← Founder's Story
Founder's Story
The Artist Who Turns Executives Into Creators | Ep 263 with Charles Edelman
00:19:07
Charles Edelman—painter, teacher, and relentless experimenter—describes art as a “mental gym” for the brush and the mind. From meeting Warhol to reimagining Guernica as a 30-foot mural of joy, he shares how discipline, curiosity, and quiet transform people—and why creativity is a skill anyone can train.
Loading summary
Transcript32 lines
- [00:03]
ExxonMobil Representative
When it comes to reducing carbon emissions, the heaviest industries face the toughest challenges. That's where we come in. ExxonMobil is investing in technology to help American industry lower its emissions, including in our own operations. All while empowering businesses and creating job opportunities. It turns out that fewer emissions can mean a stronger economy. ExxonMobil, let's deliver.
- [00:30]
MultiCare Representative
Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because MultiCare has been here guided by a single purpose. Making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@mycare.org.
- [01:01]
GoFundMe Representative
Imagine if today was the day your idea changed someone's life. Imagine if you could help someone pay for college, help your community build a new playground, or help a child make it to that dream. Competition with GoFundMe. It's all possible. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 190 million people. And every week, ordinary people meet their goals and do extraordinary things. Your ideas matter. GoFundMe isn't just for emergencies. Want to raise money for your kid's soccer team? Or raise funds for a small business? A creative project or event? GoFundMe helps you turn ideas into reality and help adds up. Fundraisers you start for someone else raise up to five times more. So think right now. Who could use your help? Change rarely comes from waiting. It comes from someone deciding, today I'll start. Don't wait for someone else to bring change today. Start your fundraiser in just minutes@gofundme.com that's gofundme.com to start your fundraiser. Gofundme.com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe.
- [02:06]
Interviewer (Dan)
So, Charles, I've always wanted to understand how it is to be a artist. What. What is an artist's life like? What is the whole life cycle of an artist? And it got me thinking about, I cannot recall. Who is the person that cut off their ear and tell me about that story?
- [02:24]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
They didn't. Honestly, I thought that we were talking for 15 days instead of 15 minutes, and I met Andy Warhol and he was very boring to me. Okay, and so 15 minutes of fame. Let's go. 15 days, and I want to learn about you. All right, so here we go. I wrote a book. This is Van Gogh. You know, that no woman ever wanted to marry him. And for reasons you can read in my book, you know, whatever. Schizophrenic, bipolar, argumentative, poor, you name it. And you know what? Here's my book. It's selling on Amazon and it's doing really well. It's called Crashing Waves of Passions. Okay. And for somebody like you. Not. I'm a not. I'm not a negative person. This book will educate you and it might last you a long time. Okay. Because I've been an artist since I was 12 years old. And I want to show you something that's really important to me because I had Covid from some of my students. And I don't teach much anymore. I paint and draw a lot. This is an artist named Susan Valadon. Okay. And in my book, I came up with the idea that there were three artists that knew each other about 1887, 1888 in Paris, and, you know, the Moulin Rouge and Van Gogh was one of them. And to lose Lautrec, and she's the other, and she is a role model for young artists. She was the first artist accepted into an important salon in 1895. And then on top of that, you don't have to buy my book. I'm not pushing it, but it would be nice. It's 10 bucks on Amazon. And so I put them in New York because I used to be a New York City artist, went to graduate school there. And here they are at the Museum of Modern Art, and they're looking, there's Toulouse Lautrec. And I explain why they had these disabilities or how they overcame it. So I love the way you're listening to me. Okay. And I really appreciate that. Thank you. But you know what? They're at the Museum of Modern Art and they love these artists work. And I don't know, I'm not good at math anymore, but they can't believe the artwork. And what happened with architecture in New York in 2023.
- [05:02]
Interviewer (Dan)
So tell me about the artist life, because I always find it fascinating that many times the artist becomes most famous after they die, or at least the ones I've seen, they do this art many times. It sounds like. And I'm not. I don't have a lot of experience, but they don't really make a lot of money from it, like you said, and then they die. And their life, it seems kind of sad. But then this fame creates and then wealth comes later on. I find that very interesting. Can you explain why?
