1 00:00:01,019 --> 00:00:04,453 [sounds of birds chirping] 2 00:00:10,803 --> 00:00:12,836 [laughter] 3 00:00:13,586 --> 00:00:17,105 [Diana] This is what it feels like in my studio all the time. Super tense. 4 00:00:18,069 --> 00:00:20,236 Diana Al-Hadid--Artist 5 00:00:20,236 --> 00:00:21,871 [Diana] "What’s gonna happen?" [laughs] 6 00:00:21,871 --> 00:00:23,402 Sound FX App-Ryan's iPhone 7 00:00:23,402 --> 00:00:25,319 [Ryan] "Is she gonna put steps there?" 8 00:00:25,319 --> 00:00:26,553 "And then..." 9 00:00:26,553 --> 00:00:28,455 [sounds of record scratching] 10 00:00:29,279 --> 00:00:30,818 "Al-Hadid studios!" 11 00:00:30,818 --> 00:00:31,716 [Diana] "Boom!" 12 00:00:31,716 --> 00:00:33,012 [Diana Al-Hadid's Studio Boom] 13 00:00:33,058 --> 00:00:34,052 "What up!?" 14 00:00:35,406 --> 00:00:36,930 [Ryan] "You wanna hear 'sexy'?" 15 00:00:36,930 --> 00:00:38,001 [Diana, laughing] "I do." 16 00:00:38,032 --> 00:00:40,948 [sound of saxophone playing] 17 00:00:44,310 --> 00:00:46,311 [sounds of blowtorch] 18 00:00:48,728 --> 00:00:54,327 Four years ago this whole floor was just one empty space. 19 00:00:54,527 --> 00:00:56,393 [sounds of drilling] 20 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:04,010 There was no plumbing, there was no heaters, there was no electrical. 21 00:01:04,876 --> 00:01:06,760 "Does it look level to you?" 22 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,443 Lucky for me, I got it grant and I partitioned some of it out. 23 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,094 Some of it's rented to other artists. 24 00:01:14,376 --> 00:01:19,793 And I curved out a space for myself that was way bigger than I ever dreamed. 25 00:01:20,243 --> 00:01:23,560 I was taking on too much and figuring out how to make it happen. 26 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,827 "It's real. It works. Sort of." 27 00:01:29,526 --> 00:01:34,743 When I first moved to New York, my studio was maybe 700 square feet. 28 00:01:34,791 --> 00:01:36,432 [Actual Size--320 square feet] 29 00:01:36,432 --> 00:01:41,443 I made sculptures within inches of the walls. It was really difficult, 30 00:01:41,711 --> 00:01:45,511 Especially for the work that I made. It taught me how to be efficient: 31 00:01:46,010 --> 00:01:50,110 How to save space, how to save money, and especially how to save time, 32 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:55,543 Because no one helped me, and when you don’t have a lot of resources, you get sharp. 33 00:01:57,345 --> 00:02:01,092 [This is Diana's new sculpture.] 34 00:02:02,011 --> 00:02:04,302 [She has two months to finish it for a show.] 35 00:02:04,302 --> 00:02:05,149 Yay! 36 00:02:09,146 --> 00:02:12,876 This past year I had pretty fast growth. 37 00:02:14,227 --> 00:02:17,711 It just impossible to do this alone on this scale. 38 00:02:17,876 --> 00:02:20,426 "Do you have a bucket for me? Yes!" 39 00:02:21,577 --> 00:02:25,693 So, now I have assistants that help me make these things. 40 00:02:26,107 --> 00:02:28,593 [Everyone in the studio has a nickname.] 41 00:02:29,744 --> 00:02:32,477 [Drew Dudak--"Drew A Lot When He Was A Kid"] 42 00:02:32,810 --> 00:02:35,027 [Yeji Lee--"Yejisaur"] 43 00:02:35,244 --> 00:02:36,739 [Sarah Faitell--"Fatal"] 44 00:02:36,739 --> 00:02:38,337 That's also why I have a studio manager... 45 00:02:38,337 --> 00:02:39,858 [Jonathan de Simone--"Jonny D On The Ones & Twos"] 46 00:02:39,858 --> 00:02:42,039 ...to allocate different tasks for people, 47 00:02:42,039 --> 00:02:44,933 And I can focus on something that requires my attention. 