[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.89,0:00:17.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,NANCY SPERO: Even though I have over 500 \Nimages in my art at this point to choose from,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.84,0:00:19.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nevertheless I have what you call “stars.”
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.96,0:00:25.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like stars in Hollywood, they’re appearing \Nand reappearing in different roles.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.08,0:00:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Certainly the ancient Egyptians, \Nthe musicians, are stars.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.20,0:00:37.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I had made a design with many \Nof these ancient Egyptian images
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.28,0:00:42.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for this subway station here in New York City.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.11,0:00:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,See a continuum, see a procession.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.00,0:00:50.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now this procession is kind \Nof formalized and dance-like.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.88,0:00:54.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let’s say it could be for an opera.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.08,0:00:56.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After all, this is Lincoln Center.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.08,0:01:05.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d like to think that I have all \Nlayers of conceptual in the art,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.64,0:01:07.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it...it’s easily read.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.37,0:01:13.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But on the other hand, I do \Nhope that it’s more complicated
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.34,0:01:20.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that it’s not just one \Neasy read and then that’s it.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.84,0:01:27.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,See I have too much stuff.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.20,0:01:30.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is from about....
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.80,0:01:34.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a lot of years and \Nmany different people printing.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.56,0:01:39.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I guess maybe my art can be said to be a protest.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.08,0:01:47.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don’t know if it’s railing against the \Nworld or something, but I am protesting.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.36,0:01:49.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as an artist, I…
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.72,0:01:55.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am privileged to create in things \Nthe way I think that they should be,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.44,0:02:01.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know because that gets \Nout my message to the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.88,0:02:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,See I’m interested in messages.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.57,0:02:10.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if people want to take something \Nfrom it, I am thrilled of course.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.72,0:02:20.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The War Paintings are certainly a protest \Nbecause it was done with indignation.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.69,0:02:28.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The U.S. had gotten involved in Vietnam \Nand I remember during that time,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.68,0:02:37.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reading newspapers and I remember this \Nterrible image of like this woman running from,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.28,0:02:42.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know from her house that had \Nbeen set afire by helicopters.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.88,0:02:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought of the victims in Vietnam
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.64,0:02:50.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what they would think of these war machines.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.20,0:02:58.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that was working on me and then \NI started painting the War series.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.20,0:03:04.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I felt then that the symbol of \Nthe Vietnam War was the helicopter
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.80,0:03:08.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that became my primary subject matter.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.60,0:03:18.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the political came by having \Na partnership with Leon Golub.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.76,0:03:28.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My husband, my partner really of over \N51 years, he’s recently deceased.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.36,0:03:37.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leon always had some sort of \Nfoot in the political in his art,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.20,0:03:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether it was overt or not.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.64,0:03:46.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that that aspect of \Nhis thinking influenced me a lot.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.99,0:03:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This back and forth of ideas and discussions,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.22,0:03:58.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that Leon’s painting is incredibly ugly,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.49,0:04:02.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which makes it incredibly beautiful.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.00,0:04:07.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the main thing is the \Npower and the action in it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.59,0:04:16.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was pretty damned difficult \Ncontending with someone who was so,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.88,0:04:22.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not only did he do big \Npaintings and fantastic ones,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.64,0:04:28.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you know what, he...he was really \Nbrilliant and that’s pretty hard.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.12,0:04:31.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had a really hard time \Ncontending with such a person.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.12,0:04:35.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I decided I, I just had to do my thing
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.88,0:04:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so I started doing very small work.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.52,0:04:41.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Very small work.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.88,0:04:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Figures that are sometimes \Nan inch tall or even less.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.80,0:04:51.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Almost microscopic. And so \Nin a way that’s a retort.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.40,0:04:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And also it’s a retort to the large works \Nof the mostly male New York artists.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.00,0:05:04.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leon of course always in my mind was an exception.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.00,0:05:10.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How totally sympathetic he was to my art.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.20,0:05:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Over the years the work has evolved \Nfrom a more traditional format
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.36,0:05:24.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of either the rectangle or the square \Nor whatever in front of one’s eyes.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.20,0:05:31.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if we move our eyes, it would be \Neventually nothing there but blank wall.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.20,0:05:33.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I have let it continue.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.83,0:05:39.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is in Malmö, Sweden that I \Nshowed it, THE BLACK AND THE RED.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.32,0:05:41.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was an enormous room.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.76,0:05:49.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In seeing this huge, huge gallery, I just \Nkind of took a deep breath and I put…
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.28,0:05:52.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I put the paper piece around in a single band.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.52,0:05:57.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I continued along printing on \Nthe wall like a trompe l’oeil
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.12,0:06:02.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to reiterate the images in the printed piece.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.44,0:06:09.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when the show was over, I could \Npick up and take THE BLACK AND THE RED,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.84,0:06:15.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that which was on paper, but I \Ncouldn’t take THE BLACK AND THE RED,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.60,0:06:18.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that had been printed on the wall.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.84,0:06:24.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s like theater, when the \Nplay is over, it’s finished,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.56,0:06:33.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it only stays in the memory of \Nthose who saw it and remember it.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.67,0:06:43.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: So we’ll have a few \Non the ground, yeah. Wow.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.80,0:06:45.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SAM KUNTZ: ...(OVERLAP) have \Nthem on the ground or not?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.68,0:06:50.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: No, no I thought we’d...maybe \Njust a couple on the ground you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.36,0:06:50.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.96,0:06:52.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ooh, that’s good.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.08,0:06:55.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ooh, ooh, that’s really white.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.92,0:06:57.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oops, oops, oops.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.76,0:07:01.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah, yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.45,0:07:05.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: I was invited to be in the Venice Biennale.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.28,0:07:07.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought, what in the devil am I going to do?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.72,0:07:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was thinking about one of the \Npaintings I had done in the War series.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.72,0:07:17.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in that I had done a maypole \Nwith bloody severed heads
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.28,0:07:22.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hanging from gaily colored \Nribbons from the maypole.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:22.28,0:07:25.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And finally I thought to literally make a maypole.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.84,0:07:36.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I just started working on the maypole with \Nthe help of Sam Kuntz and Marybeth Craig.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.64,0:07:39.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Marybeth’s in printing the images
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.08,0:07:45.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so Sam has been working her part of \Nthe magic in transforming these heads.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.76,0:07:54.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SAM: Nancy has such a facility to \Nrender an expressive, pained figure.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.24,0:08:01.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what’s amazing to me is that \Nif you look at these carefully,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.08,0:08:05.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they’re very small and the line \Nhas been drawn very quickly.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.44,0:08:08.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this expression is articulated perfectly.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:08.16,0:08:10.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean and...and they’re \Nall different. It’s not....
