Public art in America transforms ordinary streets into extraordinary canvases for everyone to enjoy. Today, we welcome back filmmaker Badir McCleary for a sneak peek into Remote, his documentary series on contemporary public art. In this episode, Badir gives our host, Scott “Sourdough” Power, the inside scoop on season two, slated for release on NOT REAL ART in July 2025. This season is all about changing how we think about public art—not just where to find it, but the deeper stories and themes behind it. 

Badir shares his vision for this new approach, encouraging us all to reflect on the societal narratives these works of art represent and their impact on our urban environments. Throughout the chat, he opens up about his personal experiences and the hurdles he faced while bringing this season to life. From logistical challenges to those unexpected moments that can change everything, Badir's insights highlight the creative process as fluid and evolving.

His passion for public art is contagious, prompting us to see it as more than just something nice to look at. Badir invites us to treat these artworks as living pieces of our communities that spark conversations and reflections on human experiences. This episode is a reminder that art plays a crucial role in our lives, pushing us to engage more deeply with the world around us. 

Don’t miss this look at season two before its official release in July, or catch up on season one of Remote here. 

For more information, please visit https://notrealart.com/badir-mccleary-remote-season-two

The Not Real Art Podcast is intended for creative audiences only.

The Not Real Art Podcast celebrates creativity and creative culture worldwide.

It contains material that is fresh, fun and inspiring and is not suitable for boring old art snobs.

Now let's get started and enjoy the show.

Greetings and salutations, my creative brothers and sisters.

Welcome to Not Real Art, the podcast where we talk to the world's most creative people.

I am your host.

Faithful, trusty, loyal, tireless, relentless host.

Sourdough coming at you from Crew West Studio in Los Angeles.

Man, do we have a great show for you today.

We have our returning champion, our dear friend of the show, the one and only Badir McCleary.

You know him as the art expert from Art Above Reality.

You know him from, of course, our exclusive video series remote with Bader McCleary where where Badir travels the world exploring public art and what it means.

And you can watch season one exclusively@notrealart.com Badir is here today to talk about season two, which is super exciting.

It drops June 1st, so we're gonna get into that in a minute.

Before we do, of course, I want to thank you for tuning in.

We do this for you.

It's all about you.

We're so grateful for you and your loyalty.

So thank you for showing up.

As always, I want to encourage you to go to notrelart.com and check out all the good, healthy, nutritious stuff we have for you there.

It's organic, it's free range, it's gluten free, it's low calorie, all the good healthy stuff right there for you.

You're going to discover amazing artists, incredible art.

Not only you're going to be able to watch season one of Remote and soon season two of Remote, but you're going to be able to check out First Fridays, our monthly online art exhibition.

That drops when?

Oh, right, the first Fridays of every month.

So check out First Fridays.

Also, of course, check out all the free educational content we have for you at the Notrel Art School.

Just go to notrealart.com and click on the school tab.

Check out some amazing videos that we have for you.

Everything from art licensing to art marketing to how to design your first collectible art toy.

It's all there for you and it's all for free.

Last but not least, I want to thank our fiscal sponsor, Arterial.

Arturial.org Arturo is a 501c3 arts organization.

It is a media platform that's built to amplify art of the world and we're so lucky that they took us on as our fiscal sponsor.

That means that you can help support and underwrite our work and get a tax deduction for doing so.

So you can donate a dollar.

$10, $100, a million dollars.

Please donate a million dollars anyway, regardless.

Million dollars or a dollar, every dollar adds up and we need it.

And you need a tax deduction.

And because of our fiscal sponsorship with Arterial, you can get that tax deduction for your donation.

By going to notrelart.com, going to arterial.org you can support the show and support everything we do.

So please consider that.

Thank you so much ahead of time.

And of course, Arturo does a lot of amazing things, not just with not Relart.

So be sure to check out all the other stuff that they're doing and consider supporting them.

Okay, now for our main event, people, we have our returning champion friend of the show, our dear friend and colleague brother from another mother, the one and only Bader McCleary.

Not only is Bader a graduate of Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and a graduate of the Drucker School of Management, he.

He is also now working at NASA as a coder programmer.

He's helping.

He helped get the astronauts that were stuck up in space recently.

He helped get him back.

He's helping launch rockets into space because he's one of these polymath geniuses that has the right brain and the left brain just harmoniously working in a synergistic way to solve all of humanity's problems.

And, and so we're just grateful that Badir is hanging out with us and took time out of his busy schedule helping astronauts and NASA to come talk about season two of Remote.

We're thrilled about season two.

First episode drops in June, so please be sure to check that out.

Of course, if you haven't seen season one, and I mean, I know you have seen season one, but if you haven't seen season one, you need to go to notrealart.com and check it out.

Deer's all over went to Desert X in Coachella Valley.

He was in Philly, he was in la, he was in San Antonio.

All exploring public art, as you know.

And if you don't know, Remote is a video series exclusively available@naralart.com that, you know, Badir travels and he enters the world of public art, revealing the vibrant and often unseen artistry that exists in our everyday environments.

The series was created in partnership with us and is available exclusively@naralart.com so please check it out.

Go to season one.

Season two is coming up in June.

Season two is actually even better.

It's going to be so exciting.

He is all over the place.

He's exploring art parks and outdoor museums.

He's exploring monuments of dedication.

He's exploring street art and graffiti, remote destinations, historical references that shape our world today.

For in creative versus commercial installations.

Sometimes we can't even tell if it's.

If it's a.

Just a pure artwork or if it's some kind of commercial commission.

But in season two of Remote, Badir is exploring all of this and more.

And he's here today to talk about his adventures getting season two done, his hope and vision for you watching season two.

And he's just here to get us all pumped up for what's to come.

So, without further ado, let's get into this amazing and always inspiring conversation that I had with the one and only Badir McCleary.

Adair McCleary, our returning champion.

Welcome back.

