Artist Decoded by Yoshino – Details, episodes & analysis

Roy Dean is a martial artist, filmmaker, and creative storyteller whose work bridges the worlds of combat and art. A black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Roy Harris, Roy is known for his elegant approach to movement, mastery, and self-expression. Through his films, writings, and instruction, he reveals the artistry within discipline—showing how the resistance of training can refine both technique and character. His latest projects continue to explore the intersection of creativity, philosophy, and the martial path.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Roy's origin story in martial arts and the philosophies that shaped him (00:03:23)
• Applying martial arts philosophy to everyday life (00:18:16)
• On letting go — acceptance, release, and personal evolution (00:34:38)
• Transforming stress into deeper empathy and expanded perspective (00:42:44)
• Men and masculinity — reflections on growth and identity (00:51:31)
• Mentorship — Roy on his teacher, Roy Harris (00:57:58)
• The duality of jiu jitsu: humbling yet deeply inspiring (01:06:05)
• The intersection of art and martial arts (01:11:38)
• Longevity in training — practical advice for recovery and staying in the game (01:18:44)
• Mastery and style — Roy speaks on mastery; Yoshino on artistic style (01:33:53)
• Refining fundamentals — patterns, basics, and the value of repetition (01:40:30)
• Value structures — understanding them and knowing when to transcend them (01:46:58)
• Embodiment and physicality in art (01:59:50)
• Roy Dean's upcoming jiu jitsu retreats (02:07:23)

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instagram.com/roydean_ 

Æmen Ededéen lived and worked in San Francisco and then Los Angeles for fifteen years before moving to Roswell, New Mexico in 2018 as a grant recipient of the year-long Roswell Artist in Residence Program. He and his wife, the artist Maja Ruznic, have since made New Mexico home and have recently welcomed their first child, a daughter, into the world. Hagler was born at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho in 1979 and is a first-generation college graduate with a visual communications degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Self-directed research and travel has underpinned Hagler's career and is essential to how the artist integrates creative influences with his life experience.

2018 saw two museum shows at the Brand Library and Art Center in Los Angeles and the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico entitled "The River Lethe" and "Love Letters to the Poorly Regarded" respectively. 2021 marks two solo exhibitions for Hagler with "Drawing in the Dark" at Cris Worley in Dallas and "The Living Circle Us" at Unit London, curated by David Anfam. He has exhibited paintings, sculpture, video, and animation in galleries and museums in North and South America, Europe, and Australia including a long list of solo exhibitions. Reviews and features about the work, as well as his own poems and essays, have appeared in a variety of publications and media outlets in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Æmen on Aletheia House and the inception of the residency (00:03:05)
• Creating art beyond self-satisfaction; maturing through service to others (00:10:45)
• Engaging with life soulfully (00:16:41)
• The film, Being There (Peter Sellers). and aligning with a higher calling (00:21:00)
• Franz Kafka's The Hunger Artist (00:28:27)
• Æmen on his relationship with his wife, artist Maja Ruznic (00:36:03)
• On becoming (00:46:55)
• On Æmen new book, Nihil (00:52:26)
• Yoshino and Æmen discuss spirituality and religion (01:03:46)
• Exploring values; deepening consciousness and awareness (01:19:06)

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instagram.com/aemenededeen
aletheia.house

