I'm an artist. Being an artist is the greatest job there is. And I really pity each and every one of you who has to spend your days discovering new galaxies or saving humanity from global warming.
Son artista. Ser artista é o mellor traballo que hai. E teño mágoa de todos e cada un de vostedes por teren que pasar a vida descubrindo novas galaxias ou salvando a humanidade do quecemento global.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
But being an artist is also a daunting job. I spend every day, from nine to six, doing this.
Mais o de artista tamén é un oficio frustrante Paso tódolos días, de nove a seis, facendo isto
(Laughter)
(Risos)
I even started a side career that consists entirely of complaining about the difficulty of the creative process.
Mesmo comecei unha carreira alternativa que consiste única e exclusivamente en laiarse do difícil que resulta o proceso creativo
(Laughter)
(Risos)
But today, I don't want to talk about what makes my life difficult. I want to talk about what makes it easy. And that is you -- and the fact that you are fluent in a language that you're probably not even aware of. You're fluent in the language of reading images. Deciphering an image like that takes quite a bit of an intellectual effort. But nobody ever taught you how this works, you just know it.
Mais hoxe non quero falar do que fai difícil a miña vida, senón do que a fai sinxela. E son vostedes e o feito de teren fluidez nunha lingua da que talvez nin sexan conscientes. Vostedes poden ler con fluidez na lingua das imaxes. Descifrar unha imaxe coma esa supón certo esforzo intelectual. Mais ninguén lles explicou nunca como facelo, simplemente saben.
College, shopping, music. What makes a language powerful is that you can take a very complex idea and communicate it in a very simple, efficient form. These images represent exactly the same ideas. But when you look, for example, at the college hat, you know that this doesn't represent the accessory you wear on your head when you're being handed your diploma, but rather the whole idea of college. Now, what drawings can do is they cannot only communicate images, they can even evoke emotions. Let's say you get to an unfamiliar place and you see this. You feel happiness and relief.
Universidade, compras, música. O poder dunha lingua radica en que un pode coller unha idea moi complexa e comunicala dun xeito simple e eficiente. Estas imaxes representan exactamente as mesmas ideas. Mais cando ven o barrete, por exemplo, saben que non representa o complemento que poñen na cabeza cando lles entregan o diploma, senón o concepto de Universidade. Ben, o que pasa coas ilustracións é que non só comunican imaxes, tamén evocan emocións. Supoñamos que chegan a un lugar descoñecido e ven isto: sentirán ledicia e acougo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Or a slight sense of unease or maybe downright panic.
Ou un leve desacougo ou quizais un tremendo pánico.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Or blissful peace and quiet.
Ou unha gozosa calma e quietude
(Laughter)
(Risos)
But visuals, they're of course more than just graphic icons. You know, if I want to tell the story of modern-day struggle, I would start with the armrest between two airplane seats and two sets of elbows fighting. What I love there is this universal law that, you know, you have 30 seconds to fight it out and once it's yours, you get to keep it for the rest of the flight.
As imaxes, porén, son moito máis que iconas gráficas. Se quixese contar unha historia de loita da vida moderna, empezaría polo separador entre dous asentos de avión e un par de cóbados pelexando. O que me encanta disto é esta lei universal pola que sabes que tes trinta segundos para loitar e, unha vez é teu, gañas o dereito a mantelo para o resto do voo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Now, commercial flight is full of these images. If I want to illustrate the idea of discomfort, nothing better than these neck pillows. They're designed to make you more comfortable --
Ben, os voos comerciais están cheos de imaxes coma estas. Se quixer ilustrar a idea de incomodidade, as almofadas para o pescozo. Están deseñadas para estar máis cómodo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
except they don't.
Só que non o estás.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
So I never sleep on airplanes. What I do occasionally is I fall into a sort of painful coma. And when I wake up from that, I have the most terrible taste in my mouth. It's a taste that's so bad, it cannot be described with words, but it can be drawn.
Así que nunca durmo no avión. O que fago de cando en vez é caer nunha especie de desagradable coma. E cando acordo, fágoo un terrible sabor de boca. É tan malo que non se pode describir con palabras, mais pódese debuxar.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
The thing is, you know, I love sleeping. And when I sleep, I really prefer to do it while spooning. I've been spooning on almost a pro level for close to 20 years, but in all this time, I've never figured out what to do with that bottom arm.
