A journey through the mind of an artist | Dustin Yellin

Translator: Catherine Ma Reviewer: Alan Watson

I was raised by lesbians in the mountains,

我細個喺美國山脈地區

由女同性戀者湊大

and I sort of came like a forest gnome to New York City a while back.

我最初嚟到紐約嗰陣

我就好似一個森林野人

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Really messed with my head, but I'll get into that later.

嗰時頭腦超混亂

我一陣番轉頭再講

I'll start with when I was eight years old.

我會由我八歲嗰時講起

I took a wood box,

我喺科羅拉多嗰陣拎咗個木盒

and I buried a dollar bill, a pen and a fork inside this box in Colorado.

放咗一蚊美金、一枝筆 同一隻叉喺個盒入面

And I thought some strange humanoids or aliens in 500 years would find this box

我諗 500 年後會有某種人猿類動物

或者外星人發現呢個盒

and learn about the way our species exchanged ideas,

從中知道我哋呢個物種點樣交換諗法

maybe how we ate our spaghetti.

或者知道我哋點樣食意粉

I really didn't know.

其實我都唔係好清楚自己做乜

Anyway, this is kind of funny,

總言之，呢個諗法都幾得意

because here I am, 30 years later, and I'm still making boxes.

因為三十年後嘅我仲整緊呢嗰盒

Now, at some point I was in Hawaii --

我之前喺夏威夷嘅時候

鍾意行山、滑浪等等奇怪嘅活動

I like to hike and surf and do all that weird stuff,

and I was making a collage for my ma.

我嗰時仲砌緊一幅嘢俾我阿媽

And I took a dictionary and I ripped it up,

我撕爛咗本字典

將啲碎紙砌到好似

and I made it into a sort of Agnes Martin grid,

艾格尼絲 . 馬丁嘅網格噉

and I poured resin all over it and a bee got stuck.

然後喺上面倒滿樹脂

點知有隻蜜蜂痴住咗喺上面

Now, she's afraid of bees and she's allergic to them,

因為我媽咪怕蜜蜂，而且會敏感

so I poured more resin on the canvas, thinking I could hide it or something.

所以我唯有倒多啲樹脂落去

希望可以遮住隻蜜蜂

Instead, the opposite happened:

點知，事與願違

It sort of created a magnification,

啲樹脂就好似放大鏡噉

like a magnifying glass, on the dictionary text.

將上面嘅野，包括蜜蜂，都放大咗

So what did I do? I built more boxes.

噉我點收科？

於是就整多幾個盒

This time, I started putting electronics, frogs,

今次，我將電子零件 青蛙、街上執番嚟嘅樽

strange bottles I'd find in the street -- anything I could find --

任何我搵到嘅嘢擺入去

because I was always finding things my whole life,

因為我嘅人生一直都喺度尋尋覓覓

and trying to make relationships and tell stories between these objects.

嘗試令唔同嘅物件之間有一個關係

用呢啲物件去串連一個故仔

So I started drawing around the objects,

於是我開始對住啲嘢畫呀畫

and I realized: Holy moly, I can draw in space!

然後我發現

咦喂！原來我可以凌空畫！

I can make free-floating lines,

我可以畫出浮喺空中嘅線條

like the way you would draw around a dead body at a crime scene.

就好似喺案發現場圍住個屍體畫線噉

So I took the objects out,

於是我拎件嘢出嚟

畫咗啲我想像出嚟嘅嘢

and I created my own taxonomy of invented specimens.

First, botanical -- which you can kind of get a sense of.

首先係植物

你應該睇得出似啲乜

Then I made some weird insects and creatures.

然後又畫咗啲奇怪嘅昆蟲同生物

It was really fun; I was just drawing on the layers of resin.

喺一層層嘅樹脂上面畫畫真係好好玩

And it was cool, because I was actually starting to have shows and stuff,

而且仲好正添！

因為我開始有表演接

I was making some money, I could take my girlfriend for dinner,

我開始有收入

可以帶女朋友出街食晚飯

and like, go to Sizzler.

好似去 Sizzler 噉

It was some good shit, man.

正到要嗌出嚟啦！

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

At some point, I got up to the human form,

畫畫下，我開始畫咗個人形

life-size resin sculptures with drawings of humans inside the layers.

畫咗個真人咁高嘅樹脂雕塑

裏邊仲有仔細嘅紋路

This was great, except for one thing:

呢樣嘢係好玩，但係有一個問題

I was going to die.

我會就快死

I didn't know what to do, because the resin was going to kill me.

我唔知點算好，因為樹脂會殺死我

And I went to bed every night thinking about it.

