I love museums. Have you guys ever been to the Natural History Museum? In New York City?
Encántanme os museos. Estivestes algunha vez no Museo de Historia Natural? O de Nova York?
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
So one of the things that I do is I take my kids to the museum. Recently I took them to the Natural History Museum. I had my two sons with me, Sabian and Dabith. And we go into the front entrance of the museum, and there's that amazing sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt out there. You guys know which one I'm talking about. Teddy Roosevelt is sitting there with one hand on the horse, bold, strong, sleeves rolled up. I don't know if he's bare-chested, but it kind of feels like it.
Eu levo moito os meus fillos ao museo. Hai pouco leveinos ao de Historia Natural. Levaba comigo os meus dous fillos, Sabian e Dabith Entramos pola porta principal, onde se atopa esa impresionante escultura de Teddy Roosevelt. Xa sabedes a cal me refiro. Teddy Roosevelt está sentado cunha man sobre o cabalo, valente, forte, arremangado. Non sei se co peito descuberto, pero dá esa sensación.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
And on the left-hand side of him is a Native American walking. And on the right-hand side of him is an African-American walking. And as we're moving up the stairs, getting closer to the sculpture, my oldest son, who's nine, says, "Dad, how come he gets to ride, and they have to walk?"
Á súa esquerda vai a pé un nativo americano. E á súa dereita, un afroamericano a pé. Estamos subindo polas escaleiras, achegándonos á escultura, cando o meu fillo maior, que ten nove anos, di: "Papá, por que vai el a cabalo e eles teñen que camiñar?"
It stopped me in my tracks. It stopped me in my tracks. There was so much history that we would have to go through to try to explain that, and that's something I try to do with them anyways. It's a question that I probably would have never really asked. But fundamentally what he was saying was, "That doesn't look fair. Dad, that doesn't look fair. And why is this thing that's so not fair sitting outside of such an amazing institution." And his question got me wondering, is there a way for us to amend our public sculptures, our national monuments? Not erase them, but is there a way to amend them?
Detívenme en seco. Detívenme en seco. Teríamos tanta historia que contar para tratar de explicar iso, algo que, de tódolos xeitos, trato de facer con eles. É unha pregunta que probablemente eu nunca tería feito. Pero, en esencia, o que viña a dicir era: "Iso non parece xusto. Papá, iso non parece xusto. E por que poñen iso tan inxusto á entrada dunha institución tan impresionante." E a súa pregunta fíxome pensar: non haberá un modo de corrixir as nosas estatuas públicas, os nosos monumentos nacionais? Non digo eliminalas, pero hai algún modo de corrixilas?
Now, I didn't grow up going to museums. That's not my history. My mother was 15 years old when I was born. She is amazing. My father was struggling with his own things for most of my life. If you really want to know the truth, the only reason I got into art is because of a woman. There was this amazing, amazing, fantastic, beautiful, smart woman, four years older than me, and I wanted to go out with her. But she said, "You're too young and you're not thinking about your future." So I ran on down to the junior college, registered for some classes, ran on back, and basically was like, "I'm thinking about my future now."
Eu non me criei indo a museos. Esa non é a miña historia. Miña nai tiña 15 anos cando nacín. É unha muller incrible. Meu pai facía o que podía cos seus propios asuntos durante case toda a miña vida. Se queredes que vos diga a verdade, a única razón pola que me dediquei á arte foi unha muller. Estaba esta muller realmente incrible, fantástica, fermosa, intelixente, catro anos maior ca min, e eu quería saír con ela. Pero ela díxome: "Es moi novo e non pensas no teu futuro." Fun a todo correr ao centro de formación, matriculeime nunhas cantas clases, e volvín correndo, e, para resumir, dixen: "Agora xa estou a pensar no meu futuro."
(Laughter)
(Risas)
"Can we go out?"
"Queres saír comigo?"
For the record, she's even more amazing. I married her.
Para que conste, ela é aínda máis incrible. Casei con ela.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
So when I randomly ran down to the junior college and registered for classes, I really wasn't paying attention to what I was registering to.
Así que cando fun correndo ao tolo ao centro de formación e me matriculei non atendín moito en que clases me anotaba
(Laughter)
(Risas)
So I ended up with an art history class, and I didn't know a thing about art history. But something amazing happened when I went into that class. For the first time in my academic career, my visual intelligence was required of me. For the first time. The professor would put up an image, bold strokes of blues and yellows, and say, "Who's that?" And I'd go, "That's Van Gogh. Clearly that is Van Gogh. I got this."
Acabei nun curso de historia da arte, e non tiña nin idea de historia da arte. Pero pasou algo incrible cando entrei naquela clase. Por primeira vez na miña vida académica pedíanme intelixencia visual Por primeira vez. A profesora mostraba unha imaxe, audaces pinceladas de azuis e amarelos, e dicía: "Quen é este?" E eu saltaba: "É Van Gogh. Está claro que é Van Gogh. Estou seguro."