Glad to be here.

Not real art.

Glad to be here.

It's, it's.

It's always exciting when we do these.

You know, you just get to reflect, you know, first as friends and then, you know, thinking about the projects, you know, that we're doing and, you know, just the cool stuff.

And also I get to share where I've been and stuff that I've seen and get caught up because it's.

I mean, it's been a cool journey for second season.

I know it's taken a little bit longer than the last one.

It's just because to kind of give the audience a preview with that.

It's like we went for understanding topics in this season instead of just focusing on locations.

Cause I felt it was a little too easy to just go and say, hey, here's this place and here's this art in this place.

It's like this isn't a travel show.

We get more.

I mean, it's based in travel because we're moving around, but we want to talk more about the art.

And I felt, you know, these topics, you know, were.

They were enough to travel and search for.

So, like, I'm, I'm excited just to start that off, you know, I'm excited for folks to see, you know, this second season.

Well, that's, that's.

And that's exactly why we're here.

We're here today to talk about season two of Remote, which is so exciting.

There's so much to.

To talk about there, and we're going to get into that.

But as you just, like, alluded to.

I mean, obviously, I've been excited about season two.

We've been excited about season two.

We've been wanting to.

You know, the reality is we make plans, the gods laugh.

You know, you're zigging and you're zagging.

And so season two, for all kinds of good reasons and maybe not so good reasons, you know, took longer than any of us would have liked.

Obviously.

You know, at the end of the day, as long as the output is as good or better than the previous season, that's all we care about.

And of course, two really exceeds season one in many, many ways.

I mean, you really raised the bar.

Thank you, brother.

Well, one of the, you know, obviously one of the reasons that things took longer is, you know, you.

You had some.

Some life stuff come up.

You had to make some tough choices.

You had to make some pivots, you had to make some changes.

You moved, you left.

You left Southern California.

You.

You moved back to Texas.

You decided to make some, you know, kind of changes in.

In your.

In your kind of professional life in terms of what you're focusing on.

And, brother, I mean, you just inspire us so much because, you know, you're just one of those unique, special humans that has been gifted so many talents and skills and abilities.

And the fact that, you know, obviously, as an artist, as an art lover, as an art expert, as an art curator, art historian, as art critic, I mean, you bring a level of eloquence and intellig that is enviable by anybody.

But then you have these other sides of your life that most people don't even know about.

And, yeah, it's like you call me up one day and say, look, you know, brother, I got a job.

I'm gonna go do this thing.

I'm like, okay, cool, man.

You know, we got bills to pay.

You got to do what you got to do.

I'm like, what's the job?

You're like, well, I'm going to NASA.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna be working at NASA for a minute, doing some.

Doing some programming and trying to get these astronauts back from.

From space or been stuck up there.

I don't know if you heard about it, Sourdough, but there's been some ast up there.

They can't get them back, so they're hiring me to come in and.

And figure this out for them.

And I'm just like, what is happening?

But dear man, his genius is just shining through again again and again.

And so, brother, I.

How you Doing, man, how.

Yeah, I see that you got the astronauts back.

They made it back safe and sound.

Congrats on that.

Well, that's, that's way above me, you know, like, you know, there are some very, very smart people that, you know, I'm fortunate, you know, to work with as a software engineer.

And, you know, the experience has just been life changing, you know, like, you know, we've talked before, I've, you know, worked for, you know, Department of Defense and other different agencies, you know, as an engineer throughout the years, you know, on this, you know, with my art career being the secondary when most folks thinks it's, you know, the primary.

Even though the time that, you know, most folks know me for, you know, art was my primary thing and it's still, it still is, you know, a primary thing of mine.

But, you know, we also have other interests and things that, you know, can expand our mental horizons and also our expectational, you know, horizons, if, you know, if that's even a thing.

Because, you know, being able to see, you know, satellites blast off and, you know, work with people who are just dynamically smart and great folks and, you know, getting to talk with people who've actually left Earth, you know, it's a different game changing conversation.

And it's exciting especially to look at that, you know, in an arts perspective because, you know, when we look at art, it's very micro, right?

We're looking at this one piece in detail and you think of, you know, an astronaut, you know, they're looking at the whole thing in detail.

It's very macro.

But you know, you go out there and you see, you know, what we're made of, you know, just like we're looking at an art, you know, just a piece of art and discovering the materials.

So in relation to remote, I.

It was, it was, it was an exciting transition because it allowed me to come to Houston and kind of slow down, kind of really see what I wanted to do.

Because, you know, LA has its fast paced environment, especially in the art world where, you know, a lot of things are going a lot of different ways and trying to have sustainability can be, can be a challenge, you know, especially in, you know, in our society today.

It was, it was tough when, you know, and I had this other thing in my back pocket that was like, you know, maybe it's time to just switch things up a little bit.

And same thing with remote, you know, it was, you know, looking at the first season, you know, I love the first season.

I love traveling to those places and talking about the works.

That's, you know, my favorite thing to do.

But as I watched first season and, you know, I felt that there was more, you know, I felt that there was a deeper conversation than just going to a place and telling people what I saw.

You know, there.

There are connections, you know, there are reasons for certain places, you know, our parks and museums being one of the episodes.

You know, there are reasons for these things, you know, monuments, you know, why are they there?

You know, there's a great, it's always great to talk about the folks who create them, you know, but I think in this season we touch on, you know, a little bit of the whys, you know, and how these type of environments or objects or themes have shaped who we are as a society.

Yeah, man.

I mean, you.

You knocked it out of the park with season two, brother.

I mean, I just, you know, and if, you know, I.

Season one, you knocked it off too.

But you learn, right?

Like, like, that's the thing.

I mean, you just say, okay, I'll do that different or I'll do that diff, you know, better.

You just learn a lot.

And, and I mean, what a lot of people don't maybe appreciate, and they need to appreciate it, is that you're doing everything.

