All language subtitles for Man.In.The.Field.The.Life.And.Art.Of.Jim.Denevan.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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[soft music]

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[birds tweeting]

[bird cawing]

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[soft music continues]

[waves rolling]

So. .

what's significant
about this is that. .

this is, like. .
this is the golden section,

the famous ratio.

These. .

the difference between
all these curves and then. .

then the person. .

supposedly
the human body is. .

is in the ratios
and the relationship

to the parts
of the human body.

Um. . yeah,

it has some
special significance,

but you can see that his. .
top of his head

and the size of his head is. .

everything fits.

In terms of the ratios.

So, an unknown man. .

an unknown man at the center.

He just showed up.

He walked to the right spot.

Stood there for five minutes.

Got some pictures.

Then he walked out, and then. .
and then it washed away.

You can see it.

When I ran to the top
of the cliff, I thought

that I would not make it
to that top

before it washed away,

'cause the tide was
really coming in.

So, I finished over here.
Way over here.

And it was like, okay,

I gotta run fast,
and I ran out there

and just got the picture
before it washed away.

And this was done. .

this was done
in the last century.

This is from the late '90s.

[soft music]

JANE ROSEN: There on the beach
is this guy with a rake,

and he's making
a giant Fibonacci curve.

and I go down,
and I say,

"Uh. . what you doing?"

He stops holding the rake,

and tears are
coming down his face.

I don't think, at that time,

he thought of himself
as an artist.

I don't think
he thought about

why or what he was doing.

He just had to do it.

JIM: I started drawing
in the sand in 1994.

I made one fish
about 15 feet long.

It was in the evening.
It was low tide in the winter.

And the light hit it
so that it really popped.

And then I covered
the entire beach.

I drew houses and people

and dinosaurs
and clouds.

And then I climbed a cliff.

And then I said to myself. .

because I was
the only one on the cliff. .

[laughing]

I thought to myself,

"This is what I'm gonna do
for the rest of my life,

is I'm gonna draw on the sand. "

[soft music]

DAVID KINCH:
You know, the thing I find

most fascinating about Jim is

what I know
the least about,

and that's the sand paintings.

I think the sand paintings
are. . astonishing.

It's simple, and it's pure,

and it's gorgeous,
and it's geometry.

BILL: It's just a way of being
light-footed on the environment,

and it's really a neat idea

to tread lightly
and do art at the same time.

JIM: I wanna say,
I mean, I'm gonna testify

right now that
my brothers told me. .

my brothers
that are sane told me

that I would never amount
to anything.

That I would never
have success in life.

ADAM REPLOGLE:
He is a trendsetter

on a core underground level.

I think, in the art world,

what he was doing with his art

has gotta be
just mind-blowing,

and so I think
it's gonna take a long time

for people to understand
what he's been able

to create and make.

And what's bizarre. .
he'll start out

with just one
little circle sometimes.

Next thing you know,
it's so out of whack,

and it's perfect!

So I'm fascinated by that,
and it just sort of

opens my mind up
to think that, you know,

it is possible for humans
to do things

that are unexplainable.

ALMOND ZIGMUND: There's
something incredibly cathartic

about watching him
build something

that is so massive in scale

and then walk away,
knowing that he's done it,

that it's completed,
that it lives in the world

for a certain amount of time,

and that there is
nothing left to do after that.

PETER MEL: The king,
as we all called him, you know?

He was Jim Denevan.

He was the guy that, um,

you know,
would be out at the point,

and he would know
the exact time to surf.

He would know
what the wind was doing.

He would know
what the swell was doing,

and this was pre-internet,

but somehow he had
this way of knowing.

And then now, to see
where he's developed his career,

you know, in my mind,
I look at it,

and I'm just like,
that was his beautiful mind

that was able to allow him
to see and do these art things,

and then, with the food,
he's, you know,

again at the forefront
of something that. .

he was doing this stuff
years and years ago.

Let's use the local surroundings
and the local farmers.

Now it's cool, but he's been
doing it for years, so.

I almost feel like he could be
a bit of an alien in a way.

HOWIE KAHN:
I first heard about him. .

I was having dinner
in Portland, Oregon.

And I said,
"Oh, man, I just. .

"I wish there was someone
who was more mobile.

"Somebody who was traveling
from place to place.

"Somebody who was cooking

"in a way where
there wasn't a restaurant.

"Somebody who was cooking
out of the context

of what we know,"
and someone goes,

"There's a guy with a bus,"

it's like,
"and he draws in the sand.

And he's a really great chef. "

This is the story
I've been waiting for.

And so I said,
"What's his name?"

"Jim Denevan. "

DAVID: Part of
the genius of Jim is

just that original idea
that he had, you know?

There's been
a lot of permutations of it.

But just, like,
the original pure idea,

you know?
We're gonna go to farms,

we're gonna cook dinner,

we're gonna do it in a field,

and people are gonna come
and eat the food.

I mean, it's the original idea,
you know, it's like. .

it's so simple, but no one
really thought about it before.

[music]

HOWIE: The phrasing
"farm to table"

hadn't really
even happened yet, at all.

This wasn't farm to table,

this was table
at the farm.

"Outstanding in the Field"

combines
an extraordinary meal

set in natural surroundings

with a long,
beautiful table

that's specific to the place.

He'd think about
how it's running parallel

to a shoreline
or how that line works

in respect
to a nearby cliff.

And then there's a chef.

Sometimes it's somebody
very notable.

Sometimes it's someone
who's a little bit lesser-known.

It's always someone who sort of
passes the Jim taste test.

He's a chef,
he knows how to cook.

I've seen him cook
the dinners himself.

There's a drawing component

when there can be;
if there's a surface

on which he can draw,
he will.

He'll try to bring together
as much of himself

into one experience
as he can every time.

[music]

Those piles of ash out there. .

- Yeah.
- . are the remains

of the apple orchard.

We should go walk
around the field a little bit.

This is definitely. .
I mean, this is. .

this is all about
the inspiration

for us eating in the field,
this is definitely

the center of the interest. .

of. . of creating something like
"Outstanding in the Field. "

Turn this wormy one around?

