WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.050 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.050 --> 00:00:03.480 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:04.830 align:middle line:90% It's my first time in Tucson. 00:00:04.830 --> 00:00:07.275 align:middle line:84% I have yet to meet an unpleasant human being. 00:00:07.275 --> 00:00:10.950 align:middle line:84% It's like, where the hell are you keeping them? 00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:11.640 align:middle line:90% I'm from Jersey. 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:13.140 align:middle line:90% I'm kind of freaked out by that. 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:15.300 align:middle line:90% I'm just-- I'm sorry. 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:16.800 align:middle line:90% It's my problem. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.120 align:middle line:90% I know it's not yours. 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:18.930 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:18.930 --> 00:00:24.060 align:middle line:84% But I'm just deeply honored that you guys 00:00:24.060 --> 00:00:26.640 align:middle line:84% would take an evening out to listen to me yammer 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:27.750 align:middle line:90% on like I'm about to. 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:28.720 align:middle line:90% So I apologize. 00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:30.882 align:middle line:84% And I apologize to Jonathan-- the camera-- 00:00:30.882 --> 00:00:33.090 align:middle line:84% if I'm going to be jumping around all over the place. 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:37.560 align:middle line:84% So I'll try to be less of a jumping bean tonight. 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:43.080 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to start things off with sort of a canned speech. 00:00:43.080 --> 00:00:47.010 align:middle line:84% Hopefully I'm going to keep it within seven minutes. 00:00:47.010 --> 00:00:49.260 align:middle line:84% I do this because I get nervous in front of crowds, 00:00:49.260 --> 00:00:51.530 align:middle line:84% because I usually live in a basement, 00:00:51.530 --> 00:00:52.710 align:middle line:90% working on things like this. 00:00:52.710 --> 00:00:56.010 align:middle line:84% So I just want to make sure that I kind of touch all the points 00:00:56.010 --> 00:00:58.500 align:middle line:84% that I want to touch on, so you guys can actually 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:00.760 align:middle line:90% ask follow-up questions later. 00:01:00.760 --> 00:01:06.360 align:middle line:84% So I apologize in advance if this sounds a little bit stiff. 00:01:06.360 --> 00:01:09.390 align:middle line:90% I'll just pop this over here. 00:01:09.390 --> 00:01:11.310 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.640 align:middle line:84% In 2011, Tin House published Matt Kish's 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.330 align:middle line:84% visual interpretation of Moby-Dick, in which he 00:01:18.330 --> 00:01:22.020 align:middle line:84% made one drawing for every single page of Melville's 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:23.790 align:middle line:90% great work. 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:25.740 align:middle line:84% I was taken by the ambition of the project, 00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:28.020 align:middle line:84% and I soon decided to attempt my own interpretation 00:01:28.020 --> 00:01:31.560 align:middle line:90% of an American literary classic. 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:33.270 align:middle line:84% While mulling over the various approaches 00:01:33.270 --> 00:01:35.070 align:middle line:84% I could take with such a project, 00:01:35.070 --> 00:01:37.320 align:middle line:84% it occurred to me that the next obvious step 00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:40.140 align:middle line:84% would be to incorporate the text into the imagery-- 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:43.680 align:middle line:84% in other words, write the entire text by hand. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.810 align:middle line:84% So a full-length novel was out of the question. 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:48.600 align:middle line:90% 00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:51.720 align:middle line:84% "Song of Myself," the poetic heart of Walt Whitman's Leaves 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:54.300 align:middle line:84% of Grass, was the obvious choice, 00:01:54.300 --> 00:01:56.460 align:middle line:84% and not just because it was the perfect length 00:01:56.460 --> 00:01:58.890 align:middle line:84% for the illustrative book I had in mind. 00:01:58.890 --> 00:02:02.970 align:middle line:84% It also represents a watershed moment in American poetry. 00:02:02.970 --> 00:02:06.840 align:middle line:84% The poem itself is a litany of emblems 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.449 align:middle line:84% and has attracted far better artists than myself, 00:02:09.449 --> 00:02:11.400 align:middle line:90% such as Rockwell Kent-- 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:15.530 align:middle line:84% the great Rockwell Kent, I should add. 