晚晚我瞓覺之前都喺度諗點樣先好

So I tried using glass.

於是我試下用玻璃

I started drawing on the layers of glass,

喺每一層玻璃上面畫畫

almost like if you drew on a window, then you put another window,

就好似你喺一塊窗上面畫完

再放另一塊窗喺上面繼續畫

and another window, and you had all these windows together

然後再放另一塊，層層疊咁

that made a three-dimensional composition.

形成一個立體嘅作品

And this really worked, because I could stop using the resin.

於是今次真係得咗

因為我可以唔駛再用樹脂

So I did this for years,

就係噉我畫窗玻璃畫咗幾年

which culminated in a very large work, which I call "The Triptych."

加加埋埋成為咗一件大形作品

我叫佢做「三聯畫」

"The Triptych" was largely inspired

三聯畫靈感主要嚟自

by Hieronymus Bosch's "[The] Garden of Earthly Delights,"

耶羅尼米斯 · 博斯嘅《人間樂園》

which is a painting in the [Museo del] Prado in Spain.

呢幅畫而家掛喺西班牙嘅 普拉多博物館入面

Do you guys know this painting?

你哋知唔知我講緊邊幅畫？

Good, it's a cool painting.

好畫。呢幅畫好嘢嚟！

It's kind of ahead of its time, they say.

啲人話嗰時嚟講好新潮架！

So, "The Triptych." I'll walk you through this piece.

而家等我同你哋講解下 我呢個三聯畫作品

It weighs 24,000 pounds.

佢有 24,000 磅重、18 呎長

It's 18 feet long.

It's double-sided, so it's 36 feet of composition.

雙面嘅，所以其實係 36 呎長

It's kind of weird.

有啲騎呢嘅

呢個係血噴泉

Well, that's the blood fountain.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

左邊可以見到耶穌同蝗蟲

To the left, you have Jesus and the locusts.

There's a cave

呢度有個山窿

where all these animal-headed creatures travel between two worlds.

俾呢啲個頭係動物頭嘅生物

穿梭於兩個世界之間

They go from the representational world,

佢哋會由表象世界

to this analog-mesh underworld, where they're hiding.

走到一個儀錶式嘅網狀地下世界匿埋

This is where the animal-headed creatures are by the lighthouse,

呢啲生物係喺燈塔隔離

and they're all about to commit mass suicide into the ocean.

準備大規模跳海自殺

The ocean is made up of thousands of elements.

個海有過千種唔同嘅完素

This is a bird god tied up to a battleship.

呢隻鳥神被綁喺戰船上面

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Billy Graham is in the ocean;

葛培理喺個海度

the Horizon from the oil spill; Waldo; Osama Bin Laden's shelter --

地平線嗰度係一達油污

仲有威利、仲有拉登嘅棲身之所

there's all kinds of weird stuff that you can find

你肯俾心機去睇個海嘅話

if you look really hard, in the ocean.

你可以搵到好多騎呢嘅嘢

Anyway, this is a lady creature.

呢個係一隻雌性物物

佢由個海度出嚟

She's coming out of the ocean, and she's spitting oil into one hand

佢吐出啲油落一隻手度

and she has clouds coming out of her other hand.

另一隻手就有啲雲走出嚟

Her hands are like scales,

佢對手就好似天平噉

and she has the mythological reference of the Earth and cosmos in balance.

就好似神話描述噉平衡住地球同宇宙

So that's one side of "The Triptych."

所以幅畫嘅呢一面

It's a little narrative thing.

係比較有故事性

That's her hand that she's spitting into.

佢吐油落隻手度

And then, when you go to the other side,

而當你去睇幅畫嘅另一面

she has like a trunk, like a bird's beak,

佢有一個好似象鼻或者鳥咀噉嘅嘢

and she's spitting clouds out of her trunk.

會吐出一舊舊雲

Then she has an 18-foot-long serpent's tail that connects "The Triptych."

佢仲有一條 18 尺長嘅蛇尾連住幅畫

Anyway, her tail catches on fire from the back of the volcano.

但佢條尾俾火山燒著咗

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I don't know why that happened.

我都唔係好知點解會係噉

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

That happens, you know.

但你知啦，都發生咗

Her tail terminates in a cycloptic eyeball,

佢條尾最後有一個旋風形嘅眼球

made out of 1986 terrorist cards.

係由 1986 年恐怖分子遊戲卡所整成

Have you guys seen those?

你哋有冇見過？

They were made in the 1980's, they're like baseball cards of terrorists.