Yeah, there we go,
look at that beautiful

apple bunch.

This orchard,
I took care of it for 30 years.

The workers called it "la joya,"
like the jewel, you know?

And this is
where Jen and David Kinch had

the first dinner.

That was a memorable one.

DAVID: I agreed
to do this dinner,

and we were gonna cook the pig,
and the spit didn't work,

and we couldn't get
the pig on it,

and it was midnight,

and Jim proceeds
to go immediately to sleep.

So, I was up all night,
and as soon as he went to sleep,

ah-whoo!

You know?
Roasting meat

in the middle
of a dark field.

All the critters started
coming out, you know,

looking out,
there's eyes. . you know.

That was my first "Outstanding
in the Field" dinner.

JIM: I wasn't
all that interested

in cooking at first,
in the sense of

the task of cooking,

because it was really
just a vehicle

to go surfing.
It's a night job.

You can surf in the day.

I worked at shitty restaurants.

At a time when food culture
or the idea of

food as culture
in the United States. .

was no fucking way.

It didn't exist.
It didn't happen.

I went to Europe, lived there,

I was a model.
And traveled a lot

between living in Milan
and Paris and other places,

and. . culture of food was
interesting in Italy.

My brother's a farmer,
but they don't really. .

like, there's really
not a connection

between what he does and. .

and those restaurants
I was just working at.

Then I came back,
and I immediately got a job

at a. . a place
where, um. .

Catherine Faris,
she lived outside Rome

for four years
and studied the food there.

She came back
to the United States,

opened a restaurant,
she hired me,

straight from Europe,
and then I became

the chef there, I was 26,
like, pretty quickly

I was running the show.

[mooing]

CATHERINE FARIS:
When I first met Jim,

I was looking for someone that

didn't have a lot of
experience, necessarily,

but had a lot of passion.

And Jim came

to the door
of my restaurant one day.

He was really quiet, but when
I started to talk to him

a little bit about
what we did at the restaurant. .

menus changed every week,
and this is 30 years ago,

so this is very new
in California. .

and I could just see that
there was something resonating,

like in a really big way;
he was really into it.

And so I think

it was part of the right time
at the right place,

connecting around this idea
that was about

how it can be,
and clearly

that's what he's doing now.

[static fuzzing]

[announcer speaking Japanese]

What I'm trying to do is
provide a place

where people can learn
about the food

and where it comes from,
and also, of course,

enjoy a delicious meal.

[static fuzzing]

JIM: There's a great number
of people that are

excited that
things are on the fly,

that it's not predictable,
that it's not a catering event.

That they don't see
the same old shit

like the same rental plates

and rental tables
and rental chairs

and the same, you know,
appetizers and such.

We're doing it, you know,
right here and now.

First of all,
I'm considering the. .

- the size of the space. .
- [translator speaking Spanish]

- . what fits. .
- [translator continues]

- [translator continues]
- . to the sculptures,

- the space is rectangular. .
- [translator continues]

[translator continues]

JIM: . the gestures
of the sculptures, so. .

[translator continues]

rigidity, but also,
there's the flowing curves.

[translator speaking Spanish]

[static fuzzing]

[soft music]

DAMANI THOMAS:
When I met Jim Denevan,

I think it was,
like, in '96 or '97,

and that was
the beginning for me,

with the farm dinner
situation and. .

to be able to bring a chef

with farmer and wine-makers
and fishermen

and, you know,
seeing the patrons

just, like, really
enjoying themselves.

It was novel, you know,

to be able to have
a fancy meal on a farm.

HANS HAVEMAN:
We are a sustainable

fish company here in Santa Cruz.

Working really hard to bring in

local, right out of the bay

salmon, halibut,
sea bass,

caught from our local people,
and get it to the chefs.

We try to bring people really
good, sustainable product.

We got asked to do,
like, I think

one of the first "Outstanding
in the Field" dinners.

I think it's all kind of
on the coattails

of just food consciousness.

Everybody's really been excited

about knowing
where their food comes from.

And these "Outstanding" dinners

have been such
a great venue for that,

because it's one
of the few places that

you really get to pair up

some of the best chefs
in the world

and then the farmers
who actually grow the product.

Such a fun experience.

MARCUS SAMULESSON:
In Palm Springs, it was

so exciting
on many levels because. .

we practice so much of
our work inside of a restaurant.

What could be better
than to go outside

and cook great food
with a great audience

in a new place?

For me, it's like you have
to find these incredible places.

Part of it is getting
to the dinner,

setting it up,
and then executing it.

JOHN McMCARTHY:
The Japanese dinners were

in a brand-new mowed field.

Cooking over coals, which was,

it was all fantastic.

It wasn't just Japanese people

that showed up at that dinner.

There were Americans
that were living abroad,

there were some people
from South Korea.

There were some people
from Hong Kong and China.

They hadn't seen something
like this before.

MARCUS: Bermuda, first of all,
it's a stunning island,

with the most amazing,
fresh produce

and then also
the most amazing, fresh fish.

They go out and catch
something that night,

and we get it that morning,
so it's all-around local

and what's on the island,
and, you know,

Bermuda's a very special place,
and that was a special dinner.

[percussive music]

MAN: Jim and his art,

it was definitely
mind-blowing and exciting.

It was a clear message
of protecting nature.

We had a vision. .

"Hey, how can we do
something big

but is also meaningful?"

It was, like, spot-on,
let's bring Jim,

and let's have him do his thing

in the river mouth of Mundaka
that needs protection.

And that's what we did.

We brought him over,
and bingo, you know?

It was, like, on the biggest
news program in Spain.

[music]

[reporter speaking Spanish]

People were asking me,
"Man, how does this guy do

so round, big circles?"

I was kind of sure that
he was doing so round circles

because he's a freak,
and yeah, he is.

[chuckling]

[speaking Spanish]

It was the season
when "Outstanding in the Field"

was doing
their first Euro tour.

