0:00:00.660,0:00:02.700 [Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn] 0:00:19.620,0:00:22.520 [New York Close Up] 0:00:29.200,0:00:31.820 [Daniel Gordon, Artist] 0:00:32.320,0:00:35.640 [SOUND OF CELL PHONE VIBRATING] 0:00:36.460,0:00:37.220 --[GORDON] Hello? 0:00:37.220,0:00:39.520 ["Daniel Gordon Looks Back"] 0:00:39.520,0:00:40.820 --Yeah, this is he. 0:00:41.920,0:00:43.200 A few weeks ago, 0:00:43.200,0:00:44.410 I was here working 0:00:44.410,0:00:46.730 and I got a call from somebody 0:00:46.730,0:00:50.719 who had bought a work that I made in 2004 0:00:50.719,0:00:52.140 and the picture was damaged 0:00:52.140,0:00:55.460 and they were wondering if they could have[br]it reprinted. 0:01:00.629,0:01:02.390 So I started looking for the negative 0:01:02.390,0:01:04.510 and it was really great to 0:01:04.510,0:01:06.180 step back twelve years ago 0:01:06.180,0:01:08.220 and see what I was making then. 0:01:09.100,0:01:11.640 It's shockingly kind of similar 0:01:11.650,0:01:13.770 to what I'm doing now. 0:01:17.060,0:01:19.380 I really like that plant--[br]it’s so weird-- 0:01:19.380,0:01:22.540 and I think that's the clue[br]into the fact that it's 0:01:22.540,0:01:24.340 a constructed tableau. 0:01:25.630,0:01:27.310 Back then I was trying to 0:01:27.310,0:01:29.490 figure out what my voice was 0:01:29.490,0:01:33.830 and I was also just kind of learning how to[br]make stuff physically. 0:01:38.020,0:01:40.560 I really was trying to mimic reality 0:01:40.560,0:01:44.090 which is something that I have become 0:01:44.090,0:01:46.310 less and less interested in. 0:01:49.539,0:01:50.539 Not that there's not 0:01:50.539,0:01:54.000 a version of reality in my pictures now, 0:01:54.000,0:01:59.280 but instead of trying to hide all of that work 0:01:59.770,0:02:02.890 I think it became more interesting to show 0:02:02.890,0:02:04.950 the crumpled paper 0:02:05.500,0:02:07.119 and the handmade stuff 0:02:07.119,0:02:09.450 to show that Photoshop is, like, 0:02:09.450,0:02:12.010 really present in the process. 0:02:12.930,0:02:14.970 Changing a watermelon to be blue 0:02:14.970,0:02:18.510 or a peach to be green... 0:02:18.510,0:02:19.970 Pixelating things. 0:02:20.260,0:02:21.810 Adding noise to stuff. 0:02:23.120,0:02:25.280 [Sound of keys jingling off-screen] 0:02:29.880,0:02:31.720 [Danny moved to a new studio] 0:02:31.720,0:02:33.220 [next to his wife Ruby.] 0:02:33.220,0:02:36.099 [RUBY SKY STILER] I thought we needed more space[br]away from each other, 0:02:36.099,0:02:37.420 but maybe what we really needed 0:02:37.420,0:02:38.900 was some more time together. 0:02:38.900,0:02:40.440 [BOTH LAUGH] 0:02:41.440,0:02:43.519 [GORDON] Ruby probably likes my past work 0:02:43.519,0:02:44.519 more than I do, 0:02:44.519,0:02:45.650 and I like Ruby’s past work 0:02:45.650,0:02:47.010 more than she does. 0:02:47.190,0:02:48.850 It's pretty rare that we would look back 0:02:48.850,0:02:49.850 and we're like, 0:02:49.850,0:02:52.440 "That was so great, what I was doing." 0:02:52.440,0:02:53.180 No. 0:02:53.440,0:02:55.120 [STILER] As I get further from the thing, 0:02:56.120,0:03:00.130 I dislike it more and more.[br][Ruby Sky Stiler, Artist] 0:03:00.130,0:03:02.250 [GORDON] But then sometimes, you go, 0:03:02.250,0:03:04.049 "It's so long ago..." 0:03:04.049,0:03:06.440 that you really are so detached... 0:03:06.440,0:03:07.480 [STILER] I've heard you say that before 0:03:07.480,0:03:08.989 and I've never felt that. 0:03:08.989,0:03:09.989 [GORDON] You haven’t? 0:03:09.989,0:03:10.669 [STILER] No. 0:03:10.669,0:03:11.980 [GORDON] Every now and then, you... 0:03:11.989,0:03:13.069 ...like what about, um... 0:03:13.380,0:03:14.940 [STILER] Oh God, don't even say a thing. 0:03:14.940,0:03:15.940 [GORDON] What about the vase? 0:03:15.940,0:03:17.020 That was so cool! 0:03:17.020,0:03:17.940 [STILER] Okay, that's the one thing... 0:03:17.940,0:03:18.940 [GORDON] See. 0:03:18.940,0:03:19.940 [STILER] ...that I think is okay. 0:03:19.940,0:03:20.970 [GORDON] Okay, what about, um... 0:03:20.970,0:03:21.810 [STILER] Okay, stop! 0:03:23.380,0:03:26.040 [GORDON] In a lot of ways,[br]the more work you make, 0:03:26.050,0:03:27.800 the more there is to make. 0:03:27.800,0:03:28.800 You make a lot of work 0:03:28.800,0:03:30.580 and then you hang on to a few, 0:03:30.880,0:03:32.819 and I find myself looking back 0:03:32.819,0:03:34.420 at a few pictures 0:03:34.420,0:03:36.260 and wanting to expand on those. 