1 00:00:07,899 --> 00:00:09,360 ALLAN MCCOLLUM: If you can draw these simple forms– 2 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,080 the ball, cone, cube, and cylinder– you can draw 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,353 a real picture the very first time you try. 4 00:00:15,978 --> 00:00:19,760 - I had an Uncle– his name was Jon Gnagy– who had a television show 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:20,891 Learn to Draw. 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:22,280 -Today we're going to draw 7 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,600 a snow scene, in which we make the paper work for us. 8 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:27,580 We don't have to do too much work ourselves. 9 00:00:27,580 --> 00:00:31,520 - And he would design these drawings that he could then 10 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,260 teach other people how do to. 11 00:00:33,892 --> 00:00:35,680 - Just put in those ragged 12 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:41,480 strokes, always remembering that a pine tree is a rough cone form. 13 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,960 That post, you know, is a cylinder form, 14 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:45,640 so you shade it down the left, 15 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,160 like this, to really make it Round out. 16 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:50,520 Remember, our light's coming from the other– upper right. 17 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,560 Yes, it used to be that the mailbox was the chief point of 18 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,080 contact, but, you know, nowadays, a lot of these folks 19 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,086 have television. 20 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:02,600 -You know, I knew him, and 21 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,400 I just got the feeling that it never occurred to him to come up 22 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,400 with a painting or drawing that he couldn't tell someone else 23 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:10,920 step-by-step how to do. 24 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:14,226 So I was just a child, but that influenced me. 25 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,040 Whenever I design a project, 26 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,280 it's in my head while I'm designing it that I would be 27 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,331 able to show someone else how to do it. 28 00:01:24,513 --> 00:01:30,040 This looks a little bare up here, but for now, it's okay, 29 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:30,640 I guess. 30 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:31,640 The drawings that I sent 31 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:37,080 to Sao Paulo were done in 1989, and they were created from 32 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,400 templates that I made in 1988. 33 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,520 The stimulus for this particular drawings were triggered by an interest 34 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,080 in heraldry and the way that families come up with images to 35 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:50,915 represent their family. 36 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,160 And I was thinking about symbols, and I was thinking, 37 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,720 "Well, okay, we typically create 38 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:01,200 singular symbols so that we can all feel we belong." 39 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:02,680 Like, we look at the American 40 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,294 flag, and we say, "Oh, we're all Americans." 41 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,000 It occurred to me that if one used a certain kind of logic 42 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,120 and really worked at it, one could come up with a system 43 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,272 that would produce a shape for everybody on the planet. 44 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,760 The idea of trying to picture a billion or a million 45 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,000 Is something we think we can do. But we can't. 46 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,240 Say you're a general in the 47 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,200 army, and you have to send al these troops out to have 48 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,198 a battle, and you know only so many are going to come back, 49 00:02:42,943 --> 00:02:46,400 and it's gonna break your heart and make you sick unless you 50 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,774 start thinking of them as all alike in some way: 51 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,120 just soldiers, just units, you know. 52 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,680 And, I mean, that's an extreme 53 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,920 example, but there's times when you have to think about people 54 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:03,295 in categories, or you'll go crazy. 55 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:06,480 But that can go wrong also, and 56 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,011 it's something you have to watch and think about. 57 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,880 One of the things that I'm a little concerned about is, 58 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:19,040 when you get, like, a whole bunch of the same width 59 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:20,040 and the same... 60 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:20,580 - Mm-hmm. 61 00:03:20,580 --> 00:03:22,240 - you know, that's just another thing to... 62 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,327 - Wait, you mean like different sizes? 63 00:03:25,327 --> 00:03:26,200 - Like, you don't want two the 64 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:27,566 same size together. 65 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:29,720 You don't want two the same width together. 66 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:30,280 You don't want two... 67 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:30,910 - Yeah. 68 00:03:30,910 --> 00:03:33,080 - I mean, it's so funny. It has nothing to do with what's 69 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,479 in the frame, you know? [both chuckle] 70 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Sometimes you can't do anything 71 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,213 about it, but if you can, you know, shift it so that-- 72 00:03:43,213 --> 00:03:44,320 -Okay, so I'll double-check that. 73 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:45,768 -Yeah, I mean, that's just one thing. 