orbisms
Transmissions from the Void
Transmission #23 - Ainslie
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Transmission #23 - Ainslie

Emotive moments of clarity

This week, my guest is with stop motion artist, Ainslie. Incredibly thoughtful and deep, he shared his journey as a creative across multiple industries, and how he came to create the incredibly emotive scenes I have come to know him through. A lot happened in his life before he even picked up a camera to snap a scene of any sort!

At the beginning of our discussion that is peppered with laughter and inner reflection, he mentions something that really hit home for me. He said that looking at a blank page is daunting, and that it feels “sterile.” I love this because it addresses the never ending question of, “where do I start?” So we start at the beginning.

I honestly thought this story would start with art school, but really, it begins with pop culture, music, and TV. Ainslie says his “first life” begins with being on a reality tv show. While he was always into making music, this was what actually led to him becoming a pop music artist. It’s a wild trip.

While we skirt around the topic of identity a little at first, we take a deeper dive into
his life post-reality-TV, which met him with the expectation of his on-screen personality to be present at all times. It’s ironic that who we are may not always be what people want to see from us.

His next life, was the “broken singer-songwriter” one. This led to him finding joy with his hands in some clay, in a clay sculpture class. So in a sense, this part of Ainslie’s story is the transition that led him to find who he really is. Looking for meaning, he found some in giving shape (read: meaning) to something else. I find this beautifully poetic.

This switch from a public personality in pop culture, to finding sense in a hands-on craft, is such a beautiful one to me. Personally, I find that there is something incomparable to being happy making something with your hands; the tactile sense of completion is really special, and I don’t think one even has to be an artist to appreciate this. Hell, go make a paper airplane and see what I mean!

So, having found delight in a new medium, Ainslie decided to go to art school. Even just touching on this, I found our conversation consistently laced with windows into his personal story, and how it influenced not just who he is, but how he found himself creating what he does.

Talking a bit about the technical elements that goes into what he does, as well as the esoteric elements that make up his works’ narrative, I was so pleased to hear him explain that one of the primary underlying themes in his work is vulnerability. His appreciation of how many negative elements go into defining the human experience is just absolutely fucking beautiful to me.

I talk about dark art so much, and it is so humbling and validating to hear somebody approaching complex themes of sadness and discomfort like this. The aesthetic Ainslie has chosen, and the approach that he takes is so unique, and singular in a sea of emotive animated art. Finding beauty in the darkness of humanity is truly an art form in and of itself, but giving it a face like this is happens on a completely different level.

When I ask whether he wants to convey hope with his creations, he says he does, and he doesn’t. Listening to our discussion again, I came to realize the profoundness of his sentiment in his work. He holds honesty, and what makes humanity what it is in such high regard, that it makes me feel literal relief that others can be unafraid to feel their feelings so fully, with no regrets.

We dive into topics of intention with art, and reflect on a lot of deep subject matter about our humanity, but I ultimately bring it to what is clearly the most important question of this millenium: What the fuck is the deal with Keith & Lindsay.

The explanation goes beyond ideas of residual animism; it is so incredibly layered, the only way to accurately get the picture, is to listen to his explanation, around 44 minutes into our discusssion. I feel like I leveled up in life, now having better understood the completely brain exploding concept and story behind this piece:

After that, we riff about NFTs a bit, and get into how awesome H=N (Hic et Nunc for those that missed an era of NFTs on Tezos) was back in the day, and what things are like now. And then, after some more NFT culture talk, he circles back to asking me about body suspension.

After breaking down what I do with suspension for a bit, we wrap it up on the positive note that maybe folks just need to be more open minded, and try things that scare them. It scares me to think that had I not gotten into NFTs, it would be less likely that I would have met Ainslie at some point. What an absolutely brilliant mind.

Please be sure to check out everything he’s got on Tezos, and take the time to turn the sound on and let it all loop for a bit! I promise it will make you feel something beautiful.


This weekend, I’ll be sharing my podcast session I had with 404, a very different kind of discussion, with a very different kind of artist! Check him out here:

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orbisms
Transmissions from the Void
A cross-disciplinary dive into realms of art, technology, crypto, and everything in between. Sometimes esoteric, sometimes thoughtful, always observing connections between our humanity and the worlds we engage with physically and digitally.
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