Aug 27, 2026 · 50 min · 13 segments
This week we are graced with the presence of painter Mel Prest. Maysoun is hunkering down in the tropics! We talk about abstraction, haircuts, learning at the foot of the master, and what the hell…
Mel PrestGuest
Kate RhodesHost
Okay, now, did you have to, like, kind of hone some kind of inner sensitivity to be able to do this kind of stuff? Because, like, I don't, like, Maysoon and I have been looking at a lot of abstract work, and I've been trying to feel things.
but i'm just like is there do i need a like a meditation practice or something where i'm like really shutting off all the noise you know and being able to truly be present with the painting like do you feel like you had to do something to get there or maybe it was just like your process of like how you came to abstraction or i don't know what happened
yeah maybe both so like I um it's funny I wrote I once went to this um Ross Blechner lecture and he's like you know a super I love his paintings but he um and you know people are like oohing and aahing in the questions and everything and they're like what do you listen to in your studio and he's like I listen to WNYC you know he's just totally like I listen to talk radio You know, I take phone calls, whatever, but it's true.
I kind of feel like I listened to like a shit ton of audio books and everything because inside I have like some, um, you know, I have some dude like who's, who's just, um, really like, like naggy and binary.
And like, I just I need to give him something to chew on, you know, so that I can do this other thing.
And that for me is like how to, you know, kind of quiet all the inner noise is just to give it something to do so that like, the other another part of me can be working.
to sound super metaphysical, although I do feel like looking at painting or art or whatever can be a super metaphysical experience.
But I also feel like it's both of you, right? I'm looking at this painting while we're talking and I'm going in and out of feelings about it.
in in the future I'll have like amazingly fond feelings about this painting because I have fond feelings about you and this experience but it's like anyway I think it's a combination you know it's like a a sundae or like a club sandwich or something you know it's like what you go in with and then like like I also feel like I'm not good at like performing so like trying to do something like I'm gonna go in and have an experience is is like I don't know it's like it's Again, like for me, setting myself up for some sort of failure, you know, really it just happens or it doesn't.
Like, do you feel like that's what you're supposed to be getting from an abstract painting is like a deep experience of like emotional? Yeah.
Okay, now, did you have to, like, kind of hone some kind of inner sensitivity to be able to do this kind of stuff? Because, like, I don't, like, Maysoon and I have been looking at a lot of abstract work, and I've been trying to feel things.
but i'm just like is there do i need a like a meditation practice or something where i'm like really shutting off all the noise you know and being able to truly be present with the painting like do you feel like you had to do something to get there or maybe it was just like your process of like how you came to abstraction or i don't know what happened
yeah maybe both so like I um it's funny I wrote I once went to this um Ross Blechner lecture and he's like you know a super I love his paintings but he um and you know people are like oohing and aahing in the questions and everything and they're like what do you listen to in your studio and he's like I listen to WNYC you know he's just totally like I listen to talk radio You know, I take phone calls, whatever, but it's true.
I kind of feel like I listened to like a shit ton of audio books and everything because inside I have like some, um, you know, I have some dude like who's, who's just, um, really like, like naggy and binary.
And like, I just I need to give him something to chew on, you know, so that I can do this other thing.
And that for me is like how to, you know, kind of quiet all the inner noise is just to give it something to do so that like, the other another part of me can be working.
to sound super metaphysical, although I do feel like looking at painting or art or whatever can be a super metaphysical experience.
But I also feel like it's both of you, right? I'm looking at this painting while we're talking and I'm going in and out of feelings about it.
in in the future I'll have like amazingly fond feelings about this painting because I have fond feelings about you and this experience but it's like anyway I think it's a combination you know it's like a a sundae or like a club sandwich or something you know it's like what you go in with and then like like I also feel like I'm not good at like performing so like trying to do something like I'm gonna go in and have an experience is is like I don't know it's like it's Again, like for me, setting myself up for some sort of failure, you know, really it just happens or it doesn't.
Like, do you feel like that's what you're supposed to be getting from an abstract painting is like a deep experience of like emotional? Yeah.
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