The Art of Self-Mastery with Ari Hersch

I'd like to ship you a free copy of my book, Habits of High Performers. If you come and join the 2026 goal setting workshop, I will ship you one of these today. The link is in the notes. Please come and join me to set up the very best 2026 you could imagine. If you've set up goals in the past or New Year's resolutions and they haven't substantiated, I'm here to help you across all the key pillars of your life, nail your goals. I'll see you there. Welcome to Life on Purpose. My name is James Laughlin, former seven time world champion musician and now success coach to leaders and high performers. Each week I bring you an inspiring leader or expert to help you live your life on purpose. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and investing in yourself. Enjoy the show.

I really pride myself in bringing you guys some of the most incredible humans each and every week. This week is no different. So let's talk about art. Artists often struggle. Very few make it. It's a hard industry. So many of the greats don't become great until long after they're dead. Ari Hirsch joins me today. Ari is a South African artist who is simply phenomenal. Is crushing it. Ari has contemporary work and one of his quotes that I just love is always be innovating. So guys, sit back and enjoy the show and think about how this can apply in all areas of your life. Ari is committed, he is relentless, he is resourceful, he's so inspiring. So enjoy the show.

Ari, a massive welcome to the Life on Purpose podcast.

Thank you, James. Thanks for having me.

Hey, thanks for making the time, man. Your art is simply mind blowingly inspiring and I hope everyone that's listening today takes a moment to jump over to Instagram and follow you. I'll certainly be putting all your links and so forth in all of our posts and your work's amazing. So I guess let's start from the start. Where did like your. Your passion? I would say yeah, it's a passion. It looks like passion when I see what you do. Where did that passion begin for your artwork?

So the passion, the passion started when I was. When I was a child.

You know, when I was a kid, I was always sketching and I don't know if I was that good. I was always like sketching like stick men, but I had a very, very intense imagination. So I used to actually play like, for example, like I'd play war games by sketching, you know, so that's how it originally started. And what happened was when I was.

When I would go, like, I used to have a very good friend of mine whose grandmother was an artist. And I think I must have been about 11, 11 or 12, and I went to their house and you know, I used to see her art on the wall and she was always like putting up new works and she used to draw a lot of the human body, you know, like, she liked.

She liked to draw nudes and all the.

Some really cool things. And you know, I saw the, I saw the works. And what happened was when I was about 12, I got given a present, a book by a late South African artist by the name of Gerard Sokoto. I was given the book for my birthday when I was 12. And he was a. He was a South African black artist who grew up in the townships in apartheid South Africa. And he captured a lot of township scenes. You know, when I got this book, I went through it and I really loved the colors and how he used his, how he sketched his daily life and what he was seeing out there, you know, and today, I mean, he's one of the masters that have come out of South Africa, out of South African art. And then when I started like looking at his works, you know, I would literally sit there, a little 12 year old, I'd sit there with his book open with a little A four piece of paper at my mother's desk. And I would sit and sketch.

Sketch, like try and copy his work, you know. And then it moved from, it moved from like sketching with pencil or pen because those are like what I had in those days. My parents bought me a paint set, like a very basic one. And then I moved over, like just like constantly. Just evolved, you know. I started sketching with the. And painting with acrylic. And when I got to high school, I took up art as a subject from like grade eight, we call it in South Africa. And from grade eight to my final year in school, I took art as a subject. And you know, that's how it evolved. And while I was even sitting in like maths class or English class or business, you know, my teachers always used to complain because they'd always catch me sketching in my textbooks.

I love it.

I love it as. It's like growing up, I remember I was always sketching when I was on holiday. I always had a diary or like a moleskin. And it was like, just. It's my escape, you know, it's like my. How I just relax and enjoy it.

That's amazing. I look at you as A master. And when you look at people, you can just tell from their work, whether they're a musician or they're an artist, you can tell when they're a master of what they do. And mastery takes time. Mastery is not something you download. There's no instant gratification. So when you look back on it, you know, what were some of the sacrifices you had to make to actually become the artist that you are?

