66. Back to Square One

Studio Sessions

Studio Sessions
66. Back to Square One
Feb 17, 2026 Season 3 Episode 13
Matthew O'Brien, Alex Carter

We catch up on the gallery space that didn't come together — not because of conflict, but because the arrangement shifted enough that the original vision no longer fit. What stings isn't the logistics, it's the built-in community that came with that particular spot, and the version of things we'd already started imagining.

From there the conversation turns inward. We're both feeling the gap between talking about making work and actually making it — the pull to get back out with a camera, the fatigue of looking at old sequences, and what it means when commerce brain starts crowding out everything else. We end up somewhere around the question of what art even is — Tolstoy's definition, the transcendentalist framing, Rick Rubin and George Saunders on process — and whether finding your own answer to that matters more than finding the right one. -Ai

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a rating and/or a review. We read and appreciate all of them. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode.

Links To Everything:

Video Version of The Podcast: https://geni.us/StudioSessionsYT

Matt’s YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/MatthewOBrienYT

Matt’s 2nd Channel: https://geni.us/PhotoVideosYT

Alex’s YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/AlexCarterYT

Matt’s Instagram: https://geni.us/MatthewIG

Alex’s Instagram: https://geni.us/AlexIG

Episode Artwork 66. Back to Square One 1:05:56 Episode Artwork 65. Attempting A Low-Stakes Space For Photography And Conversation: PART 2 57:51 Episode Artwork 64. Attempting A Low-Stakes Space For Photography And Conversation: PART 1 49:52 Episode Artwork 63. Build The Foundation, Lose The Costume, Keep Your Soul 1:21:59 Episode Artwork 62. What Do We Owe The Past When We Build With Its Pieces? 1:09:50 Episode Artwork 61. Are We Curating Identity Or Chasing Dopamine? 1:14:01 Episode Artwork 60. Artists Make Ways of Seeing, Not Objects 1:17:01 Episode Artwork 59. Rethinking Collaboration: Why Working Together Still Matters 1:23:28 Episode Artwork 58. The Work You Keep Deferring 1:08:32 Episode Artwork 57. Private Work, Public Truths 58:41 Episode Artwork 56. Seasonality, Not Speed 1:00:15 Episode Artwork 55. Reclaiming The Soul of Digital Technology - Less Capability, More Freedom 1:40:06 Episode Artwork 54. Embracing Necessary Imperfections 1:18:52 Episode Artwork 53. The Terrible Master: On Ego, Perception, and the Choice to See Differently 1:47:12 Episode Artwork 52. The Homogenization Problem: Is Culture Losing Itself? PART 2 48:43 Episode Artwork 51. The Homogenization Problem: Is Culture Losing Itself? PART 1 59:43 Episode Artwork 50. Fragmented Culture: What Matters When Nothing Really Matters? 1:11:00 Episode Artwork 49. The Human Cost of "Artificial Intelligence": What Are We Trading Away? 49:15 Episode Artwork 48. What Happens When We Stop Believing Anything Is Possible? 1:19:07 Episode Artwork 47. Escape Velocity: The Quest For Autonomy in Art 1:09:49 Episode Artwork 46. Creative Obligation & Reciprocity: The Debt of Inspiration 1:25:10 Episode Artwork 45. Embracing Chaos: Thriving in Creative Discomfort 1:19:05 Episode Artwork 44. The Universal Language of Creative Expression - Why We Must Create to Feel Alive 46:17 Episode Artwork 43. Artful Spaces: On Curation, Community, and The Creative Value of Physical Spaces in a Digital Age 1:04:05 Episode Artwork 42. Daily Practice or The Art of Doing It Just Because 1:17:18