The Mythology of the Now: Creativity, Addiction & Redemption w/ Artist Blackcat Charlie Smith

In this episode, Charlie Smith and I sit down to hash out life's complexities over a couple of mics. We keep it 100, discussing the highs and lows that come with a life devoted to art and community.Charlie opens up about his battle with addiction, his turning point, and how he's channeled those experiences into his current project, the Solar Scope. It's not every day you get to dive into the nitty-gritty of personal transformation with someone who's been through it.We also venture into the tech landscape, looking at the intersections between digital and physical art. We're both pretty jazzed about the future, but we recognize that it's a double-edged sword.As we navigate this evolving landscape, we explore how our work can contribute to what I like to call "the mythology of the now" — it's all about framing our current experience, with all its chaos and beauty, in a way that's relatable and real. No smoke and mirrors here, just two friends having an honest talk about life, art, and what it means to be human in this wild world.Artist Statement of the Now "The day is short and filled with consistent challenges, sociological stressors, political nightmares, and communication breakdowns. The work I'm producing is a positive release of the angst that the daily trudge through the information overload highway of life we are experiencing on a moment-to-moment basis. So fast, so weird! Our psyche is so worked up that the relief valves must be set, The clogged brain needs plunging and a good flush from the chaos-filled world we live in today. These objects and characters stem from the ground on tendrils of energy- resonant nature-nurture organic, with the machine and metallic textures and hard lines of expressionism burst from these playful creations in the comedic struggle of life - we create the object image in our heads to exorcize our common pomp and circumstance! looking for solace = Finding peace! Gratitude Flows" -- Charlie Blackcat Smith - http://www.sparceland.com/“I Love to dream, I make amazing art experiences that bring people together and speak to the participants on a ritualistic, communal, and individual level. so driven to see this take place time and time again instigating, creating, and sharing in a magical space in time, where participation literally creates the vibration around the sculptural expressions. “I love people and love to see them share extreme art spaces that open the mind and push the human experience through art to new levels." -- Charlie Blackcat Smith - http://www.sparceland.com/