There's an old saying, "Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's not there." My work is -- it's a reflection of myself. What I wanted to do is to show the world that the little things can be the biggest things. We all seem to think that, you know, if we look down on the ground, there's nothing there. And we use the word "nothing." Nothing doesn't exist, because there is always something. My mother told me that, when I was a child, that I should always respect the little things.
俗語有云:「儘管你看不到一件事物, 並不代表它不存在。」 我的作品,是我內心的反映。 我想做到的 是讓世人明白,微不足道的事物 也可以是大有作為的。 普遍的想法是 如果我們望望地上,看不到甚麼 我們很自然就用「空無一物」來形容。 但「空無一物」並不存在,因為那裡總有一點甚麼。 小時候,我媽媽告訴我 要時刻尊重微小的事物。
What made me do this work? I shall go into my story. This all started when I was age five. What made me do it? At school, I will admit this: academically, I couldn't express myself. So I was, more or less, classed as "nothing." My world was seen as less. So I decided I didn't really want to be a part of that world. I thought, I need to retreat into something else. So when my mother used to take me to school, she thought I was at school, and I used to do a U-turn, when her back was turned, and run off and hide in the shed at the back of the garden.
是甚麼令我開始藝術創作呢?我應該從我的故事說起。 一切得從我五歲時說起。 是其麼令我開始呢?我得承認,是在學校裡, 我無法用學業成績表現自己。 所以我某程度上被歸類為「甚麼也不是」。 我的世界被認為有所不足。 於是我決定我不想成為那個世界的一部份。 我想,我要逃到 另一個世界裡。 從前是我媽帶我上學的, 她總以為我在學校裹, 其實我總會在她轉身後來個急轉彎, 跑到後園,躲到小木棚裡。
Now, the one time I was in the shed, and my mother suspected something, thinking I was at school. My mother was like the woman in Tom and Jerry. So you'd just see her feet. (Laughter) So I was hiding in the shed, like that. And all of a sudden ... And then I saw her legs. And then she said -- grabbed me like that, because my mother was quite big -- and she lifted me up and she says, "How come you're not at school?" I told her I couldn't face it because the way the teacher was treating me, ridiculing me, and using me as an example of failure. So I told her. At that age, obviously, I couldn't express it that way, but I told her I didn't feel right. And then she just said, "You're going back to school tomorrow." And walked off. And I didn't expect that, because I expected one of these ... But I didn't get it.
記得有一次我躲在木棚裡時, 我媽開始懷疑, 我究竟是否真的在學校。 我媽就像卡通《猫和老鼠》裡那個女人。 你只能看到她的雙腳。 (笑聲) 當時我正躲在木棚裡, 突然間...... 我看到她的雙腳。 然後她說(她像這樣抓著我,因為她個子挺高大的) 她把我揪起,對我說: 「為甚麼你沒有上學?」 我告訴她這是因為我無法面對 老師對待我的態度,她們總是在刁難我, 並以我作為失敗的例子。 我這樣對她說。 當然,那個年紀的我不懂得這樣表達出來 我只是告訴她我覺得不對勁。 然後她說:「你明天給我回到學校去。」 說完便走開了。這跟我預期的很不一樣。 我以為會她會這樣對我......(打屁股) 可是她沒有。
So I'm sitting there thinking. And as I looked down on the ground, I noticed there was some ants running around. And I went into this little fantasy world. And I thought, "These ants, are they looking for the queen ant? Or do they need somewhere to live?" So I thought "Perhaps, if I made these ants some apartments, they'll move in." (Laughter) So I did. And how I set about that, I got some splinters of wood. And I sliced the little splinters of wood with a broken shard of glass, constructed this little apartment. Well it looked like a little shanty shed when I'd finished. But I thought, perhaps the ant won't know, it'll probably move in. And so they did. That was a bit crude, at the time. And I made all these little apartments and little merry-go-rounds, seesaws and swings, little ladders. And then I encouraged the ants to come 'round by putting sugar and things like that. And then I sat down and all the ants came along. And all I could hear was "Is this for us?"