Okay, so when I look, I don't see myself as a master. I think I've still got so much to learn and I'm learning new things every day, but I still actually see myself as a complete rookie, you know, and I think that's very important, you know, because we can always learn. And I meet artists all the time. I have guys that reach out to me, experienced artists, guys that are just starting out, that want assistance and I give them like tips and help help out a lot. Artists that are up and coming and that are facing the same issues that I originally had. But my, my art progressed when I finished, when I finished school, I said to my parents, like what, what should I study? Obviously it has to be something creative because that's my personality. So obviously the discussion went down that art is not a great profession in terms of making a good living. You know, especially if you're starting out, you can go study a Bachelor of Arts at university. You come out of there and you're a professional artist. That doesn't mean you're going to guarantee to make a lot of money and being able to survive. So my parents kind of like directed me in a way to find another creative field that is something that I might enjoy. So I come from a family of property developers. They've always been inside real estate and architects and architecture. So I went and I studied interior architecture.

In Johannesburg. And with that course and degree, it opened up a lot of new fields for me because obviously it entailed a lot of sketching and creating. Like my fellow students would use 3D software to.

Kind of portray the space. I would hand sketch the space, you know, and you know, hand drawn renders we call it in that, in that field are very unique. And guys that do that are in high demand in that industry because it slowly, slowly starts starting to be taken over completely by technology. Photorealism. And so that's how in university I was always still sketching. And on the side, I always maintained my discipline in terms of when on weekends I would always put a canvas on my easel and I would paint or I would sketch. So it was always something that I did alongside while I studied, you know. So I finished my degree at university and then I went on to work. I got headhunted out of university by a very, very well known South African architect who wanted me to come and work from his head office in Cape Town. So I relocated to Cape Town and I worked as an apprentice in his office. It was really cool because there was like some really, really dynamic and creative guys in that office.

So I worked there. I worked there for a year and due to the family business needing assistance, I decided that I'll step in and help the family out. So I left the architectural realm and I went into a marketing realm in business environment. So I went and I did that. You know, I have an older brother who was an advocate and he had no intention of getting involved in the family business and it's just the two of us. So at the time he was really established and you know, for me to go, I'm just starting out my life and my career, it was just more obvious for me to get involved in the business side and got involved in marketing for the business and building it. So on the side I was still sketching, you know, always that was like.

A constant, like in the background. You were always going back to that.

Yeah, you know, I wasn't pushing it because it wasn't.

My main focus at the time. I was really busy and also I was concentrating on the marketing elements and branding and graphic design. And while I was now working in a marketing environment, I was learning new skills. So in terms of using graphic design programs, that university, we used them, but not to the level that I needed it at that time. So now I'm now learning a whole new creative side. And I started working with a couple of the graphic designers in the business and I learned from them and you know, with the art and stuff, I was always, I would have like a piece here that I would sell one to a friend, to a family I'd give away as gifts.

Wow.

And yeah, that was like the really early days.

And then that's interesting as you talk about the marketing, when you're doing things, sometimes we don't realize why we're doing them. And then in hindsight we look back. So the marketing that you ended up doing and the branding and stuff will obviously be helping what you're currently doing and your whole idea and approach to business, right?

Very much so. And that's why I say to people, don't fight the system, don't fight where life is taking you because you Never know when you might need, when you might need that I'm learning, like I said, I learned so many valuable things that when I decided to go full time into art and to creating, it's opened up so many spaces because the marketing first of all is helping me build my own business, which is my Aho studio and all the graphic design work and stuff, I've kind of like incorporated it into the Aho studio. So it's not just the, just an art, an art studio. I'm doing creative stuff. I'm building websites now.

For so many people. And you know, art is the main, is the main focus for me on it. But it's because of the skills that I've learned over the time. It's allowed me to almost like venture out.

Hey, James here. I wanted to take a quick moment to let you know about something. Look, I get asked to deliver keynotes and workshops for teams and companies all over the world, from London to Antarctica, from America to Australasia, from armies to small businesses, to large corporates, to sports teams. But I go in and deliver keynotes around the mindset of high performers, around the habits of high performers, about how we navigate change. If you would like me to come and speak to your team or speak at your conference or deliver a bespoke workshop, please get in touch with my team. Carolinejlochlan.com will be able to help. I'll also make sure that we put that in the show notes.

