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.
Ja sam umjetnik. Biti umjetnik najbolji je posao koji postoji. I stvarno žalim svakoga od vas koji moraju provoditi dane otkrivajući nove galaksije ili spašavajući čovječanstvo od globalnog zatopljenja.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
But being an artist is also a daunting job. I spend every day, from nine to six, doing this.
Ali biti umjetnik također je i obeshrabrujuć posao. Svaki dan od devet do šest provedem radeći ovo.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I even started a side career that consists entirely of complaining about the difficulty of the creative process.
Čak sam započeo sporednu karijeru koja se u potpunosti sastoji od žaljenja na poteškoće kreativnog procesa.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Ali danas ne želim pričati o tome što moj život čini teškim. Želim pričati o onome što ga čini lakim. A to ste vi i činjenica da ste fluentni u jeziku kojega vjerojatno niste ni svjesni. Fluentni ste u jeziku čitanja slika. Dešifriranje ovakve slike zahtijeva priličan intelektualni napor. Ali nitko vas nije naučio kako to funkcionira, jednostavno znate.
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.
Fakultet, kupovina, glazba. Ono što jezik čini moćnim jest da možete uzeti jako kompleksnu ideju i iskomunicirati je na vrlo jednostavan, učinkovit način. Ove slike predstavljaju potpuno iste ideje. Ali kada pogledate, primjerice, akademsku kapu, znate da ona ne predstavlja dodatak koji nosite na glavi kada vam se uruči vaša diploma, nego zapravo cijelu ideju fakulteta. Sada, ono što crteži mogu je ne samo iskomunicirati slike, oni mogu pobuditi emocije. Recimo da dođete na nepoznato mjesto i vidite ovo. Osjećate sreću i olakšanje.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Or a slight sense of unease or maybe downright panic.
Ili blagi osjećaj nelagode ili možda potpunu paniku.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Or blissful peace and quiet.
Ili blaženi mir i tišinu.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Ali vizualni materijali, naravno, više su od samo grafičkih ikona. Znate, ako želim ispričati priču problema modernog života, započeo bih s naslonom za ruke između dva sjedala u avionu i borbom dva lakta. Ono što volim je univerzalni zakon prema kojemu, znate, imate 30 sekundi da se izborite i jednom kada je vaš, možete ga zadržati ostatak leta.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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 --
Sada, komercijalni letovi puni su ovakvih slika. Ako želim ilustrirati ideju neudobnosti, nema ništa bolje od ovih jastuka za vrat. Dizajnirani su da vam bude udobno,
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
except they don't.
ali ne bude.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Tako ja nikada ne spavam u avionu. Ono što ponekad činim je da upadnem u neku vrstu bolne kome. I kada se probudim iz nje, imam najgori mogući okus u ustima. Toliko je loš da ne može biti opisan riječima, ali može biti nacrtan.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Stvar je u tome da, znate, volim spavati. I kada spavam, radije to činim dok se grlim. Grlim se na gotovo profesionalnoj razini skoro 20 godina, ali cijelo to vrijeme, nikada nisam shvatio što da radim s donjom rukom.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
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."
I jedina stvar - jedina stvar koja spavanje čini još kompliciranijim od pokušaja da to radite u avionu je kad imate malu djecu. Pojave se pored vašeg kreveta oko 4 ujutro s nekom lažnom isprikom poput "Ružno sam sanjao".
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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 --
I onda, naravno, bude vam žao, vaša su djeca, pa ih pustite u krevet. I moram priznati, u početku budu stvarno slatki, topli i ugodni. Čim ponovno zaspu, neobjašnjivo -
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
start rotating.
se počnu rotirati.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
We like to call this the helicopter mode.
Ovo volimo zvati modalitet helikoptera.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Now, the deeper something is etched into your consciousness, the fewer details we need to have an emotional reaction.
Sada, što je nešto dublje urezano u vašu svijest, manje detalja je potrebno da bi se izazvala emocionalna reakcija.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Pa zašto ova slika funkcionira? Funkcionira jer smo mi kao čitači izuzetno dobri u popunjavanju praznina. Sada, kada crtate, postoji koncept negativnog prostora. Ideja je da umjesto crtanja stvarnog objekta, nacrtate prostor oko njega. Tako su posude na ovom crtežu prazne. Ali crna tinta tjera vaš mozak da projicira hranu u prazninu. Ono što ovdje vidimo nije sova koja leti. Ono što zapravo vidimo je par AA baterija koje stoje na besmislenom crtežu, a scenu sam animirao pomičući svoju stolnu lampu gore i dolje.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Slika zapravo postoji samo u vašem umu. Pa, koliko je informacija potrebno da bi se ta slika formirala? Moj cilj kao umjetnika je koristiti najmanju moguću količinu. Pokušavam dosegnuti razinu jednostavnosti gdje, ako uduzmete još jedan element, cijeli koncept propada. Stoga je moj omiljeni alat kao umjetniku apstrakcija. Stvorio sam ovaj sustav koji nazivam apstraktometar, a koji funkcionira ovako. Dakle, uzmete simbol, bilo koji simbol, recimo srce i strijelu, koje mnogi od nas čitaju kao simbol ljubavi, i ja sam umjetnik pa to mogu nacrtati u bilo kojem stupnju realizma ili apstrakcije. Sada, ako budem prerealističan, svi će se samo zgroziti.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Ako odem previše na drugu stranu i nacrtam preapstraktno, nitko neće znati što gleda. Stoga moram naći savršeno mjesto na toj skali, a u ovom slučaju to je negdje na sredini. Sada, jednom kada smo suzili sliku na jednostavniji oblik, mnoge nove veze postaju moguće. To omogućava potpuno nove kutove iz kojih se može ispričati priča.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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 --
Zato je ono što ja volim raditi, volim uzeti slike iz dalekih kulturalnih područja i spojiti ih. Sada, s odvažnijim referencama -
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
mogu se više zabaviti. Ali naravno, znam da na kraju stvari postanu toliko nejasne da počinjem gubiti neke od vas. Tako da, kao dizajneru, ključno je imati dobro razumijevanje vizualnog i kulturalnog vokabulara publike. Ovom slikom, komentarom na Olimpijske igre u Ateni, pretpostavio sam da će čitatelj New Yorkera imati neku osnovnu ideju o grčkoj umjetnosti. Ako je nemate, slika ne funkcionira. Ali ako imate, možda ćete čak cijeniti male detalje, poput uzorka limenki piva na dnu vaze.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Opetovana rasprava koju imam s urednicima časopisa, koji su obično ljudi riječi, jest da je njihova publika, vi, mnogo bolja u pravljenju velikih skokova sa slikama nego što se smatra. Jedina stvar koja me frustrira je to da me često tjeraju prema malome setu stvarno umarajućih vizualnih klišeja koji se smatraju sigurnima. Znate, biznismen koji se penje po ljestvama i ljestve se pomiču, pretvarajući se u graf burze, i bilo što sa znakom dolara, to je uvijek dobro.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Ako su donositelji uredničkih odluka ovdje u publici, želim vam dati mali savjet. Svaki put kada se crtež poput ovoga objavi, beba panda umre.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Literally.
Doslovno.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
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.
Kada je vizualni klišej dobar ili loš? Tanka je linija. I zapravo ovisi o priči. 2011. godine, tijekom potresa i tsunamija u Japanu, razmišljao sam o naslovnici. I prošao sam kroz klasične simbole: japansku zastavu, Veliki val Hokusaija, jednog od najboljih crteža ikad. I onda se priča promijenila kad je situacija u nuklearnoj elektrani Fukushima izmakla kontroli. I sjećam se televizijskih snimki radnika u Hazmat odijelima dok hodaju kroz mjesto, i ono što me zapanjilo je kako je tiho i spokojno bilo. I tako sam želio stvoriti sliku tihe katastrofe. I ovo je slika koju sam osmislio.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
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.
Ono što želim jest stvoriti "aha" trenutak, za vas, za čitatelja. I nažalost, to ne znači da ja imam "aha" trenutak dok stvaram te slike. Ne sjedim za svojim stolom s poslovičnom žaruljom koja mi svijetli iznad glave. Ono što je potrebno je zapravo jako spor, neseksi proces minimalnog odlučivanja o dizajnu koje onda, ako imam sreće, dovodi do dobre ideje.
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.
Tako jednog dana sjedim u vlaku i pokušavam dešifrirati grafička pravila kapljica na prozoru. I s vremenom shvatim - oh, pozadina je zamagljena naopako i sadržana u izoštrenoj slici. I tako pomislim, wow, to je stvarno cool i nemam apsolutno nikakvu ideju što bih s time. Nešto kasnije, po povratku u New York, nacrtao sam ovu sliku kako je biti zaglavljen u gužvi na Brooklynskom mostu. Stvarno je iritantno, ali također i pomalo poetično. Tek sam kasnije shvatio da mogu obje te ideje uzeti i povezati ih u ovu ideju. I ono što želim nije pokazati realističnu scenu.
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 --
Nego, možda poput poezije, učiniti vas svjesnim da ste tu sliku već imali sa sobom, ali ja sam je sada otkrio i učinio da shvatite da ste je nosili sa sobom cijelo vrijeme. Ali kao i poezija, ovo je vrlo delikatan proces koji nije ni učinkovit ni skalabilan, bar mislim. I možda je najbitnija vještina umjetnika zapravo empatija. Trebate vještinu i trebate -
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
you need creativity --
trebate kreativnost -
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
hvala, da biste došli do ovakve slike. Ali tada se trebate udaljiti i pogledati što ste napravili iz perspektive čitatelja.
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.
Pokušao sam biti bolji umjetnik postajući bolji opažatelj slika. I stoga, započeo sam vježbu za sebe koju nazivam nedjeljno skiciranje, što znači da nedjeljom uzmem neki predmet koji nađem u kući i pokušam vidjeti može li taj predmet potaknuti ideju koja nema nikakve veze s njegovom pravom namjenom. I to obično znači da nemam ništa dugo vremena. I jedini trik koji zapravo djeluje jest da otvorim um i preletim preko svih slika koje sam tamo pohranio pa vidim hoće li nešto kliknuti. I ako bude, samo dodam nekoliko linija tinte da povežem, da sačuvam taj vrlo kratki trenutak inspiracije.
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.
I odlična lekcija tu je da se prava čarolija ne odvija na papiru. Odvija se u umu gledatelja. Kada se vaša očekivanja i vaše znanje sudare s mojim umjetničkim namjerama. Vaša interakcija sa slikom, sposobnost da čitate, propitujete, da vam se smeta, dosadi ili vas se inspirira slikom važno je koliko i moj umjetnički doprinos. Jer to je ono što pretvara umjetničku izjavu zapravo u kreativan dijalog. I stoga vaša sposobnost čitanja slika nije samo zapanjujuća, ona je ono što čini moju umjetnost mogućom. I zbog toga, veoma vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
(Cheers)
(Klicanje)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)