於是我坐在那裡思考。 正當我低頭看著地上時, 我留意到有些螞蟻在到處跑。 於是我走進這個細小的幻想世界裡。 我想, 「這些螞蟻,牠們在尋找蟻后嗎? 抑或牠們只是需要一個棲息的地方?」 於是我想:「或許, 我若為這些蟻造一些公寓, 牠們會搬進去。」 (笑聲) 而我真的這樣做了。 開始時,我先找來一些碎木片。 然後我用一片玻璃碎把木片削薄。 建造成一座小小的公寓。 完成後,它看起來就像一間簡陋的小木屋。 但我心想,或許螞蟻們不會知道,而願意遷入。 而牠們真的搬進去。 那時的作品有點粗糙,但我還是造了很多小公寓, 還有小型的旋轉木馬、蹺蹺板、鞦韆和梯子。 然後我放置糖粒之類的東西,鼓勵螞蟻們造訪 接著我坐下來,看著螞蟻開始聚集。 我彷彿聽到:「這些是為我們造的嗎?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And I say, "Yes, they're all for you." And they moved in, and decided not to pay me any rent. (Laughter) And from there I was watching this little world. It became part of me.
我說:「是的,全都是給你們造的。」 於是牠們搬進去,還決定不付我任何租金。 (笑聲) 我看著這個微小的世界, 它成為了我的一部份。
When I discovered that I had this gift, I wanted to experiment with this world that we can't see. So I realized that there was more to life than just everything that we see around us that's huge. So I started to educate myself on this molecular level. And as I got older, I continued. I showed my mother. My mother told me to take it smaller.
當我發現自己有這種天賦, 我便想用這個我們看不到的世界 來作試驗。 所以我意識到,生命不只局限於 我們週遭一切看到的、巨大的事物。 於是我開始在這種分子的層面上教育自己。 我長大後一直繼續著。當我展示作品給我媽看時, 她叫我把它們弄得更小。
Now I shall show you something here. And I'll explain. As you can see, that's a pinhead.
現在我先給你們看一些東西, 然後我再解釋。 你可以看到, 這是一個釘頭
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Now that is called the Huf Haus. The gentleman who commissioned me to do this was a gentleman called Peter Huf. And he says to me "Willard, can you put my house on a pinhead?"
這間房子叫做Huf宅 委托我創作這件作品的 是一位叫 Peter Huf 的先生。 他對我說:「Willard,你能夠把我的房子放到釘頭上嗎?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So I say, "How are you going to fit in there?"
於是我說:「你怎樣擠到裡面去呢?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And then he said to me, "I don't believe you can do it. Can you really do it?"
然後他對我說, 「我不相信你能做到。你真的能夠做到嗎?」
And I says, "Well, try me." And then he said, "But I don't believe that you can do this." So I said, "OK."
我回答說:「那就讓我試試看啊。」 他說:「我還是不相信你能做得到。」我答道:「那好吧。」
So, to cut a long story short, I went home, went underneath the microscope, and I crushed up a piece of glass, crushed it up. And underneath the microscope there were splinters of glass. Some of them were quite jagged. So I was crushing up these pieces of glass, which, as you can see, that's the actual frame of the house. And the actual roof is made up of a fiber, which I found in my sister's old teddy bear. (Laughter) So I got the teddy bear and I said, "Do you mind if I pull out one of your fibers?" So I did. And I looked at it beneath the microscope. And some of it was flat. So I decided to slice these up with the tool that I make by -- I sharpen the end of a needle into a blade. And then I actually slow down my whole nervous system. And then I work between my heartbeat, I have one-and-a-half seconds to actually move. And at the same time I have to watch I don't inhale my own work, at the same time. (Laughter) (Applause) Because that has happened to me.
