Alyssa Monks: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection
أليسا مونكس: كيف كانت الخسارة مساعدة لأحد الفنانين في إيجاد الجمال في العيب
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
may be helpful to somebody.
I grew up the youngest of eight.
from when I was eight to 16,
منذ أن كنت في الثامنة حتى 16.
in New York City.
I learned a few survival skills.
تعلمت بعض مهارات النجاة.
see you do anything stupid.
and stay in line.
هو المكان الذي بنيت فيه القوانين.
to be an artist.
to support my painting.
كي أدعم رسمي.
and I got an MFA,
my brother asked me,
سألني أخي:
mean next to the paintings?"
بجانب اللوحات؟"
that the paintings were sold
أن اللوحات قد بيعت،
had four electrical outlets,
منافذ للكهرباء،
and a toaster at the same time,
المايكرويف والمحمصة في الوقت ذاته،
from back around that time.
as realistic as possible.
isolated and in total control.
of painting people in water.
للناس على الماء مهنةً لي.
the perfect enclosed environment.
البيئة المنعزلة المناسبة.
that kept me busy for a decade.
منشغلةً لعقدٍ من القرن.
with the bathwater to make it cloudy
كي أجعلها غير واضحة.
I couldn't wait to paint it.
لم أستطع الانتظار لرسمها.
kind of impulsive curiosity,
من الفضول المتسرع،
in my head and hair
من الفازلين على شعرين
with more than four outlets.
and inspiring each other.
ونلهم بعضنا البعض.
who made this painting
into adulthood, you're no longer a child,
لم تعد طفلًا بعد الآن،
by the responsibilities of life."
and it was in her brain.
ووصل إلى دماغها.
and I looked at her,
ونظرتُ إليها،
how to help her.
having him in charge,
taking care of her.
everything I could to help,
ما بوسعي للمساعدة،
I'm going to need you later."
سأحتاجكِ لاحقا."
and the internet didn't know:
and whatever situation came up,
وأيّما ظرفٍ يطرأ،
then now I was surrendering,
فقد أصبحتُ الآن أستسلم،
the uncontrollable
على ما لا قدرة لي عليه
into bed with her and sleep with her.
أذهب للسرير معها وأنام.
his car coming up the driveway.
قادمةً من على الطريق.
وآخذ بيديها
for breakfast.
على الفطور.
and bring their kids,
ويحضرون أطفالهم.
بدأنا باستخدام الكرسي المتحرك،
we could find to drink her coffee.
كي تشرب قهوتها.
to help me with the showers.
كي يساعدني في استحمامها.
after her diagnosis.
supportive and attentive way.
all together in this unknown,
of my time alone in a studio working,
for me to go back to my studio.
فقد حان وقت عودتي إلى الأستوديو.
and I drove back to Brooklyn,
وعدت إلى (بروكلين)،
so that's what I did.
لذا هذا ما فعلته.
that was unraveling in me.
rendered safe place
I didn't want to paint anymore.
محاولة الذهاب خارجا.
and I wasn't a landscape painter,
ولم أكن رسامة للطبيعة،
much of any kind of painter at all,
أي نوعٍ من الرسامين على الإطلاق،
It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
back to my studio,
that were fascinating me,
the paint like I used to.
and suggesting,
chaotic, turbulent surface
as I was when I was a student.
to put figures in these paintings, people,
وضع التفاصيل على الرسومات والأشخاص،
both people and this atmosphere.
الناس وهذا الجو.
what I've been working on.
and it's like a preview, I guess,
إلقاء نظرة أظن
what matters most to me,
ما يهمني بشكل أكبر،
where there's no resisting or controlling.
خالٍ من المقاومة والهيمنة.
big losses in our lives,
are out of our control.
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