ART'S COOL with Ken Goshen

Latest Episodes:

Doom and Salvation: Process in the Age of AI | Ilya Gefter Dec 04, 2022

Show notes

Today’s conversation has been eye opening for me, and one of the best I had in a long time. I hope you’ll find it as fruitful as I did. Today we discuss the future of painting, and specifically the chances of the field’s survival in light of the upcoming AI apocalypse. We managed to sketch out a few early signs for hope. Can painting continue guarding the fortress against the robot barbarians at the gate? Stay tuned…
We are very fortunate to have the great Ilya Gefter back on the podcast. Ilya Gefter is a painter, art educator and the founder and director of the Visual Art Center in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Ilya has shown in 14 solo exhibitions before he was 40, he’s won numerous prestigious awards, and his work can be found in notable public collections in the US, Canada, Spain, and Israel. He has written for Ha’artez newspaper, and has done curatorial work for Rothschild Gallery in Tel Aviv. Ilya is an exceptional artist and thinker and a tremendous inspiration to me, so I’m very excited to bring his voice and his ideas to all of you.
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For more from Ilya Gefter:
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Music by Adaam James

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Art, Death & Robots | Greg Rutkowski Oct 01, 2022

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Today’s episode touches on one of the most pressing topics in today’s art discourse: the rise of image-generating artificial intelligence. AI burst onto the scene like a hurricane, and today’s guest is right in the eye of the storm, he is the one and only, Greg Rutkowski. Greg is a towering figure in the world of illustration and concept art. He’s done work for the most influential trendsetters in the field, including Disney, Ubisoft, Netflix, Warner Bros, and my personal favorite, Wizards of the Coast. This conversation tells the story of how a fantasy illustrator suddenly found himself in an epic battle against robots for the soul of humanity. Who will prevail, and what does it mean for the rest of us? Stay tuned.
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For more from Greg Rutkowski:
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Music by Adaam James

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Doing Art While Raising Kids | Emily Fossum & Hannah Leach Aug 17, 2022

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Today’s episode taught me a great deal about a very important and pressing topic: the intersection of art and parenting. I don’t have kids yet, so I invited two special guests to shine a light on this topic, they are Emily Fossum and Hannah Leach. Two working artists who are also full-time busy moms. They also happen to be star students of mine, who can outperform me with techniques I pretty much invented. We spoke about how to build your own art space, making art as a family, forging art camaraderies, tips for getting and excelling at commission work, how to draw knowledge from museums, the unique beauty of drawing, and more. Hannah and Emily offered lots of generous advice, which I’m sure you’ll find both useful and inspiring.
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For more from Emily Fossum:
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For more from Hannah Leach:
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The Art Business and the Business of Art | Arcadia Gallery Jun 20, 2022

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Steven Diamant is the owner and founder of Arcadia Contemporary, one of the world’s leading galleries for realistic art. Steven and I covered several pressing topics: how to work with galleries, the business of sales, the importance of Instagram for artists, how art universities are delinquent in their duties, timelessness and trends in the arts, and more. This is also the first podcast episode that I recorded in-person! I came down to Arcadia with two microphones and we recorded the talk right there in Steven’s office.
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For more from Arcadia Contemporary:
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Music by Adaam James

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Layers of Refinement | Gustavo Ramos May 18, 2022

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Gustavo Ramos is a Brazilian-born Arizona-based painter. We touched on how to plan a painterly process using layers, how to deal with mistakes throughout the process, how to nurture artistic growth in children, how to paint successfully from photographs, how develop personal style, tips for getting commissions, and much much more. We also throw some shade at Hyperrealism, so get excited for that. Gustavo has some brilliant insights to share, so I’m exceedingly glad to bring his voice to all of you.
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Can We Paint Without Solvents? | Kimberly Brooks Mar 31, 2022

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Today we are touching on a topic that is pressing and urgent for many of us - can we paint without using solvents? As you know, solvents are harmful to our health, and eliminating or reducing their usage should be on everyone’s agenda. But how can we do it? We will be diving deeply into this question, and providing actionable technical insights you can start using pretty much as soon as you finish this episode. Hope you find this information as valuable as I did!
My guest today is Kimberly Brooks. Kimberly is a contemporary American artist and author. Her work has been exhibited and featured internationality. She is the founder and former Arts Editor at the Huffington Post, and today she hosts monthly artist talks at First Person Artist Brooks is the author of the fantastic book titled The New Oil Painting which is at the center of today’s conversation.
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For more from Kimberly Brooks:
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"The New Oil Painting" on Amazon
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Music by Adaam James

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The Death of Painting | Ilya Gefter Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Painting has been proclaimed dead many times throughout history, and yet people like me and probably you continue to sling paint around, still believing it matters. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this true-crime episode, where we explore the alleged death-scenes, victims, and perpetrators.