總之,長話短說, 我回到家,在顯微鏡底下, 把一塊玻璃 徹底壓碎。 在顯微鏡下, 這些玻璃碎片 當中有些呈鋸齒狀。 我壓碎的這些玻璃, 你可以看到它們 最後成為了房子的框架。 而屋頂則是用一根纖維做成, 來自我妹妹的一隻舊玩具熊。 (笑聲) 我拿起玩具熊,對它說, 「你介意我拔走一根你身上的纖維嗎?」 然後就拔了。 我把它放到顯微鏡下看,有部份是平坦的。 於是我決定把它切片 用的是我自己製造的一把工具 --一把用針的未端削尖成刀鋒。 然後我真的 把整個人的神經系統放慢 並在心跳與心跳間工作 我有一秒半的時間 去動手 同時我要小心不吸入 自己的作品 (笑聲) (掌聲) 因為那曾在我身上發生過。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So what I did, like I said, come back to the glass. I found these little bits of glass. And I had to make them square. So I'm thinking "How can I do this?" So what I did, I got an oilstone. Broke the edge of an oilstone off. And what I did, I took pieces of glass. And I started to rub them. I used a little tweezer which I made from a hair clip. And I built rubber around the end of the tweezer so it wouldn't crush the glass. And then I started rubbing, very very gently, till some of the edges were quite square. And then I constructed it. And how I constructed it, is by making grooves in the top of the pinhead. And then pushing the glass in with its own friction. And as I was doing it, what happened? The instrument that I used turned into a catapult. And it went like this ... And then that was it.
言歸正傳,說回那些玻璃。 我找來這些玻璃碎 還得把它們弄得方方正正。 我當時想:「我如何才能做到呢?」 於是我找來一塊磨刀石,把邊角弄了一小片下來, 然後我拿起玻璃碎在上面打磨, 我用的是一把由髮夾改造成的鑷子 鑷子的未端用橡膠包著,以防它把玻璃壓壞 然後我開始輕輕地打磨 直到邊位變得方正起來。然後,我會開始構造房子。½ 構建的方法 是先在釘頭上弄出坑紋 然後利用玻璃本身的摩擦力把它推進坑裡 當我這樣做時,發生了甚麼事呢? 我用的工具成了投石器 屋子像這樣被彈走... 就這樣
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Gone. So I'm thinking, "Mr. Huf isn't going to be very happy when I told him his house has gone to another, into the atmosphere somewhere." So to cut the story short, I decided that I had to go back and do it. So I found some more. And I decided to, sort of, construct it very, very slowly, holding my breath, working between my heartbeat, and making sure everything is leveled. Because it's such a small sculpture, nothing can go wrong. And I decided to build it up. Then I used fibers out of my jumper, which I held and stretched. And made the beams going around the house. And the actual windows and the balcony had to be sort of constructed. I used a money spider's web to actually attach certain things, which sent me insane. But I managed to do it. And when I finished it, I came back the next day. I noticed that the house was occupied. Have we ever heard of a dust mite? Darren dust mite and his family moved in.
一去不回 我心想:「Huf先生一定不會太高興 要是我告訴他他的房子 一飛沖天去了 長話短說 我決定重頭開始 於是我找來更多材料。今次我決定 很慢很慢地構建它 屏息靜氣,小心亦亦地工作 並確保一切都四平八穩。 這個雕塑太細小了 實在不容有失 然後我決定著手搭建這屋子 我拿毛衣上的纖維 把它們拉直 弄成房子外圍的樑 原屋的窗戶和露台 也需要構造出來 我用了一隻金錢蜘蛛的網 去作固定用途 這差點沒把我弄瘋 不過我還是做到了 完成後的第二天,我回去一看 發現那小屋已經有住客了 你們認識一隻塵蹣嗎? 塵蹣Darren舉家搬進來了
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So basically I'd completed the house. And there you are.
