Your body is my canvas | Alexa Meade

Prevodilac: Sonja Rodić Lektor: Mile Živković

You may want to take a closer look.

Pogledajte malo bolje.

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

Postoji nešto u vezi sa ovom slikom što nije vidljivo na prvi pogled.

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

Da, to je akrilna slika čoveka,

but I didn't paint it on canvas.

ali nisam je naslikala na platnu.

I painted it directly on top of the man.

Naslikala sam je direktno na samom čoveku.

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

U svojoj umetnosti ja u potpunosti zaobilazim slikarsko platno,

and if I want to paint your portrait,

a ukoliko želim da naslikam 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 takođe znači da ćete verovatno završiti

with an earful of paint,

sa ušima punim boje

because I need to paint your ear on your ear.

pošto vaše uho moram da naslikam na vašem uhu.

Everything in this scene, the person, the clothes,

Sve u ovoj sceni, osoba, odeća,

chairs, wall, gets covered in a mask of paint

stolice, zid, biva prekriveno maskom od boje

that mimics what's directly below it,

koja odražava ono što je direktno ispod nje,

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

i na ovaj način sam u mogućnosti da učinim da trodimenzionalna scena

and make it look like a two-dimensional painting.

izgleda kao dvodimenzionalna slika.

I can photograph it from any angle,

Mogu da je fotografišem iz bilo kog ugla

and it will still look 2D.

i ona će i dalje izgledati kao 2D.

There's no Photoshop here.

Ovde nema Fotošopa.

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 ideju

of turning people into paintings.

da pretvaram ljude u slike.

But originally, this had nothing to do

Ali prvobitno, ovo nije imalo nikakve veze

with either people or paint.

ni sa ljudima ni sa slikama.

It was about shadows.

Radilo se o senkama.

I was fascinated with the absence of light,

Bila sam fascinirana odsustvom svetla,

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

želela sam da pronađem način da je materijalizujem

and pin it down before it changed.

i zarobim pre nego što se promeni.

I came up with the idea of painting shadows.

Došla sam na ideju da slikam senke.

I loved that I could hide within this shadow

Svidelo mi se što sam mogla da se sakrijem unutar ove senke,

my own painted version,

moje sopstvene naslikane verzije,

and it would be almost invisible

i ona bi bila skoro nevidljiva

until the light changed, and all of a sudden

sve dok se osvetljenje ne promeni i odjednom,

my shadow would be brought to the light.

moja senka bi bila izložena svetlu.

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

Smišljala sam na šta bih sve mogla da stavim senke

and I thought of my friend Bernie.

i setila sam se svog prijatelja Bernija.

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

Ali nisam želela samo da slikam senke.

I also wanted to paint the highlights

Htela sam da slikam i osvetljene delove

and create a mapping on his body in greyscale.

i da mapiram njegovo telo u crno-beloj skali.

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

Imala sam vrlo preciznu viziju kako bi to trebalo da izgleda,

and as I was painting him,

i dok sam ga slikala,

I made sure to follow that very closely.

nastojala sam da se pažljivo pridržavam toga.

But something kept on flickering before my eyes.

Ali nešto mi je uporno titralo pred očima.

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

Nisam bila potpuno sigurna u šta gledam.

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

I onda, kada sam iskoristila taj trenutak da se odmaknem,

magic.

magija.

I had turned my friend into a painting.

Pretvorila sam svog prijatelja u sliku.

I couldn't have foreseen that

Nisam mogla da predvidim da ću,

when I wanted to paint a shadow,

želeći da naslikam senku,

I would pull out this whole other dimension,

izvući ovu potpuno drugu dimenziju,

that I would collapse it,

da ću je srušiti,

that I would take a painting and make it my friend

da ću od slike napraviti svog prijatelja

and then bring him back to a painting.

i nakon toga ga ponovo pretvoriti u sliku.

I was a little conflicted though,

Ipak, bila sam pomalo rastrzana,

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

jer sam bila toliko uzbuđena onim što sam otkrila,

but I was just about to graduate from college

ali baš tada je trebalo da diplomiram

with a degree in political science,

političke nauke,

and I'd always had this dream

i oduvek sam sanjala

of going to Washington, D.C.,

da odem u Vašington

and sitting at a desk

i da sedim za radnim stolom

and working in government.

i da radim u vladi.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Zbog čega je ovo moralo da stane na put svemu tome?

I made the tough decision

Donela sam tešku odluku

of going home after graduation

da se nakon diplomiranja vratim kući

and not going up to Capitol Hill,

i da se ne popnem na Kapitol Hil

but going down to my parents' basement

već da siđem u podrum svojih roditelja

and making it my job to learn how to paint.

i da moj posao bude da naučim da slikam.

I had no idea where to begin.

Nisam imala pojma od čega da počnem.

The last time I'd painted,

Kada sam poslednji put slikala

I was 16 years old at summer camp,

bilo mi je 16 godina, u letnjem kampu

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

i nisam želela da se naučim da slikam

by copying the old masters

tako što ću kopirati stare majstore

or stretching a canvas

ili razvijati platno

and practicing over and over again on that surface,

i vežbati iznova i iznova na toj površini,

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

jer za mene je ovaj projekat bio nešto sasvim drugo.

