[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.29,0:00:09.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[horn honking]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.00,0:00:14.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LIGON] I'm an artist because the National Endowment for the Arts
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.18,0:00:16.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used to give grants to individual artists.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.53,0:00:20.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I got a grant for drawing in 1989.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.14,0:00:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That grant allowed me to make a decision,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.70,0:00:31.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was, I could keep working the job that I was working, \N40, 50 hours a week,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.65,0:00:36.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or I could use that grant money to take some time off
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.74,0:00:41.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and really dive into this thing called being an artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.58,0:00:45.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so that grant was pivotal, actually.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.33,0:00:47.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Invites, please.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.18,0:00:52.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- I'm so sorry about this party. Like...
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.88,0:00:53.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- It's fine. \N- Okay. [laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.71,0:00:56.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- It's all good.\N- It's all good.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.17,0:00:58.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Everybody wants to come to this party all of a sudden.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.57,0:00:59.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- We're gonna, like...
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.50,0:01:06.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LIGON: One of the things about having a \Nretrospective at the Whitney is that I feel
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.32,0:01:10.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like I am coming to a place that I know very well,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.34,0:01:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the Whitney has the largest collection of my work in the country.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.90,0:01:20.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started showing at \Nthe Whitney in 1991, in the biennial.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.61,0:01:23.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know all the guards and I know all the curators.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.59,0:01:28.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so it’s a very easy place to navigate.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.84,0:01:32.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Today I was, like, awful. \N- That's all right, but you haven't changed your cell number?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.06,0:01:33.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- No, no, it's the same. \N- All right, all right.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.48,0:01:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Any opening of an exhibition is a bit like,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.00,0:01:42.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“This Is Your Life.” So there were \Npeople that I haven’t seen in 30 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.71,0:01:44.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- I'm so proud of you, i don't know what to say.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.72,0:01:47.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lots of family and lots of artist friends.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.80,0:01:49.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- I mean, the line is outside...
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.80,0:01:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- We only just glance from room to room.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.100,0:01:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- I know, we have to have a picture, a picture time.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.94,0:01:55.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Picture time.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.05,0:01:56.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ laughs ]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.98,0:02:01.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LIGON: I won’t say it was fun to be there \Nbecause I don’t like that level of scrutiny
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.68,0:02:07.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and attention. But I think it was interesting \Nto be around so many people who wished me well.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.96,0:02:16.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LIGON: The surprise of, of retrospective is
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.92,0:02:25.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there’s more consistency than I \Nhad thought in how the work appears.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.20,0:02:29.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are several threads that tie \Ntogether the show. One is an interest
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.04,0:02:33.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout the work in issues \Nof legibility and illegibility.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.00,0:02:40.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ve used language in various \Nkinds of ways throughout my career.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.24,0:02:46.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Another is concern with American history.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.84,0:02:53.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Another thing is the return to color. And \Nit is at the very beginning of my career,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.60,0:02:59.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the earliest works in the show, but \Nit returns towards the end as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.88,0:03:07.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I didn’t really do drawings when I was a \Nkid. I, I made copies of things.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.22,0:03:13.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I would, I had a good business when I was a kid, \Ndoing drawings of cartoon characters from
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.88,0:03:18.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the newspaper. And I would cut them out \Nand sell them to my friends in school.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.76,0:03:24.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when I was in high school I knew \Nthat I wanted to be an artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.29,0:03:31.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my mother had sent me to after-school \Nclasses at the Metropolitan Museum.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.72,0:03:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think my mother sent me to art classes \Nbecause she thought that’s what a well-rounded
