Steve (host):
Welcome to the 33rd Wonderspace journey. It's great to have you on board. My name is Steve Cole and since September 2020 I have been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. The questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station 250 miles above Earth where we see everything from a different perspective.

Steve (host):
This week our orbit will take us from California to Mexico and to experience these views with us In this ultimate window seat we welcome Johann Anderson who is an artist and entrepreneur living in Los Angeles. He is also the co-founder of Art Unified that showcases the work of artists through art fairs and their gallery space in Venice California. The shorter version of this episode together with footage of this journey from California to Mexico can be found at ourwonder.space. Johann also gave us permission to use some of his stunning work which features as part of this video orbit. I start by asking Johan from this seat 250 miles above earth which place city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

Johan:
It would be Los Angeles because I used to go there every year for an artist residency with my friend Drew and he would let me paint in his backyard. And I just fell in love with it. The first time I went there, I remember just going for a run on the beach and then jumping in the ocean. And then I'd go back, have a shower, put on Vampire Weekend on the record player and they would just have this incredible vibe and just create just having permission to be childlike and express your inner being and in the sunshine And it was just this very freeing place. And I remember the people were very open.

Johan:
But the third time I came to Los Angeles, I met my wife Christina, and that's where it all changed. And that was kind of the icing on the cake where, okay, now is the time to actually transition out here. And I think my first goal was just, okay, how do I find a car? A 2004 Toyota Corolla, managed to find 1. And then it was just these little steps how do I just be creative but still make money and Los Angeles really has grown as a creative city it's become more cultured people are opening up more galleries Frieze Art Fair came in you've got a house room worth big museums downtown and just some good museums like LA Louvre and it's really expanded and it was really a good time just to grow.

Johan:
And LA has always been the city of angels and just a special place. Also just a lot of broken dreams as well, but I think on average people leave here after 7 years because they get fed up and they can't make it. But I think I've always been someone who's very driven but also wanting to just get community and connection and culture to people and use art as a way of communicating ideas in a very simple way. And essentially what we do at R Unified is bring up the question, what is the conversation you want in your home? So it's been exciting being in LA and I think now it's about just expanding to other areas such as Nashville and opening up new creative spaces around the country.

Steve (host):
Johan, give us a glimpse into your life story so far, with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Johan:
My story starts in Sweden. I was born in Sweden, grew up there, and left when I was 7 years old after my father passed away from cancer and moved to England, ended up studying in art school in London at the age of 18 at Central St. Martins and was just immediately involved in the art scene in South London. We took on this warehouse, me and my friend Joe, and just had an artist community there, and began renting spaces out. Being an artist is often just trying to find out what it is you're trying to say.

Johan:
And I think I realized quickly on, okay, who am I and what am I really trying to say here? What am I trying to communicate? Not just work that's decorative or commercial, but what am I trying to say and essentially things that annoy me about the world. And how do I simply communicate that, whether it's about gun violence, whether it's about life and meaning, spirituality. So at R Unified, we showcase very diverse work and very cutting edge and contemporary art that really brings about a conversation and asks the question what is the conversation you want in your home.

Johan:
So we've always tried to be at the forefront and pioneer a new and fresh relationship between artists and audience. 1 of the biggest projects I did in London and LA was a series called Stolen Faces, where we were challenging preconceptions of identity and basically painting people who were disfigured or had some kind of condition. And I remember being in LA in Skid Row and I met a guy called Jerry and his nickname was Shotgun. And the reason for that was because he was shot in the face with a shotgun and he was wearing this hoodie and I ended up painting his portrait and exhibiting it in the farmers merchant bank downtown and people actually recognized him locally And I took that series to LA, which is such an image conscious city, and it really had an effect on people. Often what I like to do is paint artwork that has more impact within a specific community.

Johan:
And obviously LA being so image conscious and such a social pressure to climb the ladder and achieve and whatnot. I just wanted to sort of confront people with this image of a guy from Skid Row and anyway I ended up taking this series Stolen Faces to a show in a place called Englefield House and High Clare Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed and this incredible space with Earls and Duchesses which we then took down and replaced it with the Stolen Faces series. So these privileged aristocratic portraits were taken down, replaced with the Stolen Faces series where you had a lady where plastic surgery gone wrong or a child soldier or a woman with a cleft palate or Jerry with a who was shot in the face of a shotgun or Hank who was covered in tattoos on his face. Just all kinds of different portraits which were very powerful. There was also a guy from Bosnia that I painted called Edo who had a shrapnel explode through his face out of 1 eye who I painted.

