艺术的力量（2006）

would hang four and a half feet up on those walls,
在就餐者上方发出微光 吞噬着这些食客
looming over the diners, swallowing the swallowers.
他的愿望是用作品取代周遭的墙壁
His whole desire was to replace those restaurant walls altogether.
在这些苍白空洞的墙壁上代之以意义深远的事物
Something profound would happen to the vain and the shallow
而在食客们蘸着鱼子酱大嚼龙虾之时
as they tucked into their caviar and their lobster thermidor,
他们已经向艺术--他的艺术的力量投降了
as they surrendered to the power of art, his art.
1959年初 就像一个无所不能的魔术师一样
Early in 1959, like some omnipotent sorcerer,
罗斯科创作了“栗色上的红色”
Rothko painted Red on Maroon,
这是为四季餐厅创作的壁画中最生动的一幅作品
one of the most dramatic of the murals destined for the Four Seasons.
在他眼中 米开朗基罗的封闭的窗户激起了想象
With the vision of Michelangelo's blind windows burnt on his retina,
他则把自己的作品放在边上
he turned his paintings on their side.
不是竖直向上 而是水平放置向两边扩展
Instead of uprights, they were now expansive horizontals.
这些如同百叶窗般明暗交错的作品
What had been shutter-like bars of darkness and light
成为了有附载有某些东西的条柱状事物
became something akin to load-bearing columns.
它们载负的是人类的历史
And the load they were bearing was human history.
那年秋天 在大厦餐厅开业后过了几个月
That autumn, months after the glamorous opening,
罗斯科携夫人梅尔来此就餐
he and his wife, Mell, went to eat at the Four Seasons.
在罗斯科看来 一顿饭花费超过五块钱就是不道德的
Rothko was someone who thought it was immoral to spend more than five bucks on a meal,
经常一份中式外卖♥♥就能满足他
and was often perfectly happy with a Chinese takeaway,
越便宜越好
the cheaper the better.
但是当他们夫妇落座于百万富翁之间 他的心情与信心一点点的沉了下去
But as he sat among the millionaires with Mell, his heart and his confidence sank like a stone.
任何一个吃得起那种饭菜的人
Anybody who will eat that kind of food for that kind of money
都不会对我的作品看上一眼的
will never look at a painting of mine.
次日早晨 他观看了大约30幅作品
The next morning, he looked at the 30 or so paintings,
这些作品是多么的美丽动人啊
some of the most beautiful and moving things
它们的创作者不仅仅是罗斯科 还有其它现代主义艺术大♥师♥
not only Rothko but any modern artist had ever created,
他所看到的只有对这些作品的羞辱破坏
and saw only the ruin of a great project.
他的作品将不会悬挂在这里
His paintings would never hang in the Four Seasons.
曼哈顿挫伤了马克.罗斯科
Manhattan had beaten Mark.
抑或是艺术战胜了金钱
Or had art triumphed over money?
毕竟 我们所知道的许多艺术家中
After all, how many artists do you know
又会有几个会对250万美金说不呢
who would say no to two and a half million dollars?
罗斯科知道合约规定如果作品不再受欢迎的话
Rothko had made sure his contract gave him ownership of the pictures
这些作品的拥有权将属于他自己
if the job went sour.
看起来他好像很是期待那一天的到来
It was almost as if he always hoped that one day,
也许在其它某个地方
somewhere else perhaps, he would be able to resurrect his idea
他将会用自己的信念之力把那个地方变成自己的地方
to make a space his space.
那年过后 一位艺术馆馆长邀请他在德国的卡塞尔艺术节上展出自己的作品
Later that year, a curator came to invite him to exhibit in the Kassel art fair in Germany.
当我还很年轻的时候
When I was a younger man,
对于我来说 艺术是孤独的
art was a lonely thing.
无所谓什么画廊 什么收藏家
No galleries, no collectors,
也没有所谓的艺术评论
no critics.
当然也不涉及金钱
No money.
然而那却是我的黄金时代
Yet it was a golden age.
因为我们没有什么东西可失去 也没有什么东西期望去得到
For we all had nothing to lose and a vision to gain.
如今 事情不一样了
Today, it is not quite the same.
现在吹牛的人满天飞
It is a time of tonnes of verbiage,
人们活动频繁 消费繁荣
activity, consumption.
也许这种情况更适合于这个世界
Which condition is better for the world at large,
我并不想冒昧的去讨论这些
I will not venture to discuss.
但是我知道
But I do know
那些对这种生活趋之若鹜的人
that many of those who are driven to this life
他们的内心深处是渴求这些静默的作品蕴含的意境的
are desperately searching for those pockets of silence,
只有在那里扎根 我们才能成长
where we can root and grow.
