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INTERVIEW WITH DONALD BLANK
WIRED
Series curator Kathy High conducted this telephone interview with Donald Blank in May, 1997.
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INTERVIEW WITH DONALD BLANK WIRED Series curator Kathy High conducted this telephone interview with Donald Blank in May, 1997. |
How did you met Thai and how you did get involved in this project?
Okay, well, I had seen him on the street and talked with him on
numerous occasions.
Where was this exactly?
In my own neighborhood on
the West Side. I ride a bicycle to get
around the city, and I had seen him, and talked with him. He's an
interesting, funny guy and he just seemed like a very unique character to
me. And I finally wanted to do a piece about him.
There are some very funny and wonderful moments in the tape when
these people who are about to buy his work become these incredible art
critics. Did you see this happening a lot? How were people generally
interacting with Thai?
Well, he's a very friendly, engaging person, and he enjoys talking to
people while he's working. He's very pleasant and funny, and so he's
unusual that way as an artist who's working right out on the street. Well,
he's trying to sell his stuff, but he just likes people and he's very
gregarious and friendly.
Even though he's had a lot of hardship in his life, he seemed to
have a really positive attitude. Is that a philosophy that he lives by?
Well, I guess, maybe . . . he's a person who has problems like all of
us. And he's homeless. But in another sense, I think he is a real artist
in some sense of living for the moment. There's kind of a purity to what
he's doing. I mean in galleries, his works can go for a few hundred
dollars but on the street for much less. So it's interesting to me that
people will spend $50 or $60 or $80 to buy one of his pieces. You know, on
the spur of the moment. I enjoy seeing that spark of a collector or just
another person saying, "Oh, that's beautiful. I want that."
Absolutely. Was Thai always in the same location when you were
shooting him or does he go to different places to work and sell his work?
He has a couple of friends in this area on the West Side. But he
has no real schedule to be anywhere. He likes to ride a bicycle to give
himself mobility and always has a beat-up bicycle.
When you were taping did you do it all in one day or did you go to
various places?
Yes, we did it in one day, and I sort of regret that I didn't stay
with him at night and follow him around. He likes to have a good time; that's something he admits to. Thai's also a subject who will be
honest with you and transparent, and he's not hiding anything. I mean that
he likes to party; he likes to enjoy himself and tends to wake up with empty
pockets.
Thai talked about the ways that he works, and the way that it's
taxing his body. How long has he been making these sculptures?
I'm not quite sure; for a while, some years, ten years, at
least. I think he worked originally in construction and he used to
use this wire. I can't really tell you exactly how long it's been.
And how many different pieces was he able to make
in a day?
Well, it will vary. I think
some days he doesn't work and other days he might make a few pieces. His horse is
sort of his signature piece, which he does most often.
And what are some of the other pieces that he does?
He will do some other animals
and occasionally torsos -- once,
he was doing a back-hoe for a guy who operated one of those machines.
That's funny. I know that you've done other work with people who
were really present on the street, and selling their wares in the street.
Can you talk a little about your commitment to documenting this side of
city life?
Well, I'm like many New Yorkers who have been living with the
homeless phenomenon for ten years or so. And I've been curious about the
lifestyle of people on the street. Since this, I did a piece on scavenging
and people who are scavengers in New York City. It appeals to a political
angle on this stuff: the city of great riches and of people with little . . .
I mean it keeps the issue of poverty right in front of our eyes. It's not
the subject that television viewers most want to learn about, so this is a
paradox -- you have to present the poverty with some humor or some visual
or some music. I mean, it's just kind of a down subject. So I tried to
look at it freshly as possible.
Did you work with a composer for WIRED?
Yes. Raymond Scott is the composer. He's a wonderful white jazz
composer who had a very humorous way of doing jazz. And he's having a bit
of a revival lately. He's available at Tower in the jazz section. His
music lately had been used in some cartoons because it has a very funny,
jaunty sound. He used all kinds of kazoos and bells. He's kind of a Spike-
Jones-like composer. He also experimented with electronic synthesizers in
the forties and stuff. It was very early on.
Did he see this piece?
Oh, no. I'm afraid he passed away a few years ago.
Oh. Well, the music is as optimistic as Thai is in this piece.
It's an interesting combination. Did Thai tell you other stories when you
were taping or anything interesting that didn't get into the tape?
Well, Thai has had a problem
with taking crack and has been
struggling with that and many people are trying to encourage him to get off
that. People think that perhaps if he could control that his artistic
career might get on track, but who knows. I think he puts up with people
bugging him about it. He appreciates that we mean well. But this is a
sensitive thing that I didn't really get into and he alludes to it in
passing, but it's very personal. This is the interesting thing about doing
documentaries, you know, it's hard to be totally honest about people.
People allow you into their lives and we all have our secrets or
embarrassments or darker sides. So if you turn around and make them look bad,
even if it's the truth . . . Only when people are dead, I guess, can they really get hatchet jobs done on
them. But when you're working with living subjects, you find that you
often don't tell all that you know.
And there's also a responsibility to them, as you said, to take
care.
Well, I only am saying this because Thai did a story in The Daily
News about six weeks ago where he talks about his drug problems. So I
felt that I could get into that since he did put this in a article in The
Daily News.
In a public forum . . . Uh-huh.
But, look, I just urge anybody who sees him on the street, if you
like his work, buy one. He's truly an outsider artist, in more ways
than one.
That's great. All right. Thank you, Donald.
Thank you, Kathy.Donald Blank's film, WIRED, can be purchased directly from Donald Blank: 324 West 83rd Street, Apt. 3R New York, NY 10024 (212) 873-5030
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