48 00:02:45,183 --> 00:02:47,767 [Jonathan] Working on stuff this large is amazing, it’s so much fun. 49 00:02:47,767 --> 00:02:50,183 [Diana laughs] 50 00:02:50,183 --> 00:02:53,700 When I was first working for her, I was her only assistant. 51 00:02:55,670 --> 00:03:01,087 I spent like six months working really closely with just her and learned a lot about all the different techniques. 52 00:03:01,088 --> 00:03:03,904 [Diana] "It might just be that one rod." 53 00:03:04,571 --> 00:03:06,021 [Jonathan] "You are correct." 54 00:03:06,021 --> 00:03:07,920 [Jonathan] She’a kind of a "go-big-or-go-home" person. 55 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:09,821 [Diana] "Yes! I love when I'm right." 56 00:03:09,988 --> 00:03:12,205 [Jonathan] Everything is like balls to the wall... 57 00:03:12,205 --> 00:03:13,987 [Diana] "It's so nice, it punctures through." 58 00:03:13,987 --> 00:03:16,020 [Jonathan] ...giant sculpture. 59 00:03:16,037 --> 00:03:20,387 And a lot of the processes here are really specific and a little bit weird and unique. 60 00:03:21,088 --> 00:03:28,688 So, largely what I do is train other people how to do something in the way that Diana wants it done. 61 00:03:29,070 --> 00:03:34,537 [Diana] All this stuff I do people can learn. It’s really easy. I think. Everything I do is easy. 62 00:03:34,537 --> 00:03:37,071 [Nick] "Yeah, but it's also like watching the master at work." 63 00:03:37,071 --> 00:03:38,288 [Diana laughs] 64 00:03:38,288 --> 00:03:42,670 [Nick] I mean to touch fiber glass like you do, to hold it, you can’t do it yourself. 65 00:03:42,670 --> 00:03:44,070 [Diana] "I’m much faster." 66 00:03:44,070 --> 00:03:46,522 [Nick] Yeah, and you make it look more natural. 67 00:03:50,444 --> 00:03:53,177 [Diana] It was kind of a mess in here for many years. 68 00:03:53,227 --> 00:03:56,059 Because of Nick, now I look like a professional. 69 00:03:57,093 --> 00:03:59,132 [Nick] She likes receipts-- 70 00:03:59,132 --> 00:04:01,010 [Nicholas Joyce--"Snick"] 71 00:04:01,010 --> 00:04:04,861 Keeping track of everything to the penny. So that’s actually a difficult part. 72 00:04:04,894 --> 00:04:07,975 Tons of details. [laughs] Exciting details. 73 00:04:10,622 --> 00:04:13,444 Jon and I have a competition. 74 00:04:14,044 --> 00:04:18,710 It’s like, I have to get her in the office, and he has to get her on the studio on the same day. 75 00:04:18,710 --> 00:04:20,764 So we split her. 76 00:04:20,764 --> 00:04:24,064 [Office] [Studio] 77 00:04:26,888 --> 00:04:28,799 [Diana] We're going outside. 78 00:04:31,621 --> 00:04:34,573 [Jonathan] This is like a really great working environment. 79 00:04:34,573 --> 00:04:37,957 It’s really nice being here. I'm definitely learning a lot 80 00:04:38,039 --> 00:04:40,772 But on the other hand it is really time consuming. 81 00:04:40,772 --> 00:04:42,796 [Time on the Job] 82 00:04:43,035 --> 00:04:48,139 So I think there’ll come a point at which I need to go do my own thing now. 83 00:04:48,963 --> 00:04:53,929 The hardest part of leaving here will be the fact that we laugh so much at work. 84 00:04:57,230 --> 00:05:04,696 I mean it’s serious too, we're getting shit done, but the fact that the vibe is really relaxed is so nice. 85 00:05:04,696 --> 00:05:06,546 [Diana] Going to use a ladder. 86 00:05:06,546 --> 00:05:09,563 [Diana's been working on this sculpture for over a year.] 87 00:05:09,563 --> 00:05:12,313 [With one month left the studio goes into overdrive.] 