基本上,我完成了那棟房子 就在你們眼前
(Applause)
(掌聲)
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Right. As you can see, Bart Simpson is having a little argument. I think they're arguing about the space on the pin. There's not enough room for the two of them. So I didn't think he was going to throw Bart off. I think he was just warning him actually. But this one was made out of a nylon tag out of my shirt. What I did, I plucked the tag out and put it underneath the microscope. I used the needle which has got a slight blade on the end. Can anybody see the blade on the end of that needle?
好,如你所見 Bart Simpson 正和它老爸爭執 我想他們在爭論針頭上的空間 不夠容納他們兩個 我不認為Homer真的會把Bart扔下去 我想他只是想警告一下他而已 不過這件作品是用我恤衫上 的尼龍標籤做的 我把標籤拔出來 放到顯微镜底下 我用那根帶刀锋的针 有誰能看到針上的刀鋒嗎?
Audience: No.
觀眾:不能
WW: So what I did is the same process where I just kind of hold my breath and just work away very, very slowly, manipulating the plastic, cutting it, because it behaves different. Whenever you work on that level, things behave different. Because it's on this molecular level things change and they act different. And sometimes they turn into little catapults and things go up in the air. And, you know, all different things happen. But I had to make a little barrier, going around it, out of cellophane, to stop it moving. Then static electricity set in. And it went ... And I'm trying to remove it. And the static is interfering with everything. So there is sweat dripping off my head, because I have to carve Homer Simpson like that, in that position. And after I've cut out the shape, then I have to make sure that there is room for Bart's neck.
我用的是相同的方法 就是屏息靜氣 慢慢地,逐步地 擺弄、切割塑料。因为它表現不同 當你在那種層面工作,事物會表現很截然不同。 因為在這種分子層面,一切事物都會改變 和表現不同。 有時它們會變成小投石器,把東西射到空中 各種不同的事都會發生 我要用玻璃紙做了一個屏障圍著它 令它不會亂動 然后便到靜電出場了。 它像這樣...... 然后我嘗試弄走它,但靜電總和我對著幹。 汗水從我的頭上滴下來 因为我要把Homer Simpson雕成那样,在那個位置 在我剪出那個形狀後 還要確保有空問容納Bart的頸
So after I've done the same thing, then I have to paint it. And after I've actually sculpted them, I have to paint them. I experimented with a -- I found a dead fly. And I plucked the hair off the fly's head. Decided to make a paintbrush. (Laughter) But I would never do it to a living fly. (Laughter) Because I've heard a fly in pain. And they go "Meow! Ow!" Even though they get on our nerves, I would never kill an insect because, "All creatures great and small" -- there is a hymn that says that. So what I decided to do is to pluck fine hair out of my face. And I looked at it underneath the microscope. That was the paintbrush. And whilst I'm painting I have to be very careful, because the paint starts to turn into little blobs. And it starts to dry very quickly. So I have to be very quick. If I'm not, it will end up looking not like what it's supposed to look like. It could end up looking like Humpty Dumpty or somebody else. So I have to be very very careful.
完成後 我還要替它上色 在我把他們雕刻出来後 我便替他們上色 我做了一個實驗 ... 我找來一隻死了的蒼蝿 從它的頭上拔出一根毛 用來做畫筆 (笑聲) 但我絕不會這樣對待一隻活生生的蒼蝿 (笑聲) 因為我曾聽到一隻痛苦的蒼蝿 「噢......! 噢!」地叫著 儘管牠們惹人討厭 我卻絕不會殺死任何一隻昆蟲 因為「世上萬物,無分大小」... 有一首聖詩是這樣說的 於是我決定 從自己臉上拔出一根幼毛 並在顯微鏡下看它 那就是我的畫筆 我在上色的時候一定要非常小心 因為顏料會開始結成小滴 而且很快地變乾 所以我的行動要快 要不然它最後看起來 便半點不像了 它可能落得一個矮胖子或者其他人的模樣 因此我要加倍小心。
This one took me approximately, I would say, six to seven weeks. My work, rough estimate, sometimes five, six to seven weeks; you can't always anticipate. (Applause) As you can see, that's Charlton Heston brought down to size. (Laughter) He says to me, "Willard" -- You can see him saying, "Why me?" I says, "I enjoyed your film. That's why." As you can see, there's an aphid fly there. That's just to show the scale and the actual size of the sculpture. I would say it probably measures ... a quarter of a millimeter. In America they say a period stop. So say if you cut a period stop in half, a full stop, that's about the size of the whole thing. It's made -- the chariot is made of gold.