That's amazing. I think a lot of people do get very tunnel vision with what they're doing, not realize that, hey, all these other skill sets could combine to help me have a broader platform. So when you look at your art, you know, I think of artists and I think, okay, some artists make it real big and lots of artists struggle. So for you, what were your struggles and how have you got to this platform that you're at right now?

So my struggles starting out, obviously, because I was working in a full time job and stuff, the time that's needed to start building up works, for example, solo show. And also I think the art world is very funny. It's controlled mainly by galleries and it's a very difficult space, especially if you're breaking out, because there's not many galleries and stuff that are willing to give new artists a chance and they'll say to you, listen, go out, get some experience and then come and speak to us. But how are you supposed to get that experience if the galleries aren't willing to give you that experience? So when I started out, you know, I went, I showed my work to a lot of galleries. They loved the works, but they said to me, look, you don't have enough of a.

Of a following of buyers that are already buying a work, which obviously I'm literally just starting out in my career. And that's the reason why I'm coming to speak to you, so that we can build something together. But that's how galleries work. That's their business model. You know, they all come in with certain elements, and the artist must come with also, almost like have his own. A clientele that will buy, you know. So when I started out, that was obviously. And it's. It's never easy going in and you. You getting told that your work's cool. But it's just, you know, I'm not at that level yet, so it can be discouraging. And often you, like, get back and you think, like, what am I really, like, doing this for? Thank God I wasn't relying on. On it for my main income, otherwise I think I would have starved.

But.

I literally phoned up a friend who was like an art dealer at the time, and I said to him, look, this is the goal. I want to try to build this business on the side of my main career. And he said, cool. I've got this cool space in Maboneng Precinct, which is an area in Johannesburg that was kind of redeveloped.

And he had a cool gallery space. And he said, come, let's put up your works. We'll show you. And put up about 10 works. At the time, it was like charcoal works, and managed to set out that show over a weekend. Yeah, it was quite cool. It was really, really. It was really cool. But still, it's not enough to go into the top galleries where you know you're going to get a good name, because you also, as an artist, want to be associated with those really nice galleries and stuff. And.

You know.

I come from a background where I just don't give up, so I'm just gonna make it work, you know. And I think with my marketing background and stuff, like about four years ago, five years ago, I decided, like, I needed to take this more seriously. So I created, like, my own Instagram page, created a Facebook profile for my art, and we slowly started to grow the brand and grow my. My own. I used my own skills to kind of promote myself, you know, and it was only then when I started to build up a solid following, that I went to a certain gallery, and they're really cool guys, and they gave me an amazing Opportunity. And I signed with him. I signed with them in Johannesburg and I had. I had solo shows with them. And just let me go back with my mate that had that, that space for me in Maboneng. He also organized, like, really cool to take up, like a space at these big expos like the Johannesburg Turbine Art Fair. And I always had works up and that were getting sold, so it was. It was cool on the side. And then after I saw there was a demand for some for my work, I decided, you know, I got to start looking at this more seriously. You know, follow my passion and dream and build it.

You know, that's amazing. I hear, like, persistence, I hear vision. I hear, like, getting clarity on who you are. When I talk to any high performer, whether they're an athlete or they're a global leader artist, these things keep coming up, like these patterns. And it's funny because I came across your stuff totally organically on Instagram, and I've been studying Nelson Mandela for quite some time now. And I just. I was like, looking at hashtags around Mandela just to get some images that I enjoyed. And boom, you're work came up. I was like, this is insanely awesome. And I don't know how to describe your work. So how would you describe your work? To me, it's very unique. But what inspires you? How would you describe the niche of the work that you do?

So I can't describe my work in terms of like one word because I'm constantly evolving. Actually, if you had to see what I'm. What I'm producing now opposed to what I was producing two years ago, it's completely changed. And the reason why it's changing is and why it's evolving is because I've been introduced to so many new techniques and mediums. You know, like before. Before last year, I was a complete traditionalist. I refused to touch any apple pencil or draw on an iPad. And, you know, I had to fill the piece of paper and have. I love. I love apple pencils.

Me too.

