0:00:00.000,0:00:02.640 [New York Close Up] 0:00:07.529,0:00:09.189 I have been collecting images 0:00:10.560,0:00:11.880 putting things into books- 0:00:13.920,0:00:16.500 i don't know, probably since high school 0:00:27.000,0:00:29.400 Before, it was more about coming across an image 0:00:29.409,0:00:31.069 and if it struck me, I would put it aside. 0:00:31.069,0:00:31.839 [Louise Despont, Artist] 0:00:32.759,0:00:36.380 And then later, it became searching for specific images. 0:00:36.380,0:00:38.900 Looking for specific examples. 0:00:48.910,0:00:52.510 I've been thinking about where ideas come from, 0:00:52.510,0:00:55.559 what the source of inspiration is, 0:00:55.559,0:00:57.839 what that communication was about. 0:00:58.020,0:01:01.060 ["Louise Despont According To The Universe"] 0:01:04.930,0:01:07.490 I'm really drawn to images that are very full 0:01:08.880,0:01:10.120 and very packed 0:01:11.340,0:01:14.440 because I want that energy to feel strong 0:01:15.220,0:01:17.360 and present in the work afterwards. 0:01:22.780,0:01:25.220 Most of them come from the Internet. 0:01:25.229,0:01:26.810 Some are Xeroxed out of books 0:01:27.640,0:01:30.040 and some are travel photographs. 0:01:31.280,0:01:33.240 These are chicken baskets in Bali. 0:01:37.460,0:01:39.820 Collecting images and storing them 0:01:39.820,0:01:40.980 and looking through them, 0:01:41.540,0:01:44.460 there's a large amount of it that's unconscious. 0:01:45.520,0:01:49.560 It’s just about looking at work that vibrates for you-- 0:01:50.320,0:01:53.229 that you say "Whoa!" that is so powerful-- 0:01:54.260,0:01:56.680 and you're moved by it and you're changed by it. 0:02:00.600,0:02:03.659 Ten years ago I would spend most of my time 0:02:03.659,0:02:06.059 looking for images and collecting them 0:02:06.060,0:02:07.980 and a little bit of time drawing. 0:02:09.100,0:02:10.520 It's nice to look back. 0:02:10.520,0:02:11.600 It's like bread crumbs. 0:02:12.340,0:02:15.380 Reminds me of all the steps along the way. 0:02:18.540,0:02:21.590 What those first images were that caught my eye, 0:02:21.590,0:02:24.400 and which ones still feel significant, 0:02:24.400,0:02:27.180 and which ones aren’t interesting anymore. 0:02:32.000,0:02:33.280 [LAUGHS] 0:02:39.720,0:02:43.960 This is an old portfolio from 2009 in India. 0:02:44.890,0:02:49.150 I visited astronomical observatories in Jaipur and Delhi. 0:02:50.340,0:02:51.940 They're just beautiful geometry. 0:02:53.380,0:02:55.500 This is a collage I was making 0:02:55.510,0:02:58.790 from Xeroxes of books on textiles. 0:03:01.100,0:03:04.800 This idea came back into my work six years later 0:03:04.810,0:03:07.150 in a piece that I made for Pioneer Works. 0:03:08.260,0:03:09.720 [Pioneer Works, Red Hook] 0:03:09.730,0:03:11.650 For my show, "The Six-Sided Force," 0:03:11.650,0:03:14.110 I was thinking about beehives-- 0:03:14.110,0:03:15.890 their systems of communication, 0:03:16.920,0:03:19.280 their use of architecture, 0:03:20.140,0:03:21.719 the energy of a hexagon. 0:03:23.960,0:03:25.080 [MAN] Wow. 0:03:25.460,0:03:28.620 [DESPONT] And then starting here, three hives, 0:03:29.390,0:03:31.170 then a big piece. 0:03:33.180,0:03:34.710 Wow. Amazing. 0:03:36.460,0:03:37.920 Oh, it looks great! 0:03:37.920,0:03:38.959 [WOMAN] It looks amazing. 0:03:40.640,0:03:44.120 [DESPONT] A body of work sort of develops[br]its theme in different ways. 0:03:45.280,0:03:46.980 One way is simply that, 0:03:46.980,0:03:50.180 because the work is so slow to make, 0:03:50.620,0:03:53.019 one year equals one show. 0:03:53.020,0:03:55.900 It's kind of just the state of mind of that[br]year. 0:03:57.069,0:04:01.319 I am suspicious of having to decide on the[br]subject of a show 0:04:01.319,0:04:03.219 before starting the work. 0:04:03.819,0:04:06.670 The process of drawing is such a learning tool 0:04:06.670,0:04:10.120 that the work will guide it much better than[br]sitting down 0:04:10.120,0:04:12.300 and trying to make a decision. 0:04:23.080,0:04:26.260 [Nicelle Beauchene, Lower East Side] 0:04:26.260,0:04:28.280 For my show, "Harmonic Tremor," 0:04:28.280,0:04:31.720 I'm thinking about vibrations, sound waves-- 0:04:32.460,0:04:37.100 specifically volcanic vibrations that encircle the world. 