Video Episodes:
4 Views
18:56:56 03/30/12
William Kentridge: Meaning | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 18:56:56 03/30/12
Episode #154: Filmed at his Johannesburg studio in 2008, William Kentridge discusses how the physical activities of cutting, tearing and collaging generate ideas and infuse his work with meaning. Rather than starting with an idea that is then executed, Kentridge relies on these freeform processes and the resulting juxtapositions to find connections and raise questions. Finished works are shown at the Annandale Galleries in Sydney, Australia. Having witnessed first-hand one of the twentieth century's most contentious struggles—the dissolution of apartheid—William Kentridge brings the ambiguity and subtlety of personal experience to public subjects most often framed in narrowly defined terms. Using film, drawing, sculpture, animation, and performance, he transmutes sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories. Aware of myriad ways in which we construct the world by looking, Kentridge often uses optical illusions to extend his drawings-in-time into three dimensions. Learn more about William Kentridge at: http://www.art21.org/artists/william-kentridge CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Philippe Charluet & Robert Elfstrom. Sound: Ray Day. Editor: Paulo Padilha. Artwork Courtesy: William Kentridge. Special Thanks: Annandale Galleries. Video:
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17:16:27 03/16/12
Paul McCarthy: Chaos & Debauchery | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 17:16:27 03/16/12
Episode #153: Filmed in his Los Angeles studio, two of Paul McCarthy's long-time assistants — Thomas Harris and Craig McIntyre — describe the process of sculpting, molding, and fabricating the artist's large-scale works. Likening McCarthy's artistic approach to taking a "snapshot of disorder" that's then meticulously reproduced, Harris and McIntyre discuss how the formal qualities of the work dovetail with themes of chaos and debauchery. Paul McCarthy's video-taped performances and provocative multimedia installations lampoon polite society, ridicule authority, and bombard the viewer with a sensory overload of often sexually-tinged, violent imagery. With irreverent wit, McCarthy often takes aim at cherished American myths and icons—Walt Disney, the Western, and even the Modern Artist—adding a touch of malice to subjects that have been traditionally revered for their innocence or purity. Whether conflating real-world political figures with fantastical characters such as Santa Claus, or treating erotic and abject content with frivolity and charm, McCarthy's work confuses codes, mixes high and low culture, and provokes an analysis of fundamental beliefs. Learn more about Paul McCarthy at: http://www.art21.org/artists/paul-mccarthy CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Robert Elfstrom. Sound: Doug Dunderdale. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Paul McCarthy. Special Thanks: Thomas Harris & Craig McIntyre. Video:
79 Views
17:46:09 03/02/12
Judy Pfaff & Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Zygmunt" | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 79 VIEWS | ADDED 17:46:09 03/02/12
Episode #152: Filmed at their respective studios in 2006, longtime friends Judy Pfaff and Ursula von Rydingsvard discuss their experience collaborating in 1992 on a large sculpture titled "Zygmunt." Commissioned by Exit Art founders Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, "Zygmunt" was an intersection of their ideas regarding weight and space and an opportunity for Pfaff and von Rydingsvard to learn from each other. Balancing intense planning with improvisational decision-making, Judy Pfaff creates exuberant, sprawling sculptures and installations that weave landscape, architecture, and synthetic color into a tense yet organic whole. A pioneer of installation art in the 1970s, Pfaff synthesizes sculpture, painting, and architecture into dynamic environments in which space seems to expand and collapse, fluctuating between two and three dimensions. Ursula von Rydingsvard builds towering cedar structures, creating an intricate network of individual beams and sensuous, puzzle-like surfaces. While abstract at its core, von Rydingsvard's work takes visual cues from the landscape, the human body, and utilitarian objects--such as the artists collection of household vessels--and demonstrates an interest in the point where the man-made meets nature. Learn more about Judy Pfaff: http://www.art21.org/artists/judy-pfaff Learn more about Ursula von Rydingsvard: http://www.art21.org/artists/ursula-von-rydingsvard CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Joel Shapiro. Sound: Roger Phenix. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Exit Art, Judy Pfaff & Ursula von Rydingsvard. Archival Photography Courtesy: Exit Art & James Hamilton. Special Thanks: Audrey Christensen & Andria Morales. Video:
74 Views
17:45:59 02/17/12
Lari Pittman: Audience | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 74 VIEWS | ADDED 17:45:59 02/17/12
Episode #151: Filmed in 2010 at Lari Pittman's dual exhibitions "Orangerie" and "New Paintings" at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, the artist discusses the common misconception that his work is preplanned. Though he understands how audiences reach this conclusion, Pittman explains that his paintings result from a series of spontaneous decisions. Inspired by commercial advertising, folk art, and decorative traditions, Lari Pittman's meticulously layered paintings transform pattern and signage into luxurious scenes. Meditations on romantic love, violence, and mortality, his work demonstrates the complementary nature of beauty and suffering, pain and pleasure. In a manner both visually gripping and psychologically strange, Pittman's hallucinatory works reference myriad aesthetic styles, from Victorian silhouettes to social realist murals to Southwestern kitsch. Learn more about Lari Pittman: http://www.art21.org/artists/lari-pittman CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Bob Elfstrom. Sound: Ray Day. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Lari Pittman & Regen Projects. Special Thanks: Stacey Bengtson.