Landon Van Soest is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Fulbright Scholar, and two-time Sundance Fellow. His work presents social commentary through rich characters and immersive narratives. Landon recently directed the Hulu Original Documentary The Jewel Thief, which was the #1 most viewed movie on Hulu worldwide in the summer of 2023. His previous documentary, For Ahkeem, premiered at the 2017 Berlinale and Tribeca Film Festivals, won seven Best Documentary awards, opened theatrically in ten cities, and is being distributed by The Orchard and Amazon. His first documentary, Good Fortune, was broadcast on the award-winning PBS series POV, where it received an Emmy Award, the Witness Award for Human Rights and the Overseas Press Club's Carl Spielvogel Award. Landon is a founder of the not-for-profit Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and co-founder of Transient Pictures, where he has collaborated with non-profits and brands including Toyota, UNICEF, eBay, Facebook, 23andMe, Lincoln Center, ABC, National Geographic and PBS.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Landon's introduction to filmmaking (00:02:06)
• Skateboarding's influence on culture and creative expression (00:04:31) 
• Landon describes his mindset on approaching his creative projects (00:11:49) 
• Discussion about Landon's film Light, Darkness, Light and its conceptual roots (00:13:30) 
• How Landon chooses which projects he wants to work on (00:38:30) 
• Yoshino and Landon speak about the process of letting go (00:46:48) 
• Landon recounts the making of The Jewel Thief on Hulu, the story of master criminal Gerald Blanchard (00:49:15) 
• Yoshino and Landon discuss the importance of starting projects, evolving through them, and staying authentic to one's interests (01:00:51)

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instagram.com/landonvansoest

Damon Davis is a post-disciplinary artist based in St. Louis, Missouri. His work spans across a spectrum of creative mediums to tell stories exploring how identity is informed by power and mythology. He is well known for his body of work, Darker Gods, which explores Afro-surrealist manifestations of Black culture. Davis is a Firelight Media, Sundance Labs, TED, and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow. He is the founder and creative director of St. Louis-based music label/ artist collective FarFetched and his work is featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Show Notes:

• 00:03:18 - Reflections on George Floyd and 2020
• 00:09:55 - Power dynamics in American society
• 00:14:35 - The soulful impact of art
• 00:17:40 - America's amnesia & the complexities of blackness
• 00:20:49 - Value systems
• 00:29:56 - Damon's intention with the mythology he created for "Darker Gods"
• 00:33:39 - Power, wisdom, and empathy
• 00:39:15 -The desensitization and fetishization of death
• 00:45:07 - Critical thinking 
• 00:49:46 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.heartacheandpaint.com

www.instagram.com/damondavis

Born in Beijing and raised in Singapore, Jingna Zhang is a fashion and fine art photographer and director based in New York City and Seattle. Imbued with love for the Pre-Raphaelites and Japanese anime, Jingna's work interweaves Asian aesthetics with western art styles, bringing unique visions of painterly and fantastical images to fashion and fine art photography.

Before photography, Jingna was a world-class air rifle shooter representing Singapore at the Commonwealth Games and World Cup. She was the only female founder of a North American esports team in StarCraft 2; and was once a concept artist and illustrator's agent, with clients including LucasArts, Amazon Publishing, and Sony Online Entertainment.

Jingna majored in fashion design before dropping out of school to pursue photography. She is an alumna of Stanford's innovation and entrepreneurship program Ignite and a Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 listmaker.

Jingna's works have appeared on multiple editions of Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar. Her clients include Mercedes Benz, Montblanc, and Lancome. Jingna's fine art works have exhibited at Leica Gallery Milan, Tsinghua University, and Japan Creative Centre in Singapore, and she has spoken at Laguna College of Art and Design, Monterrey Institute of Technology, and Square Enix.

Show Notes:

• 00:00:00 - Introduction
• 00:05:24 - Self-Expression
• 00:11:54 - Jingna's start in art 
• 00:16:20 - Competition 
• 00:18:12 - Working with certainty and uncertainty
• 00:22:08 - Resources for growth 
• 00:29:39 - Jingna's work with creative writing / the beginner's mindset
• 00:37:31 - Childlike naivety
• 00:39:20 - Jingna's relationship with video games
• 00:47:00 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.zhangjingna.com

www.instagram.com/zemotion

Graham grew up in Ojai, a small ranching town in Southern California with pink sunsets dipping below the mountains.  He spent his childhood exploring Europe and the Southwestern United States with his travel writer father and family.

His upbringing informs his photography, which is largely based in simplicity, nostalgia, nature, and the truth of a moment. Graham lives in Los Angeles with his wife, a kindergarten teacher, and his son, an extremely inventive whippersnapper.

