Today’s guest is James Peter Henry, the artist best known for painting the mural in our very own studio! Ok, maybe that’s not his most famous piece of work, but it’s certainly up there in our books. James grew up on a farm in rural Australia, about five hours outside of Melbourne. As he explored the property as a kid, he discovered a set of caves that were adorned with Aboriginal paintings and drawings. These fascinated him and would go on to influence his work all throughout his life. The Aboriginal artists were painting on the walls of the cave in order to pass down stories. Each of James’ pieces today reflects this notion of art as a vessel for storytelling, but instead of being featured on the walls of caves, they’ve been projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

Listen in as we cover everything from why he almost talked himself out of his career, why he considers his paintings to be similar to real estate, and how his darkest moment came when he accidentally spilled five gallons of black paint on himself.