So, they wanted to do something
in the Basque country. .

as being a food hot spot.

So, we scouted,
we saw options,

we talked with chefs,

and we finally set up the table
in our farm.

My family bought
a farm in the '60s

in La Rioja.

It's the Basque Mediterranean,
I would say,

a big wine region.

We set up the table there,
it was amazing,

and it was kind of. .
end of a perfect two gigs

with art and food together.

MARCUS: This is not
just a New York or LA thing.

This is about giving people

unique experiences
that matter.

That's what these events
gives you an opportunity to do.

Yeah, I'm kind of excited,
actually.

- First dinner of the year?
- First dinner of the year.

I moved the bus six times
to get it in the right. .

[laughing]
. right parking spot.

I'm gonna check on some. .

Um. . have you printed
the menus yet?

Yep, they're over there.

Awesome.

- Hey.
- Oh, I thought

you were just coming to tell us
we were doing it wrong.

No. . I'm not sure
how you do it, actually.

What about this frame. .

I'd set that one
to the side, yeah.

- It's not perfect.
- Where's the first one

you've done?
This one?

That one's beautiful.

So, I always get stuck
at this part.

Then you put your hand
on the front,

and you flip it.

That's the menu,
and there's the people.

MAN: It's 20 minutes to 3:00.

- Yes.
- Whoa, really?

- Yes.
- Time flies.

That's not good.
[laughing]

I. . gotta get cranking.

Huh.

Oh, this is
a beautiful menu.

I think. .
I think it's gonna work.

Better. . Better get chopping.

DAVID:
My impression with Jim is. .

and I don't mean this badly,
but Jim is easily

one of the most disorganized
people I've ever met

in my entire life.

He goes in with this, like,

this impression of being. .
scatterbrained's the wrong word,

just, like, disorganized,
but this kind of. .

"Everything's gonna be
all right, you know?

"Everything's
just gonna kind of. .

"everything's gonna
kind of line up,

and it's just gonna be. . "
and you know what,

he's right every time,
you know?

It. . just somehow,
it kind of comes together,

and there he is,
standing with his. .

you know, with that hat
that he wears.

It's pretty funny.

Hearing the sheep.
Forget it.

Need some WD-40.

DAMANI: He's an odd guy,
but I like him.

He's, you know,
odd but likable.

A gentle giant,
if you will.

It takes a different
type of person

to be able to conceive
something like that

and, you know,
bring it to fruition

and stick with it
for so many years, you know?

- Hey, how're you?
- Pretty good.

Yeah, it's gonna. .
we gotta go for the shade today.

- Uh. . Chef Sean.
- Yeah.

- Hey.
- Hey, how you doin', Jim?

- Good, great to see you.
- Nice to see you.

- How was the first dinner?
- Umm, well,

I barely saw it,
'cause I was doing my artwork.

- Oh, really?
- And then I did art

- and the food at the same time.
- Cool.

Um, but it went very well.

This is. .
This is a tough site.

- Right here?
- Oh, we haven't even. .

the tables aren't even out yet.

- No.
- Sweet.

- You ready to schlep?
- Yeah.

- Nice, that's nice. . nice.
- Yeah.

Um, the table's gonna be
in the barn proper.

- Just up there.
- The proper. . cool.

The idea is for the table
to go in the tunnel.

I thought there was gonna be
a lot more vegetables.

The vegetables are very tiny.

Nick, you remember
how I'm really fastidious

about the location
of the kitchen

as it relates to the table?

You shouldn't make
a place for it

- until we talk about it.
- Okay.

- Too close?
- Yeah.

It's like, shove it. .
shove it back.

Yeah, I don't know,
it just. .

- you know what I mean. .
- . walkway,

and then there's that
roaring fire over there, too.

- So, and we've got. .
- Well, let's think it through

- before we just throw it up.
- Okay.

Because, do you see
what I mean, like. .

- Yeah.
- Because. .

with the tables
all through here,

- it's like. .
- Okay.

- So let's figure it out.
- Just clunky-looking.

Let's review
our available area over here.

So. . I'm such a tyrant.

[laughing]

The table,
in the kitchen. .

Nick, are you cool
with that plan?

You cool with that plan?

- The kitchen here?
- Yeah.

- Yeah, totes.
- Nice.

I can't believe
I just said "totes. "

Totes.

[laughing]

[music]

Yeah, that's it.
Right there.

DINA BREWSTER:
Jim and those guys,

this is their first time here.

I was really floored,

you know, that two weeks ago,

I hadn't really
heard anything,

and they seemed
terribly confident

that everything was gonna
go off beautifully.

But with no menu set

and no placement for the table,

and I thought,
we can't do this in a day.

I mean, who can
do this in a day?

But he seems very on top of it

with checking the wind

and the placement
of the tables

so that it would catch
just the right breeze,

and lovely.

All right, guys,
we need to have someone start

slicing the quail
right away, okay?

All the diced tongue,
is that finished?

Okay, it needs
to be finished soon.

I need another. .
I need something else

to plate these beans.

Who has a bigger spoon?

Coming now, hot-hot-hot.

[distant chatter]

All right, heads are up.

VOICE: Heads are up.

PAUL KULIK: I can't imagine
that there's a scenario

that they haven't already
encountered at this point.

Like, the technical proficiency

that "Outstanding
in the Field" brings

takes everything and just
brings it up, like, a notch.

Come on, look at
this bad boy. . blah!

PAUL: And their ability
to find, like,

the most scenic spot
on the farm to put the table

and yet not sacrifice
the function

to be able to, like,
still know how to put

the little kitchen tent together
so that we weren't

gonna be killing ourselves
to dry to deliver.

That's really part of
what makes it so special.

You can focus on
what you wanna focus on,

because you know that those
sort of peripheral concerns

are absolutely
already taken care of.

So, Murray, can you explain
what. . what happened

with our bus here?
What'd you find,

and how did you come upon us?