- [05:34]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
That's the story of not every artist? Okay. I had a beautiful house. I had a tremendous life. I was teaching, but I was also painting about 12 hours a day in the summer. Okay. And I used to wake up at five o'. Clock. And so I want you to be able to relate this. I have a good friend who's an NFL player, who's a neighbor, former NFL player. And you know, I'm not going to say my age, but I'm 21 anyway. He's about 50 something. And I asked him one time recently, I said, you know what? I'm doing this until I'm 128 years old. How many NFL players could do that? And he had 11 surgeries. And so I like your smile. So I think you're getting the point. Every artist is different. And I'm with Baden Bauer. They're promoting my work. And Fabrizio, Andy and Sheila have done a remarkable job. So I want you to read about me, will you, please? It's a New York weekly. And it's a New York Weekly. September 2nd. And it's an article about what I'm doing for the art world.
- [06:51]
Interviewer (Dan)
Do you think that a painting can change the way we see life? Maybe even heal tragedy?
- [06:58]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
Well, do you know the painting by Guernica? I'll talk a bit, okay? Because we're running out of time because we're not doing 15 weeks. But Guernica was about the Spanish. A Spanish destruction, the fascist. In. In a town in Spain at night, the bombers came in. So here's my goal as an artist and I need help with this. Please go to what, my website. Please buy my work. I have really good prices. I had a private art dealer, It's Charles Edelman Masterpieces.com But Guernica changed the world. So here's my story. I knew that in New York when I was 20 something years old. And I want to do a 30 foot painting that's the opposite of Guarna. And I go, but that cost a lot of money and I need a huge studio space. So my painting is going to be joy, love, happiness and all these things that I think the world needs right now.
- [07:56]
ExxonMobil Representative
Can lighter structures really be stronger? Yes, they can. ExxonMobil is helping advance American industrial innovation with Proxima Systems, enabling a lighter and stronger alternative to traditional rebar, while lowering greenhouse gas emissions to help build a more efficient construction industry with sustainability in mind. ExxonMobil. Let's deliver.
- [08:23]
MultiCare Representative
Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because Multicare has been here guided by a single purpose, making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more at multicare.org@capella university.
- [08:55]
Capella University Representative
Learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room. The workplace A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.
- [09:08]
GoFundMe Representative
Edu Imagine if today was the day your idea changed someone's life. Imagine if you could help someone pay for college, help your community build a new playground, or help a child make it to that dream competition with GoFundMe. It's all possible. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 190 million people. And every week, ordinary people meet their goals and do extraordinary things. Your ideas matter. GoFundMe isn't just for emergencies. Want to raise money for your kid's soccer team? Or raise funds for a small business, a creative project or event? GoFundMe helps you turn ideas into reality and help adds up. Fundraisers you start for someone else raise up to five times more. So think right now. Who could use your help? Change rarely comes from waiting. It comes from someone deciding, today I'll start. Don't wait for someone else to bring change today. Start your fundraiser in just minutes@gofundme.com that's gofundme.com to start your fundraiser. Gofundme.com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe.
- [10:11]
Interviewer (Dan)
You know what hiring feels like. Like searching for a needle in a haystack. You post a job, get flooded with resumes, but most just don't have the right experience or mindset. That's why I tell every founder I meet, use ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter finds amazing candidates fast and right now you can try it for free as ZipRecruiter.com work. Here's why I love it. Their smart tech instantly pinpoints Toptown and starts showing me the role. And you don't just sit and wait. You can personally reach out with their invite to apply message and connect with the best right away. If you're building something great, the team you have, the team you hire makes all the difference. So ditch the other hiring sites and let Zip recruiter find what you really looking for. The needle in the haystack four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it free at ZipRecruiter.com work one more time. ZipRecruiter.com work ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire. Why do you think that artists will continue to risk everything when maybe the world doesn't understand them? And it reminds me of, you know, when you go to, like, a museum, and many times you're like, what was the artist thinking? Right? It almost seems like we don't always understand what the artist is saying, but yet the artist is so dedicated to risking everything, putting it all out on the table to create something that they want to see in their mind.