And before that, I had to feel the charcoal in my hands because charcoal was like a medium that I really enjoy. And a good friend of mine who's an illustrator said to me, you need to try this. You need to really give it a go. Because, like, you can see I'm not just using up Moleskine diaries and just filling them up and just sketching, sketching, sketching. And eventually, like, what happened was I immigrated last year, and when I immigrated, it was at the start of all the lockdowns worldwide. And all my equipment was in a container stuck in a ship in Durban and it took about six months for all my gear to arrive. So I did have an apple pencil because I was using it like briefly. And here's my apple pencil.

Yes, Love it. Are yours are supercharged?

Yeah, I've just got a nice silicone cover on it. But. So when I was, when I was in this position where I had no gear and stuff, I had to obviously had this huge release to start creating new works. And I started sketching on my iPad because I had nothing else. And at first it was very difficult for me because it's like working on a, like a slippery screen and you know, you're getting used to all the new brushes. And after, I swear, like two weeks, it was amazing and opened a completely new world for me. And because it's, it's completely.

It'S, it's so powerful that it allows you to express a lot, like a lot more. Where I feel like sometimes on a piece of paper you can be sometimes a bit.

Suppressed, you know, and limited. But my technique has changed with the mediums that I use because obviously there's certain things that, for example, my charcoal works, I still try and sketch, I still sketch physically and I still have a studio that I put works up and I still work on that stuff. But now with my iPad and stuff, I'm literally going sitting on a train and sketching.

And I can produce a work that can be made into.

About 4 meter work, you know, and producing to work. So it's amazing. Yeah. So my work is constantly evolving and.

My subject matter as well.

That's incredible. And so the whole Covid situation forced you to go down a different route. Now you're seeing possibilities. So let's talk about that because I've been following closely with some of what you're doing with the NFT sphere. So the non fungible tokens. Right. Am I right with that? Tell me a little bit more about what you do with that, where you see that going.

I'm no expert with NFTs. I've literally just dived into the deep end and I'm learning new things about it as well. I've also hit brick walls within that space as well, even though it's brand new. But you know, because I started sketching digitally.

The works. NFTs are basically digital art that you kind of sell, you sell as if it's a physical artwork. And what happened was.

Last year I got contacted by a guy who's very well known in that space. And he said to me, look, your work needs to be made into NFTs. I'm like, what are NFTs? He's like, Look, I'll do it with you. I'm on this journey as well, so we'll work on it together. You know, he's very business orientated and said to him, cool, you know, I'm the creator, I've got business knowledge as well, but you know, two heads are better than one. And we literally embarked on that journey. I released a few NFTs on various platforms. Some of the platforms were good, some of them weren't good.

And in terms of, in terms of when I say they're good and that people underestimate, you have to actually spend money in order to make it because it doesn't, doesn't cost you zero to mint an nft, you know, so it costs you, you have to, you have to mine it. And.

Yeah, so actually I ended up actually putting a lot of money into it in the beginning and you know, you'll end up spending a lot of money in order to make money. And you know, the one platform wasn't working for us but I've got some exciting news that in a week or two I've just signed a deal with one of the biggest platforms in the world called crypto.com and you know, they, they very, very select on which artists they work with, which is cool. So I see.

That's exciting. Congratulations, man.

Thank you. Thank you. So I'm having my first drop with them actually on the 4th of August and that's what I've been working, working on. So they basically like, they like my exclusive gallery signing, you know, that I'm working with and I'm very excited to see what comes out of that. You know, they're well known platform and let's see.

Good luck. I'm super excited. I'll be tuning in for that and everyone that's listening, I'll make sure that this episode goes live around that time so that people can come check it out and be a part of that journey.

Thank you. Yeah, Epic.

I love it. And if we take a look at your life because I always find people who are creative. So I'm a drummer, so I've drummed since I was 8 or 9 years old and very passionate about music. But I find that creative people often are deep thinkers as well. So when you think about your life, what gives your life meaning?

So what gives my life meaning? Definitely my family is everything to me. Definitely after this whole year it's made me realize that, how important your family members are. And I mean, I haven't seen my family in more than a year. I have a niece that I haven't met yet in person. But thank God for zoom.