Soup to nuts.

Not only are you the on air talent, which is its own thing, because you're having to write your scripts and you're having to, like, deliver your lines and you're having to look, look fly and like, you know, and I mess up a lot.

I don't know.

People don't know I mess up a lot.

And it's one of those things too.

And we've talked about it, you know, like, there's some places I have to go twice, you know, like, because I'll drive five hours for a mural or a location, and there's a car in front of it, and the car doesn't move all day, you know, and I'm only there for two days or I'll go to a place and it rains the whole time I'm there, you know?

You know, or I've had something crazy to where I've gone there.

No rain, no car, no nothing.

And I've recorded a whole bit and I lost the sound.

You know, that's.

That's some of the things when you're, you know, doing things.

Soup the nuts, you know, you have to sometimes rush, you know, because there are people that are trying to enjoy this public art too, and you're not there with a permit to start recording.

And you don't want to be, you know, rude either.

You know, people have travel the distance, just like you have to enjoy that piece of art.

So I always try to be, you know, more accommodating than usual because I'm encroaching on their time.

And sometimes I have a conversation.

Sometimes that conversation leads to a little bit of frustration because it's like, okay, now I gotta film.

I don't have much time.

You know, I love to enjoy this, but I got 10 minutes before this starts to happen.

So it's like sometimes I gotta brush people off.

But it's an overall great journey.

You know, it's really cool to just be a part of, you know, telling these stories, you know, in a deeper way.

Well, and I mean, you know, what we're getting at is, you know, because you're doing everything soup to nuts.

I mean, you know, you're filming, you're recording, you're editing, you're, you're.

I mean, you're planning, scheduling, logistics, travel.

You know, you're your own bodyguard.

You don't even have security.

You're your own security.

I mean, man, you get.

You're doing it all.

And, and, and that's what's so amazing about it because, well, number one, you know, you, you got, you got the skills to do that and the talents to do that.

But, but of course, you know, we're living in a time now where we can do this.

I mean, the fact that technology, the barriers to entry.

But, you know, here you are actually doing it and doing it so well and leveling it up, you know, season after season.

And really, you know, the, the love for the content, the love for the art, the love for the game is evident, I think, certainly to me.

And it shines through, I think, on the screen when people watch these videos.

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really a translation of how I feel when I'm there, you know, like.

And I think that's what I love about it, too.

It's like you're getting my genuine response, you know, like, when we talk about scripting, it's just, you know, where am I going?

You know, like, that's literally all the scripting I do.

Because, like, we talked about in the beginning, you know, we can plan all we want, but God has other plans.

You know, there's stuff that I write down like, okay, I'm going to do this.

When I get there, I'm going to do that.

And sometimes you get there and the situation is totally different.

You might can't film in A certain part, or you might can't take photos of a place that you thought you could, or there's a whole tour going on and you can't record audio because there are people or just might be kids around, you know, so you have to adjust different things.

I mean, there's times when I've planned to say two minutes of things and have only been able to say two sentences, you know, and you, you get that and you learn to adjust.

And, you know, sometimes those two sentences were all I needed, you know, and then you realize that maybe that was a little overkill.

So you start to understand your workflow a little bit more.

And as you get to these places, you start to, you know, be a little bit quicker, a little bit sharper.

Because, you know, again with the bodyguard thing, that's made me laugh because it's like sometimes there's like a hundred people or something like that around.

You know, you're setting up a camera and doing all this type of stuff.

You don't know what people's intentions are.

You don't know what people.

You know, people like to jump in front of the camera.

People like to do all types of stuff.

You don't have anybody saying, hey, you know, he's doing this and that.

And then why would they care anyway?

You know, sometimes, you know, you just.

You just gotta be a little bit sharper.

And that's helped, you know, that's helped me to where, you know, even going to the Venice Biennale, you know, I'm popping up in the middle of, you know, a public art thing and doing a piece, you know, and was really cool because I'm doing that.

And after that I did a 30 minute talk, you know, with people, and I'm like, yeah, you know, I know Lauren's work.

You know, she lived not too far from me in la.

I had just seen her when I was in London a couple of days ago.

She had just had an opening.

So that led to more conversation.

And that's also one of the things that kind of brought me to this season's theme of being able to be more informational, you know, not just location based, of, hey, these are the things that sit at these coordinates.

People want a little bit more, you know, they deserve a little bit more, especially when they're going.

Because there is no, you know, most of the time, no curator at these public spaces to actually talk.

You know, you can pay for a tour sometimes, but, you know, there are times to where, you know, I've had people say, hey, you know, I've watched remote season one and I went to visit Desert X.

You know, some people did it this year.

You know, I went to go check it out, didn't know it happened, you know, and I went to go check it out, and it was amazing, you know, so it also is one of those things that bring awareness and it's all cool.

Yeah, man.

I mean, you know, like, there's so many nuances and dimensions to it because, you know, with season one, obviously, you're figuring out your production game and how you're going to handle this, that or the other in terms of audio or video or whatever, say nothing of post production, editing, whatever, but it's.

It's even.

So you're learning all that, but even in season one, it.

Well, I guess because.

Because you're learning all this stuff, you're limited in that you can't maybe go as deep as you want to go because you're learning.

And then with season two, you got the production down.

You.

You figured out, you know, the kind of the.

The production aspects, and it's like, okay, I can think deeper about the content, but the thing about it, brother, is that your voice, and I mean, I have the privilege of having known you for, you know, several years now anyway, and as someone who knows you the way I do, your voice comes through regardless.

Like.

Like, I think a lot of people struggle to find their voice sometimes, you know, whether they're a journalist or whether they're, you know, artists or just, you know, I don't know, human being.

Yeah.

Finding one's voice, right, is.

Is.

Is takes time.

And.

And what's clear to me is you're not struggling to find your voice in season one at all.

You're not struggling at all.

Of course, even to find your voice in season two.