A cuestión é que me encanta durmir. E, cando durmo, prefiro claramente facelo en posición de culler. Levo a durmir facendo a culler a nivel experto case vinte anos, pero, en todo este tempo, non dei coa resposta de que facer co brazo de abaixo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
And the only thing -- the only thing that makes sleeping even more complicated than trying to do it on an airplane is when you have small children. They show up at your bed at around 4am with some bogus excuse of, "I had a bad dream."
E o único, o único que fai que durmir sexa incluso máis complicado que tentar facelo nun avión é ter nenos pequenos. Preséntanse no teu cuarto ás catro da mañá con algunha falsa escusa do tipo "tiven un pesadelo"
(Laughter)
(Risos)
And then, of course you feel sorry for them, they're your kids, so you let them into your bed. And I have to admit, at the beginning, they're really cute and warm and snugly. The minute you fall back asleep, they inexplicably --
E, claro, sentes mágoa por eles, son os teus fillos, así que lles deixas meterse. E teño que admitilo; ao principio, son moi lindos, doces e aloumiñeiros. Pero en canto adormeces, inexplicablemente,
(Laughter)
(Risos)
start rotating.
comezan a arrolar.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
We like to call this the helicopter mode.
Gústanos chamarlle "modo helicóptero".
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Now, the deeper something is etched into your consciousness, the fewer details we need to have an emotional reaction.
Ben, canto máis profundo estea gravado algo na consciencia, menos detalles se precisan para suscitar unha reacción emocional.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
So why does an image like this work? It works, because we as readers are incredibly good at filling in the blanks. Now, when you draw, there's this concept of negative space. And the idea is, that instead of drawing the actual object, you draw the space around it. So the bowls in this drawing are empty. But the black ink prompts your brain to project food into a void. What we see here is not a owl flying. What we actually see is a pair of AA batteries standing on a nonsensical drawing, and I animate the scene by moving my desk lamp up and down.
Por que funcionan imaxes coma esta? Porque, como lectores, somos tremendamente bos enchendo ocos. Ao debuxarmos, existe un concepto chamado "espazo negativo" Que consiste en que no canto de debuxar o obxecto real debuxamos o espazo que o rodea. As cuncas desta ilustración están baleiras. Pero a tinta negra impele o noso cerebro a encher o oco con comida. O que aquí vemos non é un moucho voando. Realmente son un par de pilas AA chantadas nun debuxo sen sentido, e animo a escena movendo a miña lámpada de escritorio arriba e abaixo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
The image really only exists in your mind. So, how much information do we need to trigger such an image? My goal as an artist is to use the smallest amount possible. I try to achieve a level of simplicity where, if you were to take away one more element, the whole concept would just collapse. And that's why my personal favorite tool as an artist is abstraction. I've come up with this system which I call the abstract-o-meter, and this is how it works. So you take a symbol, any symbol, for example the heart and the arrow, which most of us would read as the symbol for love, and I'm an artist, so I can draw this in any given degree of realism or abstraction. Now, if I go too realistic on it, it just grosses everybody out.
En realidade, a imaxe só existe nas súas cabezas Canta información precisamos para crear esta imaxe? O meu obxectivo como artista é empregar a menor cantidade posible. Tento acadar un nivel de simplicidade tal que se retirásemos un só elemento máis todo o concepto se esfumaría. E por iso, a miña ferramenta favorita como artista é a abstracción. Inventei este sistema ao que lle chamo o abstractómetro, e así é como funciona: Collemos un símbolo, calquera, por exemplo o corazón e mais a frecha, que a meirande parte de nós lería como o símbolo do amor, e, como artista que son, debúxoo cun determinado grao de realismo ou abstracción. Se o fago demasiado realista, anoxaría a todo o mundo.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
If I go too far on the other side and do very abstract, nobody has any idea what they're looking at. So I have to find the perfect place on that scale, in this case it's somewhere in the middle. Now, once we have reduced an image to a more simple form, all sorts of new connections become possible. And that allows for totally new angles in storytelling.
