马克·罗斯科画出了深渊…
Mark Rothko painted the abyss…
然后让我们站在深渊的边缘
..and he’s inviting us to stand on that abyss.
现在,你可以说那是一种充满绝望的体验
Now, you can say that is a despair-filled experience,
但我认为那同时也隐喻了希望
but I think it’s also an invitation to hope.
我不是指这是关于希望的感受
I don’t mean this sentimental feeling of hope,
而是说它让我走入画室开始绘画,
but I mean that it makes me want to go into my studio and paint,
是我希望的行动
and that is my act of hope.
父亲第一次婚姻结束后不久,就遇到了我母亲
My father met my mother shortly after his first marriage ended.
这张照片,是我婴儿期和父亲的合影
Well, this photo, it’s actually one of the few pictures I have
是我仅有的几张照片之一
as a baby with my father,
他看上去就像一个充满爱心的父亲
and there he certainly looks like a pretty doting father.
甚至到了47、48岁,相比教育孩子
Maybe even at the age of 47, 48, he enjoyed having one of his own
他还是更喜欢生一个
instead of just teaching children.
我认为父亲是个非常关心的父亲
I would consider my father a very concerned father,
无疑是一个充满爱心且投入其中的父亲
certainly a very loving and involved father.
某方面来说,他是我心目中父亲的经典形象
In some ways, he is my vision of the classical father,
朝九晚六的外出,回家吃晚饭
who was gone 9:00 to 6:00 and, you know, came home for dinner
晚上花一点时间陪陪我
and spent a little time with me in the evening.
我最喜欢的一些回忆,是周日早上和父亲在一起
Some of my fondest memories are actually Sunday mornings with him.
最主要的回忆,是他们坐在床上读报纸
My primary memories of them are sitting in bed, reading the paper,
总是在抽烟,一直抽烟
always smoking, always smoking,
他们床单上有无数的香烟烧出的洞
and their sheets had multiple, multiple cigarette burns
还有焦痕
and holes in them.
就好像,那是真实地烙印在我记忆里的东西
It’s just- It’s, like, that’s literally burned into my memory.
1949年,罗斯科创造出新的风格,
In 1949, Rothko develops the style that will make him one of
后来使他成为20世纪最具辨识度的画家之一
the most recognised artists of the 20th century.
他找到一种方式,使他可以完全地、充分地
He finds a format where he can make full and direct expression
去表达那些他一直以来都试图在表达的观念
of the ideas he’s wanted to express for so long.
对我来说,1949到1950年的兴奋,是他庆祝自己获得前卫突破的方式
For me, the excitement in ’49 to ’50 are the way he celebrates the edge.
色块聚合到一起
Colour blocks come together,
然后开始建立彼此之间的关系
and they begin to sit in relationship to each other.
就是在色块的间隙中,魔力开始展现
It is that gap between in which the magic begins to develop.
你的人生中有一个转折点,你可以标记它,并且说,
There’s a turning point in your life that you can just mark and say,
我找到了属于自己的声音,你过去所做的一切…
This is when I found my voice, voice that is a destination
都是为了找到这声音
of everything that you’ve done in the past,
那里是属于艺术家的沃土
and that is a fertile place for an artist.
他总是处于自我怀疑中
He was always in self-doubt mode,
总是挣扎在自己的声音里
always struggled with his own internal voice.
所以当罗斯科找到自己的风格
So when Rothko found his style,
他就扎根在那归属地了
he settled in that place of belonging.
它代表了倒数第二的表达,表达那个..
It represented the penultimate expression of that thing that Rothko
罗斯科追寻一生的东西
had looked for his entire life.
他找到了安居地并且庆贺
He found a place to live and celebrate
还有一辆车来承载他的痛苦
and a vehicle for his anguish.
父亲和波拉克,德库宁,还有马瑟韦尔迅速成为
My father and Pollock and de Kooning and Motherwell quickly become
家喻户晓的名字,刊登在各种文章中,比如生活杂♥志♥
household names through articles in places like Life Magazine.
