Your body is my canvas | Alexa Meade

Translator: Irene Oliver Reviewer: Blanca Busquets

You may want to take a closer look.

Potser ho hauríeu de mirar amb més deteniment.

There's more to this painting than meets the eye.

Hi ha molt més en aquesta pintura del que es pot veure.

And yes, it's an acrylic painting of a man,

Sí, és una pintura en acrílic d'un home,

but I didn't paint it on canvas.

però no l'he pintada a sobre un llenç

I painted it directly on top of the man.

sinó directament a sobre d'ell.

What I do in my art is I skip the canvas altogether,

Al meu art no faig servir pas llenços

and if I want to paint your portrait,

i si vull pintar-vos un retrat,

I'm painting it on you, physically on you.

us el pintaré a sobre, literalment.

That also means you're probably going to end up

Això vol dir que acabareu

with an earful of paint,

amb les orelles plenes de pintura,

because I need to paint your ear on your ear.

perquè he de pintar les orelles a sobre de les vostres.

Everything in this scene, the person, the clothes,

Tota l'escena (la persona, la roba

chairs, wall, gets covered in a mask of paint

les cadires, les parets...) es cobreix amb una capa de pintura

that mimics what's directly below it,

que imita allò que és a sota.

and in this way, I'm able to take a three-dimensional scene

Així, puc fer que una escena tridimensional

and make it look like a two-dimensional painting.

es converteixi en una pintura bidimensional.

I can photograph it from any angle,

Puc fotografiar-la des de qualsevol angle

and it will still look 2D.

i es veurà en 2D igualment.

There's no Photoshop here.

Aquí no hi ha Photoshop:

This is just a photo

només és una foto

of one of my three-dimensional paintings.

d'una de les meves pintures tridimensionals.

You might be wondering how I came up with this idea

Us preguntareu com se'm va ocórrer la idea

of turning people into paintings.

de transformar persones en pintures.

But originally, this had nothing to do

Al principi, però, no tenia res a veure

with either people or paint.

amb les persones o la pintura,

It was about shadows.

sinó amb les ombres.

I was fascinated with the absence of light,

L'absència de llum em fascinava;

and I wanted to find a way that I could give it materiality

volia trobar la manera de fer-la material

and pin it down before it changed.

i definir-la abans que canviés.

I came up with the idea of painting shadows.

Se'm va ocórrer la idea de pintar les ombres.

I loved that I could hide within this shadow

M'encantava poder amagar a l'ombra

my own painted version,

la meva versió pintada

and it would be almost invisible

i que fos quasi invisible

until the light changed, and all of a sudden

fins que la llum canviava i, de sobte,

my shadow would be brought to the light.

l'ombra pintada es deixava veure a la llum.

I wanted to think about what else I could put shadows on,

Vaig dedicar-me a rumiar en què hi podria posar ombres

and I thought of my friend Bernie.

i vaig pensar en el meu amic Bernie.

But I didn't just want to paint the shadows.

No volia pintar pas només les ombres,

I also wanted to paint the highlights

sinó també els tocs de llum.

and create a mapping on his body in greyscale.

Volia crear un traçat al seu cos en escala de grisos.

I had a very specific vision of what this would look like,

M'imaginava exactament com havia de ser

and as I was painting him,

i, mentre el pintava,

I made sure to follow that very closely.

m'assegurava que així fos,

But something kept on flickering before my eyes.

però hi havia una cosa que fluctuava al meu davant.

I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at.

No estava molt segura de què mirava

And then when I took that moment to take a step back,

fins que vaig donar una passa enrere

magic.

i màgia:

I had turned my friend into a painting.

havia convertit el meu amic en una pintura.

I couldn't have foreseen that

No m'hauria imaginat que

when I wanted to paint a shadow,

quan volia pintar una ombra,

I would pull out this whole other dimension,

faria sorgir aquesta nova dimensió,

that I would collapse it,

que cediria,

that I would take a painting and make it my friend

que prendria una pintura, la convertiria en el meu amic

and then bring him back to a painting.

i després el transportaria de nou a la pintura.

I was a little conflicted though,

Això sí, tenia sentiments oposats,

because I was so excited about what I'd found,

perquè em vaig emocionar molt pel que havia trobat,

but I was just about to graduate from college

però m'anava a graduar

with a degree in political science,

en ciències polítiques

and I'd always had this dream

i sempre havia somiat

of going to Washington, D.C.,

anar a Washington, D.C.,

and sitting at a desk

seure a un escriptori

and working in government.

i treballar pel govern.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Why did this have to get in the way of all that?

Per què s'havia d'interposar en el meu somni?

I made the tough decision

Vaig prendre la difícil decisió

of going home after graduation

d'anar-me'n a casa després de la graduació

and not going up to Capitol Hill,

i, en comptes de pujar al Capitoli,

but going down to my parents' basement

vaig baixar al soterrani dels meus pares

and making it my job to learn how to paint.

i vaig convertir l'aprendre a pintar en la meva feina.

I had no idea where to begin.

No sabia per on començar;

The last time I'd painted,

la darrera vegada que havia pintat

I was 16 years old at summer camp,

era quan tenia 16 anys en un campament d'estiu.

and I didn't want to teach myself how to paint

No volia aprendre a pintar

by copying the old masters

copiant als mestres clàssics

or stretching a canvas

o posant una estesa de llenços

and practicing over and over again on that surface,

per a practicar una vegada rere l'altra sobre aquesta superfície,

because that's not what this project was about for me.

perquè per a mi aquest projecte no tractava pas sobre això.