八十年代嘅嘢嚟

就好似恐怖份子嘅棒球明星卡噉

佢哋嗰時係新潮

Way ahead of their time.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

That will bring you to my latest project.

而家帶你哋睇下我最新嘅作品

I'm in the middle of two projects:

我而家其實做緊兩個計劃

一個叫做「心靈地圖」

One's called "Psychogeographies."

呢個計劃大約為期六年

It's about a six-year project to make 100 of these humans.

我要整 100 個噉樣嘅人形

Each one is an archive of our culture,

每個人形都紀錄住我哋嘅文化

through our ripped-up media and matter,

人形由唔同出版刊物嘅紙碎砌成

whether it's encyclopedias or dictionaries or magazines.

可以係百科全書、字典或者雜誌

But each one acts as a sort of an archive in the shape of a human,

每一件作品都砌成人形 去紀錄我哋嘅世界

and they travel in groups of 20, 4, or 12 at a time.

啲作品係一組組噉去郁

有啲 20 個一組，亦有 4 個 或者 12 個一組

They're like cells -- they come together, they divide.

佢哋就好似細胞咁

會黐埋一齊，亦會分開

And you kind of walk through them. It's taking me years.

當你就噉行過喺佢哋

其實我就花用咗好多年時間

Each one is basically a 3,000-pound microscope slide

每一個基本上係 一個重 3,000 磅嘅顯微鏡片

with a human stuck inside.

裏面有一個人係度

This one has a little cave in his chest.

呢個人心口度有一個窿

That's his head; there's the chest, you can kind of see the beginning.

呢個係佢個頭，呢個係個胸

呢個就係開始時候你可以睇到嘅樣

I'm going to go down the body for you:

而家等我俾你哋睇下佢身體落啲嘅地方

There's a waterfall coming out of his chest,

呢度有一個瀑布由佢心口流出嚟

covering his penis -- or not-penis, or whatever it is,

遮住佢下體

或者唔係下體，或者是旦一度

a kind of androgynous thing.

因為佢係雌雄同體

I'll take you quickly through these works,

等我好快噉介紹一下其他作品

because I can't explain them for too long.

因為我唔可以花太多時間解釋

There are the layers, you can kind of see it.

你可以睇得出佢哋都係一層層噉嘅

That's a body getting split in half.

呢個人形嘅身體斷開兩截

This one has two heads,

呢個人有兩個頭

and it's communicating between the two heads.

兩個頭喺度溝通緊

You can see the pills coming out,

你可以睇到有啲丸仔飛出嚟

going into one head from this weird statue.

飛到呢個奇怪人形嘅其中一個頭度

There's a little forest scene inside the chest cavity.

佢心口嗰度有個樹林

Can you see that?

睇唔睇到呀？

Anyway, this talk's all about these boxes,

呢個演講嘅主題就係呢啲盒

like the boxes we're in.

就好似我哋身處嘅盒一樣

This box we're in, the solar system is a box.

我哋身處喺太陽系其實都好似一個盒

This brings you to my latest box.

等我介紹我最後一個盒

It's a brick box. It's called Pioneer Works.

呢個盒用磚砌成

叫做「先鋒者，做緊嘢」

(Cheers)

（歡呼聲）

呢個盒入面有一名物理學家

Inside of this box is a physicist,

a neuroscientist, a painter, a musician,

一名神經學家、一名畫家、一名音樂家

a writer, a radio station, a museum, a school,

一名作家、一間電台、一座博物館

一間學校，同埋一間出版社

a publishing arm to disseminate all the content we make there into the world;

將我哋喺度做嘅嘢話俾盒外面嘅世界知

a garden.

裏面仲有個花園

We shake this box up,

我哋搖下個盒

and all these people kind of start hitting each other like particles.

將入面嘅人好似粒子咁撞嚟撞去

And I think that's the way you change the world.

我諗呢個就係改變世界嘅方法

重新定義自己同埋 我哋係裏面生活梗嘅呢個盒

You redefine your insides and the box that you're living in.

And you come together to realize that we're all in this together,

就會發現同明白到

我哋之間嘅差異只不過係錯誤嘅睇法

that this delusion of difference --

this idea of countries, of borders, of religion -- doesn't work.

國家、國界、宗教都係冇意義嘅

We're all really made up of the same stuff, in the same box.

我哋其實都係喺同一個盒入面 由同一種物質所造成

And if we don't start exchanging that stuff sweetly and nicely,

如果我哋唔肯好好聲氣噉 去互相交換我哋所擁有嘅嘢

we're all going to die real soon.

我哋好快就會一齊死架嘞！

Thank you very much.

好多謝大家！

（全場鼓掌）

(Applause)