Alyssa Monks: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection
阿丽莎·芒克斯: 失去如何帮助画家寻找不完整中的美
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.
about something personal
是想和大家分享
作品和想法的私事。
may be helpful to somebody.
更多的人有所帮助。
I grew up the youngest of eight.
我是家里八个孩子中最小的。
更加直观的感觉,
把我们送往城中各处,
各自的课后活动-
from when I was eight to 16,
我参加所有能参加的美术课。
in New York City.
和我一起上课。
I learned a few survival skills.
我学会了一些生存技能。
see you do anything stupid.
看见你做傻事。
安静与干净,
and stay in line.
就是我说了算。
to be an artist.
就决心做一名画家。
to support my painting.
服务生来支持我的绘画开支。
and I got an MFA,
并获得了硕士学位,
my brother asked me,
我的哥哥问我,
mean next to the paintings?"
红点是什么意思?”
that the paintings were sold
画已经卖出,
had four electrical outlets,
and a toaster at the same time,
我至少可以付清我的租金了。
from back around that time.
as realistic as possible.
isolated and in total control.
感到有掌控感的地方。
of painting people in water.
the perfect enclosed environment.
that kept me busy for a decade.
也让我忙了有十年。
这样的作品,
with the bathwater to make it cloudy
让它看起来烟雾缭绕,
I couldn't wait to paint it.
我都等不及马上要去画。
kind of impulsive curiosity,
in my head and hair
with more than four outlets.
不止四个插座的公寓里去。
and inspiring each other.
从而激励对方。
who made this painting
他画了一幅画,
在海边跳舞。
他回答说:
into adulthood, you're no longer a child,
你就不再是一个孩子,
by the responsibilities of life."
and it was in her brain.
我跪倒了。
and I looked at her,
how to help her.
having him in charge,
taking care of her.
everything I could to help,
I'm going to need you later."
我以后会需要你的。”
and the internet didn't know:
and whatever situation came up,
then now I was surrendering,
但之后我开始屈服,
the uncontrollable
那些不可控的东西。
into bed with her and sleep with her.
她的被窝和她一起。
过来一起吃早饭,
his car coming up the driveway.
我们会很开心。
扶她起来,
for breakfast.
and bring their kids,
哥哥们会带着他们的孩子来,
we could find to drink her coffee.
最小的茶杯来喝咖啡。
to help me with the showers.
来帮助我为她洗澡。
after her diagnosis.
一年零三周之后。
supportive and attentive way.
和关爱的方式一路走来。
all together in this unknown,
of my time alone in a studio working,
待在画室工作的人,
毫无概念。
for me to go back to my studio.
我就该回到我的画室了。
and I drove back to Brooklyn,
开回了布鲁克林,
so that's what I did.
也是我之后会一直做的。
that was unraveling in me.
rendered safe place
I didn't want to paint anymore.
我不想再画下去了。
and I wasn't a landscape painter,
但我并非风景画家,
much of any kind of painter at all,
不计后果地创作。
小树林中一盏路灯的旁边。
虫子都被漆在画里了。
It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
我对此感到毫无所谓。
back to my studio,
在顶层作画。
好多小虫在里面的画。
that were fascinating me,
不完整感让我感到着迷,
the paint like I used to.
去控制我所画的。
and suggesting,
chaotic, turbulent surface
湍流的表面
as I was when I was a student.
就像我学生时代那样。
to put figures in these paintings, people,
放进这些绘画当中,
both people and this atmosphere.
what I've been working on.
你们我最近从事的作品。
and it's like a preview, I guess,
展示的,我想,就把它当作
what matters most to me,
的意图,对我最重要的,
中的,毫无抵抗和控制的,
where there's no resisting or controlling.
big losses in our lives,
are out of our control.
我们能控制的。
to find something beautiful
去发现那些存在于
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