889 --> 00:09:39.049 unforgiving when it comes to kitsch or pure commercial 00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:41.750 play. Oh, absolutely. To do a commercial calendar 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:45.610 of cats wearing tiny tailored outfits for a fashion 00:09:45.610 --> 00:09:48.490 brand like United Bamboo that would usually destroy 00:09:48.490 --> 00:09:50.809 an artist's credibility. Curators would just 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:52.750 write you off. They might look at that and think, 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:54.830 well, they aren't a serious artist anymore. But 00:09:54.830 --> 00:09:57.289 somehow, Sheldon not only gets away with it, 00:09:57.330 --> 00:10:00.559 he thrives. Because it shows... He completely 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.679 lacks the suffocating pretension that usually 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.639 comes with an Ivy League MFA. Right. You get 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.240 your degree from Columbia, your work hangs in 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.620 MoMA PS1, and then you are on a set trying to 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:13.799 coax a cat in a trench coat to look at the camera. 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:16.580 It's amazing. It completely shatters the romanticized, 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:19.799 starving artist myth. Good riddance. There is 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:22.440 this outdated idea that to be a true artist, 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:24.960 you must only create purely conceptual work, 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:27.500 suffer in a garret, and reject all commercial 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:29.360 pursuits. Yeah, the whole torture genius thing. 00:10:29.629 --> 00:10:33.429 exactly but sheldon represents the modern omnivorous 00:10:33.429 --> 00:10:36.730 creative True creative vision isn't limited to 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:39.809 a single medium or a solemn subject matter. A 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:41.889 good eye is a good eye, whether you are exploring 00:10:41.889 --> 00:10:44.950 modern isolation or shooting a fashion campaign 00:10:44.950 --> 00:10:47.409 with felines. And the commercial world clearly 00:10:47.409 --> 00:10:50.049 recognized that adaptability because his client 00:10:50.049 --> 00:10:52.610 list is genuinely staggering. It reads like the 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:56.090 Fortune 500. It really does. The source lists 00:10:56.090 --> 00:10:58.809 an array of corporate giants that cross almost 00:10:58.809 --> 00:11:01.970 every major sector of the global economy. He 00:11:01.970 --> 00:11:05.559 is shot for Apple. HPGE, and United Technologies. 00:11:05.899 --> 00:11:08.539 So that is the heavy tech engineering and manufacturing 00:11:08.539 --> 00:11:11.080 sector. Right. But then he's also shooting for 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.940 Bank of America and Citibank, the rigid, highly 00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:16.500 structured global finance sector. Yes. And then 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:18.399 you throw in Nike and New Balance. You also have 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.240 to include Arup, which is a massive multinational 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:23.879 design, architecture, and engineering firm. The 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.460 aesthetic demands of these companies are wildly 00:11:26.460 --> 00:11:28.799 different. That's what I want to explore. Why 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.570 does Citibank? A bank built on trust in numbers 00:11:31.570 --> 00:11:33.830 hire the same fine art photographer as Nike, 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:36.610 a brand built on movement and athleticism. That 00:11:36.610 --> 00:11:39.870 is the magic question. And the editorial work 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:42.929 is just as varied. The source notes his photography 00:11:42.929 --> 00:11:45.500 has appeared in Blindspot. which is a prestigious 00:11:45.500 --> 00:11:48.539 fine art photography magazine. But he also shoots 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:50.720 for Dwell, an architectural record in the design 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.820 space. He shoots for Details and New York Magazine 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:57.120 for Culture, Bon Appetit for Sensory Food Experiences, 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:00.059 Ink for Business, and then Rolling Stone and 00:12:00.059 --> 00:12:03.120 Tokion for Edgy Music and Pop Culture. If we 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.379 connect this to the bigger picture, it tells 00:12:06.379 --> 00:12:09.159 us something profound about what modern corporations 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:12.679 actually value. What do you mean? What do Apple, 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:15.379 Citibank and Rolling Stone all have in common 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:17.639 when it comes to their visual branding? I don't 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:21.070 know. They desperately want authenticity. They 00:12:21.070 --> 00:12:22.690 don't want to look like stock photos. Exactly. 