1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:05,300 [Martin Puryear: "Big Bling"] 2 00:00:17,020 --> 00:00:19,360 --[PURYEAR] There's a story in the making of objects. 3 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,360 --There's a narrative in the fabrication of things 4 00:00:24,369 --> 00:00:26,029 which, to me, is fascinating. 5 00:00:27,660 --> 00:00:29,280 I think, working incrementally, 6 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,939 there is a built-in story. 7 00:00:32,580 --> 00:00:34,400 I think it isn't just for the artist. 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,620 I get from people's reactions 9 00:00:37,620 --> 00:00:39,829 that they do find something interesting 10 00:00:39,829 --> 00:00:41,449 in the way the pieces are made-- 11 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,629 not simply in the form that results 12 00:00:44,629 --> 00:00:46,329 but actually in the way that they're made. 13 00:00:48,580 --> 00:00:50,380 --[CRAIG VAN COTT] We're making big pieces of wood 14 00:00:50,390 --> 00:00:51,659 out of little pieces of wood 15 00:00:51,659 --> 00:00:52,420 [Craig Van Cott, President, Unalam] 16 00:00:52,420 --> 00:00:54,449 with the help of glue and clamps 17 00:00:54,449 --> 00:00:56,769 and high-frequency microwaves 18 00:00:57,030 --> 00:00:58,950 to make it all stick together. 19 00:00:59,739 --> 00:01:02,549 The intricacy of what Martin was looking for 20 00:01:02,549 --> 00:01:04,489 was something that we had to actually 21 00:01:04,489 --> 00:01:06,229 buy some new machinery for. 22 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,210 We had to make very tight radiuses on the arches-- 23 00:01:10,210 --> 00:01:13,130 the ribs that are holding the plywood together. 24 00:01:13,130 --> 00:01:14,910 And there were a lot of tight angles. 25 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,800 This is giving us exposure that we don't usually get-- 26 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,220 Our product is holding up a roof 27 00:01:21,729 --> 00:01:24,829 and what's under the roof is what gets all the exposure. 28 00:01:25,580 --> 00:01:27,760 [PURYEAR] I've had to open myself up-- 29 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:29,840 both to working with assistants, 30 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,859 but also to working with people outside the studio 31 00:01:31,859 --> 00:01:34,679 who I have to engage to do the larger pieces 32 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,440 because I don't have the facilities to make 33 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,140 a thirty- or forty- or fifty-foot-high work in my studio 34 00:01:40,149 --> 00:01:41,979 nor do I have the technical facilities 35 00:01:41,979 --> 00:01:43,259 to work with certain materials. 36 00:01:44,140 --> 00:01:46,080 It's putting yourself in the hands of other people 37 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,340 and trusting their skill 38 00:01:48,350 --> 00:01:50,010 and their willingness to do what you want. 39 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,080 --[JOHN LASH] This was to be a very industrialized piece. 40 00:01:58,439 --> 00:02:02,170 The outside was to look like it was a salvaged piece. 41 00:02:02,170 --> 00:02:05,560 We did look into running recycled wood for the project. 42 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:06,729 [Madison Square Park, New York City] 43 00:02:06,729 --> 00:02:08,729 We had a problem with the fact that 44 00:02:08,729 --> 00:02:09,890 it is in a public place 45 00:02:09,890 --> 00:02:12,900 and you would have to engineer every piece of wood 46 00:02:12,900 --> 00:02:14,380 to make sure that it was structurally sound. 47 00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:15,260 [John Lash, President, Digital Atelier] 48 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:18,280 So, we were able to meet and find standards 49 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,790 that made it look like an industrial product. 50 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,360 We were going to put a cloth wire or chain link 51 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:25,980 around the whole piece. 52 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:36,500 [PURYEAR] One of the most important elements 53 00:02:36,510 --> 00:02:37,710 when you're coming up with the work 54 00:02:37,710 --> 00:02:38,560 is the scale-- 55 00:02:38,569 --> 00:02:39,709 how big it needs to be. 56 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:41,780 And, for me, 57 00:02:41,780 --> 00:02:43,480 that's always been, in some ways, 58 00:02:43,489 --> 00:02:44,540 the most difficult 59 00:02:44,540 --> 00:02:46,480 but also the most crucial part of a project. 60 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:53,480 I prefer to have work that doesn't have 61 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,209 to relate to a building. 62 00:02:55,209 --> 00:02:57,260 So this relates more to the people, hopefully, 63 00:02:57,260 --> 00:02:59,360 who are going to be circulating around it. 64 00:03:26,780 --> 00:03:29,540 The wire mesh, I've used repeatedly 65 00:03:29,540 --> 00:03:31,769 because I'm interested in the way that it both 66 00:03:31,769 --> 00:03:35,510 is a way of creating and defining a volume-- 67 00:03:35,510 --> 00:03:36,570 a surface-- 68 00:03:37,580 --> 00:03:39,460 that's very clear in space 69 00:03:39,469 --> 00:03:40,740 and yet, the same time, 70 00:03:40,740 --> 00:03:42,500 it has a kind of transparency 71 00:03:42,510 --> 00:03:44,069 because of the holes in the mesh-- 72 00:03:44,069 --> 00:03:45,729 the openings in the mesh. 73 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:49,720 From a distance, 74 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,680 it tends to look very, very massive and heavy. 75 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,260 And what I like is the dichotomy 76 00:03:55,260 --> 00:03:57,800 between that heaviness and massiveness 77 00:03:57,810 --> 00:04:00,830 and the actual sense of it as, really, a veil. 78 00:04:01,290 --> 00:04:02,569 It's just a thin skin 79 00:04:02,569 --> 00:04:03,760 that's very permeable-- 80 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:05,200 very open. 81 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:07,840 As you approach it, you realize 82 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,579 that you're actually looking through it-- 83 00:04:09,579 --> 00:04:10,799 you see light through it. 84 00:04:11,260 --> 00:04:12,440 And as you walk around it 85 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:13,240 and as you get closer, 86 00:04:13,249 --> 00:04:16,650 you realize that it's really just a thin crust of mesh. 87 00:04:17,220 --> 00:04:19,239 It looks very boulder-like and massive. 88 00:04:19,239 --> 00:04:22,099 I like the dichotomy between those two experiences. 89 00:04:23,380 --> 00:04:25,380 My work has a potential for evolution-- 90 00:04:25,390 --> 00:04:27,760 for change and open-endedness-- 91 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,960 which, to me, feels resonant with what it is to live a life.