[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.86,0:00:19.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Julie Mehretu: Politicized Landscapes]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.04,0:00:22.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no such thing as just "landscape".
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.74,0:00:29.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The actual landscape is politicized through
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.52,0:00:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the events that take place on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.66,0:00:35.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I don't think it's possible for me,\Nin general,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.90,0:00:38.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to ever think about the American landscape
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.62,0:00:41.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without thinking about the colonial history--
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.37,0:00:44.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the colonial violence--\Nof that narrative.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.00,0:00:51.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The abolitionist movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.86,0:00:52.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Civil War.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.44,0:00:55.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The move towards emancipation.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.90,0:01:00.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of these social dynamics that are\Npart of that narrative,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.32,0:01:04.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we don't really talk about in regards to\NAmerican landscape paintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.44,0:01:08.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, what does it mean to paint a landscape
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.24,0:01:11.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and try and be an artist\Nin this political moment?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.84,0:01:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The color in these paintings\Nreally came out of
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.56,0:01:23.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,blurred photographs that were\Nembedded inside of the underpaintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.58,0:01:28.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sirens and the flames of race riots
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.02,0:01:31.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was a way to embed the paintings with DNA
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.42,0:01:34.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that I could respond from a deeper place.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.64,0:01:39.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--I'm going to go upstairs and take a look.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.66,0:01:46.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--Yeah, I'm excited!
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.16,0:01:47.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.34,0:01:59.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Marian Goodman contacted me,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.47,0:02:02.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,telling me that SFMOMA was interested\Nin doing this commission
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.81,0:02:04.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before the new museum opened.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.80,0:02:11.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I went several times to San Francisco\Nto visit the museum.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.64,0:02:15.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was there, staring at this\Nvery cavernous, open space--
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.48,0:02:16.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at these two walls.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.86,0:02:19.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I started to think about\Nthe national parks
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.96,0:02:22.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the representations of\NAmerican landscape painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.57,0:02:24.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, specifically, when I came back,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.92,0:02:27.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I kept thinking about the\NHudson River Valley School painters,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.81,0:02:29.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like Edwin Church,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.55,0:02:31.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thomas Cole,\NBierstadt--
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.84,0:02:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they really encapsulate that idea\Nof going westward.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.28,0:02:43.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started to layer the blurred color images\Ninto these historic landscape paintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.40,0:02:49.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just prior to emancipation,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.72,0:02:53.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Native Americans of the Sierras\Nand the western frontiers were
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.44,0:02:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,completely annihilated by this \Nexpansionist project.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.38,0:03:00.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What was interesting was that aspect of
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.91,0:03:03.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,both annihilation and then\Npreservation shortly after
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.99,0:03:06.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can exist on the same geographic landscape.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.78,0:03:12.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,San Francisco then, as a site,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.33,0:03:17.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,became important because that was\Nthis destiny of going out west.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.02,0:03:28.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Jason Moran, composer and pianist]
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.70,0:03:29.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--[MEHRETU] How are you doing?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.44,0:03:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Jason Moran wrote me after seeing some paintings
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.82,0:03:35.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he talked about them as a score.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.52,0:03:38.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was super interested in that.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.76,0:03:45.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we started working together here
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.32,0:03:48.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a very, very loose and open way.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.24,0:03:55.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's kind of an amazing thing to paint\Nin a church.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.72,0:03:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everything kind of reverberates\Nback into here,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.65,0:04:02.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,energy-wise--\Nconsciousness-wise--
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.68,0:04:06.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and everything that has taken place\Nthis year in my personal life,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.13,0:04:09.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with my children,\Nwith what has happened politically.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.08,0:04:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of that is immersed in these paintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.62,0:04:16.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Electric piano plays]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.20,0:04:31.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of these brutal killings of Black people\Nin this country--
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.04,0:04:32.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Black body.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.82,0:04:36.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Trump-Hillary dynamic,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.02,0:04:39.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was disgusting to witness.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.14,0:04:44.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was something in that language\Nthat's visceral.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.14,0:04:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When a person speaks so horrifically towards\Nanother being,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.46,0:04:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's deeply wrenching.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.40,0:04:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The discomfort of being a person\Nliving and working in the United States
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.64,0:05:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a place that, I think, these paintings\Nwere being made from.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.82,0:05:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Electric piano plays]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.48,0:05:28.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[JASON MORAN] Every room defines one tone,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.96,0:05:30.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's like the room tone.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.56,0:05:34.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's the tone that makes it resonate.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.26,0:05:39.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I started to find some of that\Nin the note A-flat.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.12,0:05:47.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started to build around that,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.20,0:05:49.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then, every once in a while,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.06,0:05:51.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,look up and see where Julie was in her work.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.50,0:05:56.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then slowly, I started to look at\Nmy sheet of paper
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.46,0:05:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not as a place that had a start and a finish,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.22,0:06:02.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that all of it could be composed on\Ndifferent moments.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.54,0:06:10.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--I made a little section where\Nyou were taking stuff away.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.49,0:06:11.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.49,0:06:16.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--I made you a little part that's like,\N"I'm taking this away."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.60,0:06:18.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[MEHRETU LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.50,0:06:22.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[MORAN] America is a country still in the\Nadolescent stage.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.43,0:06:24.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't know how to deal with its emotions.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.23,0:06:25.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.23,0:06:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't know how to deal with its history.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.82,0:06:30.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't want to dig in the ground to know\Nwhat artifacts are under it.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.59,0:06:34.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, jazz, I always say,\Nhas been that form of music
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.59,0:06:37.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's been the model of letting people\Nknow what's happening.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.10,0:06:40.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's always been like that.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.72,0:06:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Electric piano plays]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.00,0:06:47.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so we recorded the music because
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.57,0:06:49.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we should document the moment
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.19,0:06:51.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also share the moment, too.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.40,0:06:59.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[MEHRETU] I really try to think about\Npainting in terms of
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.58,0:07:01.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the construction or making of an image.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.36,0:07:05.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dealing with things that\Nwe don't have proper language for.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.28,0:07:09.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I kind of start to think of them as\Nthese visual neologisms.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.62,0:07:14.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The neologism is there to address\Nwhen language isn't enough.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.10,0:07:20.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Through repetition of the mark,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.52,0:07:23.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's this desire of trying\Nto invent something.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.72,0:07:41.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At a certain point, I wanted to bring\Nelements of the underpainting to the surface,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.58,0:07:45.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that it further complicated, spatially,\Nhow you were seeing these.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.68,0:07:54.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you're looking at these paintings,\Nthey're not graspable.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.20,0:08:00.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are moments where they reference\NRenaissance Ascension painting,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.06,0:08:02.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then other moments that feel digitized.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.92,0:08:06.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At least for me,\Nthey're not something I feel like
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.12,0:08:09.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can give any kind of articulation\Nof what's happening fully.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.98,0:08:16.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Jazz music plays]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.36,0:08:25.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I love California.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.12,0:08:32.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's this grandeur to the coast\Nand the way the coast reaches the ocean.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.28,0:08:35.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you're driving through the Bay Area,\Nit's just majestic.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.92,0:08:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.86,0:08:56.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel like I have a hundred other paintings\NI want to make,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.32,0:08:59.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I've learned so much in making these.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.50,0:09:08.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not going to try and take a break\Nor stop working.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.46,0:09:12.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a lot of creative momentum\Nin finishing these paintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.02,0:09:24.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Clapping and cheering]
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.46,0:09:31.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have a lot of ideas that I want to investigate
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.18,0:09:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'm excited about that.