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16:30:48 02/03/12
Yinka Shonibare MBE: Black Artists | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 16:30:48 02/03/12
Episode #150: As Yinka Shonibare MBE installs his 2008 solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, he discusses his experience as a black artist living and working in the United Kingdom. With few black artist role models from the previous generation to follow in the path of, Shonibare describes his motivation and strategy for getting his work into the art system. Known for using batik in costumed dioramas that explore race and colonialism, Yinka Shonibare MBE also employs painting, sculpture, photography, and film in work that disrupts and challenges our notions of cultural identity. Taking on the honorific MBE as part of his name in everyday use, Shonibare plays with the ambiguities and contradictions of his attitude toward the Establishment and its legacies of colonialism and class. In multimedia projects that reveal his passion for art history, literature, and philosophy, Shonibare provides a critical tour of Western civilization and its achievements and failures. Learn more about Yinka Shonibare MBE: http://www.art21.org/artists/yinka-shonibare-mbe CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Philippe Charluet & Ian Serfontein. Sound: Mark Cornish & Paul Stadden. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Yinka Shonibare MBE. Thanks: Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
82 Views
16:43:16 01/20/12
Ursula von Rydingsvard: "Becoming an Artist" | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 82 VIEWS | ADDED 16:43:16 01/20/12
Episode #149: Filmed at her Brooklyn studio, artist Ursula von Rydingsvard recounts her family's journey from German refugee camps during WWII to their difficult early years in Connecticut. Accompanied by images from her personal archive, von Rydingsvard describes how her family's struggles still influence her studio practice today. Ursula von Rydingsvard builds towering cedar structures, creating an intricate network of individual beams and sensuous, puzzle-like surfaces. While abstract at its core, von Rydingsvard's work takes visual cues from the landscape, the human body, and utilitarian objects--such as the artists collection of household vessels--and demonstrates an interest in the point where the man-made meets nature. Learn more about Ursula von Rydingsvard at: http://www.art21.org/artists/ursula-von-rydingsvard CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Joel Shapiro. Sound: Mark Mandler & Roger Phenix. Editor: Morgan Riles. Archival Photography Courtesy: Ursula von Rydingsvard & Marbeth. Special Thanks: Andria Morales. Video:
71 Views
16:55:43 01/06/12
Laurie Simmons: Actress Meryl Streep | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 71 VIEWS | ADDED 16:55:43 01/06/12
Filmed in 2006 at Industria Studios, New York, photographer Laurie Simmons directs scenes for her first film, “The Music of Regret” starring Meryl Streep. A longtime friend of Simmons and married to a sculptor herself, Streep conveys the difficulties and advantages of leaving a solitary studio practice to work with dozens of crew and collaborators on a motion picture. Laurie Simmons stages photographs and films with paper dolls, finger puppets, ventriloquist dummies, and costumed dancers as 'living objects', animating a dollhouse world suffused with nostalgia and colored by an adult's memories, longings, and regrets. Her work blends psychological, political and conceptual approaches to art making, transforming photography's propensity to objectify people, especially women, into a sustained critique of the medium. Learn more about Laurie Simmons at: http://www.art21.org/artists/laurie-simmons CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Mead Hunt & Joel Shapiro. Sound: Roger Phenix & Merce Williams. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Laurie Simmons, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn & Donald Rosenfeld. Special Thanks: Ed Lachman, Industria Studios, New York & Catherine Tatge. Video:
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17:45:54 12/16/11
An-My Lê: "Trap Rock"
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 17:45:54 12/16/11
Exclusive Episode #147: Commissioned by Dia:Beacon, artist An-My L
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20:14:17 12/02/11
Cao Fei: Building "RMB City" | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 20:14:17 12/02/11