00:12:22.990 --> 00:12:25.750 For decades, corporate photography was incredibly 00:12:25.750 --> 00:12:28.669 stiff. People in suits shaking hands, perfectly 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:31.450 lit products in white voids. Fake smiles. Yes. 00:12:31.889 --> 00:12:35.250 But consumers became totally blind to that. A 00:12:35.250 --> 00:12:38.529 company like GE or a bank like Citibank wants 00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:40.350 to communicate that they are grounded in the 00:12:40.350 --> 00:12:42.970 real world, but they want that reality to look 00:12:42.970 --> 00:12:45.289 intentional and elevated. They want exactly what 00:12:45.289 --> 00:12:47.860 Roberta Smith identified. The ability to separate 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:50.840 beauty from the material world. So when architectural 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:54.700 record needs a building to look majestic, or 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:56.860 Rolling Stone needs an artist to look authentic 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:00.399 and raw, they turn to the guy who knows how to 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.460 extract beauty from the mundane. Precisely. When 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:06.820 a fine artist can find quiet... ecstasy in everyday 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:09.500 life global brands will line up to have that 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:12.259 unique lens pointed at their products their buildings 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:15.120 or their executives wow he isn't selling out 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.659 he is applying his visual vocabulary to different 00:13:17.659 --> 00:13:20.919 dialects the gallery is one dialect the magazine 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:23.279 spread is another the corporate billboard is 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.019 another and through it all he maintains a very 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:28.620 specific personal discipline which brings us 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:30.779 to a project mentioned in the source material 00:13:30.779 --> 00:13:33.419 called far east broadway This is such a great 00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:35.279 project. The source also mentions his connection 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.519 to something called tea and water pictures. But 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:39.299 I really want to focus on the mechanics of Far 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:41.899 East Broadway, which is described as a photo 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:44.399 per day project. This is where we see the actual 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:47.139 labor behind the genius. It is easy to look at 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:50.340 a museum exhibition or an Apple campaign and 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:53.289 assume the talent is just innate. But a daily 00:13:53.289 --> 00:13:56.490 project reveals the grueling maintenance of that 00:13:56.490 --> 00:13:59.210 creative muscle. Right. Because if you genuinely 00:13:59.210 --> 00:14:01.169 believe what the New York Times said about him, 00:14:01.230 --> 00:14:04.289 that beauty is everywhere, you have to actually 00:14:04.289 --> 00:14:06.990 train your brain to see it. It doesn't just happen. 00:14:07.070 --> 00:14:09.190 No, it doesn't just tap you on the shoulder while 00:14:09.190 --> 00:14:11.389 you are waiting for the subway. You have to hunt 00:14:11.389 --> 00:14:14.399 for it every single day. This raises an important 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.539 question about the sheer stamina required for 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:20.299 that kind of discipline. A photo per day project 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:23.399 sounds like a fun New Year's resolution, but 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.059 executing it over months or years is exhausting. 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:29.379 Day one is easy. You have a burst of inspiration. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:34.799 Day 20 is fun, but day 147. That is when the 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.879 real work happens. Because you run out of the 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.980 obvious stuff. Yes. You've already taken pictures 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:41.320 of the sunset, your coffee cup, the cool historic 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.659 building down the street, your pet. The easy 00:14:43.659 --> 00:14:46.600 beauty is gone. And that is exactly the point. 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:49.799 The daily repetition forces an artist to push 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:53.279 past the low -hanging fruit. When you have exhausted 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.120 all the obvious subjects, you are forced to look 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:58.500 at the overlooked details of your daily commute. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.720 You have to dig deeper. You start noticing how 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.379 the rain changes the color of a chain -link fence 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.580 or the geometric shadows cast by a stack of mundane 00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:09.000 shipping pallets. It's the visual equivalent 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.700 of practicing scales at the conservatory. That's 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.100 a great way to quit. You do the repetitive, sometimes 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:17.399 tedious work every single day so that when it 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.909 is time to perform, whether that's for a solo 00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:23.750 gallery show or a commercial shoot for HP, the 00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:25.889 camera is just an extension of your eye. Right. 