74 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:51,680 In my youth, I worked in factories quite a lot. 75 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,464 I mean, I worked in industrial kitchens quite a lot. 76 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,680 And my parents worked in factories. 77 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:08,840 I found myself wanting to try to 78 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,440 work in quantities and make things that were singular and 79 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:13,871 unique at the same time. 80 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:20,920 We probably define uniqueness by 81 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,280 thinking, "Oh, it's not mass-produced." 82 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,280 I felt I wanted to resolve that on a higher level. 83 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:29,240 But there is, of course, the drama of thousands of things. 84 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,360 It can be nightmarish, or it can be wonderful feeling of 85 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,680 abundance, and it can go back and forth. 86 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,720 And there's a lot of emotionality when you see 87 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,040 thousands of things. 88 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,360 Some people would want to run 89 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,760 out of the room when there's too many objects to look at, 90 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:47,950 and other people would stand there in awe. 91 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,240 There's also a kind of science fiction element in here where– 92 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,560 of, like, something that sort of takes over and grows. 93 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,000 When I'm juggling ideas of what I'm gonna do next, 94 00:05:16,498 --> 00:05:20,120 one of the considerations that's major always in my mind is, "Does it 95 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:21,144 make a good story?" 96 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:25,240 I put it in my mind that it 97 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,423 would be interesting to work with people I had never met, 98 00:05:28,942 --> 00:05:32,258 that I only communicated with over email or telephone. 99 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,295 Like, you go in to see the exhibit. 100 00:05:37,295 --> 00:05:41,647 Well, it could just be looked at as a bunch of little decorative objects. 101 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:45,760 But there's a story that goes with it. 102 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:47,228 You can tell it rather quickly. 103 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,040 I wanted it to be: "Oh, the artist went on the internet. 104 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:53,320 The artist found four people 105 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,120 from the state of Maine who all of whom worked from their homes 106 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,440 and all of whom made shapes, and he never met them. 107 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:07,840 It was sort of about the– the exotic, faraway place, 108 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:08,840 I mean, which, to me– 109 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:12,240 I've only been to Maine once in my life, and it seems very 110 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:13,609 exotic to me, Maine. 111 00:06:13,609 --> 00:06:17,156 [low, deep rumbling] 112 00:06:17,156 --> 00:06:18,996 And I started becoming interested in people who had 113 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,640 businesses in their homes and also kind of very independent. 114 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,200 And kind of like the contrary to our obsession with globalism 115 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:29,880 right now, you know, is that there are people locally all 116 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,085 around us working in their homes, making thousands of things. 117 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:37,484 I looked on the web. 118 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:44,200 I looked up "Maine," you know, On– googled, "Maine, craft, 119 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:47,920 home," you know, all the words that would lead me to people who 120 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,040 worked at home and made craft in Maine. 121 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,120 And I had to sift through hundreds and hundreds and– 122 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,280 and slowly realized, "This is a huge thing in maine: you know, 123 00:06:57,280 --> 00:07:00,320 people working at home making crafts and then selling them on 124 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:01,520 the internet. 125 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:06,120 I chose a narrow group of them who basically did shapes, 126 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,920 Like rubber stamps, ornaments, 127 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,652 silhouettes, and cookie cutters. 128 00:07:16,683 --> 00:07:20,320 And then I wrote them lengthy emails about my work and what 129 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,960 my interests were and why I wanted do to this, I mean, 130 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,820 emails that--much too long, I'm sure. 131 00:07:28,039 --> 00:07:29,839 - I had no idea who he was. 132 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,120 My first thought was that he might be a kid claiming 133 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:37,920 to be an artist. 134 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,100 Of course, you don't ever know on an email. 135 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:46,320 And then after I investigated and went to his website, 136 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,336 I found out that he was quite an accomplished contemporary artist. 137 00:07:55,317 --> 00:07:57,760 [metal clicks softly] -The cookie cutter people? 138 00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:58,240 I don't know– 139 00:07:58,240 --> 00:07:59,040 I don't know how they– 140 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,880 I never watched how they did what they did, so they– 141 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:06,080 If they invented a new– a way they hadn't done before– 142 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,760 I do know that they used to make snowflakes, and there's no way 143 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:10,920 this shape is more complicated than the snowflakes 144 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:11,853 they were making. 