突然间,艺术界出现了一些50岁的“神童”
Suddenly, these were the wunderkinds at age 50 of the art world.
50年代,当罗斯科实现了跨越,他的画开始大卖♥♥
By the ’50s, when Rothko hits his stride, he starts to sell.
贝蒂帕森画廊代理他的作品,她办了一系列五人展
Betty Parsons Gallery represents him, and she does a series of
每个人都越来越成功
five shows, each of them more and more successful.
我上周步行回家,一对夫妇刚好路过
I was walking up to my house last week, and a couple was passing.
女士看到我家的窗户说:
The lady looks inside my window and says,
噢,谁会有那么多罗斯科的画
Ooh, I wonder who owns all those Rothkos.
就像那样,我成为一个名词,一个罗斯科
Just like that, I’ve become a noun… a Rothko.
一件商品,一个摆设,一个啥?
A commodity. An overmantel.A what?
一个壁炉架摆设,那些画不可避免地成为
The overmantels, you know, those paintings doomed to become
某个精致的阁楼壁炉上,那件可有可无的装饰
mere decoration over the fireplace in the fancy-schmancy penthouse.
噢,他们对你说:“我需要东西来搭配我的沙发
Oh, they say to you, “I need something to work with the sofa.
你明白吗?
You understand?
“要欢快明亮一些,衬托早餐区域,最好是橙色的
“Something bright and cheery for the breakfast nook, which is orange.
这是宣威(油漆品牌)的色卡
Here’s a paint chip from the Sherwin-Williams.
噢,你能把它切小吗?这样比较适合壁橱
Oh, and can you chop it down to fit the sideboard?
一座公园大道上漂亮的现代建筑
an amazing modernist building on Park Avenue,
在这座现代主义杰作里
and within this modernist masterpiece,
需要有一个核心
there’s going to be a beating heart
那个核心将会是四季餐厅
and it’s gonna be a restaurant called The Four Seasons.
设计师菲利普约翰逊来找罗斯科
And architect Philip Johnson went to Mark Rothko and said,
他说,你能为我们的餐厅创作一系列壁画吗?
Why don’t you create a series of murals that could go in our dining room?
委托费是三万五千美元,在1958年
The commission was $35,000, and in 1958,
那是一笔巨款
that was a huge amount of money,
成为美国有史以来最高的艺术委托费
reputed to be the most an artist had ever been paid in America
标的是一个作品系列,我的第一次壁画
for a series of works. My first murals.
想象环绕一个房♥间的带状壁画,所有墙壁组成了
Imagine a frieze all around the room, a continuous narrative filling
一个连续的叙事,每面墙一个章节
the walls one to another, each a new chapter,
故事徐徐展开
the story unfolding.
你看,它们在那儿,无法阻挡,无法逃避
You look, and they are there, inescapable and inexorable.
在所有能联♥系♥上马克·罗斯科的委托人当中
I mean, of all the patrons who could have approached Mark Rothko,
菲利普·约翰逊是独一无二的,他在美国的艺术设计界,
Philip Johnson was unique because he was a provocative voice
是一个煽动和挑衅的存在,罗斯科非常崇拜他。
in American design and American art, and Rothko admired him greatly.
对他来说,论现代艺术创作
So for him, it was the perfect combination of voices
这是个完美的组合
creating modern art.
西格拉姆画作,
The Seagram paintings,
是艺术家使用极少颜色的试验,
they’re an artist experimenting with much less colour.
这对艺术家来说非常有挑战性
This is an enormous challenge for an artist to take on,
对于以用色而闻名的艺术家来说
an artist that’s known primarily for colour.
他在做的创作非同寻常
He’s doing something very different,
我觉得那些壁画对他是一项艰难的工作
and I think they must have been very hard for him.
双方在委托工作的沟通上存在一些误解
There is some question about what he was told, what he understood
对于那家餐厅的定位和性质
about what the nature of that restaurant was going to be.