Johan:
That was really powerful because you could see the scar on his face. So that was a great show that we did in the UK at Engelfield House. And just that idea of the marginalized of society that we overlook and really homing in on their face and celebrate them and frame them was a new thing and I wanted to do that. There's another series, I did a trip to Haiti and met this girl who had bowed knees. She was 4 years old, her and her family, and she just had this incredible look and I just felt that I wanted to just photograph her and her name was Nikaia and I'd had this idea called brand for life and basically it was just about putting a brand on someone and looking at that juxtaposition and redefining your perspectives.

Johan:
Like how important is this brand when this girl is the 1 wearing it or the human cost of what goes into making this. So this girl was holding a Gucci bag and the way that the girl looks at the onlooker is so powerful and she carries it better than anyone. But I really want to sort of challenge, you know, what are your values? How do we redefine our perspectives? But by not condemning corporate culture, but taking a step back and just saying, okay, well, let's talk about these things.

Johan:
And I think art is important because we don't have to condemn or sort of try and say a big statement. Sometimes it's about saying less and it's that fine line of just trying to communicate something and leaving it open so people can start the conversation and talk about important issues.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

Johan:
My place of reset is Palm Desert. Our best friends, Yvonne and Anita, live in Palm Desert and we will visit them whenever we can. It's just incredible to go out to the desert. You have the hot springs, you have the pool, and you can just reset and not worry about things. And it's a real place of going into prayer.

Johan:
And I've always enjoyed the desert because it's just so quiet and you're staring into the trees in the distance and the mountains watching the sun go down. Going to the desert is a two-hour drive from us and it's just something about driving in California where you enjoy the drive as well.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

Johan:
The wonder of the natural world that excites me the most is the expansiveness of the world but yet the intimacy that's placed in significance on humanity. The fact that we're so small and we're so loved and love creates and love just continues and there's something so interesting to me when you look at things from above, from the perspective of not being afraid. As someone who believes in God, I know there's a greater power beyond ourselves. And I think when we're, when we live in the world, but not off the world, we don't have to accept its limitation. The world is so vast, but we're so small, but yet we're truly valued.

Johan:
And I think faith is the magic. Really just fearlessly going forward with your dreams and being prepared to fail because if you're not prepared to fail you won't come up with anything original.

Steve (host):
Johan, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own about a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world.

Johan:
My story of hopefulness is my friends Joe and George from London who started a company called Artistic Spaces. They now have roughly half a million square footage of warehouses which they rent out to artists. And we began about 12 years ago just taking on a warehouse in South London and dividing spaces up. I would help them and it's just incredible to see how far they've come because they're creating opportunities for artists to explore and have studios for musicians as well and I think their work ethic really rubbed off on me and I realized like what it takes to grow. I think Joe, in his life, has always been taught, think big and don't be afraid to fail because you won't do anything original if you think like that.

Johan:
And just having that faith and looking at how they've done it, they would like wake me up at 6 in the morning and start like kicking me, like, come on, get up, let's get to work, let's make a smoothie and get on with the day. And just those, It's always the grind. People often want to think and dream big, but they don't want to do the steps to get there. There's no shortcuts. And it's just years and years of putting that effort in.

Johan:
And they've really inspired me. And they're really creating opportunities. And even during COVID, they would give up spaces to help for medical supplies and help create facilities for doctors and all kinds of stuff. And yeah, it's just like, how do you use your art to help others too, but it's also okay to be profitable. It's okay to be profitable for it too, so you can create jobs and they employ loads of people and essentially have 1 of London's largest square footage of artist spaces and workshops.

Johan:
Yes, they're really my inspiration.

Steve (host):
Finally, as we prepare to re-enter, what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Johan:
In terms of wisdom that I can impart is we have to forgive, we have to have grace on each other and ourselves especially and really look at our own mental health and our own lifestyle and really just, I think it's important as well in life to have a goal. Often, when I feel like, often when I'm feeling low, I want to ask myself, have I done these things to make my life better? Am I exercising? Am I eating well? Am I drinking less and taking each step and each day as it comes and enjoying the journey and actually having grace on yourself, you know, whether it's addictive things or whatever it is and just look going okay well I struggle with this but tomorrow's a new day so it's always about resetting and how do we move forward and learn from it.

Steve (host):
To find out more about Johan and Art Unified go to johananderson.com and artunified.com In his story of hopefulness Johann spoke about George and Joe and you can find out more at creativespaces.co.uk To listen to the previous 32 Wonderspace interviews the website is ourwonder.space I want to thank Johan for joining us on this Wonderspace and I hope

Johan:
you