WEBVTT

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[Sounds of birds chirping]

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[New York Close Up]

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[Fort Greene, Brooklyn]

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I find that being able to work at home...

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that I wake up in the morning,

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I have breakfast, I start working.

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And it’s a very smooth transition

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directly into the work

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that comes from a quieter,

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more centered place.

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[Louise Despont, Artist]

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[Nicole Wong, Assistant]

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I think we’ll do white dots on these ones,

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up until you reach this small...

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stop before you reach this smallest one.

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So stop on this one.

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What I like about making work this way

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is that I don’t need to wait for an opportunity
to be given to me.

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I don’t have to apply for money to do this
idea

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when I can do what I need to do

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and what I want to do simply on paper.

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I like that--that there’s no excuse not
to do the work,

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because it’s so contained.

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To be focused and dedicated to doing one simple
thing

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can perhaps be the most transformative thing.

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That as narrow as it is,

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it can be infinitely deep.

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["Louise Despont Draws Deep"]

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We always associate drawing as being more
personal--

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as being more intimate than painting.

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Because, historically, drawings weren’t
shown,

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and then when they were, they were shown as,
sort of,

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the private notebooks of so-and-so,

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or the sketches from these very famous paintings.

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I was doing more oil painting before--

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ten years ago--

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and then, suddenly you see it,

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and you think it's all wrong

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and you need to take a completely different
path.

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And that's when I started working in notebooks

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and doing a lot of collage--

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where there was just, you know, collecting
images

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and taping them into the book.

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To fill up a book felt nice, you know?

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It didn’t even have to be with anything
good.

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It was just nice to complete a book.

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I think it’s also the nature of working
in a book.

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It’s that the work is private,

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that you’re not making work for people to
see.

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Because if you’re always imagining that
somebody will look at it,

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then maybe you don’t let yourself make the
mistakes

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that need to be made on the way.

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These ledger books, they’re mostly all for
accounting--

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keeping track of your expenses,

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of debts and accounts owed.

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I think it’s a different way of accounting
for time

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and for a life spent.

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It becomes the account of every day,

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that I put into the drawing.

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When I started using the stencils,

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it completely changed how I drew.

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This is the first stencil I ever bought,

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which is now all broken.

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I’m really sad about it.

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I think the triangles are the ones I use most.

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Laying out the paper and seeing the dimensions

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can sometimes be the beginning of a drawing.

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You only have to make the first few marks

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and the whole drawing will unravel itself

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in response to that,

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even if you change completely what you thought
you were starting at.

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Those few marks contain the seed of the entire
drawing.

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It’s almost like the drawing guides itself,

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and you’re there to do the weeding

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and the watering and the planting.

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But it will grow on it’s own,

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to a certain extent.

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It’s nice to look at something

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and feel some sort of awe for it,

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that you don’t fully own it

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but that you worked for it.

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Even if it looks very controlled and detailed,

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I feel like I own

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maybe one quarter of it at most. [LAUGHS]

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Each drawing is a discovery--

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tiny discoveries--

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but each one unfolds in a way

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that removes the drawing from total control.

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You’re responsible for your part,

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and something else is responsible for the
other part,

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which makes it very exciting.

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It’s a complexity that you can’t think
up.

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It’s like little mineral deposits build
up

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and make an entire surface.

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I think it's expressive on an energetic level,

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at least that's what I hope.

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I think the work accesses something

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to me that feels very universal.

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There’s something so personal and raw and
unconcrete

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about your relationship to the spiritual,

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and my words will always be this clumsy approximation

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of something that I feel I'm beginning to
touch

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in a symbolic language.

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I feel it’s best explained in the drawings.

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[White Mule, Chelsea]

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[DESPONT] And that’s the Japanese rice mulberry
paper?

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[ANNE GIBBS] Mmm hmm.

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The paste that we use is a rice paste,

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so it’s water soluble.

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It can easily be taken off with just a little...

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[Anne Gibbs, Framer]

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you know, humidifying it a little.

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[DESPONT] And then,

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when I have to make the final step from taking
the drawing to the framer,

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I take a last look at it

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because I know it’s the last time to make
changes.

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And when I look at the drawing

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I can see areas that aren’t fully connected

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or fully resolved.

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And those are all openings

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to add something.

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And then when it’s done, it’s like,

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"Don’t touch me!"

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Like, there’s no entry point anymore.

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And that's...

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that always feels very clear.