(Laughter)
(Risas)
I got a B in that class. For me, that was amazing. In high school, let's just say I wasn't a great student. OK? In high school, my GPA was .65.
Saquei notable nese curso. Para min, iso foi incrible. No instituto, digamos que non era un alumno moi aplicado, vale? No instituto, a miña media nunha escala de 1 a 4 era 0,65
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Decimal point first, six five. So me getting a B was huge, huge, absolutely huge. And because of the fact that I realized that I was able to learn things visually that I couldn't learn in other ways, this became my strategy, this became my tactic for understanding everything else. I wanted to stay in this relationship. Things were going well.
Cero coma seis, cinco. Así que para min sacar un notable era algo tremendo, absolutamente tremendo. E ao decatarme de que era quen de aprender visualmente cousas que non aprendía doutros xeitos, iso converteuse na miña estratexia, na miña táctica para entender todo o demais. Quería conservar a relación. As cousas ían ben.
I decided, let me keep taking these art history classes. One of the last art history classes, I will not forget, I will never forget. It was one of those survey art history classes. Anybody ever have one of those survey art history classes, where they try to teach you the entire history of art in a single semester? I'm talking about cave paintings and Jackson Pollock just crunched together all in the same -- It doesn't really work, but they try anyway. Well, at the beginning of the semester, I looked at the book, and in this 400-page book was about a 14-page section that was on black people in painting. Now, this was a crammed in section that had representations of black people in painting and black people who painted. It was poorly curated, let's just put it that way.
Así que decidín seguir coas clases de historia da arte. Unha das últimas clases nunca, nunca a esquecerei. Era un deses cursos panorámicos de historia da arte. Algún de vós fixo un deses cursos nos que intentan ensinarche toda a historia da arte nun só semestre? Falo de meter a pintura rupestre e Jackson Pollock ben apertados todo xunto... En realidade non funciona, pero eles inténtano de todos modos. Ben, ao comezo do semestre, mirei o libro, e entre esas 400 páxinas había unha sección dunhas 14 sobre os negros na pintura. Era unha sección ateigada de representacións de negros en cadros e de negros que pintaban. Digamos que non estaba moi ben montada.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Nonetheless I was really excited about it, because in all the other classes that I had, we didn't even have that conversation. We didn't talk about it at all. So imagine my surprise when I get to class and on the day that we're supposed to go over that particular chapter, my professor announces, "We're going to skip this chapter today because we do not have time to go through it."
Con todo, a min entusiasmoume, porque no resto das miñas clases nin sequera chegamos a ter esa conversa. Non falamos diso para nada. Así que imaxinade a miña sorpresa cando chego á clase o día que se supoñía que iamos ver ese capítulo concreto, e a profesora anuncia: "Hoxe imos saltar este capítulo porque non temos tempo de velo."
"Whoa, I'm sorry, hold on, professor, professor. I'm sorry. This is a really important chapter to me. Are we going to go over it at any point?"
"Alto aí! Desculpe un momento, profesora, profesora. Desculpe. Este é un capítulo moi importante para min. Ímolo tratar nalgún momento?"
"Titus, we don't have time for this."
"Titus, non temos tempo para iso."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, I really need to understand. Clearly the author thinks that this is significant. Why are we skipping over this?"
"Perdón, perdón, perdón. Por favor, teño que entendelo. Está claro que o autor pensa que isto é importante. Por que o saltamos nós?"
"Titus, I do not have time for this."
"Titus, non teño tempo para tratar isto."
"OK, last question, I'm really sorry here. When can we talk, because we need to talk."
"Vale, unha última pregunta, perdoe. Cando podemos falar, porque temos que falar."
(Laughter)
(Risas)
I went to her office hours. I ended up getting kicked out of her office. I went to the dean. The dean finally told me, "I can't force her to teach anything." And I knew in that moment if I wanted to understand this history, if I wanted to understand the roles of those folks who had to walk, I was probably going to have to figure that out myself. So ... above you right here on the slide is a painting by Frans Hals. This is one of the kinds of images that was in that chapter. I taught myself how to paint by going to museums and looking at images like this.
Fun ás súas titorías. Acabou botándome do despacho. Fun ver ao director, que acabou dicindo: "Non podo obrigala a ensinar nada." Nese intre souben que se quería entender esta historia, se quería entender o papel dos tipos que eran obrigados a camiñar, probablemente tería que descubrilo por min mesmo. Así que... Nesa diapositiva de aí arriba tedes un cadro de Frans Hals. É unha das imaxes que había naquel capítulo. Aprendín eu só a pintar indo a museos e contemplando imaxes coma esta.
I want to show you something.
Quero ensinarvos unha cousa.
I made this. I --
Eu pintei isto. Eu...
