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.
我是一個藝術家 藝術家是最棒的工作 而我真的很憐憫你們每一個人 你們必須花時間探索宇宙 或將人類從全球暖化中拯救出來
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But being an artist is also a daunting job. I spend every day, from nine to six, doing this.
但其實藝術家也是份令人氣餒的工作 我每天從九點到六點都在做這個:
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I even started a side career that consists entirely of complaining about the difficulty of the creative process.
我甚至開始一份副業 而這份副業都在抱怨創造過程的難處
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
但今天我不想討論那些 讓我的人生變得困難的事 我想談那些讓我的人生變得簡單的事 而那就是你 以及一個你可能從未發覺的事實: 你的某種語言能力其實很流暢 你其實很會解讀圖像語言 要解碼一個像這樣的圖像 需要運用一些智力 但沒有人曾教導過你怎麼做 你就是知道怎麼做
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.
大學、逛街、音樂 讓語言強大的關鍵是 你能將一個很複雜的想法 以很簡單又有效率的形式傳達 這些圖像與文字代表完全相同的意思 舉例來說,當你看著那頂學士帽時 你知道它不只是代表那個 你在接過你的文憑時 頭上戴的裝飾品 而是「大學」這整個概念 圖畫不僅僅能夠傳遞圖像 也能激發情感 假設你去到不熟悉的地方看到這個: 你就覺得開心、鬆了口氣
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Or a slight sense of unease or maybe downright panic.
或許感到有些焦慮,或者極度恐慌
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Or blissful peace and quiet.
或幸福安詳
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
但視覺當然不只是圖示 如果我今天要講關於現代奮鬥的故事 我會從兩個飛機座位之間的扶手 與兩組手肘之間的打鬥開始 這個例子迷人的是這個共同定律: 你有三十秒的時間爭奪 一旦搶到了,這個扶手的使用權 整個航程都屬於你
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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 --
商業航班滿是這類意象 如果我要描述「不舒服」的概念 沒有什麼比得上這些頸枕 它們是設計來讓你感到更舒適的
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
except they don't.
可是它們沒有
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
所以我在飛機上從不睡覺 我偶爾陷入一種類似痛苦的昏迷狀態 然後當我醒來 我的嘴巴有股最可怕的味道 那股味道糟到我無法以言語形容 但可以畫出來
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
事情是這樣的,我愛睡覺 當我要睡的時候 我真的比較喜歡在背後抱時睡著 二十年來以這個湯匙姿勢入睡 我可是專家級的 但過了這麼多年,我還是不知道 壓在下面那隻手要怎麼辦
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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."
而唯一一件 唯一一件讓睡覺變得 比在飛機上睡覺更複雜的事 就是當你有小小孩的時候 他們會在凌晨四點左右出現在你床邊 告訴你一些假的藉口 像是「我做惡夢了」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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 --
然後你當然憐憫他們 他們是你的小孩 所以你讓他們過來跟你一起睡 我得承認,一開始他們真的 很可愛、很溫暖也很舒服 就在你要再度入睡的那一刻 他們不知為何開始
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
start rotating.
開始轉動
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
We like to call this the helicopter mode.
我們稱此為「直升機模式」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Now, the deeper something is etched into your consciousness, the fewer details we need to have an emotional reaction.
那更深層的東西已經嵌入你的意識中 少少的資訊就足夠引起情緒反應
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
為什麼像這樣的圖像可以達到效果? 它能被看懂,因為身為讀者的我們 非常擅長填空 當你畫畫時,有一個概念 叫做「實體周圍的空間」 這概念是我們不畫物品的實體 而是畫它周圍的空間 所以這幅畫裡的碗是空的 但那黑色墨水促使你的腦 將食物投射至空白的區塊中 我們在這幅圖中看到的 不是一隻在飛的貓頭鷹 它其實是兩個 AA 電池 站在一幅荒謬的畫上 然後我藉著上下移動我的桌燈 讓畫面動起來
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
這圖像真的只存在於你的腦中 那究竟需要多少資訊 才能激發這種圖像? 身為藝術家 我的目標是使用越少資訊越好 我試著達到簡潔的境界 簡潔到若你再抽掉一個元素 整個概念就會崩解 這也是為什麼身為藝術家 我最喜歡的工具是抽象 我發明了一個系統 我叫它「抽象量計」 它是這樣使用的: 取任何一個符號,例如愛心與箭 大多數的人會將它們解讀為愛的象徵 而我是個藝術家,所以我可以 決定用多少寫實 或多少抽象元素來畫它 如果我太寫實,大家就會覺得噁心
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
如果我又畫得太抽象 沒有人知道這是什麼 所以我必須在那量尺中 找到最完美的位置 以這個範例來說 大概是在中間的位置 當我們將一個圖像 簡化到更簡潔的形式 各種新連結開始變得可行 也可以用新的觀點說故事
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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 --
所以,我想做的是 我希望能結合遙遠文化地區的圖像 運用更多大膽的引用
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
我就能創造更多樂趣 但當然,我知道事情到最後變得很難懂 你們有些人會失去興趣 所以身為一個設計師 充分了解觀眾的視覺 與文化詞彙是很關鍵的 這個圖像:一篇關於雅典奧運的評論 我假設「紐約客」的讀者 多少對於希臘藝術 會有一些初步的了解 如果你不了解希臘藝術 這個圖像就不會達到它的效果 但如果你了解 你甚至會欣賞它的小細節 例如這個花瓶底部的 啤酒罐般的圖騰
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
我跟雜誌編輯反覆討論著一件事 而雜誌編輯們通常是很在意詞彙的人 我們討論的是觀眾們 你們比起圖像原意 更會跳躍式解讀圖像意義 而唯一讓我覺得挫敗的是 它們似乎總把我推向一系列老套 被認為保險的視覺效果 就像,有個商人正在爬梯 然後梯子動了,變成股市趨勢圖 任何有錢幣符號的東西,總是很好
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
如果今天的觀眾裡有編輯決策者 我想給你一個建議 每當這種圖被出版一次 就會死一隻熊貓寶寶
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Literally.