It was about space and light.

Radilo se o prostoru i svetlu.

My early canvases ended up being

Moja prva platna su bile

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

stvari za koje ne biste očekivali da budu korišćene kao slikarsko platno,

like fried food.

poput pržene hrane.

It's nearly impossible

Gotovo je nemoguće

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

naterati boju da se zalepi za mast u jajetu.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Even harder was getting paint to stick

Još teže je bilo naterati boju da se drži

to the acid in a grapefruit.

za kiselinu u grejpfrutu.

It just would erase my brush strokes

Moji potezi četkicom bili bi jednostavno izbrisani

like invisible ink.

poput nevidljivog mastila.

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

Nešto bih naslikala i istog trenutka to bi nestalo.

And if I wanted to paint on people,

A što se tiče slikanja na ljudima,

well, I was a little bit embarrassed

pa, bilo me je pomalo sram

to bring people down into my studio

da dovedem ljude u svoj studio

and show them that I spent my days in a basement

i pokažem im kako provodim dane u podrumu

putting paint on toast.

nanoseći boju na tost.

It just seemed like it made more sense

Jednostavno se činilo da je razumnije

to practice by painting on myself.

vežbati tako što ću slikati na sebi.

One of my favorite models actually ended up being

Jedan od mojih omiljenih modela je bio

a retired old man

starac u penziji

who not only didn't mind sitting still

kome ne samo da nije smetalo to što mora mirno da sedi

and getting the paint in his ears,

i što mu boja ulazi u uši,

but he also didn't really have much embarrassment

već mu nije bilo ni posebno neugodno

about being taken out into very public places

da nastupa na javnim mestima

for exhibition,

i da bude izložen,

like the Metro.

poput podzemne železnice.

I was having so much fun with this process.

Veoma sam se zabavljala kroz ceo taj proces.

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

Učila sam kako da slikam u svim tim različitim stilovima,

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

i želela sam da vidim za šta bih još mogla to da iskoristim.

I came together with a collaborator, Sheila Vand,

Sastala sam se sa saradnicom, Šilom Vand,

and we had the idea of creating paintings

i dobile smo ideju da stvaramo slike

in a more unusual surface,

na još neobičnijoj površini,

and that was milk.

a to je bilo mleko.

We got a pool. We filled it with milk.

Nabavile smo bazen. Ispunile smo ga mlekom.

We filled it with Sheila. And I began painting.

Ispunile smo ga Šilom. I ja sam počela da slikam.

And the images were always

Slike su na kraju uvek bile

completely unexpected in the end,

potpuno neočekivane,

because I could have a very specific image

jer sam mogla da imam vrlo određenu sliku

about how it would turn out,

kako će sve ispasti,

I could paint it to match that,

mogla sam da slikam u nameri da to i dobijem,

but the moment that Sheila laid back into the milk,

ali u trenutku kada bi Šila zaronila u mleko,

everything would change.

sve bi se promenilo.

It was in constant flux,

Stalno je dolazilo do promena,

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

i umesto da se tome opiremo, bile smo primorane da to prigrlimo

see where the milk would take us

i vidimo kuda će nas mleko odvesti

and compensate to make it even better.

i da kompenzujemo da bismo to učinile još boljim.

Sometimes, when Sheila would lay down in the milk,

Ponekad, kada bi Šila legla u mleko,

it would wash all the paint off of her arms,

ono bi sapralo svu boju sa njenih ruku,

and it might seem a little bit clumsy,

i možda se čini pomalo nespretnim,

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

ali naše rešenje bilo je, u redu, sakrij ruke.

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

Jednom joj je toliko mleka ušlo u kosu

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

da joj se sva boja sa lica skinula.

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 i da zamislimo,

even though this is essentially the same solution

iako je ovo u osnovi bilo isto rešenje

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

kome frustrirani klinci pribegavaju kada ne umeju da nacrtaju šake,

just hiding them in the pockets.

jednostavno ih skriju u džepove.

When we started out on the milk project,

Kada smo započele projekat s mlekom,

and when I started out,

i kada sam ja krenula sa tim,

I couldn't have foreseen that I would go

nisam mogla da pretpostavim da ću

from pursuing my dream in politics

od ganjanja političke karijere

and working at a desk

i rada za radnim stolom

to tripping over a shadow

doći do saplitanja senke

and then turning people into paintings

praćenog pretvaranjem ljudi u slike

and painting on people in a pool of milk.

i slikanja na ljudima u bazenu punom mleka.

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

Ali opet, pretpostavljam da onda nije neočekivano

that you can find the strange in the familiar,

da je moguće pronaći nešto neobično u nečemu već poznatom,

as long as you're willing to look beyond

dok god ste spremni da tražite dalje od onoga

what's already been brought to light,

što je već izloženo svetlu,

that you can see what's below the surface,

da je moguće videti ono što se krije ispod površine

hiding in the shadows,

i skriva se u senkama,

and recognize that there can be more there

i prepoznati da u tome može postojati mnogo više

than meets the eye.

nego što se čini.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)