#467: Dustin Yellin on Making Art, Weaving Madness, and Forging Your Own Path

Sep 25, 2020

Dustin Yellin, an innovative artist and the founder of Pioneer Works, shares his journey from dropping out of high school to establishing a vibrant cultural center in Brooklyn. He discusses the balance between creativity and mental health, revealing the chaos behind brilliant art. With captivating stories of near-drowning adventures and existential reflections on death, Yellin emphasizes the importance of collaboration and storytelling in art. His unique three-dimensional photomontage technique, weaving vast literary influences, showcases the transformative power of creativity.

01:43:48

forum

Ask episode

web_stories

AI Snips

view_agenda

Chapters

menu_book

Books

auto_awesome

Transcript

info_circle

Episode notes

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Yellin's Early Travels and Experimentation

Dustin Yellin dropped out of high school and hitchhiked through New Zealand and Australia.
He experimented with hallucinogens and had a transformative experience in Thailand, prompting his return to Colorado.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Meeting the Physicist

Yellin met a physicist who introduced him to influential figures like Nikola Tesla and Buckminster Fuller.
They experimented with psychedelics, and the physicist guided Yellin through intense out-of-body experiences.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Psychotic Break and Arrest

During a psychotic break, Yellin believed everyone knew each other and had a series of bizarre encounters.
This culminated in his arrest after climbing Belvedere Castle in Central Park and subsequent hospitalization.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Exploring Health Insights and Online Security

04:15 • 4min

chevron_right

A Journey of Unconventional Discovery

08:26 • 3min

chevron_right

From Hustle to Artistry: A Journey of Transformation

11:48 • 23min

chevron_right

Adventures in Swimming and Near-Drowning Tales

34:19 • 2min

chevron_right

The Art of Storytelling and Collaborative Creativity

36:49 • 16min

chevron_right

The Art of Pioneer Works

53:02 • 17min

chevron_right

Layers of Consciousness

01:10:00 • 14min

chevron_right

Reflections on Death and Its Life-Altering Impact

01:23:52 • 3min

chevron_right

Embracing Mortality and Creativity

01:26:42 • 11min

chevron_right

Embracing Creativity and Connection

The Crack-Up is a posthumous collection of essays by F. Scott Fitzgerald, compiled and edited by Edmund Wilson. It includes three essays originally published in Esquire magazine in 1936, along with letters and notes. The book provides a candid look at Fitzgerald's life, exploring themes of personal struggle, fame, and the disillusionment of the Jazz Age.

Sculpting in Time

Reflections on the Cinema

Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky

In 'Sculpting in Time', Andrei Tarkovsky reflects on his filmmaking philosophy, discussing the role of rhythm and time in cinema. The book provides insights into his creative process and explores the inspirations behind his films, including 'Ivan's Childhood', 'Andrei Rublev', and 'The Sacrifice'. It is a testament to his artistic vision and a valuable resource for understanding his unique approach to filmmaking.

Doors of Perception

Aldous Huxley

In this book, Huxley recounts his first psychedelic experience with mescaline in May 1953. He describes how the drug altered his perception of the world, making ordinary objects and experiences take on profound aesthetic and philosophical significance. Huxley draws on various philosophical and spiritual traditions, including those of William Blake, Meister Eckhart, Plato, and Buddhism, to contextualize his insights. The book challenges conventional views on perception and reality, suggesting that certain substances can reveal deeper aspects of existence that are normally filtered out by the human brain's 'reducing valve'

“I don’t worry about inspiration as much as system overload.” — Dustin Yellin

Dustin Yellin (@dustinyellin) is an artist who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the founder and director of Pioneer Works, a multidisciplinary cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn, that builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. He and his incredible work have been featured by media and organizations including The New York Times, Artforum, Vanity Fair, and TED.

Drawing on both modernism and the sacred tradition of Hinterglas painting, Yellin primarily works through a unique form of three-dimensional photomontage, in which paint and images clipped from various print media are embedded within laminated glass sheets to form grand pictographic allegories, which Dustin calls “frozen cinema.” These totemic and kaleidoscopic works often plumb the history and fate of human consciousness within the Anthropocene (see examples here).

Dustin’s art has been exhibited at or with the Amorepacific Museum, Brooklyn Museum, City Museum, Colección Solo, Corning Museum of Glass, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Museo Del Palacio de Bellas Artes, SCAD Museum of Art, Tacoma Museum, and Creative Time, among many others. He holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Please enjoy!

This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost.

Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you’ll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life. Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim.

This episode is also brought to you by ExpressVPN. I’ve been using ExpressVPN since last summer to make sure that my data is secure and encrypted, without slowing my Internet speed.

A great way to ensure that all of your data is encrypted and can’t be easily read by hackers is by using ExpressVPN. All you need to do is download the ExpressVPN app on your computer or smartphone and then use the Internet just as you normally would. You click one button in the ExpressVPN app to secure 100% of your network data. Use my link ExpressVPN.com/Tim today and get an extra three months free on a one-year package!

***

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.

Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.

For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.

Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.

Follow Tim:

Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss

Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss

Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss

YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss

Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Home Top podcasts Popular guests