這件作品大約花了我, 我想,六至七個星期完成。 粗略估計,我的作品 一般需時五至七個星期。 有時很難預算 (掌聲) 如你所見, 那是被縮小了的 Charlton Heston (笑聲) 他對我說:「Willard...」 你可以看到他在說:「為何徧徧是我?」 我說:「因為我欣賞你的電影」 你見到的,是一隻蚜蠅 那是用來顯出對比 和雕塑的實際大小 我會說它太約有...... 四分一毫米大。 在美國他們把句號叫作 period stop。 如果你把一個句號分成兩半, 那差不多就是整件作品的大小。 那輛戰車是用黃金造的。
And Charlton Heston is made of a floating fiber, which I took out of the air. When the sunlight comes through the window you see these little fibers. And what I normally do is walk 'round a room -- (Laughter) -- trying to find one. And then I put it underneath the microscope. I remember one time I was doing it, and the window was open. And there was a lady standing by the bus stop. And she saw me walking around like this. (Laughter) And then she looked at me. And then I went ... And then she went, "Hmm, OK, he's not mad." Yeah, to actually do this thing -- the actual chariot is made of gold. I had a 24-karat gold ring. And I cut off a little flake of gold. And I bent it 'round, and made it into the chariot. And the horse is made from nylon. And the spider's web is for the reins on the horse. To get the symmetrical shape of the horse was very difficult, because I had to get the horse to rear up and look as though it was in some kind of action.
而 Charlton Heston 則是用一根漂浮的纖維造成, 是我從空氣中檢回來的。 當陽光從窗外透進來時,你會看到這些纖維。 而我一般就在房間裡來回地走, (笑聲) 嘗試去找。然後我會把它到放到顯微鏡下。 記得有一次我這樣做的時候,窗是開著的。 在巴士站旁有一位女士站著 她看到我這樣走來走去 (笑聲) 她看著我 我馬上這樣... 她於是想:「嗯,還好,他不是瘋的。」 對,如何做出這件作品呢- 那戰車是用黃金造的。 我有一隻24K的金介指, 從上面我削下一小片黃金。 接著我把它剪裁好,並彎曲起來, 最後弄成戰車。 馬匹是用尼龍造的, 牠身上的韁繩則是用蜘蛛絲造成 要做出馬匹對稱的形狀 實在很困難 因為牠猛蹬了一下,所以我要把牠弄成站起來 令牠看起來更有動感。
When I did this one, a gentleman seen it and said to me, "There's no way you can do this, you must have used some kind of machine. There's no way a man can do that. It must be a machine." So I says, "OK then, if you say it's a machine ..." (Laughter) (Applause) That one took me approximately six weeks. (Applause)
當我做這件作品時, 一位先生看後對我說: 「單憑你自己是沒可能做到的,你一定是借助了某種機器。 人類沒可能做得到, 把它造出來的一定是一部機器。」 於是我說:「好吧,既然你說那是一部機器...」 (笑聲) (掌聲) 那件作品大約花了我六星期 (掌聲)
The most famous statue in the world. This one, I would say, was a serious challenge. (Laughter) Because I had to put the torch on the top. That one is, more or less, the same type of process. The bottom of it is carved from a grain of sand, because I wanted to get a bit of the stone effect. I used a microscopic shard of diamond to actually carve the actual base. Well, I can look at this one and I can be very proud of this, because that statue has always sort of kept an image in my head of, you know, the beginning of people coming to America. So it's sort of Ellis Island, and seeing America for the first time. And that's the first thing they saw. So I wanted to have that little image. And this is it. (Laughter)