The struggle has to do more with the logistics, maybe on the production or whatever, just kind of learning it.

But your voice is there, brother.

And the integrity, the authenticity of who Badir McCleary is as a human, as an art lover, as an artist, as a.

As a thinker is self evident.

I mean, it just, like, that's not at all compromised in any way.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you, bro, for that.

Like, I.

And it's one of those things to where it's like, like, I actually like this stuff.

You know what I mean?

Like, it isn't like, you know, like, it isn't like, okay, you know, just, I got put on this job, I'm trying to get this stuff.

It's like, I actually, like, I don't have A problem doing this, you know.

You know, sometimes it gets, you know, tough.

Like, all right, I gotta do this drive.

Or, you know, some like.

I hate the air process.

I love traveling, but I hate the airport process, you know, but it's just like, I love doing this.

When I get there, it's like, man, like, this is amazing, you know, like, it's.

There's places that I'm just like dying to get to and I'll travel, you know, seven hour flight just to see some artwork, you know, Like, I really like this.

And I think that authenticity of who I am leaves no room for, you know, any type of, you know, miscommunication, misconception of what I'm actually there for.

Like, I'm there for the art, you know, and I'm there to talk about the art so that you would become interested in the art, you know, and you would want to take a journey and you want to plan a family trip and just go see this and just take some time and just go, you know, like that's, you know, that's, you know, kind of in a sense what remote is all about, right?

You know, like just taking the time and just going to see.

Because each journey for me is, you know, almost like in a sense of a pilgrimage, for lack of a better word.

You know, like it's, you know, I'm going to these places with an idea of something that, you know, turns into a reality.

And now I can share that because I had this thought of what it is, and now I know what it is.

I've seen it, a photograph it, I've experienced it, and now I can talk to what it is.

I think that's research on the highest level.

Like being able to go and see a person's work at a gallery from seeing it far apart, far out, I'm sorry, in the public space and having that experience of seeing it outside of the four walls or outside of a studio and just in nature, it changes my perspective of their practice.

You know, I'm.

I'm not just looking at them as.

Not that I ever saw them as a one dimensional creator, but it expands my ability to understand their potential, of what their creativity is.

You know, like, I understand that, you know, maybe they have aspirations for something greater, you know, and then you see these artists do something larger.

You know, some artists that you've seen only in galleries and now this year they had their first desert art, you know, Desert X art piece.

Or you see them in a large airport piece in France or in somewhere else, and you're like, wow.

You know, like, that's cool.

Like, how did they get here?

You know, they're from Leeds, Alabama.

Yeah, right.

It's really cool to see, you know, to even think about these journeys, because these artists are having their own journeys.

You know, while I'm taking these journeys to see their artwork, they.

They're taking journeys to make them, to place them, you know, to create relationships, to get them seen as well.

So it's almost like.

Like, for me and anyone else who does visit public art and enjoy it, like we do, it's kind of like a handoff, you know, like, hey, you know, I've created the work.

I've done this now.

I've put it out in nature.

Now you tell me how you experience it, you know, And I think that's the dopest part about it, because I'm sure, you know, many artists, they look for these type of things.

They look for people to speak about, you know, their engagement with the arts.

You know, that's.

That's the completion of what it all is, you know, because if you put it out in, you know, nowhere and no one sees it, is it art?

You know, that's kind of one of those questions, you know, you think of, like, Prada Marfa, you know, like, in this season, like, Prada Marfa is in the middle of nowhere.

It is literally, like, you see the season, like, I'm on, like, the quietest block in history.

Like, I'm literally whispering because if I talk in this tone, I'm yelling.

Like, it echoes across.

Like, I'm really yelling.

And you just think about it, and you're just like, man, like, if no one comes to visit this, what is this?

It's us being there that makes it something, you know, like.

And I think that's the coolest thing about it all.

Yeah, well, you, You, You.

You covered so much ground in season two, literally and figuratively, and, you know, just to kind of level set for people.

Season one, you know, was awesome.

Okay?

And I.

And, you know, this is your show.

Like, you come up with this.

These concepts, and you were out in Desert X covering, you know, the artwork out there.

You were in, of course, in Philly, your hometown, talking to, you know, the peeps out there and the rich history of public art.

In Philly.

You were, you know, here.

Here in la, of course, you know, down there at Hauser and Worth.

You were in San Antonio.

You were in D.C.

you know, basically, you did six videos in sort of six different areas.

Season one, in season two, man, I mean, you, like, level up like 10x or more.

And you're international.

You know, you're traveling, you're crisscrossing the country.

Name the cities both internationally and nationally that are in season two, man.

I mean, you've already mentioned things like the Venice, Ben Alley and, And Stonehenge and what have.

But I mean, just go think about it.

Go down the list because you were in some exotic, amazing, wonderful places.

And so let's see, we got Philly, New York, Atlanta, Alabama, Houston, Joshua Tree, London, Venice, Barcelona.

Next week, to finish up one of the episodes, New Orleans, Iowa, Chicago, Nevada.

And maybe I'm trying to sneak Mexico City in there somehow, and I go there next month.

So I'm, I'm holding one of the episodes off for some Mexico City stuff.

Smart.

But yeah, that's.

I'm pretty sure I missed like one or two.

But yeah, you were all over the place.

And that, and that just shines through.

I mean, even in one episode, you know, you're, you're, you're national and you're international in one episode, it's like, man, this dude is like all over the place.

Prolific.

And I mean, again, that's kind of the beauty of these tools as well, because it's, it doesn't.

You know, the equipment that you use isn't necessarily bulky or heavy.

So you can travel, you're light on your feet, you're mobile, so to speak.

You can, you can take this with you on the road as you do other things.

And you're covering these stories kind of in real time as you, you know, as you go about your life and, and, and that, and that's fantastic.

It's so inspiring.