00:15:26.049 --> 00:15:28.190 You don't have to warm up. You are already seeing 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:30.289 the world in a state of heightened observation. 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:33.899 It is a beautiful synthesis of his entire background. 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:36.960 The discipline of a conservatory musician, the 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.080 conceptual rigor of the Ivy League MFA, and the 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.639 relentless pace of living in megacities like 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.960 New York and Shanghai. It all comes together. 00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:47.879 They all converge in this daily practice of looking 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:49.899 closely at the world. So what does this all mean? 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.399 That's the big question. When we pull back and 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.340 look at the Wikipedia page of Noah Sheldon, we 00:15:55.340 --> 00:15:57.600 aren't just looking at a list of dates, degrees, 00:15:57.799 --> 00:15:59.960 and corporate clients. No. We are looking at 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:03.269 the blueprint. of the ultimate creative chameleon. 00:16:03.750 --> 00:16:07.590 He is an artist rooted in the invisible auditory 00:16:07.590 --> 00:16:10.870 world of music who somehow flourished in the 00:16:10.870 --> 00:16:13.110 highly visible world of contemporary photography. 00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:15.350 It's an incredible journey. He is a person who 00:16:15.350 --> 00:16:18.090 navigated the absolute highest echelons of fine 00:16:18.090 --> 00:16:21.409 art getting, validated by MoMA PS1 and the New 00:16:21.409 --> 00:16:24.490 York Times, while simultaneously conquering the 00:16:24.490 --> 00:16:26.950 pinnacle of global commerce with brands like 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:29.700 Apple and Nike. And perhaps most importantly, 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.120 he managed to do all of that while keeping his 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:34.320 feet firmly planted on the ground. The cats. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.019 You cannot shoot a calendar of cats for a fashion 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:39.100 brand if you take your own genius too seriously. 00:16:39.299 --> 00:16:41.379 Exactly. He proves that high art, commercial 00:16:41.379 --> 00:16:44.220 viability, and everyday playfulness do not have 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.940 to be mutually exclusive. They can coexist in 00:16:46.940 --> 00:16:48.899 the same career and even in the same artist. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.960 They can live on the exact same resume, no matter 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.639 how contradictory it looks on paper. Which brings 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.620 me to a final thought for you, the listener. 00:16:57.019 --> 00:16:58.919 As you go about the rest of your day. I love 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:01.500 this part. We talk a lot about Sheldon's Far 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:05.220 East Broadway photo a day project. And that incredible 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:08.200 idea from the art critic about separating beauty 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.140 from the material world around you. Right. I 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:13.220 want you to try a thought experiment. Imagine 00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:15.259 you had to participate in that daily project 00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:18.440 today. Just for one day. If you had to take one 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:22.339 single photograph today. Just one. To prove to 00:17:22.339 --> 00:17:24.200 someone else that there is hidden beauty in your 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:28.900 mundane everyday routine. What exact object or 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:31.359 moment would you focus your lens on? It's a tough 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.900 choice. It can't be a sunset or a famous landmark. 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:36.779 Yeah. Where is the quiet ecstasy hiding in the 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:39.619 clutter of your day right now? It is a profound 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.160 way to challenge how you interact with your own 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.779 environment. It turns a boring commute or a messy 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:48.119 desk into a landscape of potential art. It really 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:50.700 does change how you see the world. Thank you 00:17:50.700 --> 00:17:52.799 so much for joining us for this deep dive. Keep 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:54.779 looking closely at the spaces around you, and 00:17:54.779 --> 00:17:55.880 we will catch you next time.