Ep 10: Book Talks: "The War of Art" w/ Mandy Wilson Rosen Pep Talks for Artists

In this episode, artist, Mandy Wilson Rosen and I did a deep dive into Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art." We criticized where criticism was due, but we also highlighted many of the helpful and brilliant insights about the phenomenon of creative "Resistance" that the author outlines in the book. After much deliberation, we decided it is a worthy addition to any artist's bookshelf. 

And P.S., Tolstoy very much had a wife, as suspected! Her name was Sophia and, in addition to caring for their 8 surviving children by day, she also copied & edited the War & Peace manuscript after the kids went to bed each night, by candlelight.

Special thanks to artist, Melissa Fernandez, for suggesting this topic, and also thank you to artists, Sally Veach and Andy Cunningham for "calling in" and joining our debate.

Some Links:

"The War of Art" on Amazon

"Why I Hate 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield" / a Liminal Pages blog post by Sophie Playle: https://www.liminalpages.com/i-hate-war-art-steven-pressfield

Sol Le Witt's Letter to Eva Hesse: https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/09/do-sol-lewitt-eva-hesse-letter/

Countess Sophia Tolstaya (Tolstoy): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Tolstaya

Artist Mandy Wilson Rosen: https://mandolynwilsonrosen.com/home.html

Artist Sally Veach: https://www.sallyveach.com/

Artist Andy Cunningham: https://www.andycunningham.net/

Musical Artist Frank Bango (new fox-themed album forthcoming): https://alwaysbango.bandcamp.com/music 

This talk originally aired as a live event on the Clubhouse App, November 16, 2021.

Please connect with Pep Talks on Instagram: @peptalksforartists.


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