Richard Tuttle: Staying Contemporary | ART21 "Exclusive"

[Richard Tuttle: Staying Contemporary]

The show is called "26" because

I have very consciously created a spinal column

of my New York exhibitions.

We have a reference--

an archival reference--

to an artist's development.

That being said, I'm also very committed

to the idea of making an art that

stays contemporary.

The actual artwork is a combination

of the kinds of things that only happen once

and the kinds of things that happen always.

Like the piece on the wall right here

is a piece that's meant to be finished

at the time of exhibit.

But, actually, it's composed of a paper element

which was done before.

But the painting-on-the-wall part

had to be made subsequently.

It captures the kind of experience

that cannot be repeated.

At the time, the general idea of achieving art

was to find your image--

done over and over again,

used and used and used until it was exhausted.

It was so much about coming to the end of things.

I was 22.

I was interested in things beginning.

I love materials on the one hand,

and I'm not interested in materials in the other.

How can somebody love materials

to the degree I do

and be absolutely not interested in materials?

And people talk about,

"Oh, Richard, you know, uses stuff that can
be thrown away,"

and all that.

But, really what...

That's my solution for sustaining them,

because, yeah, I love a piece of tissue paper,

and I know the world doesn't.

There's making art,

and then there's the art of making art.

If this, in any way, is directed to the young artist,

I want to say, you know,

spend your time thinking about the art of making art.

Making pictures is a tool for life.

Life is so much more important than art,

but then art's importance

comes when it's a tool for life--

you know, when it makes life more available for us.

I can say, as a person,

I simply need a good picture.