Show Notes:

• 00:00:00 - Introduction 
• 00:04:55 - Teaching all aspects of history 
• 00:08:53 - Homogenization of culture 
• 00:12:22 - The importance of community 
• 00:15:56 - The confluence of non-sequiturs 
• 00:18:36 - The shifting landscape of commercial photography
• 00:25:00 - Human psychology within photography 
• 00:33:16 - Graham's projects during covid 
• 00:42:45 - Having a "jack of all trades" approach 
• 00:48:15 - Personal values influencing the way you approach your career 
• 00:54:54 - Having a balanced life 
• 00:56:51 - Learning and adapting from experience 
• 01:06:00 - Mentorship 
• 01:08:00 - Technical learning vs practical learning 
• 01:14:32 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/grahamdunn

http://www.grahamdunnphoto.com/

AD Non-Weekly Round Up #8 with artist, Jesse Draxler, and Yoshino.

Jesse Draxler was born in rural Wisconsin, studied in Minneapolis, MN, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. A formal mixed media & inter-disciplinary artist, Draxler has exhibited extensively both domestically and internationally. 

Draxler collaborates with brands including Hugo Boss, McQ Alexander McQueen, and Ferrari, with original artwork appearing in Elle, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among other publications. 

Show Notes:

• 00:00:32 - Seasons in life
• 00:07:18 - Focusing on the process instead of the result
• 00:12:05 - The confluence of running and creativity
• 00:16:32 - Self-reflection
• 00:22:16 - Personal values
• 00:34:35 - The practical reality of art
• 00:39:53 - Creativity thorough destruction
• 00:47:56 - Jesse's personal growth throughout the years
• 00:53:05 - Life and death
• 00:57:09 - The importance of being conscious of one's physical and mental health
• 01:13:20 - Perspective shifts
• 01:26:14 - Understanding guilt
• 01:42:34 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.jessedraxler.com

www.instagram.com/jessedraxler

Nadia Waheed, BFA 2015 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is a Pakistani-American painter who makes partially autobiographical allegorical figurative paintings that explore selfhood, choice, and cultural trauma. Exhibition history includes shows with Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, BEERS London, Thierry Goldberg in New York, and Gallery 1957 in London. Upcoming exhibitions in 2021 include shows with Andrea Festa Fine Art in Rome, Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai, and Aicon Gallery in New York.

Show Notes:

• 00:04:18 - Being aware of your youth 
• 00:05:52 - Having numerous perspectives 
• 00:09:40 - Nadia's childhood 
• 00:16:40 - Cultural nuances 
• 00:23:07 - The core language approach and inner generational trauma 
• 00:27:54 - The influence of mentorship 
• 00:31:12 - Politics within the art world 
• 00:37:46 - Telling someone who you are, through your actions 
• 00:39:30 - Dating and relationships 
• 00:46:39 - The loss of community and connectivity 
• 00:53:01 - Intentionality and being vulnerable 
• 01:00:45 - Being comfortable with who you are
• 01:08:33 - Engaging with emotions and understanding the context 
• 01:20:16 - Nadia's hesitance towards talking about her work 
• 01:27:54 - "The curse of the expert" 
• 01:34:23 - Commitment 
• 01:42:45 - Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/nadiakwd

www.nadiawaheed.com

The son of Chinese immigrants, Nicholas came to LA by way of Hawaii and Hong Kong. Working as a truly international director, he has helmed global campaigns for brands like Google, Samsung, Disney, P&G, Kia, Dewars, and Nestle, working closely with top agencies such as BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather, and Iris Worldwide. In the music world, he is an MTV VMA nominated director having shot videos for Nick Jonas, Blink-182, Sara Bareilles, Bastille, Snakehips, Jess Glynne, Monsta X, and more.

Known for his cinematic, emotional, and dynamic visual language, Nicholas' films often center on character-driven stories deeply grounded in humanity and sensitivity. His work has been featured in most major publications including The LA Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, The Telegraph, The Independent, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Forbes, Booooooom, Shots Creative, Little Black Book, and many more.

