We Are Art People

Musa Guston Mayer is a writer, curator, breast cancer advocate and President of The Guston Foundation, living in Woodstock, NY. She is the daughter of the formidable painter, Philip Guston (1913-1980) and her Mother is, painter and poet Musa McKim Guston (1908-1992). Since his passing in 1980, alongside a team of committed champions of Guston’s work, Musa has been involved in shaping her Father’s legacy, who is recognized today as a Modern Master. Not bad, sonny. Pas mal

While pursing an MFA in writing at Columbia University, Musa published her first title — an intimate memoir, Night Studio (1988) — grounded in a personal account of being the daughter of Philip Guston. Musa’s process of writing as a way of self discovery and to deepen her understanding of who her father was, evokes an awareness of the fragility and beauty of life, through what feels to be a natural inclination for storytelling. Originally trained as a mental health counselor, Musa authored several books reflecting her journey and diagnosis with breast cancer; Examining Myself: One Woman's Story of Breast Cancer Treatment (1994) Recovery, Advanced Breast Cancer: A Guide to Living with Metastatic Disease (1998) and After Breast Cancer: Answers to the Questions You're Afraid to Ask(2003). She has curated exhibitions, and published amongst others, the award winning catalogue ‘Philip Guston: Nixon Drawings, 1971 & 1975’. Night Studio remains in print after 37 years.

We discuss the fragility and nature of living closely to an inner life, storytelling as an act towards activism and social-political commentary, and the value of Musa’s promised gift of 220 ‘Not.For.Sale’ paintings to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for scholarship and in support of her Father's legacy. The Guston Foundation continues to further a dialogue with Philip Guston, to a wider public. Upcoming projects include an audiobook of Night Studio, narrated by Musa Guston Mayer (2027) and publishing the Journals of Musa McKim Guston, A Life with P. (2026).

Links:

@the_guston_foundation
www.philipguston.org
https://www.youtube.com/@TheGustonFoundation

Show notes:

Restoration of "The Struggle Against Terrorism", by Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish, Morelia, MX.
Musée Picasso — Philip Guston: The Irony of History [opens October 14 2025]
Arensberg Collection
Scottsboro Boys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys
Ira Progoff "Intensive Journal Method"
Giorgio de Chirico, The Gladiators' School: the Combat [1928]

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Pascale Gatzen is not someone who you can bind with words. She moves freely across and within spaces of education, pattern making, commoning and compassionate communication. She continues to seek opportunities for and to shape the conditions under which people learn together.

In the '90s, Pascale was a member of a group of fashion designers known as Le Cri Néerlandais (“The Dutch Cry”) including Saskia van Drimmelen, Viktor Horsting, Rolf Snoeren et al. — and the first Dutch designers to present their collections in Paris. Her garments have been included in early editions of Purple Magazine, photographed by Mark Borthwick and presented in spaces of cross-disciplinary dialogue. Alongside a practice of making garments, Pascale’s place in education, aligned on making and situating fashion as an expression of being — has included developing an alternative fashion program at the Parsons School of Design in New York City and she previously led the Fashion Design Master’s program at ArtEZ, Netherlands.

Our conversation dances between generative projects Pascale has contributed to; including The Linen Project, a collective endeavor to reintroduce small-scale local flax cultivation to the Netherlands, and a clothing workshop Pascale facilitated with guards at Art Tower Mito, in Japan. Interspersed, with the acknowledgment of and observing feelings and needs, reflective of Marshall Rosenberg’s teachings of Non-Violent Communication (NVC). Pascale has recognized this practice to be a vital design for human communication, an opportunity to meet each other with empathy and authentic connection.

Pascale makes and wears her clothing.

Links:

The Linen Project https://thelinenproject.online/
Friends of Light https://www.friendsoflight.net/
Art Tower Mito, Japan https://mitoguards.blogspot.com/

Show notes:

"If ‘commoning’ has any meaning, it must be the production of ourselves as a common subject." - Silvia Federici

Intentional communities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community
Gana Community, Statan Island https://geo.coop/articles/40-years-community
NYCNVC https://www.nycnvc.org/thom-bond
Hannah Arendt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt
Eric Fromm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm
Pema Chödrön; Comfort Zones youtube.com/watch?v=MH2vfdhGiTM

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LARAAJI is an interdimensional artist, musician and playful laughter therapist— living in Harlem, New York City. LARAAJI is a seven letter word, including three upward facing triangles (A) and the hieroglyphic RA, in reference to the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun.

Born into the physical world as Edward Larry Gordon in Philadelphia (1943), LARAAJI has embarked on a journey of the soul, a vision quest of remembering and discovering. Engaging in music, playing the violin during his school years, his connection to the string instrument has been a life long bond which led him to the autoharp, which he exchanged for his guitar at a pawn shop in New York City, this was in 1969. After studying Piano and composition at Howard University and a brief moment navigating stand-up comedy in the 1970s, LARAAJI began to explore the complexities of sound and in alignment with his mystical discoveries, he has become a pioneer and composer of ambient and new age sounds.

