0:00:02.920,0:00:05.300 [Martin Puryear: "Big Bling"] 0:00:17.020,0:00:19.360 --[PURYEAR] There's a story in the making[br]of objects. 0:00:22.040,0:00:24.360 --There's a narrative in the fabrication of things 0:00:24.369,0:00:26.029 which, to me, is fascinating. 0:00:27.660,0:00:29.280 I think, working incrementally, 0:00:29.280,0:00:31.939 there is a built-in story. 0:00:32.580,0:00:34.400 I think it isn't just for the artist. 0:00:35.320,0:00:37.620 I get from people's reactions 0:00:37.620,0:00:39.829 that they do find something interesting 0:00:39.829,0:00:41.449 in the way the pieces are made-- 0:00:43.040,0:00:44.629 not simply in the form that results 0:00:44.629,0:00:46.329 but actually in the way that they're made. 0:00:48.580,0:00:50.380 --[CRAIG VAN COTT] We're making big pieces[br]of wood 0:00:50.390,0:00:51.659 out of little pieces of wood 0:00:51.659,0:00:52.420 [Craig Van Cott, President, Unalam] 0:00:52.420,0:00:54.449 with the help of glue and clamps 0:00:54.449,0:00:56.769 and high-frequency microwaves 0:00:57.030,0:00:58.950 to make it all stick together. 0:00:59.739,0:01:02.549 The intricacy of what Martin was looking for 0:01:02.549,0:01:04.489 was something that we had to actually 0:01:04.489,0:01:06.229 buy some new machinery for. 0:01:06.840,0:01:10.210 We had to make very tight radiuses on the arches-- 0:01:10.210,0:01:13.130 the ribs that are holding the plywood together. 0:01:13.130,0:01:14.910 And there were a lot of tight angles. 0:01:16.200,0:01:18.800 This is giving us exposure that we don't usually get-- 0:01:19.200,0:01:21.220 Our product is holding up a roof 0:01:21.729,0:01:24.829 and what's under the roof is what gets all[br]the exposure. 0:01:25.580,0:01:27.760 [PURYEAR] I've had to open myself up-- 0:01:27.760,0:01:29.840 both to working with assistants, 0:01:29.840,0:01:31.859 but also to working with people outside the studio 0:01:31.859,0:01:34.679 who I have to engage to do the larger pieces 0:01:34.680,0:01:36.440 because I don't have the facilities to make 0:01:36.440,0:01:40.140 a thirty- or forty- or fifty-foot-high work[br]in my studio 0:01:40.149,0:01:41.979 nor do I have the technical facilities 0:01:41.979,0:01:43.259 to work with certain materials. 0:01:44.140,0:01:46.080 It's putting yourself in the hands of other people 0:01:46.960,0:01:48.340 and trusting their skill 0:01:48.350,0:01:50.010 and their willingness to do what you want. 0:01:54.400,0:01:58.080 --[JOHN LASH] This was to be a very[br]industrialized piece. 0:01:58.439,0:02:02.170 The outside was to look like it was a salvaged piece. 0:02:02.170,0:02:05.560 We did look into running recycled wood for[br]the project. 0:02:05.560,0:02:06.729 [Madison Square Park, New York City] 0:02:06.729,0:02:08.729 We had a problem with the fact that 0:02:08.729,0:02:09.890 it is in a public place 0:02:09.890,0:02:12.900 and you would have to engineer every piece of wood 0:02:12.900,0:02:14.380 to make sure that it was structurally sound. 0:02:14.380,0:02:15.260 [John Lash, President, Digital Atelier] 0:02:15.300,0:02:18.280 So, we were able to meet and find standards 0:02:18.280,0:02:20.790 that made it look like an industrial product. 0:02:21.200,0:02:24.360 We were going to put a cloth wire or chain link 0:02:24.360,0:02:25.980 around the whole piece. 0:02:35.080,0:02:36.500 [PURYEAR] One of the most important elements 0:02:36.510,0:02:37.710 when you're coming up with the work 0:02:37.710,0:02:38.560 is the scale-- 0:02:38.569,0:02:39.709 how big it needs to be. 0:02:40.200,0:02:41.780 And, for me, 0:02:41.780,0:02:43.480 that's always been, in some ways, 0:02:43.489,0:02:44.540 the most difficult 0:02:44.540,0:02:46.480 but also the most crucial part of a project. 0:02:51.760,0:02:53.480 I prefer to have work that doesn't have 0:02:53.480,0:02:55.209 to relate to a building. 0:02:55.209,0:02:57.260 So this relates more to the people, hopefully, 0:02:57.260,0:02:59.360 who are going to be circulating around it. 0:03:26.780,0:03:29.540 The wire mesh, I've used repeatedly 0:03:29.540,0:03:31.769 because I'm interested in the way that it both 0:03:31.769,0:03:35.510 is a way of creating and defining a volume-- 0:03:35.510,0:03:36.570 a surface-- 0:03:37.580,0:03:39.460 that's very clear in space 0:03:39.469,0:03:40.740 and yet, the same time, 0:03:40.740,0:03:42.500 it has a kind of transparency 0:03:42.510,0:03:44.069 because of the holes in the mesh-- 0:03:44.069,0:03:45.729 the openings in the mesh. 0:03:48.840,0:03:49.720 From a distance, 0:03:49.720,0:03:52.680 it tends to look very, very massive and heavy. 0:03:53.000,0:03:55.260 And what I like is the dichotomy 0:03:55.260,0:03:57.800 between that heaviness and massiveness 0:03:57.810,0:04:00.830 and the actual sense of it as, really, a veil. 0:04:01.290,0:04:02.569 It's just a thin skin 0:04:02.569,0:04:03.760 that's very permeable-- 0:04:03.760,0:04:05.200 very open. 0:04:06.360,0:04:07.840 As you approach it, you realize 0:04:07.840,0:04:09.579 that you're actually looking through it-- 0:04:09.579,0:04:10.799 you see light through it. 0:04:11.260,0:04:12.440 And as you walk around it 0:04:12.440,0:04:13.240 and as you get closer, 0:04:13.249,0:04:16.650 you realize that it's really just a thin crust of mesh. 0:04:17.220,0:04:19.239 It looks very boulder-like and massive. 0:04:19.239,0:04:22.099 I like the dichotomy between those two experiences. 0:04:23.380,0:04:25.380 My work has a potential for evolution-- 0:04:25.390,0:04:27.760 for change and open-endedness-- 0:04:27.760,0:04:30.960 which, to me, feels resonant with what it[br]is to live a life.