Se me paso no outro senso e o fago moi abstracto ninguén terá nin idea de que está a ver. Así que teño que achar o punto axeitado na escala, que neste caso está nalgures polo medio. Unha vez que teñamos reducida a imaxe a unha forma máis simple, poden emerxer todo tipo de novas conexións. E iso abre un abano de posibilidades totalmente novo á hora de contar historias
(Laughter)
(Risos)
And so, what I like to do is, I like to take images from really remote cultural areas and bring them together. Now, with more daring references --
Entón, o que me gusta é tomar imaxes procedentes de áreas culturais dispares e combinalas. Claro, con referencias atrevidas,
(Laughter)
(Risos)
I can have more fun. But of course, I know that eventually things become so obscure that I start losing some of you. So as a designer, it's absolutely key to have a good understanding of the visual and cultural vocabulary of your audience. With this image here, a comment on the Olympics in Athens, I assumed that the reader of the "New Yorker" would have some rudimentary idea of Greek art. If you don't, the image doesn't work. But if you do, you might even appreciate the small detail, like the beer-can pattern here on the bottom of the vase.
pásoo mellor. Pero sei que ás veces as referencias tórnanse tan escuras que empezo a perdervos a algúns. Así que como deseñador é crucial entender ben o vocabulario visual e cultural da audiencia. Con esta imaxe, concibida para ilustrar os Xogos Olímpicos de Atenas, asumín que o lector do <i>New Yorker</i> tería certa idea rudimentaria da arte grega. Se non a ten, a imaxe non funciona. Mais se a ten, se cadra aprecia os pequenos detalles, coma o patrón de latas de cervexa da base do xerro.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
A recurring discussion I have with magazine editors, who are usually word people, is that their audience, you, are much better at making radical leaps with images than they're being given credit for. And the only thing I find frustrating is that they often seem to push me towards a small set of really tired visual clichés that are considered safe. You know, it's the businessman climbing up a ladder, and then the ladder moves, morphs into a stock market graph, and anything with dollar signs; that's always good.
Unha discusión recorrente que teño con editores de revistas, que adoitan ser xente máis de "palabras", é que o público, vostedes, acepta os saltos radicais nas imaxes con moita máis facilidade do que eles pensan. E o único que me resulta frustrante é que, adoito, semellan empurrarme contra un conxunto de clixés visuais xa moi esgotados considerados seguros. Xa saben, o empresario subindo unha escada que logo se move e se muda nun gráfico da bolsa de valores e algo co símbolo do dólar, iso sempre está ben.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
If there are editorial decision makers here in the audience, I want to give you a piece of advice. Every time a drawing like this is published, a baby panda will die.
Se houber persoas na sala que toman decisións editoriais, quero darlles un consello. Cada vez que se publica unha ilustración coma esta, un bebé panda morre.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
Literally.
Literalmente.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
When is a visual cliché good or bad? It's a fine line. And it really depends on the story. In 2011, during the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan, I was thinking of a cover. And I went through the classic symbols: the Japanese flag, "The Great Wave" by Hokusai, one of the greatest drawings ever. And then the story changed when the situation at the power plant in Fukushima got out of hand. And I remember these TV images of the workers in hazmat suits, just walking through the site, and what struck me was how quiet and serene it was. And so I wanted to create an image of a silent catastrophe. And that's the image I came up with.
Cando é bo ou malo un clixé visual? Hai unha fina liña. E a verdade é que depende da historia. En 2011, durante o terremoto e o tsunami de Xapón, estaba a matinar nunha portada. E fun pasando polos típicos símbolos: a bandeira xaponesa, "A grande onda" de Hokusai, un dos mellores debuxos da Historia. E logo todo cambiou cando se perdeu o control da situación na central de Fukushima. E lembro ver na tele as imaxes dos traballadores con traxes hazmat, andando cara a alí, e o que me impactou foi o sosego e a quietude da situación. Entón, quixen crear o retrato dunha catástrofe silenciosa. E isto foi o que se me ocorreu.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
What I want to do is create an aha moment, for you, for the reader. And unfortunately, that does not mean that I have an aha moment when I create these images. I never sit at my desk with the proverbial light bulb going off in my head. What it takes is actually a very slow, unsexy process of minimal design decisions that then, when I'm lucky, lead to a good idea.
O que quero facer é provocar un momento <i>Eureka!</i> entre vostedes os lectores. E por desgraza, iso non significa que eu sinta ese <i>Eureka!</i> cando creo esas imaxes. Cando sento ao escritorio non me aparece de súpeto a mítica lámpada luminosa na cabeza. O que ten lugar realmente é un lento e pouco atractivo proceso de toma de exiguas decisións estéticas que, se teño sorte, conducen a unha boa idea.
