Alex Da Corte: 57 Varieties | Art21 "Extended Play"

[ALEX DA CORTE] This house is a portrait
of the land I live in.

I thought, "How do I know my life?"

"How do I know my politics,
how do I know my religion,"

"how do I know my love?"

I probably learned it from my family.

But, mostly I probably learned it from TV.

If I were to make a portrait of a place,
maybe I would to begin with TV.

I’ve recycled a bunch of old faces
into some kind of fresh variety show,

making 57 videos for the
57th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh.

[ALEX DA CORTE: 57 VARIETIES]

--Liv, I think it’s cool.

--Yeah, I think you just let it be loose
and it seems natural.

--Yeah, this is my favorite costume so far,
Liv.

When I’m attracted to a certain character,

it may be just a character that’s misunderstood,

or a character that has a beautiful color.

--Yeah, I think that’s pretty beautiful.

--It’s really beautiful.

--Let me know when you’re ready and I’m
going to put my leg up.

I’m going to be sharing this glass of wine
with Oscar,

but the wine seems to pour indefinitely.

We’re actually having this drink in a painting
by Patrick Caulfield called "Dining Recess,"

but used a slight visual trickery where it
seems as though I'm flatter than I actually am.

--[DIRECTOR] Ready, action.

--Pouring.

[DA CORTE] Caroll Spinney, the actor who played
Big Bird

and Oscar the Grouch up until recently,

was operating Oscar the Grouch
and he was wearing his Big Bird legs.

I thought, that’s this beautiful moment
of transition--

when I think we as a country and as a people
are always transitioning.

--[DIRECTOR] Alright, awesome!
[CHUCKLES]

[DA CORTE] In these videos,

I flatten the hierarchy to kind of
take away maybe the privilege,

or the authority,
that some of these characters may have had

and confuse them a little bit.

There’s this sort of fluidity that occurs
where

you can take any disparate thing

and link them together,
and they’ll tell this new story.

I live in Philadelphia

and in my research, I was reading
a lot of Ginsberg’s "Fall of America."

Coincidentally Ginsberg is in
a music video that Bob Dylan made

called "Subterranean Homesick Blues."

I thought, how strange that
Bob Dylan is making this song

about the sign of the times in the late 60s,

and fifty years later,
maybe this is a similar moment,

in need of some empathetic conversation.

And maybe if I use his words and
pair them with my images

I might make sense of America.

[Distorted electric guitar plays "Taps"]

The witch is totally misunderstood.

A house landed on her sister.

That’s sad.

I would be upset too.

Dorothy, she’s just a boring white girl
with some problems.

Where the witch is an interesting green person
that has a serious story behind her.

--[DIRECTOR] 5-4-3-2-1, playback.

[Patsy Cline’s “Blue” plays]

[DA CORTE] I always think of this science
project I did when I was younger

about color and how it affects your mood.

What does blue make you feel?

What does green make you feel?

All emotions are interesting--
and hot and exciting.

I'm not afraid of them.

--Thanks, Gabs,

--For the seventeen thousand hours of work
to make those shoes!

--Those shoes should just get wrapped up
and put in a safe

--because they’re really special.

All of the people that work with me are friends.

It’s a big family.

--Shannon has worked all over the world.

--She’s from Philly.

--We just do it a little different here.

--We do it a little more dirty here.
[LAUGHS]

We as a studio all really value material.

Everyone went to school for printmaking,

or sculpture, or working with neon, or sewing.

I grew up working in a meditative way

and having those love hours go into the objects.

--I think of that really great
Mike Kelley piece,

--"More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid,"

--and thinking about crocheting or the unseen
labor.

--Oh yeah, that’s great!

--[WOMAN] Yeah, totally worth it.

[GROUP LAUGHS]

--[DA CORTE] Cut.
Was that better?

--Hi, give me five.

--What up?

--Hi, how are you?

--I'm making all these videos!

--It’s so soft, right?

--[NEPHEW] Yeah, it’s soft!

--[DA CORTE] It’s so soft!

My family is quite large.

I’m one of 27 grandkids.

There’s 28 great grandkids.

So it’s quite a big family.

["Pink Panther Theme" plays]

My whole family are house painters,
including my brother.

So I had this idea to paint this
large rose wall pink.

--[BROTHER] I’ll jump on the ladder and
spray everything,

--and then you just spray the last little
[WHISTLES] at the end.

My grandmother made quilts and dollhouses

and did a lot of handywork.

So the lattice covered with roses is sort
of like

a beautiful metaphor for my grandmother.

If her life was a lattice and the roses were
the people that she touched in her life.

My family is all I have.

My family is everything to me.

["Light of a Brand New Morning" by Dolly Parton
plays]

--[DIRECTOR] Alright, cut!

I’ve always been a homebody.

If I was outside, I’d be in my backyard.

The house was a way to
protect me from the world.

When I was in undergrad,

I would spend a lot of time
in this one particular diner,

drawing and eating a lot of
French fries and ketchup.

The diner had warm-white neon
around the periphery of the whole space.

It still was a barrier that kept me in
and everything else out.

The neon just floats.

These words just float in the black void of
night.

I think it evokes a kind of dream space.

It’s a bug zapping effect,
where it sort of pulls people in.

When someone has entered
I’ve seen a whole gamut of feelings, felt.

I think that’s good to feel desire,

or disgust, or fear,

or overwhelming joy.

Mr. Rogers was a huge part of Pittsburgh.

As is ketchup.

And I love ketchup.

Mr. Rogers's house reminded me
of my grandparents house.

His project was deeply about empathy.

Like, "Hey neighbor, lets talk about difference,"

"let’s talk about divorce, let’s talk
about anger,

let’s talk about assasination."

He wasn’t righteous,
he was just asking questions,

and trying to understand
what do we make of this difference,

and how do we move forward.

["Light of a Brand New Morning" by Dolly Parton
plays]

All of those things are deeply important
and exciting.

That’s why we make art,

to propose that these feelings should
come to the surface and be harvested.

[FAMILY LAUGHS]

--[DA CORTE] I think that’s great

--[NIECE] You should keep it!

--[WOMAN] It’s what Fred would have done.

[MUSIC FADES OUT]

--[DIRECTOR] We got it, we got it.

[APPLAUSE]