世上最有名的雕像 我想說,這件作品 是一項嚴峻的挑戰。 (笑聲) 因為我要把火炬放在頂端。 這件作品是採用類似的工序製作。 它的底座是從一粒沙粒雕刻出來的 因為我想讓它有石質的效果。 我用了一塊微細的鑽石碎片 去雕刻出那底座。 看著這件作品,我為它感到非常自豪 因為那個雕像一直 在我腦海裡留下一個景象: 移民到美國的人的開端 那就是到埃利斯島,第一次看到美國。 那雕像就是他們第一樣看到的東西。 所以我想形造出那個小小的景象 就是這件藝術品。 (笑聲)
And we all know that is the Hulk. I wanted to create movement in the eye of a needle. Because we know we see needles, but people aren't familiar with the eye of a needle apart from putting a thread through it. So I broke the needle. And made a needle look like the Hulk's broken it. It's -- I had to make little holes in the base of the needle, to shove his feet in. So most of my work, I don't use glue. They go in with their own friction. And that's how I managed to do it. As you can see, he's looking at the moment. He's got a little grimace on his face. And his mouth must be probably about three microns. So the eyes are probably about one micron or something.
我們都知道那是變形俠醫 我想在針眼裡塑造出動感 我們都見過針 但人們不太熟悉針眼 除了把線從中穿過之外。 所以我弄斷了針 令這根針看似是 被變形俠醫弄斷的。 我要弄一些小孔 在針頭的底部,好讓他的腳插進去。 我大部份的作品,都不用膠水。 它們是以自身的摩摖力固定進去的 那就是我用的方法 你可以看到,他正瞪著眼,齜牙咧嘴。 他的嘴可能只有 三微米闊 所以他的眼腈應該只有一微米左右大
That ship there, that's made from 24-karat gold. And I normally rig it with the web of a money spider. But I had to rig it with strands of glue. Because the web of the spider, it was sending me insane, because I couldn't get the web to move off. And that's 24-karat gold. And it's constructed. I built it. Constructed each plank of gold. And the whole thing is sort of symmetrical. The flag had to be made out of little strands of gold. It's almost like doing a surgical operation to get this thing right. (Applause)
那艘船, 是用24K金造的。 我一般是用小蜘蛛的絲去裝帆具 但今次我要動用到膠水絲 因為那些蜘蛛絲快把我弄瘋了 我沒法把它們弄走 那是24K金的。我建造它, 逐塊金船版建造出來的。 整艘船大致上是對稱的 船上的旗是用小金線造的 要做好它就像做手術一樣。 (掌聲)
As you can see, dressage. (Laughter) It's something I wanted to do just to show how I could get the symmetrical shape. The actual rigging on the reins on the horse are made from the same sort of thing. And that was done with a particle from my shirt. And the pinhead I've made green around there by scraping the particles off a green shirt and then pressed onto the needle. It's very painstaking work, but the best things come in small packages.
正如你所見,馬術盛裝舞步。 (掌聲) 我造這件作品,是為了證明我能做出那樣對稱的形狀。 那隻馬身上的繮繩 是用同類的物料造的。 是用我襯衣上的微粒造出來的。 我把這個針頭弄成綠色的方法 就是從綠色襯衣上刮下微粒 然後壓到針上。 那是一項嘔心瀝血的工作, 不過美好的事物,有時候會以細小的形態展現。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Bruno Giussani: Willard Wigan!
Bruno Giussani: Willard Wigan!
(Applause)
(掌聲)