When not on set, Nicholas will be found tearing through the canyons in his cars or motorcycle, creating new recipes in the kitchen, or talking watches with fellow nerds.

Show Notes:

• 00:03:04 - The "Three R's" Philosophy  
• 00:05:41 - Finding one's voice 
• 00:08:34 - Filtering your work through a personal lens  
• 00:10:14 - Navigating through the music video and film world 
• 00:13:10 - Hardships within directors transitioning from music videos to feature films
• 00:18:59 - "The new aesthetic"  
• 00:21:06 - Keeping a healthy mindset  
• 00:24:36 - Pattern recognition  
• 00:27:21 - Psychedelics 
• 00:32:27 - The catch-22 nature of technology  
• 00:37:00 - Difficulties and rewards within directing  
• 00:41:54 - Having a balanced ego 
• 00:46:29 - A director's relevancy in the commercial world 
• 00:49:44 - Nicholas's first feature film 
• 00:51:27 - The importance of representation  
• 00:53:34 - Redefining the structures within the film industry & Asian American cinema
• 01:09:38- Wrap up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.instagram.com/nicholaslam

www.nicholaslam.com

Justin Daashuur Hopkins is a multidisciplinary storyteller (Director and Cinematographer, Musician and Composer, Graphic Designer, and Gallerist).

Born into an artistic household, to renowned Illustrator Chris Hopkins and internationally collected sculptor Jan Hopkins, Justin was raised in Mukilteo, Washington, but now lives and works in Los Angeles. At the age of fifteen, he was already doing professional work for multiple clients, including conceptual merchandising and design for Costco, sound design and illustration for RedBull, and music for ESPN TV spots. He also shot the short film "Baristas," which played to enthusiastic audiences in New York, LA, and Seattle.

At the age of eighteen, Justin was hired at Olio Inc, an architectural firm specializing in major hotels in places like Vegas and Dubai. He spent the next five years doing architectural and sound design for international clients. In 2009, he struck out on his own, working as a freelance illustrator and fine art painter. He moved to New York and began showing in numerous international exhibitions, in addition to garnering attention for his commercial work.

Upon his return to Los Angeles, Justin co-founded NOH/WAVE, an art agency, and production company, with gallery space downtown. This has given him the opportunity to curate shows by internationally acclaimed artists. His unique aesthetic and attention to detail have made him a sought-after director of film and mixed media video for clients including Universal, RCA, Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Def Jam, and Domino Records.

Show Notes:

• 0:00:00 - Introduction 
• 0:05:00 - Analysis of "Woman in the Dunes" by Hiroshi Teshigahara
• 0:11:56 - Lineage of NOH/WAVE
• 0:13:19 - Being A Multidisciplinary Artist 
• 0:16:15 - Justin's Transition From Music to Film
• 0:17:50 - Justin's Family Allowed For Freedom of Expression 
• 0:22:10 - Gravitating Toward The Arts
• 0:24:17 - Yoshino's Filmmaking and Photography
• 0:26:39 - Professional Careers, Making Money, and Artistic Struggle
• 0:30:51 - Romanticizing Artists VS Personal Experiences
• 0:35:23 - Sacrificing For The Work
• 0:40:04 - Learning From Each Other
• 0:41:12 - Evolution of The Self & More "Woman in the Dunes"
• 0:48:58 - Analysis of "Tokyo Sonata" by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• 0:55:21 - Not Examining Just From Surface Level
• 0:58:10 - "An Artist Says a Hard Thing in a Simple Way"
• 1:00:27 - All About The Subtext of Information
• 1:03:55 - Demonization of Drugs and Art
• 1:05:17 - Investing and Monetization of Ignorance
• 1:08:58 - Mythology and Psychology
• 1:10:32 - Film and Book Recommendations
• 1:11:26 - Advice to Artists and Creatives
• 1:14:02 - Wrap Up

www.artistdecoded.com

www.justindaashuurhopkins.com

www.instagram.com/justindaashuurhopkins