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:17.870 align:middle line:84% Its themes were also broad enough in scope 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.090 align:middle line:84% to maintain my interest over the year it would 00:02:20.090 --> 00:02:21.740 align:middle line:90% take to complete the work. 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.170 align:middle line:84% Not least of all, the naturalistic tone 00:02:24.170 --> 00:02:27.620 align:middle line:84% of "Song of Myself" posed an interpretive challenge, 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:30.890 align:middle line:84% which would force me to take all sorts of visual digressions 00:02:30.890 --> 00:02:33.710 align:middle line:84% rather than merely reflect the poem. 00:02:33.710 --> 00:02:36.530 align:middle line:84% I wasn't entirely sure I was able to maintain that freshness 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:39.080 align:middle line:84% as the year progressed, which, of course, meant 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.630 align:middle line:90% that I had to try-- 00:02:41.630 --> 00:02:42.890 align:middle line:90% much to my dismay. 00:02:42.890 --> 00:02:45.080 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:47.960 align:middle line:84% I selected the original 1855 version 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.990 align:middle line:84% of "Song of Myself," because it's more experimental, free, 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:54.200 align:middle line:84% and uncompromising in form than the more structured versions 00:02:54.200 --> 00:02:58.010 align:middle line:84% found in the six later editions of Leaves of Grass. 00:02:58.010 --> 00:03:00.290 align:middle line:84% I intended to take the 1855 version 00:03:00.290 --> 00:03:02.580 align:middle line:84% and make it even more loose and wild, 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:04.460 align:middle line:84% so that it not only ran in a torrent, 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:08.120 align:middle line:84% but in multiple directions, like a bustling crowd or a mountain 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:10.610 align:middle line:90% stream. 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:13.430 align:middle line:84% I thought of Whitman illuminated as more of a design project 00:03:13.430 --> 00:03:15.500 align:middle line:90% than an illustration project. 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:19.220 align:middle line:84% The book is lavishly produced but aesthetically plain, even 00:03:19.220 --> 00:03:20.870 align:middle line:90% a bit rough. 00:03:20.870 --> 00:03:23.510 align:middle line:84% To me, Whitman's work calls for what I would 00:03:23.510 --> 00:03:28.350 align:middle line:90% term as an artful artlessness. 00:03:28.350 --> 00:03:30.510 align:middle line:84% In the weeks before I committed to the project, 00:03:30.510 --> 00:03:33.600 align:middle line:84% I struggled with how to tackle "Song of Myself." 00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:35.640 align:middle line:84% I was almost ready to give up on the idea. 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:38.560 align:middle line:84% I in fact called my agent earlier that day and I said, 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:40.950 align:middle line:84% I just don't know how I'm going to do this. 00:03:40.950 --> 00:03:43.620 align:middle line:84% But later that night I crawled out of bed, 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:47.400 align:middle line:84% sat down on my desk, got out of my own way, and simply drew. 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.290 align:middle line:84% And happily, it all clicked into place. 00:03:49.290 --> 00:03:52.230 align:middle line:84% I guess it's what Edison would have 00:03:52.230 --> 00:03:55.080 align:middle line:90% called this hypnagogic term. 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:57.720 align:middle line:84% I didn't use the brass balls on the plates or anything, 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:02.166 align:middle line:84% but I was half asleep and then it just snapped. 00:04:02.166 --> 00:04:03.990 align:middle line:84% The next challenge was figuring out 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:06.990 align:middle line:84% how the text should flow through the book. 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:09.900 align:middle line:84% To remain visually coherent, each two-page spread 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.440 align:middle line:84% had to have a focal point-- a subject, theme, or mood. 00:04:13.440 --> 00:04:16.320 align:middle line:84% So I broke down "Song of Myself" into verse clusters 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:18.614 align:middle line:84% that could stand on their own in a two-page spread. 00:04:18.614 --> 00:04:22.190 align:middle line:90% 00:04:22.190 --> 00:04:24.770 align:middle line:84% Whitman Illuminated was designed to directly affect 00:04:24.770 --> 00:04:26.330 align:middle line:90% the reader's experience. 00:04:26.330 --> 00:04:29.540 align:middle line:84% It's meant to be both viewed and read. 