- [11:45]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
Read my book. It's all in there. Seriously, 43 pages. And I'm not a writer, and I'm not bragging, but I love that book. Okay? But the story with that is, here's what. Here's how I think when I was three years old, I saw light in my bedroom. And you know what? I still love painting and drawing rays of light. So let's get profound here a bit. I think that there's things inside of you, Dan, and inside of all your listeners that have stayed with them forever. And one thing besides my artwork, I'm really brilliant at bringing out the creative side of people. And I have a student who. He'll love this on the video. He's in his 70s. He's probably given up golf for the last year and a half, two years since he's known me. And he's given up golf because he loves art. So I can bring out these things. Okay. And to follow it up, I'm talking a lot. Normally, I'm a good listener. Okay? But there was a thing. I'll give you something. There's an artist named Robert De Niro Sr. And that's De Niro's father. Okay. De Niro posted in a magazine years ago that he wanted some artist to come explain his father's work. I've been to his father's. I've been to De Niro's restaurant in New York. I've been to the theater upstairs. And I could do that. Bob De Niro, you want to learn about your dad? Seriously? Better than maybe anybody could talk and I could do it. Contact me. I wrote to him. No response. So please talk to me, sir.
- [13:28]
Interviewer (Dan)
Okay. We worked on a project with Val Kilmer, and I noticed he was a very prolific artist. And it seemed like that was really his outlet. It was his big passion beyond everything. Or maybe the acting was the art. But he painted, and he had stuff all over his studio. I found it really interesting. What do people get, like, when you, when you create a painting or you create something like what you're doing, what is it? Is it intrinsic, extrinsic? What is it that. That you get from doing this?
- [14:03]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
Well, about. I moved to South America, Mexico, Belize. And I didn't know you back then, but if you went to the jungle with me in Belize, we could have painted for two weeks. And after me teach, I'm serious now. And I can do this with corporations, I can do this with anybody, but the quietest place in the world. And you know what happens? You find yourself. I already knew myself, okay? But with nothing around. And I'm a New York, I used to be a New York City artist, so I know the difference. And so recently or a while back, there was. What's her name, Spade, and there were Anthony Bourdain and they committed suicide, right? And had they been with me in Cusco, Peru, they wouldn't have killed themselves. And I'm serious, and it's sad, but I'm not joking about that. So what I have a creative genius for in my work is. Is artwork pushing the boundaries. It's gym for the mind. Because I'm bored once a year maybe. Okay? And seriously, I have a wonderful girlfriend, I have a wonderful life, and I had beautiful house. And you know what I live. How can you escape? And I escaped. And I think that for a lot of your people on that are going to watch this, they need to escape a little bit. And I can do corporate talks, I develop things. I can teach the history art in 45 minutes. Seriously, does it make you a great artist? No, but it increases your knowledge about the world. And I'm reading two books on Leonardo now. So you're asking me really good questions. How do you know so much about everything?
- [15:57]
Interviewer (Dan)
If you could channel Leonardo da Vinci or. Or if you could channel any artist that is no longer alive and you could paint with them one time, who would it be and why?
- [16:10]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
You know, what can I. You. You asked for stories. I knew an artist that I met was 83 years old. I won't say his name other than it was Marcel and he knew Marilyn Monroe. He was a famous artist, but not as a top echelon, but he was a master printmaker for Picasso and Dali. So I adopted him at 83. He used to come to my studio once a month, look at my work. Here's Marcel. He's sitting there, okay? And one day, I had known him for two years. I said, Marcel, what would Picasso say about my work? And you know what he said? Beret On Trench Coat Kelly. Okay, Marcel, it's three minutes. We're recording now. Marcel, give me a break. He would love it. So that. That's my story. I don't have idols and I don't have. And somebody like you or somebody like Meryl Streep who flirted with me, you know, what am I gonna do? I was seeing somebody. You know what I'm saying? Can I show you a couple pictures? This one behind me. You can see this one. I used to paint like this. I'm trying to impress you. Thank you. And I did this about a year ago. Thank you. Rembrandts are like a great grandfather. Great, great, great grandfather. He died in 1669. I'm sorry. I didn't need him. And I think. Thank you. I'm pretty good, you know? And the other nice thing about it is you can be modest. Here's another one. And this is. You gotta have fun. Did you hear me, Dan? You gotta have. You gotta have fun with your work. And this one, I was just in New York Weekly in September 2nd, so your viewers, please go to that. I don't know you, but anybody, anybody out there, I could help you, but please collect my paintings. I'm determined to do this 10 by 30 foot painting. And I've been in museum shows. But you know what? You got to do what you have to do. If that sounds too silly. And I taught at Dartmouth. I was in a gifted program at Yale. And we're going over time. I know you're going to tell me. What would you like to ask?