Episode #146: In her Beijing studio, Cao Fei discusses the inspirations, process, and challenges behind developing and building a virtual urban environment within the digital realm of Second Life for her project, "RMB City" (2007). Comparing the virtual landscape of "RMB City" to the styles of traditional Chinese brush paintings, Cao draws connections between the past and the present, Eastern and Western cultures, and aesthetic sensibilities developed from her upbringing. Cao's work reflects the fluidity of a world in which cultures have mixed and diverged in rapid evolution. Her video installations and new media works explore perception and reality in places as diverse as a Chinese factory and the virtual world of Second Life. Depictions of Chinese architecture and landscape abound in scenes of hyper-capitalistic Pearl River Delta development, in images that echo traditional Chinese painting, and in the design of her own virtual utopia, "RMB City." Fascinated by the world of Second Life, Cao Fei has created several works in which she is both participant and observer through her Second Life avatar, China Tracy, who acts as a guide, philosopher, and tourist. Cao Fei is featured in the Season 5 (2009) episode "Fantasy" of the "Art in the Twenty-First Century" television series on PBS. Learn more about Cao Fei: http://www.art21.org/artists/cao-fei VIDEO | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview & Translation: Phil Tinari & Xiaotong Wang. Camera & Sound: Takahisa Araki & Frank Dellario. Editor: Joaquin Phoenix. Voiceover: Clara S. Jo. Artwork Courtesy: Cao Fei.
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14:44:22 11/11/11
Paul McCarthy: "Captain Ballsack"
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 14:44:22 11/11/11
Episode #143: Filmed in his Los Angeles studio, artist Paul McCarthy and production manager Amy Baumann describe the nearly decade-long, organic process behind the sculpture "Captain Ballsack" (2001-2009) and various editions cast from the original work. Paul McCarthy's video-taped performances and provocative multimedia installations lampoon polite society, ridicule authority, and bombard the viewer with a sensory overload of often sexually-tinged, violent imagery. With irreverent wit, McCarthy often takes aim at cherished American myths and icons—Walt Disney, the Western, and even the Modern Artist—adding a touch of malice to subjects that have been traditionally revered for their innocence or purity. Whether conflating real-world political figures with fantastical characters such as Santa Claus, or treating erotic and abject content with frivolity and charm, McCarthy's work confuses codes, mixes high and low culture, and provokes an analysis of fundamental beliefs. Learn more about Paul McCarthy at: http://www.art21.org/artists/paul-mccarthy CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Bob Elfstrom. Sound: Doug Dunderdale. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Paul McCarthy. Special Thanks: Amy Baumann. Video:
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14:25:06 10/17/11
Allan McCollum: "Over Ten Thousand Individual Works"
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 14:25:06 10/17/11
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15:53:36 09/09/11
Cindy Sherman: Fashion | "Exclusive" | Art21
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 15:53:36 09/09/11
Episode #143: Commissioned by French Vogue to create a fashion editorial featuring clothes from the Spanish design house Balenciaga, artist Cindy Sherman discusses the first time she used a digital camera to make pictures, ultimately creating different versions of images for the magazine and for herself. In self-reflexive photographs and films, Cindy Sherman invents myriad guises, metamorphosing from Hollywood starlet to clown to society matron. Often with the simplest of means—a camera, a wig, makeup, an outfit—Sherman fashions ambiguous but memorable characters that suggest complex lives lived out of frame. Shermans investigations have a compelling relationship to public images, from kitsch (film stills and centerfolds) to art history (Old Masters and Surrealism) to green-screen technology and the latest advances in digital photography. Learn more about Cindy Sherman at: http://www.art21.org/artists/cindy-sherman CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Joel Shapiro. Sound: Roger Phenix. Editor: Lizzie Donahue & Paulo Padilha. Artwork Courtesy: Cindy Sherman. Video:
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22:11:38 05/13/11
Paul McCarthy: "Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement"
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 22:11:38 05/13/11