But obviously you felt, I'm guessing I know you, I think, well enough to know that you were probably feeling a bit of putting pressure on yourself in season two to really level up and, you know, in season two just to kind of level set for people.

We've got another six episodes.

We've got art parks and outdoor Museums.

Episode one, we've got episode two, Monuments of Dedication.

Episode three, we've got you cover street art and graffiti.

Episode four, you're in Remote Destinations.

Episode five, it's all about historical references that shape our world today.

And then in episode six, it's creative versus commercial, that line that gets blurred between, you know, real arts and maybe corporate arts or art as art for art's sake versus art for marketing sake.

I mean, how did you get to these six episodes?

Because obviously you planned all this.

You had to develop it.

You had to know what you were going to shoot and do or whatever.

How did you land on these six ideas?

I think that comes from just my experience as, you know, a curator, advisor, consultant.

And those are those things that kind of like, come up a lot.

You know, think of, like, different currencies where you have, like, social currency, historical currency, financial currency, different currencies that people trade in via art, you know, art parks and museums.

You know, I always found that very interesting because these, they, they kind of blur the lines of what actually a museum is, you know, and we talk about that in there because an art park can pop up anywhere.

You know, you can get a group of creatives on an abandoned building, as we've seen many of times.

And the city helps to designate those as art parks, which I think is amazing.

And, you know, there are local curators that help to moderate the changing of the walls, you know, keep the quality up, you know, same way that a museum curator would, you know, in house, museum curator would.

And I think they should be appreciated and represented as so, because they do a great job.

You know, creativity versus commercialism.

You know, sometimes people don't know, you know, what they're looking at or, you know, why it's in a certain place.

You know, with.

With many public art installations being placed in some of the weirdest places, people sometimes ask why, you know, is, is there a reason for this here?

Or did someone just want something from this artist at their location?

Which sometimes is the case, but, you know, other times there's public art that, you know, identifies a moment at a location or remembers a moment, I should say, or is there to create a brand new moment, you know, to help with space.

You know, like sometimes putting a public art piece and space is just amazing.

Public art with historical references, I thought was, you know, very key because we come across this every day.

You know, in every city we're in, we always see a monument, sculpture of something in history where we do not know the origin of.

And you have to take a look, especially from Philadelphia.

I mean, they're all over the place.

You know, there's, you know, just decades and centuries of history, you know, in these monuments.

Again, they.

They meant something or mean something to our current world.

You know, it can be related to how a city is designed.

It can be related to, you know, why a plaza is.

Is in a certain place.

You know, same thing with monuments.

You know, instead of being a city focusing on cities, it focuses on the people that help shape those cities in those communities, and they're done.

So Very well, you know, by artists, too.

And, you know, it goes back to us talking about stepping outside the studio.

You know, this gives these artists a chance to not only show their appreciation for the moment or the person, but to show that community their talent, their appreciation, and to plant themselves in someone's.

In someone.

Same thing with street art and graffiti.

It plants you in someone's daily life.

Being in la, how many collectors we know have collected street art just because they ride by it, you know, so much, and gotten familiar, you know, with the artists on their way, coming down, you know, the 10 chaka.

You know, people see chaka, you know, all over the place and, like, yo, I gotta have that.

It's nostalgic.

So all of these episodes help to drive something cool about, you know, about us, you know, as people.

And I think, like, again, you know, touching back to the original question, they touch on very, very key parts of our art business, you know, especially in public art.

So, yeah, that.

That's where those came from, man, I tell you.

And I was so grateful that you.

For the Remote Destinations episode, because.

And, you know, it's like sometimes you and I, whether you realize it or not, I.

I think we're just in sync because, yeah, it was funny because I was travel.

I was traveling somewhere myself, and in this airport, there was just this amazing installation.

And I thought to myself, man, I gotta.

We gotta.

I gotta get bader.

I gotta talk to Badir, talk to him about.

About doing some.

Some remote episodes about art in the airports and stuff.

And then, lo and behold, you're, of course, 10 steps ahead of me, because next thing you know, you drop Remote destinations, and there you are in the airports talking about public art.

The airport.

Yeah.

And I.

And I think.

I think that's the.

That's another cool thing that's helped me when I talk about.

I hate the airport process.

Yes.

I'm a frequent terminal walker.

You know, I get there early sometimes just to walk through terminals, right.

And see what's there.

And that piece, the Traveler, I've been trying to see that for years, you know, and I never went through Orlando Airport, you know, so the time and it's crazy, the connection.

When I'm going to Kennedy Space center to do some stuff, I traveled through Orlando, and something about me was like, wait a minute, that sculpture is here.

So I.

I was coming out of Terminal A, and I went to the information desk, and I pulled it up on my phone, and I asked the lady, I said, excuse me, can you tell me where this is?

Because you Know, if I say the name ain't gonna know what I'm talking about.

I was like, do you know where this is?

And she was like, sure, yeah, it's right over there.

It cut down the hall.

I was like, oh, thank you.

So I went there and I stood at it for about five minutes.

Stood and stared at it for about five minutes.

And I was like, man, like, this is.

This is dope because it's just an amazing piece.

Like, and you see the people walking by, like, wait a minute.

Is this person in a glass, you know, in a glass house?

And it.

The.

The irony is that, you know, waiting for your flight and sometimes delays can put you in a glass case of emotion, you know, so it was.

It was that, you know, laughable moment, but just to see it was like, this is very dope.

And, you know, I've seen so much cool work, you know, on the travel in the airport.

It's like, how can you not mention it?

It's, you know, that's the most public of it all.

It's probably seen by the most people, you know, out of all public art.

Like, the airport, like, sees millions of people a day, you know, that's probably the most visible form of public art, you know.

Airport art.

Yeah, yeah.

Because, I mean, it's at the crossroads, right?

And.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, that.

That just.

That episode was great.

And I mean, they're.

They're just all great, brother.