Well, I was driving by
from a different job,

and I work here often,

so I stopped to look at the bus
and talked to Karl

and said, "Well,
you needed this fixed, so. "

That it wouldn't start,
so basically your. .

your inverter batteries
for your cabin were bad,

- and they were draining. .
- Mm-hmm.

the rest of it, um,

there was a switch
that you should've not had on

that was on,

so we're gonna
make it automatic,

- so that will be. .
- Nice.

So. .

and then a few other
little things, that's all.

Sounds good, what do you think
of this old bus?

Looks good
from the outside,

but underneath, it's shit.

Why am I the guy getting
the seaweed off the beach?

That's something for somebody. .

who's not making geometry.

The other drawing was trampled

by a lot of
volleyball activity

yesterday afternoon.

And so I had to. .
I had to repair it.

I mean. .

do painters have
this kind of trouble?

When they've got
their paints,

does someone come up. .
coming up to their service,

and they're fucking
with their canvas? No.

Not to mention
the goddamn waves.

But, you know,
I'm experiencing a. .

some. .

challenges to my. .
to my zen.

Oh, well.

So we keep. . keep moving.

[birds tweeting]

JIM: Well, we want
all the guests to arrive. .

they're supposed to arrive
in about ten or 15 minutes.

I want 'em to see
the table in the field

before it's evacuated
to the barn,

which I think is likely.

[wind whooshing]

[wind whooshing]

[wind whooshing]

[soft music]

Yeah, this is
the Midwest experience.

Chaos to perfect sun.

In 20 minutes.

JIM: Today,
there's 0% chance of rain.

There's not a cloud
in the sky, so. .

we don't have
to think about that.

If you go over there,
that's, like,

the table just looks like
it's floating in grass.

Like, on the sides.

Okay, bring it right here.

[music]

The table's just gonna get
a little bit wet on Saturday.

Sunday, it's just
gonna get nailed.

People are gonna get soaked.

It's a hot day, too.

So, it's. .

so it's sort of okay
that they're getting soaked.

It's. . I think it's the flaw.

It's the best
possible conditions for. .

having waves at the table
about third course.

We need the staff to come over
to help move the table.

And they did not dawdle.

Hey, Karl, it's raining.

We're usually
not this sensible.

I usually leave the table
out there longer.

It's really hard to walk
backwards with flip-flops.

Do you want me
to walk backwards?

No, I got it.
How many tables we got?

- Fifteen.
- Fifteen? Let's go three fives.

[squeaking]

Sorry.

[sighing]

It's difficult
to bring the table inside,

but sometimes it's gotta. .
just gotta happen.

But at least now
everyone's still got the view.

It's still amazing from here.

Looking good,
we got. . we made it.

- Dude.
- Yeah, thanks.

Yeah, we've actually. .
before we moved the table in,

- and then we. .
- [overlapping chatter]

the staff gets in the way,
but it's kind of funny.

[birds tweeting]

NION McEVOY:
Jim's art exemplifies

an art form that
literally is engaged with

and inseparable from the land
and the local conditions.

He's always
very attentive to place,

and it's part of a piece
with agricultural thinking

and locavore.

MAN: Jim is doing three.

- I'm an experienced server.
- That a boy.

The attempt he has made
to travel around the country

and yet, in each place that
"Outstanding" throws a party,

it's inextricable
from not only

the local environment
of the venue

but also of all the foods

and the thinking about food
from the region.

It definitely seems to be

a wonderful,
magical idea

that makes people feel part of
something larger than themselves

and yet something
very human and intimate.

[wind blowing]

DONIGA MARKEGARD:
I started working with

"Outstanding in the Field"
a number of years ago,

when I ran
into Jim Denevan

because he likes to draw

on the sand right across
from our ranch here.

Jim makes sure to create
that relationship

with the people that
are tending to the animals,

or tending to the vegetables,

and then he can trust

that we have
that connection to nature.

And then that trickles

into these dinners.

It's like this celebration
of everything

that went in
to creating that meal.

It's really fuckin' hot.

MAN: You've been
just chilling in here?

Yeah, just kind of
getting out of the. .

away from the circus
for a moment.

MAN: Right.

Even though
it's uncomfortable.

- Cool.
- It's a little private space.

With just me and the camera.

[chuckling]

Kind of fucked up today,
with the weather.

Should've had. .

shelter.

It's a little. .

it's a little hot.

MAN:
Wanna get ready?

Yeah, let me get the. .

get my costume.

I just gotta show you
the magazine.

This is ten years.

"Gastronomica. "

It's an intellectual study
of gastronomy.

- It's very well-done.
- Mm-hmm.

Beautiful photographs and. .

hold on.

It's very artfully
put together.

And, uh,

yeah, and there's this,
"On Dining and Creating. "

- Oh, nice.
- Ten years ago.

You mean this came out
ten years ago?

Yeah, just by coincidence,

it's sitting
on the desk there.

Left by the last person
that stayed here

and was. . and was
the one that was on top.

Pretty weird,
and it's got pictures

of our dinner in a cave.

Where we had a hundred people
inside of a sea cave.

MAN: Nice.

And, uh. .

then the. .
the foraging,

our first foraging event,

which we had
outside in the woods.

- Ahh, cool.
- In Bonny Doon.

MAN: What you looking for?

Looking for a toothbrush.

All I see is toothpaste.

It's gonna have to be
my toothbrush.

[muffled]
. what I got.

MAN: And no water.

I got soda.

Brushed my teeth.

You gotta what you gotta do.

These are
primitive conditions. .

on the road.

Okay.

- Ready?
- I'm ready.

- Showtime!
- Showtime.

- All right.
- Whew.

- Fresh breath and all.
- Yep.

[distant chatter]

So we're gonna. .
yeah, we're gonna get started

with the event.
I'm gonna track down Sean.

- Good to see you.
- Nice to meet you.

[accordion playing]

I'm looking
for a place to start.

Yeah.

That'll go this way
a little bit.

And we'll. . yeah,
we're gonna start in a second.

Over here is
the most space, yeah.

[upbeat music]

So, welcome, everyone, welcome
to "Outstanding in the Field. "

Could we have
a round of applause for Joan?