88 00:05:12,313 --> 00:05:13,964 [Diana] There’s huge change that happens at the end. 89 00:05:13,964 --> 00:05:17,857 Like, once everything got attached and a lot of the big main decisions are made, 90 00:05:19,119 --> 00:05:24,128 My focus is on these minuscule details. The nuts and the bolts. 91 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:26,399 [Paul] There are steel supports, 92 00:05:26,399 --> 00:05:28,128 [Paul Pino--"Paulapart"] 93 00:05:28,128 --> 00:05:30,611 [Paul] Like here. There’s a little one inside here, and here. 94 00:05:30,611 --> 00:05:37,712 And these drips kind of obscure where the supports are, to make it look like you're in this sci-fi kind of world. 95 00:05:37,712 --> 00:05:40,260 Like the rules of physics are being bent. 96 00:05:40,512 --> 00:05:45,962 [Diana] Elements come on and come off, and so my job is predicting some of those things. 97 00:05:46,628 --> 00:05:52,611 We're really geeky about ways to problem-solve large complicated sculptures. 98 00:05:53,828 --> 00:05:56,953 [Dennis] The sculpture itself is not built in a rational way 99 00:05:56,953 --> 00:06:00,936 It has more of an aesthetic goal rather than a tectonic one. 100 00:06:01,444 --> 00:06:03,620 So the thing that I'm working on mostly right now are... 101 00:06:03,620 --> 00:06:04,770 [Dennis Harvey--"Dennisio (del Toro)"] 102 00:06:04,770 --> 00:06:09,253 ...construction manuals on how to assemble one of these things. 103 00:06:09,757 --> 00:06:14,907 I am always running out to the studio, measuring pieces, and coming back to the computer. 104 00:06:14,907 --> 00:06:17,663 It’s part of each sculpture that you don’t see. 105 00:06:17,663 --> 00:06:23,647 These instruction manuals will stay with the sculpture for the rest of its life. [laughs] 106 00:06:24,980 --> 00:06:29,681 [Paul] Sometimes I'll get home after working here and I've had a lot of dreams about cutting and gluing, 107 00:06:29,681 --> 00:06:33,182 And I'm not sure if I'm dreaming about doing her work or doing my work. 108 00:06:33,182 --> 00:06:35,681 And in the end, it doesn’t make a big difference to me. 109 00:06:35,697 --> 00:06:37,048 [It's now 1:30 a.m.] 110 00:06:37,048 --> 00:06:39,681 [The art movers arrive first thing in the morning.] 111 00:06:46,201 --> 00:06:52,407 [Diana] What we're doing in the studio together is our own problem for a while. 112 00:06:52,407 --> 00:06:58,774 And, at some point, it will be the world's problem...forever. [laughs] 113 00:06:59,807 --> 00:07:02,994 The art world is really temperamental, 114 00:07:03,078 --> 00:07:07,795 So I could be down to myself next year, who knows? 115 00:07:08,227 --> 00:07:12,527 But, I'm careful and I try to be prepared for luck. 116 00:07:13,660 --> 00:07:17,361 Artists are some of the savviest, inventive people. 117 00:07:17,361 --> 00:07:21,861 They have to manage a really illogical pursuit. 118 00:07:22,210 --> 00:07:25,928 The rest of the world is a lot more logical. 119 00:07:27,294 --> 00:07:31,695 Every artist I know is dealing with lot of stress, 120 00:07:32,786 --> 00:07:37,690 and a lot of desire, and a lot of curiosity. 121 00:07:40,989 --> 00:07:44,505 They're kind of sneaky undercover people that look like you and me, 122 00:07:44,505 --> 00:07:47,469 So...be careful. [laughs] 123 00:07:47,469 --> 00:07:49,848 They're everywhere. [laughs] 124 00:07:49,848 --> 00:07:52,357 [Music begins playing: "Eisbär" by Grauzone] 125 00:07:52,357 --> 00:07:54,161 Dance party!