0:04:38.240,0:04:39.320 In terms of Krakatoa, 0:04:39.330,0:04:41.410 I was interested in that one specifically 0:04:41.410,0:04:44.380 because it was such a huge explosion-- 0:04:44.380,0:04:48.160 that the sound waves travelled around the[br]earth four times. 0:04:55.500,0:04:57.000 A seismograph-- 0:04:57.900,0:05:00.320 it's a drawing that the Earth is making. 0:05:02.820,0:05:04.400 Everything is vibration. 0:05:05.030,0:05:08.690 Everything is made up of waves of energy. 0:05:11.300,0:05:12.880 Things that are alive have a hum 0:05:13.560,0:05:16.780 and there's a way to visually represent that. 0:05:18.500,0:05:21.320 What are the patterns of an emotion? 0:05:25.680,0:05:29.600 What are the vibrational waves of a relationship? 0:05:32.610,0:05:33.600 When I look at the drawings 0:05:33.600,0:05:37.000 and I feel the examples that are the most[br]successful, 0:05:37.000,0:05:38.860 it really feels like they hum. 0:05:42.220,0:05:44.680 That the drawing starts to vibrate in this[br]way 0:05:44.680,0:05:48.820 where the energy has been translated in the[br]correct way. 0:05:50.960,0:05:53.160 It's taken on its own life. 0:05:54.480,0:05:58.140 Yeah, the vibration of it just becomes alive. 0:06:05.180,0:06:08.000 What's so interesting about the creative act 0:06:08.010,0:06:12.710 is that you can access something completely[br]outside yourself. 0:06:14.180,0:06:16.620 It's a communication with awareness 0:06:16.620,0:06:18.580 rather than consciousness. 0:06:19.660,0:06:21.920 You put them all up and then maybe two 0:06:21.930,0:06:23.880 or a connection between four of them 0:06:23.880,0:06:26.620 will find some reference into a work. 0:06:27.580,0:06:31.860 And because the work is not an illustration[br]of a concept or an idea, 0:06:31.870,0:06:33.440 there’s enough freedom to say, 0:06:33.440,0:06:36.080 "If it's contained within me, it'll make[br]sense." 0:06:36.620,0:06:38.700 There will be some unifying force. 0:06:39.940,0:06:44.000 If you offer yourself up as the hands to make the work 0:06:45.980,0:06:49.680 the relationship you form with what[br]you communicate with 0:06:50.420,0:06:52.440 has its own voice. 0:06:54.040,0:06:58.060 Sometimes that voice comes through research[br]and combing through images. 0:06:58.070,0:07:01.110 And sometimes it's direct on the paper. 0:07:04.150,0:07:05.290 In terms of inspiration, 0:07:05.290,0:07:10.030 for some reason I had this image in my head[br]of an eyeball. 0:07:10.660,0:07:16.140 If we think of the pupil and the iris as the[br]ego and the conscious mind, 0:07:16.710,0:07:19.560 and then you imagine the white of the eye[br]as awareness-- 0:07:21.320,0:07:24.560 as energy that you can access outside of yourself. 0:07:26.840,0:07:30.720 That's what I think is the most exciting part[br]about making work, 0:07:30.720,0:07:36.680 is that you start to build a relationship[br]with accessing this awareness. 0:07:39.060,0:07:42.680 That work isn't coming from your personal[br]life story. 0:07:42.680,0:07:44.130 It's not coming from your background. 0:07:44.130,0:07:45.630 It's not coming from your ego. 0:07:46.380,0:07:49.540 It's coming from some universal energy,[br]you know? 0:07:50.860,0:07:54.060 And that relationship is so sacred. 0:07:57.720,0:08:00.900 Finding what those really interesting connections are, 0:08:01.540,0:08:04.200 it's sort of playing with memory. 0:08:19.000,0:08:21.300 Because I have a very bad memory, 0:08:22.070,0:08:23.410 I think I remember what it is 0:08:23.410,0:08:25.650 but then I'm afraid to really say what it is. 0:08:26.520,0:08:28.980 It's like the reference sometimes disappears. 0:08:30.060,0:08:32.960 Then, you're just looking at one specific[br]thing about it. 0:08:33.380,0:08:35.440 It's not really about it’s context anymore. 0:08:37.960,0:08:40.100 [DESPONT] Should I start burning down here? 0:08:40.100,0:08:40.780 [MAN] Left. 0:08:40.780,0:08:42.780 [MAN] Okay. You're good. 0:08:43.920,0:08:45.500 [DESPONT] It’s really hard for it to get[br]through the black ink. 0:08:45.660,0:08:46.820 [ALL LAUGH] 0:08:47.120,0:08:48.080 [MAN] Hold. 0:08:48.080,0:08:50.220 [DESPONT] It looks like a devil's face! [LAUGHS] 0:08:51.840,0:08:52.459 [MAN] Wow. 0:08:52.620,0:08:54.660 [DESPONT] That was so nice!