"Outstanding in the Field"'s
favorite farmer!

I take the hat off
to you, Joan.

[baa-ing]

RANDALL GRAHM:
Jim's genius was

in trying to connect people

to where food is grown.

JIM: So, folks,
come on over here.

We're gonna take off
on a little tour

which will end in the table.

RANDALL:
It's an emotional experience

to be eating a meal

in the place from which
the food has been grown.

You can't even articulate
why it's so powerful,

but it really does seem
to move people.

Jim discovered this, and I think
it was totally brilliant.

That's the best.

Just lift your feet
when the wave comes through.

[upbeat music]

[screaming]

[overlapping chatter]

This isn't fuckin' Tuscany.

It's not Basque country.

This is. .
the confluence

of three states:

Connecticut, New York,
and Massachusetts.

It's specific.

It's not general.
It's not Tuscany.

Every fuckin' place
in America, the. .

like, the '80s and '90s,

would call themselves Tuscany

because they think
people would run in the door

because Tuscany has

beautiful olive trees
and mountains

and architecture.

This is America.

This is where it comes from.

DEVAL PATRICK:
I'm really intrigued

by the growing interest
that people have

in where their food comes from

and having
as few steps as possible

between the source
and the table.

We've had a nearly
20% increase in farms

here in Massachusetts
in the last ten years or so.

And that's really exciting.

JIM: The one thing
I wanna say also is that

there really is. .

um. . just as much power

and culmination
in that. .

um. .

in the meeting
of the farmer and the chef

in Arkansas' areas. .

east coast, west coast,
south, north.

It's pretty. .
It's pretty powerful,

all across this country.

- That's great.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

These guys just show up,
and they're so mellow,

and they just make it happen.

This morning, I woke up,
and I just realized, it's like,

I've got this great crew
of nine people.

I've got five
of the best chefs in Memphis

coming to my farm,
throwing a party,

and I really don't have
to do anything.

And just realizing that,
I mean, like, okay,

it's gonna be fine.

VOICE: Thanks, Brandon!

[cheering]

- Thanks.
- Thanks so much

- for coming out here.
- It was fun.

- It was awesome.
- Thanks. Thanks so much.

ANASTASIA PLAKIAS: Thank you,
whole "Outstanding" team,

for doing this, because
when we started this business,

we didn't know
if we could make this work,

and the only reason that we did

is because of folks
who are committed

to seeing this concept work.
Folks like Jim,

who are willing to support
small farms like ours.

JASON WEINER: These gigs,
you can't get too complicated.

You're in the field,
working with propane.

So, um, and you don't wanna

get complicated anyway.

It's about stepping
out of the way

of the pretense
and the smoke and mirrors

and just kind of
give the ingredient

a little bit
of whimsical push,

but it's really letting
the ingredients

sort of, like, be the star.

The jalapenos are
from, uh. .

they came from Amber Waves.

Is the balsamic going
on the first course or. . ?

Yeah, the balsamic and basil all
is going on the first course,

and you got a bunch
of different micro-greens

going on that course. .
that's from Brendan

from Goodwater. .
the garlic croutons,

the bread comes
from Blue Duck Bakery

- in Southampton.
- What?

Blue Duck.
Blue Duck.

And that's the first course?

That's it, yeah,
and the tuna, yep.

Second course,
the fish and chips.

It's whole black sea bass.
We're doing the whole fish

on the plate, deep-fried.

And mahi.

And those are both. .
yep, both black bass. .

with wine,
caught off of Montauk.

And, um,
and the mahi-mahi,

[indistinct]
. on that.

These are blue mussels.

They came from
my friend Captain John

in the. .

we got 'em from a bed
in the Shinnecock Canal.

Out of the water yesterday.

Yeah.
[clears throat]

The conviviality of the meal

should all be
sort of out of respect

for the product,
and where it comes from.

And, you know,
"Outstanding in the Field"

have sort of
cut out that middleman

and made it
so much more obvious.

These kinds of events that
"Outstanding" does sort of

brings that all
sort of in sharp relief.

PAUL: There's a ton
of really motivated

and interesting farmers
and growers

and people cooking, I mean,
it's, like, massive.

I mean,
this is a big country,

and for this many people
now to be

successfully
doing good food,

representing their region
from the cooking standpoint.

I think the mission
really is about

just reminding people that,

you know, you wanna care
about what you're eating.

JIM: This place is
the desert that. .

where you can set up a camera,
you know, it's like. .

and there's, like, this really
thin gravel thing going on.

And you could do it
ahead of, uh, like, say,

big wind storms predicted
for the afternoon.

You do it in the morning,
you set

your fixed camera up there,

and all. . half the day,
there's this dude

just on this isolated area

who's just, like, bl. .
just using the. .

the broom, you know,
for hours and hours and hours.

And then you start, like,
seeing little bits of it.

The wind getting higher.

And little bits of it,
so the wind starts

blowing stuff across it.

And finally you get,
like, 30-40 mph winds. .

and it's, like,
blowing across the drawing,

and then it gets even stronger,
and it's just. .

and it's a dust cloud,
like, an actual, like,

where you can barely. .
occasionally you can

see the. . drawing,
and occasionally

it's just completely
obscured by dust.

And then completely gone.

I think. .
I think doing drawings

that are in sync
with the weather forecast

is pretty much exactly
the same thing

as doing the sand drawings
at the beach.

You know the wave's coming,
or you know the tide's coming.

You know the weather's coming.

And then to compose
right in that space.

[jazz drumset playing]

[jazz drumset playing]

[jazz drumset playing]

[jazz drumset playing]

WILLIAM FOX:
Art and environment has been

woven into our history here

from the very get-go.

I run the Center
for Art and Environment.

Which is the only
research institute in the world

that studies that topic,
and we collect archives

from artists around the world.

So, Jim's work of course

fits beautifully
within that rubric.

Because he is
not only conducting

direct interventions
into the environment

by drawing on it,
but he's also working

a long tradition of land art.

Jim has a work here. .

that's in reference
to spiral jetty.