罗斯科认为那餐厅是供员工用餐的房♥间
His story was that he would be painting for an employees’ dining room and,
作为一个资深社♥会♥主♥义♥者,
as an old Socialist, that made him feel, you know,
他觉得义不容辞,但我认为他知道更多信息
reasonably comfortable, but I think he may have known more than that.
1959年秋天,在壁画完成后,
In the fall of 1959, they were invited to dinner at the restaurant,
他们受邀去餐厅用餐,我记得当他们回到家
which since then had been completed, but I remember their coming home.
父亲对餐厅十分失望
My father was so upset by his visit to the restaurant
他大声吵着说,他一定要撤销委托工作
that he came in yelling, you know, that he was absolutely going to
而母亲在试图劝他冷静下来
withdraw from this, and I’m sure my mother was trying to calm him down.
菲利普?我是罗斯科
Philip? This is Rothko.
听着,我昨晚去餐厅了,我告诉你
Listen, I went to the restaurant last night, and let me tell you,
所有在那儿花那么多钱吃那些菜的人
anyone who eats that kind of food for that kind of money
在那种场合绝对不会看我的画的。
in that kind of joint will never look at a painting of mine.
现在,我会全额退款,我要收回我的画
Now, I-I-I’m sending the money back, and I’m keeping the pictures.
对…无意冒犯。
Ye… No offence.
对,就这么定了,祝你好运,老兄
Yeah, well, this is the way it goes. Good luck to you, buddy.
我觉得那通电♥话♥是个解脱
I think there must have been a liberation in that call,
认识到自己最真实的一面
in realising it was the truest version of himself.
我父亲除了原则一无所有,他最在意的是他作品的处境,
My father was nothing if not principled, and ultimately he cared
他所要通过画作所传达的信息
more about the well-being of his artwork and the expressive message
这些东西远比获得西格拉姆的委托重要
that he was trying to bring than the prestige of having
甚至在他非常缺钱的时候,35000美元的巨款也可以放弃
the Seagram commission and even the $35,000, which he sorely needed.
就这样,那些他辛苦画了好几个月,
And so those murals, which he had laboured on for months
不断推♥翻♥重来的壁画,就放进了储藏室。
and started again and rebuilt just went into storage.
很快就束之高阁了
They effectively were hidden.
我认为西格拉姆壁画事件定义了罗斯科
I think the Seagram mural process helped define Rothko
作为一个独♥立♥的个体
as an individual.
回归到他身为一个艺术家的质疑、政♥治♥和现实中,
It comes back to his questioning, his politics, and his reality
一个潦倒的艺术家,
as an artist, the artist as underdog,
社会边缘人,一位观察者
as thorn in the side of society, as observer.
196♥4♥年,父亲受休斯顿的梅尼尔家族委托
In 196♥4♥, my father was commissioned by the de Menil family of Houston
创作一个项目,后来成为“罗斯科小教堂”
to create what was then going to be a Catholic chapel
位于休斯顿的圣托马斯大学校园里
on the University of St. Thomas campus in Houston.
我认为父亲认同约翰和多米尼克的理解力
I think my father felt that John and Dominique really understood
他们理解父亲对于艺术的严肃性
his seriousness as an artist and
以及隐匿画作中的深层次含义和内容
the deeper meaning or the deeper content behind his paintings.
”在每个层次上,都能体验那种宏伟,理解这项工作的意义
“The magnitude on every level of experience and meaning of the task
在其中,你引导我超越自己所有的局限
in which you have involved me exceeds all my preconceptions,
引导我,将自我的边界扩展到
and it is teaching me to extend myself beyond what I thought
我无法想象的地方
was possible for me.
因所有这一切,我衷心感谢你。“
For this, I thank you.
无疑,这对他是个极高的赞誉
It must have been a huge compliment to him.

你的评论可以尖锐,也可以湿疣!