My family gives me meaning, and obviously, I'm very. I'm driven, and my goal gives me meaning. You know, my goal to succeed. If it's. I'm not saying succeed financially, to succeed in life, to make sure that I'm doing what I love, you know, that is. That gives me meaning to wake up every morning and do my bed and get up and come and sit down and be able to sketch and do exactly what I love and to make money from it. That's just a bonus, you know, that's just. It's just the cherry on the top just to. But just to be able to do that gives me meaning to get up every day.

That's powerful. And when you're hitting brick walls, you're having tough days, do you have any strategies or habits that you go to that help you to reconnect and open up again?

So, yeah. So for me, look, I don't necessarily talk about my stresses to anyone. I keep very. I would say, very closed, but I like to get out. I go hiking a lot. I like to have my own time away that I can think about things. It's very important that you have mentors in your life that you're able to maybe bounce ideas off people that you respect and can have a conversation with and ask them opinions that will add value. And it's very important that they. People that have also failed. I think everyone's failed, but it's the way that they dealt with their failure.

So.

I like to. First of all, for me, I go to sleep at night and I wake up the next morning and I'm recharged. Doesn't matter what happened the day before. I could have had the worst day. It's crazy. My wife always says to me, she doesn't know how I do that because I go, some people will stay up the whole night, and it will let them worry them, you know, But I literally go to sleep the next morning, I wake up, and it's like nothing happened the next day, the day before, you know, I just tackle it, like, as it comes, you know, if it's in the. If it's in our power to control it, we control it, you know, and we.

Mentality.

Yeah, I think it's. Look, it's definitely a gift because I don't know how many people are able to deal with their stresses like that. And.

You know, look, when, when people also, when you, when you have, when you hit those brick walls, you might think it's the end. And you might think, sure, I can't believe it. What do I do now? You know, I need to maybe stop doing what I'm doing. You know, I don't think you should ever stop doing what you're doing. Maybe it's a. It's a sign. Maybe it's a sign that you need to learn something from it and just take it and see what you can do with it.

Great advice. And we talk about mentors. So do you have mentors in different areas of your life? Not just, say, in your creative and your professional life, do you have different mentors?

Yeah, I've got. And like I said to you, like, in life, you never know what and why you're on those particular journeys, because, like I said.

I've met so many amazing people on my journey to where I am now that from even when I worked for the architectural firm in Cape Town, my boss and mentor there will always be someone that I respect. And, you know, he built up also an amazing architectural firm. He's a. He's a lecturer at Columbia University in New York. He's a dynamic individual. So, like, he was a very, very solid figure and someone to look up to and almost. And then there's others, you know, my mother is very successful in business, so I speak to her a lot, and she's a very good sounding board. And my wife as well. My wife is actually a very, very good sounding board.

It's important to have that. You know, I think when you look at successful leaders, they don't just go it alone. They've got a great team, they've got great coaches, mentors. I'm glad you reinforced that, that someone at your level is continuing to seek that counsel from good sources.

Yeah, it's very important. If you've got friends that are, doesn't mean they have to be CEOs of big companies. You know, they could be working in a job and still have very, very good lessons that they could teach, you know, and that's very important.

But your mentors and coaches are great. If you can find good people to give you good, solid. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes they'll say to you, look, I don't know what you're doing, or you definitely on the wrong chat, wrong path. And you might feel like, hey, I can't believe you said that to me. But, you know, sometimes you need to really go back, think about what they said, and maybe look at it from other people's angles, you know, because. Definitely helps. Definitely helps 100%.

Great advice. And for people out there who want to connect with your work, so let's say there's someone out there who's young, but they love your work and they want to kind of get started on the journey of supporting you but being, you know, buying your. Buying your work. Where can they start? Where do they go to find your work?

So, look, they can connect with me on Facebook, on Instagram.

I get a lot of artists that message me on social media. I try to reach out to every single one of them and just give them some advice. It's been very difficult for me to meet a lot of them in person. I've got a huge following still in South Africa, so a lot of my base is based there. And I'm not in the country anymore, so it's very difficult for me to meet them in person, as much as I'd love to sit down with them and actually see where they are, because, like I said to you, I can learn from them as well.

