Alyssa Monks: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection
Alyssa Monks | Amara: Hoe verlies een kunstenaar schoonheid in imperfectie hielp te vinden
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
vertel ik jullie iets persoonlijks
als mijn perspectief veranderde.
may be helpful to somebody.
waardevol kan zijn voor iemand anders.
I grew up the youngest of eight.
ik groeide op als de jongste van acht.
from when I was eight to 16,
die er maar was,
in New York City.
een cursus in New York City.
I learned a few survival skills.
enkele overlevingsvaardigheden.
see you do anything stupid.
je niks doms ziet doen.
and stay in line.
en liep ik in de pas.
dan bepaalde ik de regels.
to be an artist.
dat ik een kunstenaar wilde zijn.
to support my painting.
om het schilderen te financieren.
werd Meester in de Schone Kunsten
and I got an MFA,
my brother asked me,
vroeg mijn broer me:
mean next to the paintings?"
naast je werken?"
dat de werken verkocht waren
that the paintings were sold
had four electrical outlets,
and a toaster at the same time,
en de toaster niet tegelijk gebruiken,
from back around that time.
as realistic as possible.
isolated and in total control.
en had ik volledige controle.
of painting people in water.
met schilderen van mensen en water.
the perfect enclosed environment.
de perfecte afgebakende locaties,
that kept me busy for a decade.
waarmee ik een tiental jaren zoet was.
with the bathwater to make it cloudy
zodat het troebel werd
I couldn't wait to paint it.
om het te schilderen.
kind of impulsive curiosity,
impulsieve nieuwsgierigheid,
om toe te voegen:
in my head and hair
op mijn hoofd en haren,
with more than four outlets.
met meer dan vier stopcontacten.
and inspiring each other.
en inspireerden elkaar.
who made this painting
dansend in de oceaan,
wat dat betekende, zei hij:
into adulthood, you're no longer a child,
niet langer een kind bent,
by the responsibilities of life."
de verantwoordelijkheden van het leven."
vastgesteld bij mijn moeder.
en het zat in haar hersenen.
and it was in her brain.
viel ik op mijn knieën.
en naar haar keek, besefte ik:
and I looked at her,
how to help her.
having him in charge,
dat hij de leiding nam
taking care of her.
everything I could to help,
wat ik kon om haar te helpen,
I'm going to need you later."
Ik zal jou later nog nodig hebben."
and the internet didn't know:
en het internet niet wisten:
het beter te maken,
and whatever situation came up,
then now I was surrendering,
dan was ik nu onderdanig;
the uncontrollable
bij het onvermijdbare
into bed with her and sleep with her.
bij haar in bed en sliep ik naast haar.
his car coming up the driveway.
als we zijn auto op de oprit hoorden.
nam haar beide handen
waaruit ze graag haar koffie dronk
for breakfast.
sodabrood als ontbijt.
zo aangenaam mogelijk voor haar,
en haar slippers voor haar klaar,
and bring their kids,
met hun kinderen
we could find to drink her coffee.
om haar koffie uit te drinken.
to help me with the showers.
om me te helpen haar te douchen.
werden ons heilige ritueel.
terwijl de kanker groeide.
en het was pijnlijk,
'de prachtige verschrikking'.
after her diagnosis.
supportive and attentive way.
bracht ons samen.
in een soort ongekendheid,
all together in this unknown,
of my time alone in a studio working,
aan het werk in een studio,
for me to go back to my studio.
om opnieuw de studio in te duiken.
and I drove back to Brooklyn,
en reed terug naar Brooklyn.
so that's what I did.
dus deed ik dat nu ook.
that was unraveling in me.
van alles wat in mij aan diggelen viel.
rendered safe place
samengestelde veilige plek
I didn't want to paint anymore.
niet meer schilderen.
Naar buiten trekken.
and I wasn't a landscape painter,
en ik was geen landschapsschilder --
much of any kind of painter at all,
een bepaald type schilder --
geen verwachting,
en vrij werken.
een hele nacht buiten staan,
Het gaf niks. Het maakte niet uit.
It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
back to my studio,
terug mee naar mijn studio
om een echte ruimte weer te geven.
that were fascinating me,
die me fascineerden.
the paint like I used to.
zoals ik dat voordien deed.
and suggesting,
en te suggereren,
chaotic, turbulent surface
turbulente oppervlak
as I was when I was a student.
als toen ik student was.
to put figures in these paintings, people,
aan de schilderijen, mensen.
both people and this atmosphere.
over hoe ik dit kon doen,
what I've been working on.
waar ik mee bezig ben geweest.
and it's like a preview, I guess,
van mijn aankomende exhibitie,
what matters most to me,
dat wat voor mij het belangrijkst is,
where there's no resisting or controlling.
waar er geen weerstand of controle is.
met grote verliezen in ons leven,
big losses in our lives,
are out of our control.
to find something beautiful
om schoonheid te vinden
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