So one day, I'm on a train, and I'm trying to decode the graphic rules for drops on a window. And eventually I realize, "Oh, it's the background blurry upside-down, contained in a sharp image." And I thought, wow, that's really cool, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with that. A while later, I'm back in New York, and I draw this image of being stuck on the Brooklyn bridge in a traffic jam. It's really annoying, but also kind of poetic. And only later I realized, I can take both of these ideas and put them together in this idea. And what I want to do is not show a realistic scene.
Así que, un día estaba nun tren tentando descifrar que regras rexen a configuración das pingas nunha fiestra. E decateime. "Oh, é o fondo borroso e do revés, contido nunha imaxe nítida". E pensei que a idea era moi chula, mais non tiña nin idea de que facer con ela. Tempo despois, de volta a Nova York representei neste debuxo a idea de quedar atoado nun atasco na ponte de Brooklyn. É moi molesto mais dalgún xeito tamén poético. E só máis tarde me decatei de que podía coller esas dúas ideas e xuntalas nestoutra. E o que quero non é amosar unha escena realista,
But, maybe like poetry, make you aware that you already had this image with you, but only now I've unearthed it and made you realize that you were carrying it with you all along. But like poetry, this is a very delicate process that is neither efficient nor scalable, I think. And maybe the most important skill for an artist is really empathy. You need craft and you need --
senón, se cadra como a poesía, facerlles tomar consciencia de que xa tiñan consigo esa imaxe, pero que só agora a saco á superficie e fago que se decaten de que levan con ela dentro todo este tempo. Porén, como a poesía, este é un proceso moi delicado que coido que non se pode medir en termos de eficiencia nin tratar de amplificar. Se cadra a capacidade máis importante dun artista realmente é a empatía. Precísase ter arte,
(Laughter)
(Risos)
you need creativity --
precísase creatividade,
(Laughter)
(Risos)
thank you -- to come up with an image like that. But then you need to step back and look at what you've done from the perspective of the reader.
grazas, para idear unha imaxe así. Mais despois precísase tamén dar un paso atrás e observar a túa obra dende a perspectiva do lector.
I've tried to become a better artist by becoming a better observer of images. And for that, I started an exercise for myself which I call Sunday sketching, which meant, on a Sunday, I would take a random object I found around the house and try to see if that object could trigger an idea that had nothing to do with the original purpose of that item. And it usually just means I'm blank for a long while. And the only trick that eventually works is if I open my mind and run through every image I have stored up there, and see if something clicks. And if it does, just add a few lines of ink to connect -- to preserve this very short moment of inspiration.
Tratei de converterme nun artista mellor volvéndome un mellor observador de imaxes. Para iso, comecei un exercicio persoal ao que lle chamo <i>bosquexos de domingo</i>, e que consiste en coller cada domingo un obxecto aleatorio que atope pola casa e ver se este dá desencadeado unha idea que non teña nada que ver co seu propósito orixinal. Adoito, isto implica quedar en branco un bo anaco. O único truco que ás veces funciona é abrir a mente e percorrer tódalas imaxes que teño alí almacenadas, para ver se algo fai "clic". E se o fai, engádolle algunhas liñas de tinta para conectar, para evitar que eslúa ese curto intre de inspiración.
And the great lesson there was that the real magic doesn't happen on paper. It happens in the mind of the viewer. When your expectations and your knowledge clash with my artistic intentions. Your interaction with an image, your ability to read, question, be bothered or bored or inspired by an image is as important as my artistic contribution. Because that's what turns an artistic statement really, into a creative dialogue. And so, your skill at reading images is not only amazing, it is what makes my art possible. And for that, I thank you very much.
E a gran lección é que en realidade a maxia non acontece no papel, senón na mente do espectador. Cando as súas expectativas e coñecementos se atopan coa miña intención artística. A súa interacción cunha imaxe, a súa capacidade para ler, preguntar, anoxarse, aburrirse ou inspirarse por mor dunha imaxe é tan importante como a miña achega artística. Porque iso é o que realmente muda unha manifestación artística nun diálogo creativo. E, polo tanto, a súa capacidade para ler imaxes non só é abraiante, tamén é o que fai a miña arte posible. E por iso, doulles as grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
(Cheers)
(Aclamacións)
Thank you.
Grazas
(Applause)
(Aplausos)