You know, and, like, it's very important. Like, I had a guy ask me the other day. He's. He's working a job. His passion is art, and he wants to. He wants to be an artist. So I said to him, have you studied anything or have you done anything? He said to me, no, but I'd like to study something. I said, I think it's very important. Go study something. You know, if it's art, study art. If it's graphic design. So we actually had a discussion. He said to me, no, actually, he's looking to study graphic design. So I'm trying to now help him out and decide which college or which university he would like to study at. And I said to him, look, I explained to him the whole how the art world works and how difficult it is. And I think it's very important that you can have multiple strengths that you can fall back on if one doesn't work out. Like I said to you, I've got a interior architecture degree that I could always just jump back into that. I've got years of marketing experience that I could also utilize. So I'm now in a position that I can. I can concentrate on my art because I still have the comfort of knowing that maybe, you know, if it doesn't work out, I can just do something else. And when I hear people that I know that are not in a financial or do not have the financial ability to.

Sit and sketch every day and to kind of stress and do that all the time. I kind of, like, advise them, just try find something else that you can earn good income, that you can provide food and a roof over your head.

And sketch on the side. You know, we can always find time to do that. And if you're sketching on the side, you never know where you're. If you're working in.

A job, you're meeting people all the time, say to them, this is my work.

Check it out.

You know, and that's how I also grew. I grew my business. I was often sitting in board meetings with other service providers that used to provide the company with services. And I'd say to them, you know, guys, I'm an artist. Check out my work. They'd look at it like they couldn't believe it.

So, yeah, yeah, that's some of the best advice I've ever heard. Because I know that in the creative world, music and artists, you're often in your mind, you think, I just got to go all in. I'm going to go all in on this, and, you know, I'm going to have no plan B. But actually, what you're saying makes so much more sense. And when I talk to any elite athletes, like some of the All Blacks rugby players I was chatting to, they were saying, like, you know, most of us have degrees. Most of us have went to university and got degrees, or whilst we're doing our elite sports, we're studying a degree on the side, or we've got a farm that we've bought a farm, and we've got that as a backup. So I really love hearing that. I think more people should hear that, that you can do your passion thing on the side, but also integrate it like you did. Bring it along at the boardroom and get a bit of exposure to what you do. That's great advice.

I couldn't believe it. Most of the people, when I used to say to them, this is my art, they were like, wow, where can we see it? You know? And then it just opens up other doors 100%.

Anytime I show your artwork to anyone, they're always like, wow, like, mind blown. Because it is unique and it is. There's a signature to what you do. You've got a brand about your art, and it's very unique. So, yeah, you've got something special going on.

Yeah, that's what I'm. That's my goal, to grow the brand around the art. And we'll see where it can go. I'm looking at certain things, maybe in fashion. Who knows? Who knows? Let's see.

There's no ceiling operating above you, man.

Yeah, I don't see any ceilings. Eh?

That's so good.

I love it.

Yeah.

Now, there's one last question I always like to ask anybody that jumps on the show. And that question is, you know, for you, what does living life on purpose really mean?

Life on purpose, sure.

Like we said, have meaning.

Make life enjoyable.

Try see the good and the bad. And.

You know, when you're an old man or old woman, you want to look back at it and have zero regrets. I think don't. Don't have regrets. Even if it wasn't something that you expected. Just try and look at everything as a lesson. And, yeah, that's great advice and I.

Love your perspective on life and I know that you guys are obviously preparing to have an addition to your family, so I want to wish you nothing but the best in the coming months. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be following closely by.

We're very excited about it. It's my first child.

Oh, man. It's going to be amazing. You're going to be a great dad. You're obviously very present in your life and very thoughtful, so you'll make a.

Great dad for sure.

Well, thanks for taking the time to connect. And as I say, everyone that's watching and listening, please go and check out Ari's work. I'll put all the links to your website and your Instagram, get people coming to check your stuff out. It's simply incredible. So I'm honored to have spent some time with you and I look forward to one day actually connect with you in person once Covid permits.

I'm looking forward to as well.

That'll be awesome. Harry, thanks a million.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for listening in today and investing in your own personal growth. Please hit that subscribe button and I.

Would love, love, love if you'd leave.

Me a rating and review as it really helps me to impact more people. I've got some amazing guests lined up in the coming weeks and folks, it's that time.

Get out there and live life on purpose. It.