And what a treat, ladies and gentlemen, setting an ART’S COOL record, the great Ilya Gefter is back on the podcast for the 2nd episode in a row, and 3rd episode in total. I introduced Ilya when he first came on the show, which was episode 8, and from the feedback I’ve been getting about our most recent conversation I suspect Ilya will soon need no introduction. Ilya came up with this conversation topic, and I’m so fortunate to be able to engage with his ideas and insights - and to bring them to you. If you enjoy this episode and you want us to do more of these, make sure to follow Ilya on instagram @ilyagefter.art and the rest of his social media pages which I’ll list in the show notes. Let him know you enjoyed his appearance on the show, and let’s hope he comes back for more, as we’ll all be the better for it.
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For more from Ilya Gefter:
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For more from Ken Goshen:
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Music by Adaam James

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Realism, Trolls, and Enemies of Experience | Ilya Gefter Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

Today’s topic is "Realism," what it meant for different painters in different times and ways to think about it today. Very importantly, we also discuss why detail is the enemy of experience, and how Courbet was basically a troll.

We are very fortunate to have the great Ilya Gefter back on the podcast. Ilya Gefter is a painter, art educator and the founder and director of the Visual Art Center in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Ilya has shown in 14 solo exhibitions before he was 40, he’s won numerous prestigious awards, and his work can be found in notable public collections in the US, Canada, Spain, and Israel. He has written for Ha’artez newspaper, and has done curatorial work for Rothschild Gallery in Tel Aviv. Ilya is an exceptional artist and thinker and a tremendous inspiration to me, so I’m very excited to bring his voice and his ideas to all of you.
Support ART'S COOL with Ken Goshen
For more from Ilya Gefter:
Ilya's website
Ilya's YouTube
Ilya's Instagram
For more from Ken Goshen:
Ken's website
Ken's Instagram
Ken's lessons
Ken's Patreon
Ken's YouTube
Music by Adaam James

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | AMA #3 Aug 14, 2021

Show notes

Today’s episode is absolutely packed with down-to-earth technical advice which I expect any painting enthusiast will appreciate, and a few inflammatory opinions which may or may not stir the pot. This episode is an Ask Me Anything episode, which means instead of having a guest I can question, the questions were directed at me by a panel of my Patreon supporters. We covered many important topics, such as: how to mix colors for figurative work, how to build confidence, issues regarding social media, the importance or lack thereof of art university degrees, the status of realism in the contemporary art discourse, discussions around supplies, how to use color theory to effectively push color beyond the boundaries of realism, the everlasting photographic reference conundrum, recommended limited palettes, how to use quick sketches to support ambitious projects, how to teach classical painterly principles to young children, and much much more.
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Personal Style and the Apprenticeship Model | Jeff Hein Jun 28, 2021

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Jeff has been titled a “living master” by the art Renewal Center, and has been written up in numerous publications, including “American Art collector”, “Fine Art Connoisseur”, “Arts and Antiques” and “Jetset Magazine”. His work has been shown in prestigious institutions such as the Utah Museum of Fine Art, The Springville Museum of Art and the Salmagundi Club in NY. He’s won numerous awards, and his work can be found in notable public and private collections. Jeff has served as a faculty artist for the Portrait Society of America, and he is the founder of the Hein Atelier of Traditional Art in Salt Lake City. We talk in-depth about the unique pedagogical structure of the Hein Atelier of Traditional Art in this episode and it’s absolutely fascinating.
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For more from Jeff Hein:
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Hein Atelier of Traditional Art
For more from Ken Goshen:
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Pigments on Jeff's palette: Radiant violet, Dioxazine purple, Cobalt violet, Alizarin permanent, Quinacridone magenta, Radiant red, Perylene red, Vermillion, Permanent orange, Transparent orange, Brown pink, Transparent oxide red, Transparent oxide yellow, Indian yellow, Transparent yellow medium, Cadmium yellow medium, Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium chartreuse, Green gold, Cadmium green, Oxide of chromium, Sap green, Radiant green, Emerald green, Serves green, Phthalo green, Cobalt teal, Radiant turquoise, Radiant blue, Kings blue, Manganese blue, Phthalo blue, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine blue, Asphaltum, Naples, yellow deep, Naples yellow light, Ivory black, Titanium white or lead white.
Music by Adaam James