145 00:08:11,853 --> 00:08:12,962 [laughs] 146 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,400 -Some of his shapes were very difficult. 147 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:18,420 It was challenging. 148 00:08:18,420 --> 00:08:19,160 [chuckles] 149 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:24,960 And actually, I would say, after making the shapes for Allan, 150 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,240 That I'm improved. 151 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,240 I mean, I'm better at what I do because– because of that 152 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:35,850 project, because I actually learned how to do some things better. 153 00:08:44,787 --> 00:08:49,294 - I've been doing combinatorial projects for 40 years. 154 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,920 All my projects have had combinatorial elements, where 155 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,640 I'm taking a vocabulary of parts and putting them together to 156 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,560 make something else, you know, which is very computerlike, 157 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:03,720 but there was never any computer Involved. 158 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:11,320 The Shapes Drawings Individual Works Project, 159 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,600 neither of which involved any computers. 160 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,840 The drawings even look like the shapes that I'm working on 161 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,453 now, but they were all done by hand with pencil. 162 00:09:23,033 --> 00:09:24,890 And I didn't have a computer at that time. 163 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:30,840 In those days, I was using photocopiers and stencils and 164 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:31,752 things like that. 165 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,320 Whereas if I had to do this with stencils, it would've taken me 166 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,760 an hour, but what I can do now is just reach up here 167 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:47,600 and copy one shape, like that, and then go over here 168 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:53,362 and copy another one, and then I can put those together. 169 00:09:54,400 --> 00:10:01,776 And then copy a bottom, and put that together. 170 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:07,640 And then copy, you know, a bottom that goes on the right, 171 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:09,451 and we'll put that together. 172 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,135 And then I have a shape, and it has its own I.D. Number. 173 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:18,718 I mean, this just doesn't take very long. 174 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:25,720 So with these four shapes, I can make around 200 or so million 175 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:27,240 unique shapes. 176 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,600 But there's another system where I use six shapes, 177 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:35,040 and then there's these things I call necks, like your neck. 178 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,480 Like, this is a body with a neck, and then the top part 179 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:39,680 is a head. 180 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:43,760 So then once you start using this system, you can produce 181 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:45,416 60 billion shapes. 182 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:51,160 Once I got all the shapes made, I started combining them into 183 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:52,760 tops and bottoms. 184 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,400 Then instead of making four parts, I would only have to put 185 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:56,880 together two at a time. 186 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:01,280 Then I put them in what I call arrays of 144. 187 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:07,280 So I can copy this array and combine it with this array. 188 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,320 Then I'm making 144 shapes at once, and that's called 189 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:11,880 a collection. 190 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,080 That's how I produce them: in collections of 144. 191 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,840 The number 144, there's an irony to it 'cause it's considered 192 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:20,312 a gross in industry. 193 00:11:21,869 --> 00:11:26,200 This is one of the collections that was sent to horace varnum 194 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,193 to do the wooden shapes. 195 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,560 -Every one is absolutely unique. 196 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:33,933 Every one is different. 197 00:11:35,881 --> 00:11:39,640 ome, you sit there, and you work with them. 198 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:40,760 You cut with them. 199 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,280 And it's almost like sitting in a psychologist's office, and you 200 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,560 see shapes: this is a wolf head. This is an angel. 201 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:49,040 This is– 202 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,982 So it's fun. [machine whirring] 203 00:11:57,880 --> 00:11:59,360 See, it's soft enough that it 204 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:05,886 won't cause any damage, unless you're doing it for an hour or two. 205 00:12:07,511 --> 00:12:10,483 It's what thieves do to take off their fingerprints. 206 00:12:14,727 --> 00:12:15,445 [laughs] 207 00:12:20,297 --> 00:12:23,248 -The idea of making an object for everybody in the world 208 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,640 is absurd. Yeah, of course. 209 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,600 I mean, I couldn't possibly do it. 210 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:36,960 But it would be nice if everyone in the world– doesn't this sound 211 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,640 like a child talking– if everyone in the world could 212 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,273 agree on a symbolic system, You know? 213 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,800 And it hasn't happened yet, but it's– I think it's– 214 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:49,777 it might, you know, one day. 215 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:16,560 [soft electronic music]