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.20,0:03:42.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,citizen should have education in.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.10,0:03:44.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sort of arts in a general sense.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.44,0:03:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there was no one in my family who had been an artist and \Nso there wasn’t really any role model for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.82,0:04:01.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I think the idea that I actually \Nwas going to be an artist horrified her,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.48,0:04:06.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because artists don’t make any \Nmoney. And what did she say?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.31,0:04:10.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only artists I’ve ever heard of \Nare dead. And she meant Picasso.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.60,0:04:19.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the artist that I was interested in \Nwhen I first started working were de Kooning,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.76,0:04:26.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock. That whole \Ngeneration of abstract expressionists.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.00,0:04:38.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At a certain moment I decided that being an \Nabstract expressionist wasn’t quite going to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.31,0:04:49.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that produced a kind of crisis in \Nthe studio. And what I decided to do was to
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.16,0:04:55.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,incorporate the things that I was thinking about, \Nthe things I was reading into the work directly.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.72,0:05:00.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the models for that were \Npeople like Jasper Johns or,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.68,0:05:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rauschenberg. People who \Nhad used text in their work.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.00,0:05:14.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I first started doing that, I decided \Nthat I was just going to use my handwriting.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.84,0:05:20.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then after a while I decided, I’m \Nnot interested in telling my own stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.96,0:05:25.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m interested in what other people have to say.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.24,0:05:31.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s nothing wrong with self-expression, \Nit just has its limits. And I think that the
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.24,0:05:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things that I was interested in were already in \Nthe world and so they didn’t need me to create
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.20,0:05:48.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them again in that way. They just needed for me \Nto have them be brought into the work you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.20,0:05:58.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The work became more about quotation, \Nusing texts from various literary sources.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.16,0:06:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I read lots of things. I just read \Nwhatever I feel like reading. And if
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.80,0:06:09.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something stays in my head long \Nenough it might turn into art.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.24,0:06:23.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was the one thing that when I was \Na child my mother would allow me,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.24,0:06:30.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,any book I wanted, no matter the \Ncost. Expensive toys, or clothes, no.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.71,0:06:42.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But any book. So that kind of uh, attention \Nto books was, love of books came early.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.88,0:06:53.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ideas take a long time to be born, you \Nknow. They take a long time to gestate.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.00,0:06:59.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They take a long time to come into \Nthe world. And that process is hard.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.61,0:07:01.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Gloves on.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.08,0:07:10.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I guess what I’m committed to is, I don’t know,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.96,0:07:15.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not love of painting, but love \Nof the idea of making ideas.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.06,0:07:26.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first text paintings I made \Nwere single sentences by an author
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.16,0:07:33.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,named Zora Neale Hurston, an African American \Nwoman, a writer of the Harlem Renaissance.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.71,0:07:42.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The way I was making the paintings was to use \Nplastic letter stencils and oil crayons.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.32,0:07:46.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you’re using letter stencils, you’re trying to \Nmake something with a sharp boundary, but oil
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.52,0:07:51.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,crayons want to break out of those boundaries. \NThey’re messy, they don’t keep their shape.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.85,0:07:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for about six months I think I tried to figure \Nout how to make these oil crayons make nice,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.64,0:08:04.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,neat letters. And then I realized that \Nthe fact that they didn’t make nice,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.24,0:08:07.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,neat letters was actually much more interesting.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.95,0:08:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Smudging them and transforming these letters into abstraction was what the paintings were about,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.00,0:08:20.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it took six months to figure that out.\N[ chuckles ] You know?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.12,0:08:32.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At first it was really important for me that \NI made these you know from start to finish.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.60,0:08:38.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now that’s not so important to me. It’s more \Nimportant that I come in at a certain point
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.08,0:08:42.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where there is a base for me to work off \Nof. And I find it interesting to work on
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.72,0:08:49.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something that’s sort of started out of my \Nhands basically.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.32,0:08:56.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The kinds of line breaks and kinds of spacings that they would make in \Npresenting a text is very different than what
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.40,0:08:58.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would do.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.46,0:09:02.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I often find that when I’m working,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.21,0:09:10.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s the mistakes or it’s someone else’s suggestion or intervention that \Npushes the work forward.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.53,0:09:15.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know it’s the things that I didn’t think I was going \Nto do that end up being the thing.....