I mean, you know, in terms of just again, taking it to another level and, you know, having these visions for the.

For the stories that.

That you want to tell.

And I'm honored to be affiliated with this project.

I'm honored.

Damn that you.

That we're doing this together because there's so much goodness here.

Yes, sir.

And that's.

That's.

I think that bleeds into what people see on screen, you know, because we just in sync, like you said, you know, between me, you, man.

One, you know, our, like, we just.

We just work great, you know, like, and I think that's because we're actual friends, you know what I mean?

Like, you know, like, it's one of those things to where it's like, you know, you know what I'm going to do.

I know it's going to have, you know, what's going to happen.

I know that you got me.

I know that we got, like, it's.

It's a comfortable work environment, you know, unlike, you know, what a lot of people have to do in their daily 9 to 5, you know, like, you know, that Breeds great results, you know, And I think, you know, you being patient with me and Morgan as well, you know, with just understanding, like, hey, you know, I'm trying to get this and make this thing the best.

And you're like, dude, no worries.

I know what you're trying to do.

I think that's.

That's relaxing for a creative, you know, because I've talked with different artists that have, you know, prepped for gallery and museum shows, and, you know, they're like, oh, my God, I got pressure.

I got this, I got that.

And it's, you know, it's real pressure, you know, they're trying to deliver.

Then sometimes, you know, even Dave said, like, you know, the first five pieces I did was great, but the last five, I kind of rushed, you know, so that, you know, I.

Because I was trying to beat a deadline.

I think in this season, you see a little bit more calm, a little bit more pacing.

Yes, yes.

So true.

You know, because it wasn't.

I wasn't trying to hurry up and put something out.

I wasn't trying to just say, hey, you know, we got to get this done and knock it out.

And also, you know, my personal life wasn't as stressful.

You know, I was able to calm down and, you know, focus on things, put a few things in order, which allowed me to, you know, kind of seek Sea street, you know, in a sense, you know, the.

Like, all right, you know, this is.

This is this, you know, and, you know, I don't like this part as much, you know, so let me redo this or.

Or that part of it.

I didn't.

That doesn't really tell any part of the story.

Let me go get this part instead.

And I think that led to better episodes overall with just having those options of just also, you know, the time to be able to go to the places.

Because, you know, I wouldn't have.

You know, if I had a deadline, I wouldn't have gone to about maybe eight or nine of those places, you know, so.

Right.

You know, I wouldn't have got some of the good things that I've gotten.

And some of those moments that, like, are like, wow, you know, I.

I'm here and I'm checking out this, and I'm doing this, and I'm catching this really cool part, like you said, like, you know, being in Venice Biennale, you know, seeing the public art and doing public art there, it's, you know, that's something folks, you know, might not get a chance to see, you know, but we're encouraging them to go out there.

Even if you don't go to the actual show, Venice itself, you know, lights up and it's also a great vacation.

Same thing with London.

You know, you don't always have to, you know, go to galleries.

If you feel uncomfortable, you can go outside, you know, included as part of your travel, included as part of your family enjoyment.

You know, it's there for us.

You know, it's, there's no, you know, velvet rope carton at all.

You know, we can, we can enjoy these things and I think that's what, you know, that's what shines through, what we hope shines through.

So out of the six episodes, I'm going to put you on the spot, which one's your favorite?

Man, I know they're all your babies, you love them all the same, but if you had to pick one and.

One, I would probably have to say, man, that's tough, man.

Maybe art parks and museums, okay, Because I think that's a, a good, like the Venn diagram connection of both worlds because, you know, it's, it's basically bringing the collection in a sense outside.

It's people to enjoy art on their terms.

Especially like, you know, like Noah Purifoy's place, which is a place that I love.

It shows that, you know, you, you don't have to be polished to be a part of it.

You know, it also takes me back to, you know, the, the artists of the south that created with whatever they had and you know, just put it in their front yard, you know, like for display.

It's a, a non apologetic way of introducing your art to the world and I think that's very cool with graffiti, with collectors who open art parks, you know, they're really cool art parks.

Like the one in Iowa, the Papa John Art Park.

There's one in San Antonio, Chris Park, Grounds for Sculpture, which is in the episode.

These places, they become real sanctuaries for people.

I know they are for me because they're, they're in an ab.

They're in abundant areas that, you know, again, the curatorial aspect of it is amazing.

But the, the nature, the curatorial, you know, part of the nature.

Like even in the desert, like we talk about, with no pure for even the desert, you know, it's curated perfectly.

Like those pieces work perfect for the desert.

And you go to, you know, Iowa with the, you know, lush green park, those pieces work perfectly there.

You know, so it's someone taking that into consideration, you know, which I enjoy.

You know, I enjoy every aspect of It.

Catching it on a sunny day Catching it on a rainy day.

How do pieces react?

Some pieces look amazing on a rainy day.

You know what I mean?

Like, some pieces you can't really see in the sun.

You know, like, there's this perspective change with art parks and museums.

Every time you go, there's something that sticks out differently to you.

There's something that's added, there's something that's removed.

So I think that might be my favorite episode.

You know, it would be hard for me to pick which one of those were my favorite on a certain level.

Remote destinations spoke to me just because it was, you know, I was like, oh, yeah, he's.

He's in the airport.

So that just made me so happy.

But I.

You know, I've been out to Joshua tree to.

To Pearl4's thing, and, you know, I've been there.

And you're so.

Right.

You're just like, wait a minute.

This is just.

There is.

Where else could this be?

Yeah, exactly.

Right.

Where else could it be?

Where else?

Nowhere else.

Like, and so that.

Yeah, that's a.

That's.

That's.

That's a great episode.

Then, of course, you know, I mean, come on.

I mean, the street art, graffiti, I mean, you know, we just.

We just love the power and the rawness of that and.

Yeah, man, that's just so of the moment.

Yeah.

Like, I don't know.

It's hard to pick.

