Alyssa Monks: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection
अलीसा मंक्स: कैसे किसी को खोना एक आर्टिस्ट को ख़ूबसूरती की खोज पर ले गया।
Alyssa Monks transfers the intimacy and vulnerability of human experience onto a painted surface. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
फ़िगरेटिव पेंटिंग करती हूँ,
about something personal
कुछ पर्सनल बातें साझा करूँगी
दृष्टिकोण को बदल दिया।
सब झेलते है
may be helpful to somebody.
किसी के काम आ सकेंगे।
I grew up the youngest of eight.
मैं आठ बहन भाइयों में सबसे छोटी हूँ।
आठ बच्चे थे।
हमारी ड्राइवरी करती थीं।
कोर्स वग़ैरह के लिए
from when I was eight to 16,
मेरे 8 से 16 साल तक की उम्र में,
in New York City.
मेरे साथ ज्वाइन कर ली थी।
I learned a few survival skills.
मुझे कुछ हथकंडे सीखने पड़े।
see you do anything stupid.
बेवक़ूफ़ी पकड़ने मत दो।
and stay in line.
और गड़बड़ नहीं करना।
तो अपने रूल मैं ख़ुद बनाती थी।
to be an artist.
मुझे आर्टिस्ट बनना है।
to support my painting.
और पेंटिंग करूँगी
and I got an MFA,
my brother asked me,
मेरे भाई ने पूछा,
mean next to the paintings?"
बिंदियाँ क्या हैं?"
that the paintings were sold
पेंटिंग बिक गयी थी
had four electrical outlets,
and a toaster at the same time,
एक साथ नहीं लगा सकती थी,
देने जितना कमा रही थी।
from back around that time.
as realistic as possible.
isolated and in total control.
पूरी तरह मेरे वश में था।
of painting people in water.
बनाने को मैंने अपना करियर बना लिया।
the perfect enclosed environment.
माहौल देते हैं।
that kept me busy for a decade.
थी जिस में मैं एक दशक डूबी रही।
with the bathwater to make it cloudy
घोल कर उसे धुँधला बनाया
I couldn't wait to paint it.
उसे पेंट किए बिना रहा नहीं गया।
kind of impulsive curiosity,
जिज्ञासा से भारी थी,
in my head and hair
बालों में वैसलीन लगा ली
with more than four outlets.
बिजली के प्लग भी थे।
and inspiring each other.
को बढ़ावा देते रहते थे।
who made this painting
और उस ने कहा,
into adulthood, you're no longer a child,
तो बचपन पीछे छूट जाता है,
by the responsibilities of life."
के बीच भी उसे जीवित रखा है।"
and it was in her brain.
तो मैं गिर गयी।
and I looked at her,
how to help her.
having him in charge,
taking care of her.
माँ का ख़याल रखा।
everything I could to help,
करना चाहती थी,
मैं ये करूँ?"
I'm going to need you later."
आगे ज़रूरत होगी।"
and the internet didn't know:
को भी नहीं पता था:
भर की देर थी
सब ठीक करने में
शुरू किया,
and whatever situation came up,
चाहे जैसी भी स्थिति आए,
then now I was surrendering,
अब बस समर्पण कर चुकी थी,
the uncontrollable
को छोड़ कर
into bed with her and sleep with her.
कर चिपक कर सो जाती थी।
his car coming up the driveway.
बहुत अच्छा लगता था।
for breakfast.
पसंद थी।
करती थी।
and bring their kids,
आ जाते थे,
इस्तेमाल होने लगा,
we could find to drink her coffee.
में काफ़ी पीने लगीं।
to help me with the showers.
करने के लिए किसी को रखा।
वाला अनुभव था,
after her diagnosis.
supportive and attentive way.
all together in this unknown,
साथ थे,
of my time alone in a studio working,
अपना समय बिताती हूँ,
जुड़ना
for me to go back to my studio.
अपने स्टूडीओ जाना था।
and I drove back to Brooklyn,
और ब्रुकलिन चली गयी,
so that's what I did.
मैं उसमें जुट गयी।
that was unraveling in me.
को आज़ादी मिल गयी हो।
rendered safe place
I didn't want to paint anymore.
करने का मन ही नहीं करता था।
की कोशिश करते हैं,
and I wasn't a landscape painter,
और मैं प्रकृति चित्र नहीं बनाती थी,
much of any kind of painter at all,
नहीं बनाती थी,
It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
किसी बात से कोई फ़र्क़ नहीं पड़ा।
back to my studio,
कोशिश में नहीं थी।
that were fascinating me,
मुझे आकर्षित करते थे,
the paint like I used to.
and suggesting,
chaotic, turbulent surface
as I was when I was a student.
उत्सुक और जिज्ञासु हो गयी थी।
to put figures in these paintings, people,
को डालने लगी,
both people and this atmosphere.
मिलना चाहती थी।
what I've been working on.
की मैं क्या करती रही हूँ।
and it's like a preview, I guess,
समझ लीजिए, ख़ास झलक है,
हो चुका है।
what matters most to me,
पहुँच सकी,
where there's no resisting or controlling.
पूरी तरह से आज़ाद हो कर जुड़ा जाए।
big losses in our lives,
बड़ी त्रासदियों से गुज़रेंगे,
are out of our control.
वश के बाहर हैं।
to find something beautiful
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alyssa Monks - PainterAlyssa Monks transfers the intimacy and vulnerability of human experience onto a painted surface.
Why you should listen
Alyssa Monks blurs the line between abstraction and realism through layering different spaces and moments in her paintings. Using semi-transparent filters of glass, vinyl, steam and water to flip background and foreground in her 10-year water series, she seduced the viewer into shallow spaces. Today, she is imposing a transparent landscape of infinite space over her emotionally evocative subjects.
The tension in her mostly large-scale paintings is sustained not only by the composition but also by the surface treatment itself. Each brushstroke is thickly applied oil paint, like a fossil recording every gesture and decision, expressing the energetic and empathic experience of the handmade object.
Monks's work is represented by Forum Gallery in New York City. She lives and paints in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her latest solo exhibition "Resolution" took place March and April of 2016 at Forum Gallery. Monks's paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including "Intimacy" at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany and "Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820–2009" at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Arts, the Somerset Art Association, Fullerton College, the Seavest Collection and the collections of Eric Fischl, Howard Tullman, Gerrity Lansing, Danielle Steele, Alec Baldwin and Luciano Benetton.
Born 1977 in New Jersey, Monks began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and Montclair State University and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999. During this time she studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to earn her M.F.A from the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art in 2001. She completed an artist in residency at Fullerton College in 2006 and has lectured and taught at universities and institutions nationwide. She continues to offer workshops and lectures regularly.
Monks has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and serves as a member of the New York Academy of Art's Board of Trustees.
Alyssa Monks | Speaker | TED.com