- [18:40]
Interviewer (Dan)
Tell me about Yale.
- [18:42]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
That was a long time ago. Another lifetime ago. I moved on in 2016 when I got on a plane and lived in Cozumel. I was in a gifted program. I was a poor kid, okay? And I worked my ass off because I wasn't a baseball player good enough. Okay. For the St. Louis Cardinals to play center fields. All right. You look like you're a baseball. Baseball player. Okay? And so just quickly, because we got to wrap things up. I know. In about two hours, which is fine. Okay. And so I expected everybody to be geniuses. And sometimes on the weekends, I was in a special gifted program. There might be two people out of 30, whatever, or 300ft. 350 people accepted from Canada and the United States. And you know what, man? I'm like a tank or a train. You jump on the train. And if you're a student of mine, you jump on the train and I'll take you places that you never dreamed of. And that's how I am as an artist. So Yale Dartmouth was amazing. And how do you. How do you teach mostly billionaire kids. You push them with things that they don't know when you give them projects. So with my idea was LeBron James, Taylor Swift were sponsoring a restaurant on. On Central park by 59th street and they had to design paintings for two floors across from Central Park. But it was for families. And you would not believe the rock and roll lion musician bands. They created surrealist eyes. And you're getting ready to ask me something else?
- [20:34]
Interviewer (Dan)
Please, no. I'm fascinated by your stories and I would love to read the book. So tell me, what is the name of the book? And I'm guessing you said I can get that on Amazon?
- [20:48]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
Yeah. And it's a whole ten dollars, so it's three years of worth. So that you're paying me about three bucks and I'm not even getting the whole amount. But do me a favor. It is a steal. And I price my works low. I had a price. I. I'm in about. I don't know how many private collections and people come back and buy my. Used to buy my work because I moved. But some people have 10 to 15 works in their collection and that's the main thing that I'm doing all this far. So go on my website Charles Edelman masterpieces.com and I also posted it on my webs on my website under sports art. So if you like sports, you'll see my list of this list. And is there anything else?
- [21:39]
Interviewer (Dan)
This has been great. Um, I never played baseball, by the way. I. I would be. I was pretty horrible at all sports. But no, I've always wanted to be an artist one day I'm inspired. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go make some art after this and let's see how it looks. But I appreciate your time. I enjoyed the story. I've never talked to anyone who met Andy Warhol before, so that's a first. And, and I think I. I've also haven't talked to anyone who's given me so many stories which I prefer. I actually enjoy listening to stories in your life and your art seems incredible. So thank you for all that you do and thanks for joining us today.
- [22:19]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
I've done a lot for charity and I'll tell you what, within a month, I'm turning several people right now that I have students private, not many, but I'm turning them into artists. Okay. So take a. Take some classes with me. You know how to reach me. Okay. And so maybe you do. All right. You can go through my website and it's genius at work one at@yahoo.com but you know what? I'm not a tough grader in the beginning.
- [22:54]
Interviewer (Dan)
Amazing. That's good. I won't fail. But thank you Charles for joining us today and excited about the art. The future of art.
- [23:02]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
The future of art. And you know what? Any corporations, anybody that wants to reach out to me, please do. And I won't disappoint you. Including Bob De Niro, my good friend.
- [23:15]
Interviewer (Dan)
Amazing. Thanks, Charles.
- [23:18]
Charles Edelman (Artist)
Thank you. And I'm serious about teaching. Okay. I would love to.
- [23:27]
Capella University Representative
At Capella University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.
- [23:41]
GoFundMe Representative
Edu.
- [23:43]
Capella University Representative
You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites with Indeed sponsored jobs. Your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com podkatz13 just go to Indeed.com podkatz13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.