Yeah.

And.

And that's.

That's the thing, too.

It's like, even.

Even going to some of these places, like, you have to decide which episode it's for because, like, some of them can literally go to all six episodes.

Yes.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Like, we talked earlier about Prada, Marfa.

That could be creative or commercial, you know, but that's also in a remote destination, you know, so, like, these episodes.

Episodes intertwine, you know, with, you know, their thematic presentation to where it's like, man, you could have really.

This could have been over there, or this monument could have been historic or, you know, this art park, you know, could be in street art and graffiti, you know, and I think that shows that, you know, art is truly connected.

You know, there's.

There's no one art better than the other.

They all cross fields.

You know, street artist has created fine art.

A fine artist has taken to the street many of times.

You know, so that's.

That's what I think is very cool about all the episodes.

You know, these works, they.

They can rest in either of.

Yeah, I don't envy you in the editing room.

I'm just saying, as you're alluding to, you have all this amazing content.

It's like, you know, it's like you gathered the clay right now.

You gotta, like, shape it and.

And mold it and into that, you know, very idiosyncratic work of art.

You know, what stays, what goes.

And then sifting through all of that media and understand, oh, I know I have that shot.

Where is that shot?

You know, so cataloging it, keeping good records.

I mean, just all those things.

Yeah.

And everyone.

I was offered help.

You know, Scott offered me.

He offered to get me help, you know, but, you know, with the editing, for me, it's like writing an article.

You know, Like, I'm.

I'm.

I'm editing as I'm doing voiceovers, you know, I'm thinking, like, hey, you know what?

What's a better way to tell this part of this story?

You know, sometimes a voiceover is way better than something on screen.

You know, you can.

You can deliver it a little bit clearer, you know, with images and a voiceover.

It's.

It's kind of like you said, it's just.

It's just building.

And sometimes, sometimes it's hard to translate that, you know, that thought process of being on site and how I'm seeing things if that person hasn't been there, you know, and, you know, for me, it's like, all right, let me just.

Let me just finish this up.

And then for.

For the next time, or if you do something else, I know I'm going to start with.

Including you, so you could see, you know, with.

All right, this is how I'm thinking about this.

This is how that.

Because that script allows an editor to follow certain things.

But then when I get to being able to maneuver because of what the location is providing, that's when it's like, oh, I got to explain.

Oh, I got that shot because there was a bird that was chasing my drone for the last 15 minutes, and I couldn't do, like, you know, so it's, you know, it's.

It's trying to translate that, and sometimes it's just easier for me to take the 15 minutes and totally, you know, go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and just drop it in after thinking about it for an hour, you know, so.

Yeah, yeah, that's.

That's.

Yeah, it.

It.

Yeah, it can be.

It can be a hassle.

But I also think it lends to.

Again, we mentioned in the beginning, the learning, you know, all right, I'm learning okay, this is what I need to do.

Oh, it's easier to do it this way.

Okay, so the next episode.

This is clearer.

This is that one.

This is that.

So, yeah, it's a, it's a learning and sometimes it's a bit of stubbornness too.

Well, I mean, but it's, but it's, I mean, you know, probably an appropriate metaphor.

I mean, you're, you're an artist and you're painting a paint and you know, what you're trying to paint and what you're trying to say, the story you're trying to tell with the paint, with the work, and only you can do it.

You know, you can't hand it off, you can't get it two thirds of the way there and hand the paintbrush to somebody else, say, okay, finish it up.

Right.

And that's kind of what you're getting at, right?

Like you were there from the beginning.

You're doing it all, only you have all the information in your head.

You remember that bird that flew in?

You gotta.

Okay, so you can't have a hand off the editing to, to someone else who doesn't know what, you know, what's, what.

And so, yeah, so totally get that.

And.

But that's also part of what's so beautiful about Remote is because we truly do.

Well, we hear your voice, but we see your hand.

Yeah, you see, like for me, in art, it's really important.

I tend not to always gravitate to art that feels so refined and polished that it looks like it could have been manufactured in a state of the art Apple facility or something.

Right.

Like, I like to see the hand, the humanity in it.

And what I love about Remote is I see and feel your hand.

It's a, it's beautiful, it's.

There's a humanity to it.

Yeah, man.

And I think that again, that's what shines through again.

Like, I actually like doing it, you know, like.

Right, right.

It's fun.

It's that thing.

Yeah, it's fun.

It's like, you know, you know, even with other film things and other stuff like that, it's, it's, it's fun.

Like I only do the things I like to do, you know, Like I've, I've learned over, you know, the years of doing some crazy projects, projects I should have never been in, to just only do things you like to do, you know, and just, it just makes it so much easier, you know, stress wise and you know, creatively, because at that point you're not hitting up against the Wall because you're trying to, you know, stick to a standard that someone's expecting.

Like, you know, they're.

You're creatively working toward a new standard.

You know, you're.

You're able to expand to something new.

And it's like, hey, you know, this new thing could be greater or it could be worse, but you won't know until you give it a shot, you know, like, there's a painter out there who just started sculpture, you know, two months ago, you know, and what they make two months after that is.

Will be nothing in comparison to what they make from a year from now, you know, So I use that in the same way of just like I'm trying to.

Trying to create that pace of just understanding how I can be better and how I can tell the stories that I'm seeing better, you know, and include people along the way.

I think great storytellers just love the stories they're telling.

They love the.

They love the stuff they're talking about, right?

Yeah.

On some level, there's that passion, that integrity, that authenticity that shines through, you know, and you were.

You've always been an excellent communicator and obviously remote gave you kind of a new space and a new medium to kind of.

Of, you know, tell a story and express your voice in maybe a different way.

But what have you learned about the power of storytelling and story and through this journey?

And what do you think artists should know, if they don't already, about the power of story and storytelling in.

In terms of, you know, their work and their practice?

So I don't know.