Episode #142: Artist Paul McCarthy discusses his interest in art as political theater and his sculptures as akin to amusement park rides. Featuring the works "Bang Bang Room" (1992), "Spinning Room" (2008), and "Mad House" (2008) in the exhibition "Paul McCarthy: Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement, Three Installations, Two Films" (2008) at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Paul McCarthy's video-taped performances and provocative multimedia installations lampoon polite society, ridicule authority, and bombard the viewer with a sensory overload of often sexually-tinged, violent imagery. With irreverent wit, McCarthy often takes aim at cherished American myths and icons—Walt Disney, the Western, and even the Modern Artist—adding a touch of malice to subjects that have been traditionally revered for their innocence or purity. Whether conflating real-world political figures with fantastical characters such as Santa Claus, or treating erotic and abject content with frivolity and charm, McCarthy's work confuses codes, mixes high and low culture, and provokes an analysis of fundamental beliefs. Learn more about Paul McCarthy at: http://www.art21.org/artists/paul-mccarthy CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Bob Elfstrom & Richard Numeroff. Sound: Doug Dunderdale & Merce Williams. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Paul McCarthy. Special Thanks: Whitney Museum of American Art. Video:
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17:50:33 04/29/11
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Becoming an Artist
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 17:50:33 04/29/11
Episode #141: Filmed in his New York studio, artist Hiroshi Sugimoto recounts his student days studying Western philosophy (Hegel, Kant, Marx) in Tokyo, encountering Oriental philosophy (such as Zen Buddhism) in California, and his interest in the history of Modernism—all schools of thought that demonstrate "the human ability to see things in a different way." Central to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work is the idea that photography is a time machine, a method of preserving and picturing memory and time. Sugimoto sees with the eye of the sculptor, painter, architect, and philosopher. He creates images that seem to convey his subjects’ essence, whether architectural, sculptural, painterly, or of the natural world. Learn more about Hiroshi Sugimoto at: http://www.art21.org/artists/hiroshi-sugimoto CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Mead Hunt. Sound: Merce Williams. Editor: Mary Ann Toman. Artwork Courtesy: Hiroshi Sugimoto. Video:
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16:33:37 04/15/11
Cao Fei: "PRD Anti-Heroes"
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 16:33:37 04/15/11
Episode #140: Artist Cao Fei discusses her multi-media theatrical work "PRD Anti-Heroes" (2005), a play performed by non-professional actors. Investigating the "anonymous and unsung heroes" of the Pearl River Delta or "the factory of the world," Cao's production incorporates elements of traditional Chinese legends, Hong Kong soap operas, and Cantonese farces. Cao's work reflects the fluidity of a world in which cultures have mixed and diverged in rapid evolution. Her video installations and new media works explore perception and reality in places as diverse as a Chinese factory and the virtual world of Second Life. Depictions of Chinese architecture and landscape abound in scenes of hyper-capitalistic Pearl River Delta development, in images that echo traditional Chinese painting, and in the design of her own virtual utopia, "RMB City." Fascinated by the world of Second Life, Cao Fei has created several works in which she is both participant and observer through her Second Life avatar, China Tracy, who acts as a guide, philosopher, and tourist. Learn more about Cao Fei: http://www.art21.org/artists/cao-fei CREDITS | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview & Translation: Phil Tinari & Xiaotong Wang. Camera: Takahisa Araki. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Voiceover: Clara Jo. Artwork Courtesy: Cao Fei. Video:
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20:49:54 04/01/11
Cindy Sherman: Characters
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 20:49:54 04/01/11
Episode #139: Cindy Sherman reveals how dressing up in character began as a kind of performance and evolved into her earliest photographic series such as "Bus Riders" (1976), "Untitled Film Stills" (1977-1980), and the untitled rear screen projections (1980). In self-reflexive photographs and films, Cindy Sherman invents myriad guises, metamorphosing from Hollywood starlet to clown to society matron. Often with the simplest of means—a camera, a wig, makeup, an outfit—Sherman fashions ambiguous but memorable characters that suggest complex lives lived out of frame. Shermans investigations have a compelling relationship to public images, from kitsch (film stills and centerfolds) to art history (Old Masters and Surrealism) to green-screen technology and the latest advances in digital photography. Learn more about Cindy Sherman at: http://www.art21.org/artists/cindy-sherman CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster, Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Joel Shapiro. Sound: Roger Phenix. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Cindy Sherman. Video:
08/06/10