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.66,0:09:24.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sometimes that means you have to lose a \Nlittle bit of control over things. You have to let them go to someone else.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:24.32,0:09:28.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let someone \Nelse work on them, collaborate with people.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.84,0:09:36.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So often people say, "I get your message," but \NI don’t know think that message, if I have a
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.32,0:09:43.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,message, is so separated from what the object \Nis, how it’s painted.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.30,0:09:47.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Indeed that’s where the work starts from,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.28,0:09:55.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a kind of making rather than \Na message that is then layered into an object.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:03.28,0:10:06.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s a series of paintings \Ncalled The Coloring Book Paintings,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.92,0:10:10.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which were based on the kids’ drawings.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.76,0:10:19.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Often when I look for source material, \NI don’t know where I’m going to find it.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:19.60,0:10:23.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sometimes I don’t even know \Nwhat I’m exactly looking for.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.44,0:10:30.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I found these, it was quite a \Nsurprise. I didn’t know they existed.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.84,0:10:38.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it’s the moment when educators are trying \Nto figure out, how do you teach black history?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.08,0:10:44.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So they create these coloring books that have \Nimages that any coloring book would have in them.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:45.94,0:10:53.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Boys playing basketball juxtaposed \Nwith images of people like Harriet Tubman.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.28,0:10:59.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought this was going to be an \Neasy project for me.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.00,0:11:09.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I really had to kind of inhabit the way a kid would \Nhold a crayon or paint a painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.96,0:11:19.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know Picasso said he had to spend his \Nwhole lifetime to learn to draw like a child.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.18,0:11:22.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I know what he means now, it’s \Nhard.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:24.00,0:11:26.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it was very instructive for me.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.41,0:11:31.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That disconnect between what the kids \Nimagine those images to be and what I
Dialogue: 0,0:11:31.44,0:11:37.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as an adult bring to an image of say, \NMalcolm X was what the work was about.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:42.88,0:11:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I first started doing neons because there’s \Na neon shop in my building.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.32,0:11:58.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one day I was walking by the neon shop and the owner, Matt, \Num, said, do you want a tour? And I said, sure.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.76,0:12:11.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He makes work for corporations, but he also \Nmakes work for artists too. And I thought
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.08,0:12:14.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was an interesting pairing.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.61,0:12:22.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d been to that point, making paintings using black text on white backgrounds.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:22.45,0:12:30.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So really just as a joke, I said, um, you know is there such a thing as black neon?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.12,0:12:37.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the owner of the shop, \NMatt, said, that’s against the laws of physics,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:38.40,0:12:46.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because black is the absence of light. But then \Nwe started talking about it a bit and I realized
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.40,0:12:52.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there was a way to do it, because one can \Ntake a neon tube and simply paint it black on the front.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.96,0:12:58.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it would read as a black letter \Nor a line, but it, it would also read as neon,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:58.88,0:13:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there would be light coming from behind \Nthat black letter. And once I realized that was
Dialogue: 0,0:13:05.60,0:13:13.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,possible, it became the connection between \Nmy painting work and these neons, using text.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:14.48,0:13:19.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lots of artists have used neon, so there \Nare precedents for what I was doing.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.04,0:13:40.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Wait, what is that?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:40.08,0:13:44.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh, so this is sort of telling you what the color’s going to look like when it’s lit inside.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:44.90,0:13:46.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- Wow.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:46.51,0:13:49.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How long do you have to pump \Nthe gas into the letter?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:49.53,0:13:52.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SERGIO ALMARAZ: Ten, fifteen minutes, \Nforty minutes.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.07,0:13:58.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a neon gas, this is argon with mercury. And this is a mercury.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:58.99,0:14:01.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- And then this is helium.\N- Right.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:01.72,0:14:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- And then this is argon gas. Argon with no mercury.\N- Right.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.00,0:14:10.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,INTERVIEWER: Glenn, you’ve been working with \Nneon and you never got the explanation for it?
Dialogue: 0,0:14:10.37,0:14:16.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LIGON: No, it just kind of \Narrived, done. [ laughs ] It just arrived.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:17.50,0:14:23.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,First Neon was based on a little fragment of a Gertrude Stein novel called "Three \NLives"
Dialogue: 0,0:14:23.60,0:14:27.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it says, "Negro Sunshine."
