New meanings

Kenneth Goldsmith interviews Jack Whitten for BOMB magazine (1994).

Kenneth Goldsmith: What we both share in our recent works is that we’re binding disparate things we find in the culture, in the newspapers, in the material that’s all around us. I find a lot of my sounds on the street. I’m always listening. And when I look at your recent work, I know you’ve been scavenging the streets – molds off the sidewalk, metal grates and caps — you’ve been taking impressions from the world around you.

Jack Whitten: Sure, sure. That button painting was inspired by a Lisa Hoke sculpture, but I lifted the composition from a Lalaounis jewelry ad in the New York Times.

KG: I wouldn’t know that.

JW: No you wouldn’t. (laughter) It’s not important that one knows that, but it’s what gets me started.

KG: You transform material, you don’t leave it as you found it, or do you?

JW: Transformation is very important. Materials are just raw materials, that’s all. It’s like a word, anybody can have access to the same word, but a word in your mouth is totally different from a word in mine.