We discuss the role of mentors that have appeared along his path. This has included; Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, founder of the Ananda Ashram, New York, organizers of The Tree of Life, a metaphysical bookstore in Harlem, who blessed LARAAJI with an unofficial naming ceremony during a meeting at Bethseda Fountain, in Central Park and Brian Eno, their connection at Washington Square Park evolved into the creation of Ambient 3: Day of Radiance (1980), which Brian Eno produced.

LARAAJI's ambient and extrasensory music is both a celebration of community and a space for communication with the non-dimensional world. We discuss the notion of bouncing between dimensions, and the presence of holding space while co-creating in the physical plane. In a form similar to a yogic shavasana, LARAAJI creates an sonic environment that invites the body to unlock the abstract self, to enter into unexplored states of rest, allowing space to move and connect with greater ease and peace within our self, interconnected as one with the cosmos. LARAAJI's musical and spiritual voice, is a tool of service, to support the growth and evolution of humanity. He continues to celebrate his connection and evocation of the sun’s loving presence and his adoration for orange clothing.

Links:

https://laraajimusic.bandcamp.com/
@laraaji_official

Show Notes:

Shavasana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavasana
Ohso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh
Tree of Life https://www.nytimes.com/1976/01/24/archives/a-parking-lot-is-to-replace-the-tree-of-life-in-harlem.html
440HZ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A440_(pitch_standard)
Zither / Autoharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoharp
Pentatonic Scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale
The Orange Book: The Meditation Techniques of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

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Jordan Huelskamp Forman is the founder of Salon, a community-oriented and member managed contemporary art collection, based in New York City.

The role and persona of the art collector has shifted and accessibility has widened. We discuss what choices are available to build a collection of art, that offers space for expressive dialogue, whilst being a discerning financial investment. With shared ownership, commitments to long-term acquisition is more accessible through a model forged by Salon. Through collaboration in decision making, members contribute to building a future legacy, a time-stamp of a culture, which for Salon is reflected in a co-owned portfolio of blue-chip contemporary art.

After graduating with a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, Jordan found herself embedded in the art world, serving as Curatorial Lead at Artsy, a leading digital marketplace for art. Here, Jordan finely tuned her curatorial tastes, acumen and ‘art world’ savvy, which bolstered her creative vision and strategic planning for Salon’s evolving success.

Jordan reflects on how the relationship to an artwork develops, the moments of connection to an artists work, both imbued through the artists act and the storytelling that is reflected through living and being with art in our personal spaces. Jordan shares her ongoing joy and experiences with, Broom Eater, a personal acquisition, by Japanese-American artist Kikuo Saito. And, we discuss the approaching and possibly unnerving conversation that is taking place around Artificial intelligence and its role in art. Jordan shares her unanswered feelings towards rumors of a robot that paints! What impact do these shifts have on the artist and an the value of the maker, when acquiring a work of art? Jordan’s fluid perspectives of the art world and emerging technologies, has allowed her to be a leading voice in contemporary art collecting. You will find Jordan deep within a rabbit hole or wandering through an Art Fair in New York City.

Links:

@jordanhuelskamp
Salon https://salon.fund/#/
https://www.jordanhuelskamp.com/

Show notes:

Kennedy Yanko
James Turrell
Land Art
Artsy
Oculus Rift
Kikuo Saito
Puck - Marion Maneker
O'Flatery's NYC

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Ry Russo-Young is a New York-born filmmaker, living and working in Los Angeles, California.

Through a natural evolution of becoming, storytelling and character exploration has been embedded in her since a young age, patching together short-movies with friends and family and her mothers’ taking photographs of her in the Meatpacking District in the 90's, dressed up as Cindy Sherman-esque characters.

Ry’s 3-part documentary series, Nuclear Family was released with HBO in 2021. It is an expose of Ry’s understanding and experience of being the daughter of two lesbian mothers who conceived Ry and her sister Cade, with known sperm donors, at a time when the concept of a LGBTQ+ family was untraveled, and which bred its own challenges. The series, which Ry wrote, directed and featured in navigates this origin story and the perspectives of those around her. Through the experience of her family being under the microscope at a young age, Ry took it on to tell her story and version of events. What evolved is an intimate telling, where Ry herself, candidly processes her unresolved feelings and takes the viewer on an emotional journey of healing and invokes us to comprehend the complex nature of family and relationships.

We discuss Ry’s process for and taking time to find the best version of a project and her journey of adapting stories into a visual form and the complications that arise through this process. Ry has directed and co-written Nobody walks, with Lena Dunham featuring Olivia Thirlby and John Krasinski. She has collaborated with Stella Schnabel, in the writing and direction of You Won’t Miss Me, and other film and television projects, including episodes for Just Like That, Before I Fall and The Sun is Also a Star. Ry's work has been presented at Sundance, SXSW, Stockholm, Torino, and TriBeCa.

Links:

@ryrussoyoung

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1735543
Nuclear Family https://www.hbo.com/nuclear-family
You Won't Miss Me https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1249443

Show notes:

Hannah Takes the Stairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Takes_the_Stairs
Creative Capital https://creative-capital.org/
The Screenwriting Life https://bobcat-cello-9863.squarespace.com/episodes/148-jodie-foster-on-building-truthful-characters
Abbas Kiarostami
Ingmar Bergman
Mishegas (Yiddish) meaning senseless behavior, craziness, or foolishness.

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