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:31.880 align:middle line:84% Its small size and graphic density, 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:34.460 align:middle line:84% combined with the nonlinear arrangements of text, 00:04:34.460 --> 00:04:37.040 align:middle line:84% invites the reader to traverse Whitman's poem 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:38.960 align:middle line:90% in digressive ways. 00:04:38.960 --> 00:04:42.320 align:middle line:84% It compels the reader to slow down, turn the small book 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:46.370 align:middle line:84% in their hands, and ponder the images and text. 00:04:46.370 --> 00:04:48.500 align:middle line:84% My hope is that a few readers might actually 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:52.230 align:middle line:84% decide to absorb only a couple of pages each day 00:04:52.230 --> 00:04:54.980 align:middle line:84% over the course of a few months, so that they might immerse 00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:57.620 align:middle line:84% themselves in "Song of Myself" in the similar way I 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:02.070 align:middle line:84% did during the 14 months I worked on the book. 00:05:02.070 --> 00:05:05.610 align:middle line:84% To read "Song of Myself" is to create "Song of Myself." 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:09.480 align:middle line:84% Each reader changes the text, makes it new. 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:11.190 align:middle line:84% Whitman wanted "Song of Myself" to be 00:05:11.190 --> 00:05:13.560 align:middle line:84% different for every reader, and this book 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.470 align:middle line:84% takes that idea even further, by making "Song of Myself" 00:05:16.470 --> 00:05:19.830 align:middle line:90% different with every reading. 00:05:19.830 --> 00:05:22.110 align:middle line:84% Throughout the seven editions of Leaves of Grass, 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:24.480 align:middle line:84% Whitman constantly moves the lines of his poems 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.210 align:middle line:90% around, similar to collage. 00:05:27.210 --> 00:05:29.340 align:middle line:84% So in Whitman Illuminated, the emphasis 00:05:29.340 --> 00:05:32.130 align:middle line:84% on the order of the lines is secondary to the gist 00:05:32.130 --> 00:05:36.480 align:middle line:84% of the clusters of verse that curl around the images. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:39.660 align:middle line:84% You may not read Whitman Illuminated in the same order 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.480 align:middle line:84% as the original "Song of Myself" or even 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.410 align:middle line:84% in the same order as you did last time, and that's OK. 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:48.480 align:middle line:84% This book is merely an interpretation, 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:51.150 align:middle line:84% and as such it's meant to supplement rather than rival 00:05:51.150 --> 00:05:51.975 align:middle line:90% Whitman's editions. 00:05:51.975 --> 00:05:54.540 align:middle line:90% 00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:56.520 align:middle line:84% My sketchbook didn't get much use 00:05:56.520 --> 00:05:59.400 align:middle line:84% during the making of this book, because there was never 00:05:59.400 --> 00:06:02.820 align:middle line:84% enough time to figure out what to do for the next spread. 00:06:02.820 --> 00:06:04.110 align:middle line:90% And that is true. 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:07.680 align:middle line:84% Every morning I was starting from scratch, and so the book 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:09.750 align:middle line:90% itself became the sketchbook. 00:06:09.750 --> 00:06:10.990 align:middle line:90% This was a good thing. 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:13.260 align:middle line:84% It meant the artwork stood a chance of staying 00:06:13.260 --> 00:06:16.500 align:middle line:90% spontaneous and fresh. 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:19.590 align:middle line:84% My hope is that because this improvisation was sustained 00:06:19.590 --> 00:06:21.270 align:middle line:84% throughout the making of the book, 00:06:21.270 --> 00:06:23.520 align:middle line:84% the reader will have no idea what to expect 00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:25.470 align:middle line:90% when they turn the page. 00:06:25.470 --> 00:06:27.450 align:middle line:84% And because I was making things up as I went, 00:06:27.450 --> 00:06:30.120 align:middle line:84% readers are likely to notice, as they progress through the book, 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.930 align:middle line:90% how the artwork and type evolve. 00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:37.020 align:middle line:84% I wasn't interested in merely reflecting Whitman's words-- 00:06:37.020 --> 00:06:39.030 align:middle line:84% such a project would be pointless. 