This is kind of a copy

of the thing
he's done in the field.

Jim's really aware
of the tradition

he's. . he's walking in,

and that's true
of the food that he does,

in "Outstanding in the Field,"

as well as. .
as in his drawings.

So, um, it's not unusual,
in fact it's gratifying

for us to have, in the archives
here at the museum,

a piece of work
that exemplifies

that connection to the land art
of North America.

So, these designs are so large

that people can be
in a commercial jet liner

and see them
while they're apparent,

and they, of course,
get very excited.

Like, "Oh, my God, the Martians
have landed," right?

To really see the work
that Jim has done

on places like Baikal
and the Black Rock Desert,

you need to use a satellite,

and you have to photograph it
from the big desert,

which is outer space, basically,

or near outer space.

So it's best to commission
time on a satellite

to image these sites, right?

Jim is photographing
from an airplane

with the wing overhead,

and he's over
the Black Rock Desert,

and you can see. .

it gives you a sense of scale
with, again,

the shoreline
of the desert mountains

and then the surface
of the playa.

That long white line you see

along the edge there is
actually a dirt road.

So, one of the things
that's really interesting

about Jim, whether he's working
in the desert here

or even on a beach, you know,
just outside Santa Cruz,

is, in a sense,
he re-creates himself,

and he re-creates his art

every time he does
one of these works.

That's a very gracious gesture
for an artist to make.

To participate
in the world that way.

To make something that,
in a sense, is not about ego.

It's so ephemeral,
it's so time-based. .

it's really about the thing
in and of itself.

In Jim's meditative practice,

which is part
of what constitutes

why he makes these drawings,
it's his way

of centering himself
in the world on a daily basis.

It's interesting
that you can sit down

and assign mathematics to that.

He talks openly
about how that runs

throughout the entire family.

It's a struggle
to stay centered in the world.

And one way you do it is
by repetitive gestures

and just being calm, so.

Watching him work,
watching him rake is always

an amazing experience for me.

It's hard work,
and yet it seems graceful.

Jim goes at the natural world

in several different ways.

And so it's not just
that he's making drawings

on the surface of it.

But, in yet
another manifestation,

he's trying
to connect people

with their food sources
by expressing

a geometrical figure.

A kind of linearity
in the landscape.

It's a very
deliberate gesture.

The fact that he could make
this simple connection that has

a far side and a near side
or a left and a right,

depending on how
you're looking at that line.

And he's simply
laid that out in a field

like it's an anti-furrow

is again one of those
very deep gestures.

People who go to those dinners
always talk about

how unexpected
the power. .

of that gesture
and the landscape is.

It's not just
the experience of the food,

but that Jim has laid out

a physical structure
on the land,

to which the food accumulates.

He is making
a very intuitive gesture

that has to do
with the farming situation

and his ability to make
a structure in the landscape.

So. . it's very intimate,

I think, to what
he's actually doing on the. .

on the surfaces with drawings.

♪ There was a boy ♪

♪ There was a boy,
there was a boy ♪

- ♪ There was a boy ♪
- ♪ A very strange ♪

♪ Enchanted boy ♪

[scatting]

- ♪ They say he wandered ♪
- ♪ Super strange ♪

- ♪ Super strange ♪
- ♪ Very far ♪

- ♪ Very far over land ♪
- ♪ Wandered far ♪

- ♪ Really really far ♪
- ♪ And scene ♪

♪ Yes, there was a boy ♪

♪ Yes, there was a boy ♪

♪ He was super-shy ♪

[scatting]

♪ But very wise ♪

♪ Was he. . ♪

♪ Super super super super ♪

♪ Super wise. . ♪

♪ And then one day ♪

- ♪ One. . One day ♪
- ♪ One magic day ♪

♪ He passed my way ♪

♪ Way-hey-hey, which way? ♪

♪ And while we spoke
of many things ♪

♪ Fools and kings,
as he said to me ♪

- ♪ Oh, the greatest thing ♪
- ♪ Greatest thing ♪

♪ You'll ever learn ♪

♪ Is to love ♪

♪ And be loved in return. . ♪

♪ Whoo. . ♪

[whistling]

[whistling continues]

JIM: We're in Paradise.

We're at the farm
that's at the end of the road,

and the name of the road
is Paradise.

And this is the farm
at the end of the road.

This book,
"Practical Electricity,"

was published in 1923.

There's a particularly
interesting illustration

from "Practical Electricity. "

This describes atoms

and the boundary of an atom,

and electrons.

And then
right below that is. .

a description of Saturn
and its satellites.

So you got the macro
and the micro. .

adjacent to each other.

My dad,
he was a machinist.

And my mother was
a mathematician.

So, his machinist book
looked a lot. .

looked a lot like this.

Anyways.

JIM: I'm from
a very large family,

but the family intact is. .

is something
that I have no memory of

because. .
of a couple things.

One is, my dad died
when I was five.

And he was. . he b. .
died of a brain tumor,

and he was sick
when I was three.

So, my only memory is
of him being in bed.

But the thing is,

he built a table
to fit the whole family.

A really long table,

and you could seat 11 people,

which is the size
of the whole family.

That big long table was
something he built

a few years
before he got sick.

But. . so I have
no memory of my mother

and my father
being at the table,

and all the children being
at the table at the same time.

[stammering]
I've often thought

of the farm dinner table

as being some weird. .

um. .

I don't know. .

has some strange relationship

to that. .
to that table

that wasn't completely. .

utilized.

But I-I'm pretty rattled
talking about my dad

and the machinist workshop.

Kind of disturbed.

[sighing]

[sighing]

[sighing]

So, when my brothers
went crazy,

I actually hid
in the river like this.

I hid here
when they were crazy.

I hid in the river.

'Cause they were
dangerous and violent

and. . insane.

They all went crazy, and. .

this. . well,
three of my brothers went crazy

all in the same year.

All became schizophrenic.

One was 18,
one was 19,

and one was 27.

So it was
eight brothers, and. .

it's kind of bizarre

that three of 'em would
become crazy the same year.