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
I made some alterations. You'll see there are some slight differences in the painting. All this art history that I had been absorbing helped me to realize that painting is a language. There is a reason why he is the highest in the composition here. There is a reason why the painter is showing us this gold necklace here. He's trying to tell us something about the economic status of these people in these paintings. Painting is a visual language where everything in the painting is meaningful, is important. It's coded. But sometimes, because of the compositional structure, because of compositional hierarchy, it's hard to see other things. This silk is supposed to tell us also that they have quite a bit of money. There's more written about dogs in art history than there are about this other character here. Historically speaking, in research on these kinds of paintings, I can find out more about the lace that the woman is wearing in this painting -- the manufacturer of the lace -- than I can about this character here, about his dreams, about his hopes, about what he wanted out of life.
fixen algúns cambios. Veredes lixeiras diferenzas no cadro. Toda esa historia da arte que absorbera axudoume a decatarme de que a pintura é unha linguaxe. Hai unha razón de que el sexa o máis alto nesta composición. Hai unha razón de que o pintor nos mostre este colar de ouro de aquí. Trata de contarnos algo sobre o nivel económico das persoas do cadro. A pintura é unha linguaxe visual na que todo o que hai no cadro ten un significado, é importante. Está codificado. Pero ás veces, a causa da estrutura compositiva, a causa da xerarquía compositiva, resulta difícil ver outras cousas. Supostamente esta seda tamén nos di que teñen bastantes cartos. Na historia da arte lévase escrito máis sobre cans ca sobre estoutro personaxe de aquí. Desde unha perspectiva histórica, na investigación sobre estes cadros, podo saber máis sobre o encaixe que leva a muller deste cadro, sobre o fabricante do encaixe, ca sobre este personaxe de aquí, sobre os seus soños, as súas esperanzas, sobre o que esperaba da vida.
I want to show you something. I don't want you to think that this is about eradication. It's not. The oil that you saw me just put inside of this paint is linseed oil. It becomes transparent over time, so eventually what's going to happen is these faces will emerge a little bit. What I'm trying to do, what I'm trying to show you, is how to shift your gaze just slightly, just momentarily, just momentarily, to ask yourself the question, why do some have to walk? What is the impact of these kinds of sculptures at museums? What is the impact of these kinds of paintings on some of our most vulnerable in society, seeing these kinds of depictions of themselves all the time? I'm not saying erase it. We can't erase this history. It's real. We have to know it. I think of it in the same way we think of --
Quero mostrarvos algo. Non quero que pensedes que isto ten que ver coa erradicación. Non vai diso. O aceite que acabades de verme engadirlle á pintura é aceite de liñaza. Co tempo vólvese transparente, así que o que finalmente vai pasar é que estes rostros volverán verse un pouco. O que trato de facer, de amosarvos, é como desviar a vosa mirada lixeiramente, momentaneamente, só momentaneamente, para que vos fagades a pregunta: por que algúns teñen que camiñar? Cal é o impacto desas estatuas dos museos? Cal é o impacto destes cadros sobre os máis vulnerables da nosa sociedade, ao verse así representados todo o tempo? Non digo que haxa que borralo. Non podemos borrar esta historia. É real. Temos que coñecela. Eu enténdoa do mesmo xeito que entendemos...
Let me step back a second. You remember old-school cameras, where when you took a picture, you actually had to focus. Right? You'd put the camera up, and if I wanted you in focus, I would move the lens a little to the left and you would come forward. I could move the lens a little to the right, and you would go back and the folks in the background would come out. I'm just trying to do that here. I'm trying to give you that opportunity. I'm trying to answer that question that my son had. I want to make paintings, I want to make sculptures that are honest, that wrestle with the struggles of our past but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present. And we can't do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff. That's just not going to work. I think that we should do it in the same way the American Constitution works. When we have a situation where we want to change a law in the American Constitution, we don't erase the other one. Alongside that is an amendment, something that says, "This is where we were, but this is where we are right now." I figure if we can do that, then that will help us understand a little bit about where we're going.
Volvamos atrás un momento. Lembrades esas cámaras antigas coas que para sacar unha foto tiñades que enfocar, non? Preparabas a cámara, e se quería enfocarte a ti, xiraba a lente un pouco á esquerda e ti acercábaste. Podía mover a lente un pouco á dereita, e ti retrocedías e os do fondo distinguíanse mellor. Iso é o que trato de facer aquí. Intento darvos esa oportunidade. Trato de responder a pregunta que se facía o meu fillo. Quero pintar cadros, quero facer esculturas que sexan honestas, que se enfronten ás loitas do noso pasado pero falen da diversidade e os progresos do noso presente. E non podemos facer iso borrando e librándonos de cousas. Iso simplemente non funcionaría. Penso que deberiamos facelo da maneira en que funciona a Constitución dos Estados Unidos. Cando estamos ante unha situación na que queremos cambiar unha lei da Constitución, non borramos a anterior. Ponse unha enmenda ao pé da outra, algo que di: "Aquí era onde estabamos, pero isto é onde nos atopamos agora." Imaxino que se somos quen de facer iso, vainos axudar a entender un pouco cara a onde imos.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)