Your body is my canvas | Alexa Meade

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Sonja Rodić

You may want to take a closer look.

Možda ćete htjeti pobliže pogledati.

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

Na ovoj slici ima više nego što možete zamijetiti na prvi pogled.

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

I da, ovo je akrilna slika muškarca,

but I didn't paint it on canvas.

ali nisam ju naslikala na platnu.

I painted it directly on top of the man.

Naslikala sam ju direktno na muškarca.

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

Ono što činim u svojoj umjetnosti je da preskačem platno u potpunosti,

and if I want to paint your portrait,

i ako želim naslikati vaš portret,

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

slikam ga na vama, fizički na vama.

That also means you're probably going to end up

To također znači da ćete vjerojatno završiti

with an earful of paint,

sa uhom punim boje,

because I need to paint your ear on your ear.

zato što moram naslikati vaše uho na vašem uhu.

Everything in this scene, the person, the clothes,

Sve na ovoj sceni, osoba, odjeća,

chairs, wall, gets covered in a mask of paint

stolica, zid, sve bude pokriveno premazom boje

that mimics what's directly below it,

koja oponaša ono što je direktno ispod nje,

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

i na ovaj način mogu uzeti trodimenzionalnu scenu

and make it look like a two-dimensional painting.

i učiniti da izgleda kao dvodimenzionalna slika.

I can photograph it from any angle,

Mogu je fotografirati iz bilo kojeg kuta,

and it will still look 2D.

i dalje će izgledati 2D.

There's no Photoshop here.

Ovdje nema Photoshopa.

This is just a photo

Ovo je samo fotografija

of one of my three-dimensional paintings.

jedne od mojih trodimenzionalnih slika.

You might be wondering how I came up with this idea

Možda se pitate kako sam došla na ovu ideju

of turning people into paintings.

da pretvaram ljude u slike.

But originally, this had nothing to do

Isprva, ovo nije imalo nikakve veze

with either people or paint.

ni s ljudima ni s bojom.

It was about shadows.

Radilo se o sjenama.

I was fascinated with the absence of light,

Bila sam fascinirana nedostatkom svjetla,

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

i htjela sam pronaći način kako bi to mogla materijalizirati

and pin it down before it changed.

i zabilježiti prije nego se promijeni.

I came up with the idea of painting shadows.

Došla sam na ideju da slikam sjene.

I loved that I could hide within this shadow

Svidjelo mi se to što sam unutar sjene sakrila

my own painted version,

svoju vlastitu slikanu verziju,

and it would be almost invisible

i bila bi gotovo nevidljiva

until the light changed, and all of a sudden

dok se svjetlo ne bi promijenilo, i odjednom

my shadow would be brought to the light.

moja sjena bi došla na svjetlo.

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

Htjela sam se dosjetiti na što bih još mogla staviti sjene,

and I thought of my friend Bernie.

i prisjetila se svog prijatelja Bernia.

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

Ali nisam htjela samo slikati sjene.

I also wanted to paint the highlights

Hjela sam naslikati i osvjetljene dijelove

and create a mapping on his body in greyscale.

i mapirati njegovo tijelo nijansama sive.

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

Imala sam vrlo određenu viziju kako bi to trebalo izgledati,

and as I was painting him,

i slikajući ga,

I made sure to follow that very closely.

pazila sam da to točno slijedim.

But something kept on flickering before my eyes.

Ali, nešto je uporno titralo pred mojim očima.

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

Nisam bila u potpunosti sigurna u što gledam.

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

I onda kada sam se na trenutak odmakla korak unatrag,

magic.

čarolija.

I had turned my friend into a painting.

Pretvorila sam svog prijatelja u sliku.

I couldn't have foreseen that

Nisam mogla predvidjeti da ću

when I wanted to paint a shadow,

kada budem htjela naslikati sjenu,

I would pull out this whole other dimension,

izvući ovu potpuno drugu dimenziju,

that I would collapse it,

da ću ju urušiti,

that I would take a painting and make it my friend

da ću uzeti sliku i učiniti ju svojim prijateljem

and then bring him back to a painting.

i onda ga vratiti slici.

I was a little conflicted though,

Doduše, bila sam pomalo rastrzana,

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

jer sam bila tako uzbuđena ovim što sam našla,

but I was just about to graduate from college

ali sam upravo trebala diplomirati

with a degree in political science,

političke znanosti,

and I'd always had this dream

i oduvijek sam imala taj san

of going to Washington, D.C.,

da odem u Washington,

and sitting at a desk

sjedim za radnim stolom

and working in government.

i radim u vladi.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Zašto se ovo moralo ispriječiti pred svim tim?

I made the tough decision

Donijela sam tešku odluku

of going home after graduation

da se vratim kući nakon diplomiranja

and not going up to Capitol Hill,

i da ne odem gore na Capitol Hill,

but going down to my parents' basement

već dolje u podrum svojih roditelja

and making it my job to learn how to paint.

i da moj posao bude da naučim slikati.

I had no idea where to begin.

Nisam imala pojma gdje da počnem.

The last time I'd painted,

Posljednji put kad sam slikala,

I was 16 years old at summer camp,

bilo mi je 16 godina u ljetnom kampu,

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

i nisam htjela naučiti slikati

by copying the old masters

kopirajući stare majstore

or stretching a canvas

ili razvlačeći platno

and practicing over and over again on that surface,

i vježbajući ponovno i ponovno na toj površini,

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

jer za mene to nije bila bit ovog projekta.