Dialogue: 0,0:14:27.76,0:14:35.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was interested in Gertrude Stein because she \Nis interested in America, American history,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.00,0:14:45.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to describe what America means, \Nwhich I think is one of my projects too.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:49.09,0:14:56.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For me, using neon was really about finding the \Nconnection between the work I was already doing and the neon.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.89,0:15:03.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And until we had that discussion \Nabout black light, that hadn’t happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:05.51,0:15:11.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are paintings that emit light. The coal dust paintings do...
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.56,0:15:23.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because they have this shiny black \Ngravel-like substance called coal
Dialogue: 0,0:15:23.08,0:15:30.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dust on top of them. And when you shine a \Nlight on that, it sparkles and glistens.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.52,0:15:37.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I started using coal dust in relationship \Nto paintings because I was thinking about
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.60,0:15:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,James Baldwin and the essay that I \Nwas using "Stranger In The Village."
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.20,0:15:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s an American author. He’s gone to Europe to \Nwork on a novel and he’s in this little Swiss village.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:49.18,0:15:56.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was written in the ‘50s. And the \Nessay is about his relationship to the people
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.12,0:16:01.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who have no relationship to black Americans.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:01.29,0:16:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he’s trying to think through what it means to be a stranger somewhere.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.70,0:16:11.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The kind of fascination \Nand fear that strangers produce.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.08,0:16:20.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I like the idea of using coal dust because it’s a waste product. It’s left over stuff from coal processing.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:20.37,0:16:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The way it’s used on the paintings \Nwas interesting to me and seemed to
Dialogue: 0,0:16:23.76,0:16:28.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be a kind of parallel to what \NBaldwin was talking about.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.48,0:16:48.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It gets sprayed with this acrylic glue, \Ncause otherwise all that coal dust is going
Dialogue: 0,0:16:48.36,0:16:52.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to fall off the drawing.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:52.02,0:16:55.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Glue and sprayers \Ndon’t really go together.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:58.66,0:17:07.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when it dries, it dries clear. Basically fancy Elmer’s Glue \Nand water. Nothing very mysterious.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.04,0:17:08.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Et voila.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:17.04,0:17:23.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Paint is a very sensual material.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:23.09,0:17:27.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s lovely \Nto work with and lovely to look at.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.83,0:17:36.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s also inefficient. We’re used to seeing text \Nprinted, we’re not used to seeing text
Dialogue: 0,0:17:36.08,0:17:43.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made out of paint. And there’s a kind of \Nslowness and inefficiency about rendering
Dialogue: 0,0:17:43.48,0:17:49.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,text in paint that’s interesting to me. It \Nslows your reading down and it slows the
Dialogue: 0,0:17:49.12,0:17:52.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,viewer down in front of the paintings.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:52.81,0:18:00.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think we’re in a world that’s very fast, so things that slow you for a minute, give you pause I think are good.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:17.30,0:18:20.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LIGON: If you use jokes by a \Ncomedian like Richard Pryor,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.44,0:18:25.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they need to be jokes in color. So the paintings \Nhave to have color in them.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:25.25,0:18:33.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They allowed me to go back to my abstract expressionist days \Nwhen I made paintings that were very colorful.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.02,0:18:38.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- [ laughing ]
Dialogue: 0,0:18:38.41,0:18:41.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ voices overlapping ]
Dialogue: 0,0:18:55.94,0:19:02.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ LIGON ] Well the struggle is always that the \Nidea you have in your head about what you want to
Dialogue: 0,0:19:02.44,0:19:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,say in your work versus the means you have to say \Nit with or your abilities or your skills or,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:13.64,0:19:21.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the technical limitations of the medium you’re \Nworking in. So it’s, there’s always sort of, like,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:21.04,0:19:25.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ideal painting in your head, and you never \Nquite get to that. And so you make something,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:25.96,0:19:32.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s almost there, it’s not quite right, \Nyou make something else. It’s almost there,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:32.96,0:19:35.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s not quite right. \NYou make something else.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:35.88,0:19:39.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s almost there, it’s not quite right.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:39.11,0:19:44.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that process doesn’t end, \Nyou know? Eventually just, that, that is the process.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:44.48,0:19:46.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, you just keep going.