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.32,0:08:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean it’s, it’s a kind of freedom that she has.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.39,0:08:17.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SAM: Some of these might even have \Nbeen done as part of the War series
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.12,0:08:21.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which would be 1966 through ’68.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.64,0:08:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She saved some of these heads that were \Nnever incorporated into any of the pieces.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.00,0:08:32.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so now we’re blowing them up \Nto make printing plates of polymers
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.32,0:08:36.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that we can print a back \Non aluminum on a large scale
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.36,0:08:39.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and make these disembodied heads.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.50,0:08:47.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: But I feel that the images I \Ndid long ago which I can’t recoup.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:47.06,0:08:52.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know I mean I cannot \Nre-draw them, in the same way.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:52.20,0:08:56.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m on another ...I’m on \Nanother direction altogether.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.76,0:09:03.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I thought that I couldn’t cannibalize \Nwhat I have done forty years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.52,0:09:08.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have the idea of printing on \Nthe metal and then cutting it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.44,0:09:14.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I’ve envisioned it then that it \Nwould be on this metal and that maybe,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.36,0:09:16.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don’t know how we’re going to do this,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.28,0:09:18.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but have a few kind of together.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.48,0:09:22.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so if they banged up against \Neach other it would clank.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:24.48,0:09:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If one goes into jail for instance and hearing the \Nclank of the door and there you are, you’re....
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.00,0:09:35.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean it even leaves me breathless now,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.24,0:09:37.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking about that, the sound of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.72,0:09:39.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there you are.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.84,0:09:44.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, there one is in this jail you know
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.84,0:09:51.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one can’t get out until that \Nguy with the keys or whatever left…
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.40,0:09:53.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lets you out.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.16,0:09:56.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, and, and so it is all of these \Nthings running through my mind
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.96,0:10:00.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what it means to be metal and severed heads.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.32,0:10:04.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so it kind of got a feeling of…
Dialogue: 0,0:10:04.28,0:10:07.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the resemblances of all this brutality.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:10.64,0:10:16.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just trying to show the insanity, \Nreally the insanity of war.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:19.36,0:10:25.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I actually have cannibalized my own \Nwork to kind of liberate myself from
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.64,0:10:31.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I have done and what I \Nreally want to do in the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.40,0:10:40.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For Spain I had this idea of the repetition \Nof that image that I so blatantly liberated,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.52,0:10:45.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saved from the ancient \NEgyptian, uh, Mourning Women.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.60,0:10:51.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then I thought that somehow to emphasize this…
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.64,0:10:58.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this kind of prayerful, looking up as if \Nlooking up to heaven or god knows what,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.88,0:11:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I decided that it should be on the \Nground, like a real funeral procession.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:07.76,0:11:14.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the gallery in New York I \Nretitled and kind of redid it again,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.88,0:11:17.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but entitled it Cri du Coeur.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.40,0:11:22.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was the first piece after Leon died.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.36,0:11:28.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like a “cry of the heart,” but to me it must \Nmean something kind of like intense emotion,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.48,0:11:31.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost like praying, a cri du coeur you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:31.60,0:11:34.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,plea-ing you know with heaven or…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.80,0:11:37.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or something like that I think by the gestures.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:41.48,0:11:45.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s almost...it’s always so strange,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.64,0:11:48.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s so empty and then you just put one…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:48.28,0:11:51.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these stupid little things in and…
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.76,0:11:55.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it’s too much then. This is good.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.44,0:12:03.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe over near.....
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.88,0:12:06.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why do I do art?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.28,0:12:09.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What isn’t a reason for doing art?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:10.92,0:12:12.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don’t know, it does need something.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.20,0:12:22.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s why it’s not finished, \Nbecause I can’t think you know what…
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.56,0:12:24.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:25.42,0:12:27.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SAM: Maybe it needs something \Nto throw it off balance.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:27.60,0:12:28.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:28.92,0:12:30.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SAM: Something awkward.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.28,0:12:34.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SPERO: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm. I think I have \Nto think about it in another time.