I was. . I was 15,

so I'd come down here.

It was calm, I could breathe,
like, psychologically.

Mentally I felt pretty calm.

These places,
even if things were. .

insane in the house.

And really, yeah,
my. . my artwork. .

began with this. .
this creek.

And putting the. .

putting the rocks
into patterns

and channeling
the river and. .

so I'd do that
by myself all day.

Like, every day,
all day long.

Just pushing the rocks,

and I'd change the river
from going that way

to going over here
and then make it

go down the middle and then

just pushing
all these rocks around.

It's like a task that has no. .

completion.

Yeah, and I like
the nonsensical. .

the useless tasks the best.

[soft music]

ANDREW McLESTER:
Jeff, John, and Tom

were the three brothers

that were in the throes
of schizophrenia.

TISH DENEVAN: Yeah,
we were having a hard time.

It was rough,
you know, Jeff was

starting fires,
John was breaking down doors.

They were calling the cops.

Jeff would stare at us
for hours from outside

on the sliding glass door.

He'd look through
the sliding glass door at us

when we were watching TV.

That was. . I don't know,

it was just. .
it was disturbing.

ANDREW: When I was 15,
I got kicked out of my house.

and so I lived on the deck
at Jim's mom's house,

which was at the back
of Moran Lake,

and one night I was sleeping,
and Jeff came,

and he went and sat
on the other side of the deck

and just started saying,
"Go home, boy. "

"Go home, boy. "
And this is, like,

about 2:00 in the morning?

And he just kept saying it
over and over

and getting louder
and louder.

And he says,
"Go home, boy. "

The next thing I know,

he's above me, and he's got
his hands around my neck.

And he's choking me
as hard as he can.

And I couldn't scream,

because his hands were
around my neck,

and so I was just gurgling.

And somehow Dan,

who was living
in the shed below,

heard the whole thing go down

and came up
and tackled Jeff

and pulled Jeff off of me.

JIM: My brothers were unable
to take care of themselves.

Were unable to clean themselves.

Unable to communicate.

Locked up
in mental hospitals.

And I didn't know
how to deal with it.

I didn't know
how to think about it.

I feel very ugly inside

from having
schizophrenic siblings.

That that ugliness was
part of me.

That it was my family
and it was my people.

The emotional stress
made me sick.

Physically ill, definitely.

I couldn't even work

because I would be
so doubled over and in pain

and so nauseous that
I would be throwing up.

I was incredibly
physically ill

for a period of years.

I can't overemphasize
how sick I was.

I was nauseous to the extent

where I could barely
talk to people.

And when I took
the job at Gabriella,

I just worked through the pain.

ADAM:
There's a fine line between

being a full-on genius

and a complete
basket case, you know?

So, it doesn't surprise me that

after seeing how Jim is,
to hear that

a couple of his brothers have
slipped, you know?

It's usually hereditary.

JIM: I was
at the junior high,

and it was the first I heard

of one of my brothers
going crazy.

Jeff was kind of obsessed
with masculinity.

And he almost killed
his best friend

because of some
schizophrenic confusion.

He went to jail for a few years,

and nobody knew where he was.

And then my next brother,
John, became catatonic,

which is a very different
kind of schizophrenia from,

say, if you're manic.

He was just kind of
stuck in a position

with a look of pure terror

and horror on his face.

And he wouldn't move
his body at all.

He was even crazier
than my brother Jeff.

And my third brother Tom, he. .

his wife, she left,

and he never saw her again.

She had to. .
She had to hide,

because he was very crazy.

It's really. .
it's very extreme.

And my mother wasn't
actually even home

when. . my three brothers
were crazy.

We were living in Santa Cruz

with the three
youngest children,

with three
schizophrenic brothers,

and my mother was
in San Jose,

staying at a family apartment

to finish her math
at the university.

There was no parenting.

BILL: My mother was
such a bad cook.

Both Dan and Jim, um. .

had to learn how to cook
'cause my mother was

more interested in teaching

and reading mysteries
every day.

She wasn't really interested
in any kind of cooking.

Here's a shot of
what my mom used to do for fun,

and she would laugh
and cry and get emotional

about these kind of things,
but here's some of her

original math work.

With some pictures of us
around the back

and the foreground here.

But you can see
this is a typical page

of her. . entertainment.

JIM: She was pretty egotistical
about her math abilities.

Maybe she was just
remarking upon the facts.

She was just way better
than anyone else.

I mean, she studied
with the foremost

Fibonacci number theorist
in the world.

Kind of a hard thing
when someone is that smart.

And you think about, well,
where do I fit in, you know?

And then you realize
that you. . that you don't.

She ended up going
to the same hospital

and being locked
in the same psych ward

my brothers were locked in.

And I'm the one
that took her to the hospital

to be locked up

because none
of the other siblings

wanted to deal with it.

All the other family members
were like. .

they sort of. .

"Jim, you haven't
helped out enough,

so why don't you take Mom
to the psych ward?"

BILL: My mom was always
calling me and going,

"What're we gonna do
about Jim?

"He's never gonna make it.
Now he has a child.

Oh, God, what'll we do?"

You know, he's out there
with his little trailer

behind his bike in the rain.

Comes over to visit my mom,
and she's horrified.

She calls me
and tells me. .

"I don't know about him. "

[laughing]

She never got
to see him shining.

JIM: I was going through
a lot of trauma

in the mid-'90s

while my mother. .
getting Alzheimer's.

It was sort of
more than I could take

because it took me back

to when my brothers
became schizophrenic.

And really,
that's probably the real thing

that I was searching for,
in terms of finding peace,

was getting to a place
to understand

my brothers becoming insane

and really then
my mother becoming insane.

[soft music]

When my mother had dementia,
I was put in the position

of having to be really tough
when it's not really my nature.

I've been overwhelmed at times,

and about the same time,

I started dancing
twice a week,

and my improvisational dance,

which I did, you know,
twice a week for years,

was a dance
of simultaneously

being very strong
and also being very injured,

so, from. . weakness is
not the right word,

but it's like
a dance of being. .

constantly transcending
my condition.

