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Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Ona" | "Exclusive" | Art21

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    [Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Ona"]
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    [buzzing sounds from machinery]
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    [Polich Talix Fine Art Foundry, Rock Tavern, NY]
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    I'm trying to get a look that has a wide range--
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    a variation--
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    between the different colors.
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    [VON RYDINGSVARD] And then I did this a lot.
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    [PHILIP CASTORE] I see that. I like it.
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    [VON RYDINGSVARD] And I did this.
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    But I really exaggerated.
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    [CASTORE] Okay.
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    [VON RYDINGSVARD] But you, with your leaky lines,
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    might have made the best thing of all,
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    do you know what I mean?
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    [Philip Castore, Patina Artist]
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    [CASTORE] Well, we'll see!
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    [VON RYDINGSVARD] We'll see what it looks like.
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    I'm just trying to figure out what is going to work!
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    Next to a big big big Corten steel building.
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    The Barclays Center piece "Ona"
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    is really the most major piece that I've done in bronze.
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    I have never done anything quite that scale.
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    And "ona" in Polish refers to 'her' or 'she',
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    And I thought that there's something about that sculpture
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    that has some hint of a female feel.
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    It is a simple name and it has a reference
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    that makes sense in my head
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    in terms of what that sculpture looks like.
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    I was surprised I was using colors.
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    I can't stand colors ordinarily
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    because, in part, I don't know how to use them.
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    But, also, they feel abrasive to my eyes.
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    So I was amazed that I was doing this with a patina.
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    I really didn't know where I was going,
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    and I kept thinking during the whole process
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    of my putting on the patina,
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    "Ursula, you should have stuck to your black!"
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    But I was convinced that for the Barclays Center,
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    which is so loaded with that metal look--
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    the rusting Corten steel.
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    I was so convinced that I wanted something that was lighter and brighter.
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    [CASTORE] The heat opens up the pores of the bronze
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    and readily accepts the chemical.
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    You can have a wet application or a dry application.
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    It gives you different looks.
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    [VON RYDINGSVARD] I've been able to make the wood do acrobatics,
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    and I sort of twist it to go into places
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    it never thought it could or would want to.
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    I can't do that with metal.
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    There's a level of frustration
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    because I feel like I'm not in as much control.
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    The beautiful thing that the wood can do
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    is give me so many details.
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    It gives me a psychological base
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    and details of that base with which to work.
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    I'm definitely not trying to replicate the wood.
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    And I'm wanting it to feel like metal,
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    because it obviously will feel like it.
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    And I want it to look like metal.
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    But bronze in any case, in time,
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    sort of finds its own patina,
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    and then it takes on its own look.
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    Often these sculptures are large.
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    Often I'm on scaffolding.
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    I'm on scaffolding, in fact, one-third of my life.
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    There's always this urgency
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    with my having only so many years left.
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    And when they say, "When you get older, life gets easier,"--
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    it does not.
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    You know, my biggest hope is that I get more courage,
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    I get more trust in myself,
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    I get more faith--
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    that I'm able to do things that maybe I wasn't able to do before.
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    And I feel unbelievably lucky to have the kind of talent--
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    the kind of brains--
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    that are working with me.
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    I've been working in Brooklyn for thirty-four years.
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    It does make me happy that there's a piece of mine in Brooklyn.
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    It was very clear that this was not a museum situation.
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    I wanted this to feel
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    as though one could approach the work...
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    that one could approach it psychologically.
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    One could also approach it physically.
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    But they would both sort of blend.
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    Somehow, I think that one could almost
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    see with one's hands, as well,
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    when one feels it.
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    It just gives me pleasure to have the possibility
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    to enable people to be exposed to art,
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    should they want to.
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    It's nothing that I would wish to force upon them.
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    But that makes me feel good.
Title:
Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Ona" | "Exclusive" | Art21
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Art21
Project:
"Extended Play" series
Duration:
06:14

English subtitles

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