0:03:36.260,0:03:38.519 For example, I found that picture when I was moving. 0:03:38.519,0:03:40.250 It was made around the same time 0:03:40.250,0:03:41.909 as some of these other pictures. 0:03:41.909,0:03:44.060 And I was re-inspired by it 0:03:44.060,0:03:46.310 and wanted to see what it would be like 0:03:46.310,0:03:48.530 if I took that as a starting point. 0:03:54.170,0:03:57.319 I was interested in what happened[br]if I took out 0:03:57.319,0:04:00.500 the identifiable parts of a face. 0:04:00.500,0:04:02.319 Kind of, like, how far I could push 0:04:02.319,0:04:04.039 the idea of a portrait. 0:04:05.200,0:04:07.140 Kind of, how far I could go 0:04:07.150,0:04:09.439 away from what an eye is-- 0:04:09.439,0:04:10.569 or what a nose is, 0:04:10.569,0:04:12.099 or what a mouth is-- 0:04:12.099,0:04:16.119 and still hopefully have it read as[br]a portrait in someway. 0:04:16.130,0:04:18.870 Like, for example, just talking about these pictures. 0:04:19.540,0:04:21.700 They're so new that I don’t know 0:04:21.700,0:04:23.760 the answers to them. 0:04:23.760,0:04:26.970 Like, I think it takes a long time to, 0:04:26.970,0:04:31.150 kind of, understand what it is you're doing. 0:04:34.120,0:04:37.020 [STILER] I've been in a stage[br]for a couple of months 0:04:37.030,0:04:39.470 where, like, I haven’t been able to figure out 0:04:39.470,0:04:41.300 where I want to go. 0:04:41.300,0:04:42.320 And it's, like, 0:04:42.320,0:04:44.860 you have to be delusional to, like, 0:04:44.860,0:04:46.600 keep coming back everyday 0:04:46.600,0:04:50.240 to make more failures. 0:04:51.200,0:04:54.660 I just feel like I'm never satisfied[br]with my work. 0:04:54.660,0:04:55.660 And I think that's good-- 0:04:55.660,0:04:56.810 like, I'm always antsy. 0:04:56.810,0:04:59.230 I just want to keep growing[br]and making things 0:04:59.230,0:05:01.910 that are beyond my expectations 0:05:01.910,0:05:04.670 and making things that are ambitious 0:05:04.670,0:05:06.350 and terrify me. 0:05:15.040,0:05:16.520 [GORDON] I think I'm, like, 0:05:16.520,0:05:18.490 right in between, generationally. 0:05:18.490,0:05:20.820 I lived half my life before the internet 0:05:20.820,0:05:22.230 and half my life after. 0:05:22.230,0:05:23.450 So, I think that there's 0:05:23.450,0:05:25.890 a really interesting conflict between 0:05:25.890,0:05:29.490 the analog versus the digital. 0:05:29.490,0:05:30.830 And I love both. 0:05:31.840,0:05:32.760 [Camera shutter clicks] 0:05:34.520,0:05:35.540 You know, for example, 0:05:35.540,0:05:37.680 like, this really large still life. 0:05:37.680,0:05:40.780 I made a quick selection of watermelon, 0:05:40.780,0:05:42.200 the green jug, 0:05:42.750,0:05:44.730 the blue plum, 0:05:44.730,0:05:47.390 and the orange peach. 0:05:47.960,0:05:50.800 And then created a new canvas, 0:05:50.800,0:05:53.340 and, kind of, stamped those... 0:05:53.340,0:05:56.080 that selection into the new canvas. 0:05:58.470,0:06:00.740 I was curious--and still am curious-- 0:06:00.740,0:06:02.680 if there was a way to make 0:06:02.680,0:06:04.780 non-representational images 0:06:04.780,0:06:07.030 but also, still, in some way, 0:06:07.030,0:06:08.910 are related to my photographs-- 0:06:08.910,0:06:11.060 that they're, kind of,[br]an in-between thing. 0:06:11.060,0:06:12.900 I'm just kind of interested to see 0:06:12.900,0:06:15.460 where the line between a photograph, 0:06:15.460,0:06:18.280 and a painting, and a sculpture lies. 0:06:20.590,0:06:22.370 I think the real question is 0:06:22.370,0:06:24.530 how can you continue to work 0:06:24.530,0:06:27.850 and continue to be truly invested 0:06:27.850,0:06:30.020 and truly interested in what you're doing. 0:06:30.020,0:06:32.630 And, for me, the only way to do that 0:06:32.630,0:06:34.250 is to try new things-- 0:06:34.250,0:06:37.190 to invent new ways of making pictures. 0:06:38.240,0:06:39.900 So that, eventually, 0:06:39.910,0:06:42.020 maybe those questions will have answers. 0:06:42.400,0:06:44.480 But, like, right now,[br]I'm just, kind of, 0:06:45.600,0:06:47.780 asking the questions, I think.