What have you learned about story and sort of thing, and what do you want artists to know about story and storytelling?

I think the biggest thing that, you know, I've learned and that artists should know is that your initial story is not always the story I will receive.

And that could be because of location, that can be because of placement, that could be because of time.

Public art changes over time.

You know, houses are built, you know, or.

Or knocked down.

You know, other things are built around it that, you know, lend or add to the public art that's there.

You know, it gets nicknames.

It be.

Becomes other titles.

It, you know.

You know, so the thing that, you know, you could create a, you know, a large dinosaur in the studio that could talk about mass destruction, and it goes into the public sphere, and it could be the.

The biggest place where kids hang out and climb, you know, like, the way it's translated is for the viewer.

You know, that's.

I think that's the biggest thing when we talk about, again, that.

That handoff between the artist and the viewer is that your art is not going to always mean what you.

What it's intended to mean.

Right.

You know, and over time, that meaning changes.

New things, new events happen in certain areas near public art pieces or surrounding, you know, different public arts to where they become identified with new events.

So I guess, you know, don't be afraid of the meaning changing, you know, or evolving, you know, not necessarily changing, but just evolving.

Yes.

You know, or they're not static.

Yeah, it's.

They're not static at all.

I think that's a great, great way to put it, because as people, you know, get comfortable with public art, they develop their own relationships to it, you know, and I think that's important, too.

You know, there are plenty of murals that people have no clue what the actual name of them are, but they call them something else.

Yes.

You know, and that's their endearing.

Endearing term for it.

And I think that's important.

I've often wondered if, you know, if any artists have actually changed the name of their public art pieces because of, you know, people giving it new identities, you know, because I wonder, like, you know, we think of Philadelphia, you know, I wonder if it was actually called the Rocky Statue.

Yeah, right.

You know, I wonder if it was called something else.

You know, maybe.

Maybe it was intended to be for rock, but maybe it was called something else, you know, or the title is different or there's.

There's so many things, like, I think in Chicago, you know, Anish Kapoor's, what is like Cloud Gate, people call it the Bean.

Oh, yeah, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

You know what I mean?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Shy town, baby.

The Bean.

It's the Bean.

You know, like, they've.

They've changed the whole identity of what that piece is.

Right.

You know, and it's.

And it's endearing, you know, like.

And what does that mean to Chicago?

You know, we don't.

Reminds me of that old.

That.

Remember that reminds me of that old saying, you know, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

You know, it's like you can put something out there, but, I mean, the culture is going to decide for itself.

Facts.

That's totally true.

It's.

You know, I think that's one of the things that, you know, artists should be aware of and appreciate.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, brother, I tell you what, we got to wrap up, but I'd say That is such a great way of putting it.

And I couldn't be more thrilled about Remote Season two.

I'm so grateful and honored to be.

Be associated and affiliated with you on this project.

Of course.

These episodes are exclusively available@notrelart.com they're gonna.

First episode will drop in June.

Coming up, people, in a couple of weeks, few weeks, June, and then one new episode every month for the balance of the year.

And as these things roll out and cascade out, they're just gonna spread goodness and positive energy, you know, because I think people.

What shines through is that you're.

You're giving people permission to interpret these works for themselves.

And I think that's for those of us who've been around our world and artists for so long.

We understand that there is no right or wrong answer.

Yep.

It's a per.

It's a.

That's the whole beauty of art.

It's a subjective thing, and we need to just, you know, understand how we feel about it.

How does it make us feel?

And I think a lot of folks out there might feel like, oh, there's a right or wrong answer.

I don't know what the thinkers see or think about what I'm seeing.

And if they watch remote, they're gonna just feel the permission you're giving them, you know, to go to these spaces and just take it in and think for themselves.

Yeah.

What it's making them feel and record what you see.

If you want to talk about it, you know, you should talk about it too.

You know, like, I think that that adds to the conversation, you know, of, you know, what these pieces are intended.

You know, they're.

They're not intended, I'm sure, by these artists to sit there and be blocked off, you know, for no one to engage with it.

I think that will go against everything that they're about, and they're definitely not about that.

And I.

And if you see a piece that you like, you know, tell an artist, find out the name.

I'm pretty sure they have Instagram or something like that.

Tell them, hey, I saw your piece in Joshua Tree and whatever, and it made me feel this way.

I love it.

I would love to follow you.

I'd love to support you.

That means so much to an artist, you know, especially the ones that are living and working.

That's.

I mean, that's.

That's amazing.

Trust me.

They.

They appreciate that.

It's food, it's nourishment, it's nutritious.

It's vital.

You know, that kind of feedback.

And so, brother, I tell you what, man, I'm again so grateful you're so busy these days.

I mean, not just doing remote and supporting artists and curating shows and stuff, but now you're.

You're.

You're.

You're launching rockets into space, and you're bringing astronauts back from space back to Earth, and, you know, I don't even know what you're doing now.

We're probably going to wrap up, and you're probably going to go, you know, over to, you know, the NASA, you know, headquarters and program some new rocket launch.

I don't know.

But I tell you what, I'm gonna get some lunch.

You get some lunch.

Okay.

Keep it.

Keep it real.

Okay, Cool.

I'm so inspired by you, Badir.

You are truly an inspiration.

Thank you for being a part of our community in our world here at Not Relard.

And we love you, brother, and love.

You all, too, big time.

All right, man.

Well, Godspeed.

Thanks for listening to the Not Real Art podcast.

Please make sure to like this episode, write a review, and share with your friends on Social.

Also, remember to subscribe so you get all of our new episodes.

Not Relart is produced by Crew West Studios in Los Angeles.

Our theme music was created by Ricky Peugeot and Desi Delauro from the band parlor Social.

Not Real Art is created by we edit podcast and hosted by Captivate.

Thanks again for listening to Not Real Art.

We'll be back soon with another inspiring episode celebrating creative culture and the artists who make it.