The suffering that
I've been experiencing.

And the dance
sort of represented

the struggle to overcome
these challenges

and. . I mean,

the dancing thing was
very extreme.

I'm sure it scared the shit out
of people at the dance place.

But I was going through
this incredible psychic pain

every time
on the dance floor,

and. . it brought
about this idea

that creativity
and composition

would be like some exit

from whatever
I was going through.

I was making my way

out of truly
incredible suffering.

Just to mention it
in a verbal way

and talking about it
years later,

is like. .
there's no way

that I could ever emphasize
how horrible

and difficult it was.

It lasted all the way
into my early 50s,

where I was truly disturbed

when I'm sleeping,
thinking that

one of my crazy brothers was
trying to break into the house

and terrify my mother

or scaring the family
or something.

I was keyed up for any noise
that I heard any time

when I was sleeping
for decades of my life.

Just fearful that
something was coming

to, like. .

to hurt me or my family

or kill somebody.

It's weird to think of. .

it's taken all the way
into my mid-50s

to have it disappear.

It's literally gone,
but it took that long.

It's perfect.

We have some deer in a cage
behind that bush.

- Oh, really?
- That we release. .

at the second course,
and it'll pop out of the bush,

which. .
[laughing]

that'll be pretty cool.

JIM: People can't help but. .

be touched
by the natural aspect

of connecting.

That's a powerful
aspect of it

is that people can come
to the table.

Maybe they've had
the easiest life imaginable

or the most difficult

or anything
in between, but. .

they're always gonna recognize
their common humanity,

where they sit at a long table
and share a dish,

and they have this dish

that feeds eight people,
and they recognize

that little group
with the family-style dining.

And they consider each person

and whether each person has
had their share,

and it's. .

it's good for people.

Effective.

And that's just people

being able to talk
to each other.

Just people stepping outside
their own safety zones.

Shouldn't be
afraid of people.

Uh, I'm getting psyched
for today.

And then you're
gonna get psyched

for how many more sessions?

- I don't know.
- This year?

Maybe I'll go to all of them.

Maybe I'll go
to all 100 events.

Oh, no, you won't do that.

[laughing]
Maybe, like, 70%

Yeah, that's. .
that's enough.

This is very important,
where the umbrella's going.

Key to the success of an event.

Looks good.

Look how much better it is now.

We can have, like, can have
all these umbrellas. .

ridiculous locations.

- Right.
- And it's all balanced.

[soft chatter]

- How's it going, Matt?
- Good, Jim.

So, there's gonna be
some Denevan family members

that were present
at the first-ever event.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Were they seat-fillers then,
Jim, or were they all

seat-fillers then?

We did have several
paid customers, Matt.

At least. .

over the years,
it's kind of like,

I'm not exactly sure
how many were paid,

but I think there was at least
30 people that were paid,

and at least
30 that were fake. .

customers.

I think.

JIM: Life, to use
a cliché, it's a dance.

Things are always changing
into something else,

every second.

Day turns into night
turns into day.

Seasons are cycling through.
The weather's changing.

People are sort of, like,
dancing through this. .

through this phenomenon.

And to walk out
when the tide's low

And do things and. .

Then retreat
when the tide comes in.

You're sort of, like,
you're like a bullfighter.

If you can do it
really gracefully,

then you go to sleep,

and you sleep peacefully.

[soft music]

It's all very,
very meaningful.

Just being alive is
very meaningful to me.

Connections with people.

The connections
with. . with earth,

with land, with water.

With atmosphere,

and those things are
very profound

and powerful.

And. .

as to how to be
or how to do. .

two things.

Everybody's gotta be humble,
and I'm gonna try my best

to be humble
and not get in the way

of anyone's. .

understanding of themselves
or the world.

And. .

when I make a drawing,
or when there's. .

a seat at the table
that's offered,

people find themselves

in the composition
at the beach or elsewhere,

and they find themselves
sitting at a table,

and the conversations
that happen. .

at a table,
or the personal time

to stand
in a giant composition.

Those are for other people

to think about.

[percussive music]

[music continues]

[music continues]

[music continues]

[music continues]

VOICE: ♪ It was early
in the morning ♪

♪ Much earlier than ♪

♪ You would think to hear ♪

♪ The first bird ♪

♪ In the morning to. . ♪

♪ To sing ♪

2nd VOICE:
♪ It happens that ♪

♪ The bird doesn't sing ♪

♪ Of every sweet song ♪

♪ It happens ♪

♪ That the bird is a crow ♪

♪ The crow only sings ♪

♪ The most average of songs ♪

♪ And you know ♪

♪ Between ♪

♪ Between. .
between ♪

JIM: ♪ I used to milk cows ♪

♪ And now ♪

♪ I drive a plow ♪

♪ I just don't know how ♪

♪ My life has changed ♪

♪ It's different now for me ♪

♪ There was
and then isn't ♪

♪ There isn't now ♪

♪ But there was ♪

♪ There was, there was ♪

♪ Is ♪

♪ And was ♪

♪ Was and is ♪

♪ And was and is ♪

♪ Is and was and was ♪

♪ Was ♪

♪ And not anymore ♪

♪ For me ♪

♪ Not anymore for me ♪

♪ Not anymore ♪

♪ Not anymore for me ♪

♪ Fools. . ♪

♪ Fools. . ♪

♪ Fools. . ♪

♪ And kings ♪

♪ And kings and kings ♪

♪ And kings ♪

♪ But. . but the ♪

♪ But the. . but. . but. . ♪

♪ But the. . but. .
but. . but the. . ♪

♪ But. . but. . but the. . ♪

♪ The. . great. . ♪

♪ The. . but the. . ♪

♪ The. . but the. .
but the great. . but. . ♪

♪ But the. .
but the great. . ♪

♪ But the greatest love ♪

♪ The greatest love ♪

♪ Is. . ♪

♪ To be. . ♪

♪ Loved ♪

[guitar-picking]

Or love.

[all laughing]

[whistling]