It was about space and light.

Radilo se o prostoru i svjetlu.

My early canvases ended up being

Moja rana platna bila su

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

stvari koje ne biste očekivali da će se uporabiti kao platna,

like fried food.

kao što je pržena hrana.

It's nearly impossible

Skoro je nemoguće

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

postići da se boja zalijepi na mast na jajetu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Even harder was getting paint to stick

Još teže je bilo postići da se boja uhvati

to the acid in a grapefruit.

na kiselinu u grejpu.

It just would erase my brush strokes

Moji potezi kistom bili bi izbrisani

like invisible ink.

kao nevidljiva tinta.

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

Obojala bih nešto, i istog trenutka to bi nestalo.

And if I wanted to paint on people,

Ako sam htjela slikati na ljudima,

well, I was a little bit embarrassed

pa, bilo mi je pomalo neugodno

to bring people down into my studio

dovesti ljude u svoj studio

and show them that I spent my days in a basement

i pokazati im da provodim dane u podrumu

putting paint on toast.

nanoseći boju na tost.

It just seemed like it made more sense

Činilo mi se da ima više smisla

to practice by painting on myself.

vježbati slikanje na sebi.

One of my favorite models actually ended up being

Jedan od mojih najdražih modela je zapravo postao

a retired old man

stari umirovljeni čovjek

who not only didn't mind sitting still

kojem ne samo da nije smetalo sjediti mirno

and getting the paint in his ears,

i imati boju u ušima,

but he also didn't really have much embarrassment

nego se nije ni puno sramio

about being taken out into very public places

kada sam ga izvela na vrlo javna mjesta

for exhibition,

radi izložbe,

like the Metro.

kao što je podzemna.

I was having so much fun with this process.

Jako sam se zabavljala tijekom ovog procesa.

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

Učila sam se kako slikati u ovim različitim stilovima,

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

i htjela sam vidjeti što još mogu učiniti s tim.

I came together with a collaborator, Sheila Vand,

Sastala sam se sa suradnicom, Sheilom Vand,

and we had the idea of creating paintings

i imale smo ideju stvaranja slika

in a more unusual surface,

na nešto neobičnijoj površini,

and that was milk.

a to je bilo mlijeko.

We got a pool. We filled it with milk.

Našle smo bazen. Napunile smo ga mlijekom.

We filled it with Sheila. And I began painting.

Napunile smo ga Sheila i ja. I počela sam slikati.

And the images were always

I slike su na kraju uvijek bile

completely unexpected in the end,

potpuno neočekivane,

because I could have a very specific image

jer mogla sam imati zaista određenu sliku

about how it would turn out,

kako će to na kraju ispasti,

I could paint it to match that,

i mogla sam slikati tako da odrazim to,

but the moment that Sheila laid back into the milk,

ali trenutak kad bi Sheila legla natrag u mlijeko,

everything would change.

sve bi se promijenilo.

It was in constant flux,

Sve je bilo u stalnom pokretu,

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

i morale smo, radije nego da se borimo, prigrliti to,

see where the milk would take us

vidjeti gdje će nas mlijeko odvesti

and compensate to make it even better.

i kompenzirati kako bi postalo još bolje.

Sometimes, when Sheila would lay down in the milk,

Ponekad, kad bi Sheila legla u mlijeko,

it would wash all the paint off of her arms,

ono bi opralo svu boju s njenih ruku,

and it might seem a little bit clumsy,

i izgledalo bi pomalo nespretno,

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

ali naše rješenje bi bilo, u redu, sakrijmo tvoje ruke.

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

Jednom je imala toliko mlijeka u kosi

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

da je samo razmazalo svu boju sa njenog lica.

All right, well, hide your face.

Dobro, onda sakrij lice.

And we ended up with something far more elegant

Na kraju smo dobile nešto daleko elegantnije

than we could have imagined,

nego što smo mogle zamisliti,

even though this is essentially the same solution

iako je ovo u biti potpuno jednako rješenje

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

koje frustrirano dijete koristi kada ne može nacrtati ruke,

just hiding them in the pockets.

skrivajući ih u džepovima.

When we started out on the milk project,

Započele smo sa projektom s mlijekom,

and when I started out,

i kada sam počela,

I couldn't have foreseen that I would go

nisam mogla predvidjeti da ću otići

from pursuing my dream in politics

od ostvarivanja svojih snova u politici

and working at a desk

i rada za stolom

to tripping over a shadow

do spoticanja o sjenu

and then turning people into paintings

i pretvaranja ljudi u slike

and painting on people in a pool of milk.

i slikanja na ljudima u bazenu mlijeka.

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

Ali opet, vjerojatno i nije tako nepredvidivo

that you can find the strange in the familiar,

da možete naći čudno u poznatom,

as long as you're willing to look beyond

ako ste voljni gledati dalje od

what's already been brought to light,

onoga što je već na svjetlu,

that you can see what's below the surface,

kako biste vidjeli ono što je ispod površine,

hiding in the shadows,

i skriva se u sjenama,

and recognize that there can be more there

te prepoznati da ondje može biti više

than meets the eye.

od onoga što je vidljivo oku.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)