真的
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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.
那老套的視覺效果什麼時候好 什麼時候不好? 兩者差別很微妙 端看你的故事內容 2011 年,日本發生地震與海嘯時 我正在籌劃一個封面 我把典型符號都想過了一遍: 日本國旗 葛飾北齋的「神奈川沖浪裏」 史上最厲害的畫作之一 然後故事就變了 在福島的電廠失控之後 我記得電視裡 充滿穿著防護衣工人們的圖像 在現場穿梭 而讓我感到震撼的是 那畫面是如此平靜 因此我就想創造一幅 表達平靜災難的圖像 這就是我當時的作品
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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.
我想為讀者創造 一個「啊哈!」的時刻 而不幸的是,這並不代表 我在創造這些圖像的時候 也有「啊哈」的時刻 我坐在書桌前時 腦中的那顆「燈泡」從不熄滅 設計過程其實非常緩慢 且是一點都不性感地 在做一些微小的設計決策 如果幸運,這些決策將會引出好的概念
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.
於是有一天,我在火車上試著解讀 窗戶上雨滴的圖像規則 然後我終於瞭解到 「噢,原來它是包含在清晰圖像裡的 模糊顛倒背景。」 然後我想,哇,那真的是很酷 而對於如何處理它我完全沒有想法 不久之後,我回到紐約 我畫了這個在布魯克林大橋上塞車的圖 塞車很煩人,也有點詩意 直到後來我才想到 我可以同時採用這兩種概念 然後將它們結合呈現 而我想做的不是呈現實景
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 --
而是,有點詩意的 讓你意識到其實這個圖像 已經存在你腦中 而我現在將它挖掘出來 讓你了解到它其實一直都跟著你 但像詩一樣,它是個很細緻的過程 我覺得這個過程 無法有效率也無法量化 或許對一個藝術家來說 最重要的技巧其實是同理心 你需要技術,你也需要
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
you need creativity --
你需要創造力
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
謝謝 來創造出像這樣的圖像 然而在那之後,你必須往後退一步 以讀者的視角看你創造出來的東西
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.
藉由變成一個更好的圖像觀察者 我試著成為一個更好的藝術家 為了這個目的,我開始了自己的練習 我將這個練習稱作「星期天速寫」 意思是,在星期天 我會取房子周邊的一個隨機物品 然後試著想想看該物品 是否能激發點子 激發跟這個物品的 原始用途不同的點子 這通常意味著 我會有很長的一段時間腦中空白 唯一能讓這件事成功的秘訣 是當我不持任何偏見地 掃描過每一個我存放在腦中的圖像 看看是否有東西讓我突然開竅 如果有,就只要加上幾條線連結 來保存這短暫的予人靈感的時刻
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.
而這經驗中最寶貴的一課是 魔法不是發生在紙上 而是在觀看者的腦中 當你的期待與知識 和我的藝術撞擊時 你和圖像的互動 你能閱讀、質疑或覺得圖像 很惱人、無聊或發人深省 這些都和我的藝術貢獻一樣重要 因為那就是將藝術表現真正轉化成 創意對話的關鍵 所以,你閱讀圖像的技巧 不僅是非常好 更是讓我的藝術變得有可能性的關鍵 針對這點,我非常感謝你們
(Applause)
(掌聲)
(Cheers)
(歡呼)
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)