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[New York Close Up]

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I've been collecting images--

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putting things into books--

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I don't know, probably since high school.

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Before, it was more about coming across an image

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and if it struck me, I would put it aside.

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[Louise Despont, Artist]

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And then later, it became searching for specific images.

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Looking for specific examples.

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I've been thinking about where ideas come from,

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what the source of inspiration is,

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what that communication was about.

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["Louise Despont According To The Universe"]

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I'm really drawn to images that are very full

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and very packed

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because I want that energy to feel strong

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and present in the work afterwards.

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Most of them come from the Internet.

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Some are Xeroxed out of books

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and some are travel photographs.

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These are chicken baskets in Bali.

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Collecting images and storing them

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and looking through them,

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there's a large amount of it that's unconscious.

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It’s just about looking at work that vibrates for you--

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that you say "Whoa!" that is so powerful--

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and you're moved by it and you're changed by it.

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Ten years ago I would spend most of my time

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looking for images and collecting them

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and a little bit of time drawing.

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It's nice to look back.

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It's like bread crumbs.

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Reminds me of all the steps along the way.

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What those first images were that caught my eye,

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and which ones still feel significant,

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and which ones aren’t interesting anymore.

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[LAUGHS]

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This is an old portfolio from 2009 in India.

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I visited astronomical observatories in Jaipur and Delhi.

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They're just beautiful geometry.

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This is a collage I was making

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from Xeroxes of books on textiles.

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This idea came back into my work six years later

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in a piece that I made for Pioneer Works.

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[Pioneer Works, Red Hook]

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For my show, "The Six-Sided Force,"

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I was thinking about beehives--

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their systems of communication,

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their use of architecture,

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the energy of a hexagon.

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[MAN] Wow.

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[DESPONT] And then starting here, three hives,

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then a big piece.

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Wow. Amazing.

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Oh, it looks great!

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[WOMAN] It looks amazing.

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[DESPONT] A body of work sort of develops[br]its theme in different ways.

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One way is simply that,

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because the work is so slow to make,

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one year equals one show.

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It's kind of just the state of mind of that[br]year.

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I am suspicious of having to decide on the[br]subject of a show

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before starting the work.

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The process of drawing is such a learning tool

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that the work will guide it much better than[br]sitting down

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and trying to make a decision.

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[Nicelle Beauchene, Lower East Side]

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For my show, "Harmonic Tremor,"

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I'm thinking about vibrations, sound waves--

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specifically volcanic vibrations that encircle the world.

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In terms of Krakatoa,

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I was interested in that one specifically

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because it was such a huge explosion--

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that the sound waves travelled around the[br]earth four times.

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A seismograph--

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it's a drawing that the Earth is making.

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Everything is vibration.

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Everything is made up of waves of energy.

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Things that are alive have a hum

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and there's a way to visually represent that.

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What are the patterns of an emotion?

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What are the vibrational waves of a relationship?

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When I look at the drawings

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and I feel the examples that are the most[br]successful,

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it really feels like they hum.

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That the drawing starts to vibrate in this[br]way

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where the energy has been translated in the[br]correct way.

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It's taken on its own life.

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Yeah, the vibration of it just becomes alive.

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What's so interesting about the creative act

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is that you can access something completely[br]outside yourself.

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It's a communication with awareness

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rather than consciousness.

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You put them all up and then maybe two

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or a connection between four of them

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will find some reference into a work.

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And because the work is not an illustration[br]of a concept or an idea,

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there’s enough freedom to say,

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"If it's contained within me, it'll make[br]sense."

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There will be some unifying force.

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If you offer yourself up as the hands to make the work

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the relationship you form with what[br]you communicate with

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has its own voice.

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Sometimes that voice comes through research[br]and combing through images.

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And sometimes it's direct on the paper.

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In terms of inspiration,

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for some reason I had this image in my head[br]of an eyeball.

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If we think of the pupil and the iris as the[br]ego and the conscious mind,

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and then you imagine the white of the eye[br]as awareness--

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as energy that you can access outside of yourself.

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That's what I think is the most exciting part[br]about making work,

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is that you start to build a relationship[br]with accessing this awareness.

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That work isn't coming from your personal[br]life story.

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It's not coming from your background.

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It's not coming from your ego.

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It's coming from some universal energy,[br]you know?

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And that relationship is so sacred.

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Finding what those really interesting connections are,

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it's sort of playing with memory.

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Because I have a very bad memory,

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I think I remember what it is

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but then I'm afraid to really say what it is.

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It's like the reference sometimes disappears.

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Then, you're just looking at one specific[br]thing about it.

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It's not really about it’s context anymore.

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[DESPONT] Should I start burning down here?

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[MAN] Left.

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[MAN] Okay. You're good.

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[DESPONT] It’s really hard for it to get[br]through the black ink.

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[ALL LAUGH]

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[MAN] Hold.

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[DESPONT] It looks like a devil's face! [LAUGHS]

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[MAN] Wow.

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[DESPONT] That was so nice!