Ep 74: William Shatner in Space (The Overview Effect)

Pep Talks for Artists

Today I'm taking us on a space, art and space-art journey. Because, I've been thinking about how when William Shatner recently went up to space in Bezos' rocket, he saw in real life what he had always pretended to see on TV: space and the final frontier. But to his shock and horror, he...sort of hated it: At least he hated the outer space view. He quaked in the face of all that vast emptiness and ended up with a new appreciation for our warm "Mother" Earth.

I.e. "Beam me down, Scotty."

And in this way, I think an artist could adopt a William Shatner in Space ideology: and try to appreciate the gifts we each have right now (time, space, adequate health, and freedom to create), versus caving into the dark matter horrors of compare & despair, and worry over not achieving the right career benchmarks.

Artists/Works mentioned: "The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise" by Giovanni di Paolo (1445), "Galaxy (Hydra)" Vija Celmins (1974), "The Moon Museum" Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain, Claes Oldenburg, Forrest Myers and Andy Warhol (Possibly sent on the Apollo 12 Moon Mission-1969), "The Wave" by Astronaut, Nicole Stott (2009)

William Shatner's book: "Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder"

Frank White's book: "The Overview Effect"

More about Astronaut, Nicole Stott's first-ever painting in space: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-070816b-astronaut-artist-nicole-stott.html

More about The Moon Museum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Museum

Thank you for listening!

All music by Soundstripe

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