It was about space and light.

Tractava sobre l'espai i la llum.

My early canvases ended up being

Els meus primers llenços varen ser

things that you wouldn't expect to be used as canvas,

coses que no utilitzaríeu com a tal,

like fried food.

com el menjar fregit.

It's nearly impossible

És quasi impossible

to get paint to stick to the grease in an egg.

fer que la pintura es quedi a l'oli de l'ou.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Even harder was getting paint to stick

I era encara més complicat que la pintura es quedés

to the acid in a grapefruit.

a l'àcid de l'aranja.

It just would erase my brush strokes

Esborrava les meves pinzellades,

like invisible ink.

com si fos tinta invisible.

I'd put something down, and instantly it would be gone.

Si hi posava alguna cosa, se n'anava a l'instant.

And if I wanted to paint on people,

I si volia pintar sobre la gent,

well, I was a little bit embarrassed

bé, m'empegueïa una mica

to bring people down into my studio

de portar gent al meu estudi

and show them that I spent my days in a basement

i de mostrar-los que em passava el temps al soterrani

putting paint on toast.

posant pintura a les torrades.

It just seemed like it made more sense

Semblava que tenia més sentit

to practice by painting on myself.

practicar pintant sobre mi mateixa.

One of my favorite models actually ended up being

Un dels meus models preferits va ser

a retired old man

un home jubilat

who not only didn't mind sitting still

a qui no només no li importava seure immòbil

and getting the paint in his ears,

i emplenar-se les orelles de pintura,

but he also didn't really have much embarrassment

sinó que tampoc posava massa problemes

about being taken out into very public places

si el duia a un lloc públic

for exhibition,

per a exhibir-lo,

like the Metro.

com el metro.

I was having so much fun with this process.

M'estava divertint molt amb aquest procés.

I was teaching myself how to paint in all these different styles,

Aprenia jo tota sola a pintar en tots aquests estils diferents

and I wanted to see what else I could do with it.

i volia veure què més hi podia fer.

I came together with a collaborator, Sheila Vand,

Vaig trobar una col·laboradora, na Sheila Vand,

and we had the idea of creating paintings

amb qui vaig tenir la idea de crear pintures

in a more unusual surface,

en una superfície poc habitual:

and that was milk.

la llet.

We got a pool. We filled it with milk.

Varem omplir una piscina de llet

We filled it with Sheila. And I began painting.

hi varem ficar na Sheila i vaig començar a pintar.

And the images were always

Les imatges eren sempre

completely unexpected in the end,

completament inesperades al final,

because I could have a very specific image

perquè podia tenir una imatge molt específica

about how it would turn out,

sobre com resultaria

I could paint it to match that,

i pintar per fer-ho coincidir,

but the moment that Sheila laid back into the milk,

però quan na Sheila es tombava a la llet,

everything would change.

tot canviava.

It was in constant flux,

Estava en canvi constant,

and we had to, rather than fight it, embrace it,

així que en comptes de lluitar-hi, havíem d'acollir-ho,

see where the milk would take us

havíem de veure on ens portaria la llet

and compensate to make it even better.

i compensar-ho per a millorar-ho.

Sometimes, when Sheila would lay down in the milk,

De vegades, quan na Sheila es tombava a la llet,

it would wash all the paint off of her arms,

la pintura dels braços desapareixia

and it might seem a little bit clumsy,

i pareixia una mica barroer,

but our solution would be, okay, hide your arms.

però la nostra solució era "'D'acord, amaga els braços".

And one time, she got so much milk in her hair

Un cop, tenia tanta llet als cabells

that it just smeared all the paint off of her face.

que li netejà la pintura de la cara

All right, well, hide your face.

"Molt bé, doncs, amaga la cara."

And we ended up with something far more elegant

Així varem acabar amb una cosa molt més elegant

than we could have imagined,

del que podríem haver imaginat,

even though this is essentially the same solution

tot i que en essència va ser la mateixa solució

that a frustrated kid uses when he can't draw hands,

que un nen frustrat empra quan no pot dibuixar bé unes mans

just hiding them in the pockets.

i les amaga a les butxaques.

When we started out on the milk project,

Quan varem iniciar el projecte de la llet,

and when I started out,

quan jo vaig començar,

I couldn't have foreseen that I would go

no podia haver previst que passaria

from pursuing my dream in politics

de perseguir el meu somni de política

and working at a desk

i de treballar a un escriptori

to tripping over a shadow

a ensopegar amb les ombres,

and then turning people into paintings

convertir gent en pintures

and painting on people in a pool of milk.

i pintar persones en una piscina de llet.

But then again, I guess it's also not unforeseeable

Però, un altre cop, crec que tampoc es pot preveure

that you can find the strange in the familiar,

que pugueu trobar allò desconegut en allò conegut

as long as you're willing to look beyond

sempre que volgueu mirar més enllà

what's already been brought to light,

del que ja es mostra a la llum,

that you can see what's below the surface,

que volgueu veure el que hi ha sota la superfície,

hiding in the shadows,

entre les ombres,

and recognize that there can be more there

i admetre que hi ha molt més

than meets the eye.

del que es pot veure.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)