00:06:39.030 --> 00:06:43.020 align:middle line:84% "Song of Myself" does not need to be bolstered by imagery-- 00:06:43.020 --> 00:06:48.180 align:middle line:84% the sturdy, pungent, oratorical passages stand on their own. 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:51.570 align:middle line:84% Instead, I wanted to create a parallel visual narrative 00:06:51.570 --> 00:06:54.210 align:middle line:84% to Whitman's words, forming an interpretive gap 00:06:54.210 --> 00:06:58.430 align:middle line:84% in which the reader or viewer may travel. 00:06:58.430 --> 00:07:00.700 align:middle line:84% Now, I'm not a scholar or an academic, 00:07:00.700 --> 00:07:03.520 align:middle line:84% nor am I a leading expert on all things Whitman. 00:07:03.520 --> 00:07:04.870 align:middle line:90% I'm just an illustrator. 00:07:04.870 --> 00:07:08.200 align:middle line:84% But I have my own take on Whitman's poetic mission. 00:07:08.200 --> 00:07:10.480 align:middle line:84% As I worked on the book, it became clear to me 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.180 align:middle line:84% that the raw simplicity of form and language in "Song 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:17.290 align:middle line:84% of Myself" hides a complexity of intent. 00:07:17.290 --> 00:07:19.540 align:middle line:84% In fact, I'm not sure that I think of "Song of Myself" 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:21.160 align:middle line:90% as a poem at all. 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:22.930 align:middle line:84% Framing it in that conventional way 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:26.110 align:middle line:84% seems to diminish its power and potential. 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:29.620 align:middle line:84% I'm more inclined to think of it as a kind of mystic ur-text 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:32.260 align:middle line:84% that has given rise to countless poems. 00:07:32.260 --> 00:07:33.880 align:middle line:84% To butcher the words of Ezra Pound, 00:07:33.880 --> 00:07:38.650 align:middle line:84% Whitman chopped the wood that others must now carve. 00:07:38.650 --> 00:07:41.890 align:middle line:84% For me, Whitman's insights often outshine his poetics, 00:07:41.890 --> 00:07:44.500 align:middle line:84% particularly his exultations of the body 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:46.210 align:middle line:84% and of the democratic self, which 00:07:46.210 --> 00:07:48.700 align:middle line:90% remain radical even today. 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:51.940 align:middle line:84% "Song of Myself" is saturated with tenderness and empathy, 00:07:51.940 --> 00:07:55.750 align:middle line:84% in part because it doesn't shrink from death and sorrow. 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:57.610 align:middle line:84% I can't imagine a better time to revive 00:07:57.610 --> 00:08:02.200 align:middle line:84% Whitman's humane vision of the American soul than right now. 00:08:02.200 --> 00:08:04.870 align:middle line:84% Whitman's Democratic sensibility in "Song of Myself" 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:08.590 align:middle line:90% is more profound than political. 00:08:08.590 --> 00:08:11.290 align:middle line:84% Through his eyes, we see a glimmer of ourselves 00:08:11.290 --> 00:08:13.150 align:middle line:84% in everything and everyone around us. 00:08:13.150 --> 00:08:15.770 align:middle line:84% We're connected-- a part of life's eternal hum. 00:08:15.770 --> 00:08:19.300 align:middle line:90% We're both small and vast. 00:08:19.300 --> 00:08:20.950 align:middle line:84% In the beginning of "Song of Myself," 00:08:20.950 --> 00:08:23.020 align:middle line:90% Whitman holds a blade of grass. 00:08:23.020 --> 00:08:26.860 align:middle line:84% By the end of "Song of Myself," he's become the grass. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:29.230 align:middle line:84% The I in "Song of Myself" expands 00:08:29.230 --> 00:08:33.860 align:middle line:84% as the poem progresses, until it disperses, becoming everything, 00:08:33.860 --> 00:08:36.289 align:middle line:90% including us. 00:08:36.289 --> 00:08:39.110 align:middle line:84% It's no accident that "Song of Myself" begins with I 00:08:39.110 --> 00:08:41.900 align:middle line:90% and ends with the word you. 00:08:41.900 --> 00:08:46.350 align:middle line:84% By celebrating himself, Whitman celebrates us all. 00:08:46.350 --> 00:08:49.580 align:middle line:84% And so that's the end of the canned part of the evening. 00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:52.820 align:middle line:84% So I'm glad to get that crap out of the way. 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:53.690 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:08:53.690 --> 00:08:56.180 align:middle line:84% So what I'm going to go through now, guys, 00:08:56.180 --> 00:09:00.170 align:middle line:84% is I'm going to take you through how I made the bloody thing. 00:09:00.170 --> 00:09:02.270 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to stand over here, because I 00:09:02.270 --> 00:09:04.030 align:middle line:90% know I have to be in-- 00:09:04.030 --> 00:09:04.920 align:middle line:90% yeah. 00:09:04.920 --> 00:09:05.520 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:07.370 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER]