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 umetnik. Biti umetnik je najbolji mogući posao. I zaista mi je žao svih vas koji morate da provodite dane otkrivajući nove galaksije ili spašavajući čovečanstvo od globalnog zagrevanja.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But being an artist is also a daunting job. I spend every day, from nine to six, doing this.
Međutim, biti umetnik je i obeshrabrujući posao. Provodim svaki dan od devet do šest sati, radeći sledeće.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I even started a side career that consists entirely of complaining about the difficulty of the creative process.
Čak sam i započeo dodatnu karijeru koja se u potpunosti sastoji od negodovanja zbog težine kreativnog procesa.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Međutim, danas ne želim da govorim o tome šta moj život čini teškim. Želim da govorim o tome šta ga čini lakim. A to ste vi i činjenica da tečno govorite jezik koga verovatno niste ni svesni. Tečno govorite jezik tumačenja slika. Dešifrovanje ovakve slike zahteva poprilično intelektualnog napora. Međutim, niko vas nikad nije podučavao ovome, prosto to 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, muzika. Jezik je moćan iz razloga što možete da uzmete krajnje složenu ideju i da je saopštite u veoma prostom, efikasnom obliku. Ove slike predstavljaju potpuno iste ideje. No kad pogledate, na primer, fakultetsku kapu, znate da ovo ne predstavlja modni dodatak koji nosite na glavi kada vam uručuju diplomu, već se radi o celokupnoj ideji fakulteta. Sad, crteži ne samo da mogu da saopštavaju prizore, mogu čak i da probude emocije. Recimo da ste došli na nepoznato mesto i vidite ovo. Osetićete sreću i olakšanje.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Or a slight sense of unease or maybe downright panic.
Ili blagi osećaj nespokoja ili čak čistu paniku.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Or blissful peace and quiet.
Ili blaženstvo mira i tišine.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Međutim, vizualizacije su, naravno, više od prostih grafičkih ikona. Znate, ako bih želeo da ispričam priču o savremenim mukama, započeo bih naslonima za ruke između dva sedišta u avionu i dva para lakata koji se bore. Sviđa mi se što postoji univerzalni zakon, znate, da imate 30 sekundi da se izborite i čim osvojite naslon, možete da ga zadržite do kraja leta.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 --
Sad, komercijalni letovi su puni sličnih prizora. Ako bih želeo da ilustrujem ideju neudobnosti, jastuci za vrat bi pobedili. Dizajnirani su da vam obezbede veću udobnost -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
except they don't.
samo što to ne postižu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Zato ja nikad ne spavam u avionima. Povremeno mi se desi da padnem u nekakvu bolnu komu. A kada se probudim iz nje, imam najodvratniji ukus u ustima. To je toliko loš ukus da se ne može opisati rečima, ali može da se nacrta.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Radi se, znate, o tome da ja volim da spavam. A kada spavam, najviše volim da nekog grlim. Grlim skoro na profesionalnom nivou već skoro 20 godina, ali za sve ovo vreme, nikad nisam otkrio šta da radim sa donjom rukom.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
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."
A jedina stvar - jedina stvar koja spavanje čini još komplikovanijim od pokušaja da zaspite u avionu je kada imate malu decu. Pojave se u vašem krevetu oko četiri ujutru s nekakvim šupljim izgovorom tipa „sanjao sam nešto ružno”.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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, žao vam ih je, ipak su vam to deca, pa ih pustite u vaš krevet. I moram da priznam da su u početku zaista slatki i topli i mazni. Onog momenta kad ponovo zaspite, oni neobjašnjivo -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
start rotating.
počinju da se rotiraju.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
We like to call this the helicopter mode.
Volimo da ovo nazivamo helikopterskim programom.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Now, the deeper something is etched into your consciousness, the fewer details we need to have an emotional reaction.
Sad, što je nešto dublje urezano u vašu podsvest, to nam je potrebno manje detalja da imamo emocionalnu reakciju.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Dakle, zašto slika nalik ovoj deluje? Deluje jer smo mi kao čitaoci neverovatno dobri u popunjavanju praznina. Sad, kad crtate, postoji koncept negativnog prostora. A zamisao je da, umesto crtanja stvarnog objekta, iscrtate prostor oko njega. Dakle, činije na ovom crtežu su prazne. Međutim, crno mastilo navodi vaš mozak da projektuje hranu u praznini. Ovde ne vidimo sovu u letu. Zapravo vidimo par AA baterija koje stoje na besmislenom crtežu, a ja animiram scenu tako što stonu lampu pokrećem gore i dole.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 zaista postoji samo u vašem umu. Dakle, koliko nam je informacija potrebno da prizovemo sličan prizor? Moj cilj kao umetnika je da koristim najmanju moguću količinu. Pokušavam da postignem nivo jednostavnosti gde bi se, ako biste oduzeli još jedan element, čitav koncept prosto urušio. I zato mi je lično omiljeno umetničko oruđe apstrakcija. Osmislio sam sistem koji nazivam „apstraktometrom”, a on ovako funkcioniše. Dakle, uzmete simbol, bilo koji simbol, na primer, srce i strelu, koje bi većina nas protumačila kao simbol ljubavi, a ja sam umetnik, pa mogu da nacrtam ovo u bilom kom stepenu realizma ili apstrakcije. Sad, ako krenem suviše realistički s tim, to se prosto svakome smuči.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 suviše daleko na drugu stranu i učinim ga suviše apstraktnim, niko pojma nema u šta gleda. Pa moram da pronađem savršeno mesto na lestvici, u ovom slučaju je to negde u sredini. Sad, čim smo sliku sveli na jednostavniji oblik, razne nove veze postaju moguće. A to omogućuje potpuno nove uglove pripovedanja.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 --
Pa, volim da radim sledeće, volim da uzmem slike iz veoma udaljenih oblasti kulture i da ih spojim. Sad, uz odvažnije reference -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 više da se zabavljam. Međutim, naravno, znam da vremenom stvari postanu toliko nejasne da počnem da gubim neke od vas. Pa je za dizajnera apsolutno ključno da ima dobro razumevanje vizuelnog i kulturološkog rečnika svoje publike. Ovom slikom ovde, komentarom na olimpijadu u Atini, pretpostavio sam da „Njujorkerov” čitalac ima nekakvu osnovnu ideju o grčkoj umetnosti. Ako nemate, slika ne funkcioniše. Ali ako imate, možda ćete čak i da cenite sitne detalje poput šare u vidu limenke piva na podnožju vaze.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Konstantno raspravljam sa urednicima časopisa, koji su obično jezički tipovi, o tome kako je njihova publika, vi, mnogo bolja u pravljenju radikalnih iskoraka sa slikama nego što im se to pripisuje. A jedina stvar koja me nervira je to što izgleda da me guraju ka malom skupu zaista izanđalih vizuelnih klišea koji se smatraju bezbednim. Znate, biznismen koji se penje uz merdevine a onda se merdevine pomeraju, pretvaraju u grafikon tržišne berze, kao i bilo šta sa znakom dolara; to je uvek dobro.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 u publici ima ljudi koji donose uređivačke odluke, želim da vam dam savet. Svaki put kad se sličan crtež objavi, beba pande će da umre.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Literally.
Bukvalno.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
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 vizuelni kliše dobar ili loš? Postoji fina granica. I zaista zavisi od priče. Godine 2011, tokom zemljotresa i cunamija u Japanu, razmišljao sam o naslovnoj strani. I prelistavao sam klasične simbole: japansku zastavu, „Veliki talas” od Hokusaija, jedan od najsjajnijih crteža uopšte. A onda se priča izmenila kada se situacija u nuklearnoj elektrani u Fukušimi otrgnula kontroli. I sećam se prizora na televiziji, radnika u zaštitnim odelima kako samo šetaju mestom, a iznenadilo me je to koliko je tiho i spokojno bilo. Pa sam želeo da napravim sliku tihe katastrofe. A ovo je slika koju sam smislio.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
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.
Želim da stvorim „aha” trenutak za vas, za čitaoca. A nažalost, to ne znači da ja imam aha momenat kada stvaram ove slike. Nikad ne sedim za stolom sa poslovičnom sijalicom koja se pali u mojoj glavi. Ono što je potrebno je zapravo veoma spor, neprivlačan proces minimalnih dizajnerskih odluka koje će onda, ako imam sreće, dovesti 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.
Pa sam jednog dana u vozu pokušavao da dešifrujem grafičku zakonitost kapi na prozoru. I konačno sam uvideo: „Ah, radi se o izvrnutoj, zamagljenoj pozadini koja je sadržana u izoštrenoj slici.” I pomislio sam, ala je to strava, i da nemam ni blagu ideju šta da uradim s tim. Nešto kasnije, ponovo sam u Njujorku i nacrtao sam ovu sliku o zaglavljenosti na bruklinskom mostu tokom špica. Zaista je dosadno, ali je opet nekako i poetično. A tek sam kasnije shvatio da mogu da uzmem obe ove ideje i da ih sastavim u ovoj ideji. A ja ne želim da prikažem relističan prizor.
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 --
Već da vas, možda nalik poeziji, navedem na pomisao da ste već imali ovu sliku u sebi, ali da ste je sad iskopali i da zbog mene shvatite da ste je nosili sa sobom sve vreme. Međutim, poput poezije, ovo je veoma delikatan proces koji niti je efikasan, niti izmerljiv, mislim. A možda najvažnija veština za umetnika usitinu je empatija. Potreban vam je zanat i potrebna vam je -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
you need creativity --
potrebna vam je kreativnost -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 vam - da smislite sličnu sliku. Ali onda morate da se udaljite i da pogledate šta ste napravili iz ugla čitaoca.
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.
Pokušavao sam da postanem bolji umetnik tako što sam bio bolji posmatrač slika. I zbog toga sam sebi zadao vežbu koju nazivam nedeljnim skiciranjem, a to znači da u nedelju uzmem nasumičan predmet koji nađem u kući i pokušavam da otkrijem da li taj predmet može da izazove ideju koja nema ništa sa prvobitnom namenom tog predmeta. A to obično znači da sam dugo vremena bez ideje. A jedini trik koji na kraju deluje je ako oslobodim um i prelistam sve slike koje sam u njemu uskladištio i vidim da li se nešto uklapa. A ako se uklapa, samo dodam nekoliko linija tušem da povežem - da sačuvam ovaj veoma kratak 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.
A najveća lekcija ovde je ta da se stvarna čarolija ne dešava na papiru. Dešava se u umu gledaoca. Kada se vaša očekivanja i znanje sudare s mojim umetničkim namerama. Vaša interakcija sa slikom, vaša sposobnost da čitate, propitujete, budete uznemireni, smoreni ili inspirisani slikom jednako je važna koliko i moj umetnički doprinos. Jer je to ono što pretvara umetnički iskaz u kreativni dijalog. Stoga, vaša veština čitanja slika ne samo da je neverovatna, već je zbog nje moja umetnost moguća. I zato sam vam veoma zahvalan.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
(Cheers)
(Ovacije)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)