0:00:01.640,0:00:03.260 [Art21 "Extended Play"] 0:00:04.980,0:00:09.060 ["Tala Madani: Sketchbooks"] 0:00:16.140,0:00:17.140 When I'm working, 0:00:17.140,0:00:20.100 I draw in the mornings,[br]when I come to the studio 0:00:21.660,0:00:23.280 --Obama![br][LAUGHS] 0:00:26.180,0:00:30.060 There is this great story in Iran-- 0:00:30.520,0:00:32.500 I think it was written in the '60s. 0:00:33.500,0:00:36.440 This is something that[br]every Iranian knows about. 0:00:37.060,0:00:39.080 It's called "'Shahr-e Gheseh" 0:00:39.080,0:00:41.620 which means[br]"the city of stories". 0:00:41.620,0:00:43.460 All the characters are animals. 0:00:44.140,0:00:46.540 And the prettiest character is this cockroach. 0:00:47.040,0:00:49.300 One of the parts of the story is that 0:00:49.300,0:00:52.109 this elephant who's new to town-- 0:00:52.109,0:00:53.309 nobody knows her 0:00:53.309,0:00:57.560 and they are really bewildered by[br]its appearance. 0:00:57.560,0:01:00.120 And they start reshaping it. 0:01:00.120,0:01:03.329 They cut off the trunk in bits, 0:01:03.329,0:01:06.500 and then the elephant can't recognize itself,[br]of course-- 0:01:06.500,0:01:08.260 it's sort of this loss of identity. 0:01:13.700,0:01:17.160 A lot of works from this show 0:01:17.160,0:01:20.120 were worked out more thoroughly in sketches. 0:01:23.000,0:01:26.060 It's the most immediate record[br]of a thinking process, isn't it? 0:01:28.820,0:01:29.940 This didn't make it. 0:01:29.940,0:01:31.480 This was too violent. 0:01:32.520,0:01:35.680 In a year, I'll come to something like this 0:01:35.680,0:01:38.280 that I didn't really work with in this show. 0:01:38.400,0:01:43.140 Some things in the sketchbooks[br]lead to the future works. 0:01:45.140,0:01:50.560 I think they're a great way of[br]keeping track of your ideas, 0:01:50.560,0:01:55.259 because you don't necessarily have time[br]or the space to investigate each idea 0:01:55.260,0:01:56.800 as fully as you'd want. 0:01:56.960,0:01:58.680 It's good to catch them 0:01:58.680,0:02:01.620 if you're in the space where ideas are flowing. 0:02:03.340,0:02:06.080 This is a sketch for "Dirty Protest". 0:02:08.100,0:02:10.679 So, in a way, I kind of knew this painting-- 0:02:10.679,0:02:13.330 the image of it--[br]a long time in my head, I think. 0:02:13.330,0:02:16.510 So, the sketch of it was just, sort of,[br]a notation for me, 0:02:16.510,0:02:19.180 but I knew what I wanted to do. 0:02:20.940,0:02:23.040 The thing that's different with painting 0:02:23.040,0:02:25.020 is its materiality. 0:02:26.260,0:02:29.800 It's not to suggest at all that it's ever[br]about paint. 0:02:29.800,0:02:32.760 It's more about how do you use the material 0:02:32.760,0:02:35.360 to help you communicate the idea clearer. 0:02:37.840,0:02:39.940 If there's drips happening, 0:02:39.940,0:02:43.909 I really engage those drips[br]into bringing the audience 0:02:43.909,0:02:45.700 quite close to where I am. 0:02:45.700,0:02:48.190 That it's really about this idea again. 0:02:48.190,0:02:51.550 Let's not get too preoccupied with[br]a kind of 0:02:51.550,0:02:54.010 perspectival concern or depth concern. 0:02:54.010,0:02:56.160 That this is really paint speaking to you. 0:02:57.740,0:03:00.700 That messes with your read of space. 0:03:04.680,0:03:08.940 I really love this idea that[br]the painting itself has a life. 0:03:11.200,0:03:14.720 In a way, it's about transference of energy,[br]I really think. 0:03:16.800,0:03:22.140 There is this seventeenth-century idea[br]that paintings actually had souls, 0:03:22.159,0:03:26.689 and they were given souls by demons or angels-- 0:03:26.689,0:03:30.160 and demons were not necessarily[br]a bad collaborator to have. 0:03:30.900,0:03:34.120 If anyone is interested in[br]looking at a painter at work, 0:03:34.120,0:03:36.600 you just have to follow the brushstrokes. 0:03:37.440,0:03:40.700 So, you're seeing the action of the hand,[br]but also the action of the thought, 0:03:40.709,0:03:41.709 ideally, 0:03:41.709,0:03:43.260 in following the brushstroke.