我们必须都去期望着能够找到它们
We must all hope we find them.
这个认为艺术高于金钱的人给那个德国人提了个建议
The man who'd taken a stand for art over money made the German an offer.
他说 如果你肯为大屠♥杀♥赎罪去建一座小教堂
''If you build a chapel of expiation for the Holocaust,'' he said,
这应该很容易就能做到 我将为你免费创作一幅作品
''it need only be a tent, I'll paint you something for free. ''
这个提议没有成功
It never happened.
接下来的十年间
Mark Rothko spent the next ten years, all that he had left of his life,
罗斯科一直致力于寻找那个美丽的路边小教堂
searching for that perfect wayside chapel
在那里他能够实现在四季餐厅受挫的理想
where he could realise the vision that had been frustrated at the Four Seasons.
1961年在现代艺术博物馆的一场个人展出
A one-man show in 1961 at the Museum of Modern Art,
他每天都会去那里 他都会得到一些喝彩
which he went to every single day, brought him some cheer.
他的作品销♥售♥势头也很好
And his work was selling better than ever.
但是伴着成功 他的生活却日渐拮据
But with success, his life actually got shabbier.
他贪恋杯中之物 每天早上十点就开始开怀畅饮
His tippling, which began at 10:00 in the morning,
最终导致了严重的酒精中毒
developed into serious alcoholism.
而且他烟瘾很大 结果导致心肺功能受损
And his chain-smoking, a lifelong habit, brought him heart and lung problems,
他的第二次婚姻也破裂了
and his second marriage was breaking up.
他日渐忧郁 其作品也更加黑暗浓重了
Shadowed by melancholy, his work got darker and more intense,
正如现代主义艺术也渐渐的变得流行一样
just as modern art was going pop.
在罗斯科看来 对于通俗文化 绘画应该是另一个选择而不是其同谋
For Rothko, painting had always been an alternative to pop culture, not its accomplice.
但是现在看来这有点合乎了那些画廊的需求
But this seemed to be what the galleries wanted now.
独自创作绘画 15年来都是如此
Stuck in the mode of painting he'd been doing for 15 years,
他变得有些自闭易怒
he was defensive, angry.
所以当他摆脱了惯常的生活方式
So when he did break out of his old style,
他的作品开始变得黑暗起来 黑得就像得州的石油一样
it was to go raven black. As black as Texas oil.
得克萨斯最终提供了这个机会
Texas finally provided Rothko
在那里罗斯科终于实现了在四季餐厅受挫的事业
with the chance to realise the vision thwarted in the Four Seasons.
艺术资助人约翰和多米尼克.德.门奈尔
Art patrons John and Dominique de Menil commissioned him to produce a set of murals
委托他为将于1965年建成的一座位于休斯敦的教堂创作一系列壁画
for a chapel to be built in Houston in 1965,
他们没有什么要求 罗斯科可以放开手脚去做
giving Rothko freedom to install exactly what he wanted.
如果那些为四季餐厅创作的作品是在另一个世界做出的一种姿态的话
If the Four Seasons paintings were content to make a gesture at the other world,
休斯敦的这座教堂则会把你埋进一个坟墓
the Houston chapel buries you in a tomb.
喷洒的一罐罐墨水好像在说服我们
Tanks of ink have been spilled trying to persuade us
这里并不像坟墓本身那么黑暗
that this place is not as dark and funereal as it seems.
在罗斯科那些最伟大的作品之中
A systematic dimming of the light that had always burned intensely
都有这些系统性的微光在燃烧
in Rothko's greatest works.
但是 说实话 坐在这里 我们会感到欢快美丽吗
But, quite honestly, sitting here, do we feel bright and beautiful?
我可不确定
I'm not sure.
那些波浪般的边缘 光之火焰在燃烧跳跃
Those rippling edges, flaring with light,
它们曾给予罗斯科的作品如此多的动感 都不见了
which gave Rothko's pictures so much of their movement, have gone.
代替它们的是一片漆黑
In their place, an inky night
他好像是在创作的道路上在探索自己究竟能把光亮表现的多么黑暗
It's almost as though he's painting to see how dark he can make the light.
祝你好运
Good luck
还是晚安
and good night?
堕入无尽的黑暗里 他不停的画啊画啊
Then, into the blackness, in painting after painting,
出现了一条乳白带有灰色的闪光带
came a luminous zone of milky grey.
就像被月亮照亮的星球的轮缘
Like the rim of a planet lit by the moon.
罗斯科好像已经离开了
As if Rothko was already gone, off into deep space,
他驾奴着转瞬即逝的创造力进到了遥远的宇宙之中
presiding over the moment of creation.
他把光明从黑暗中 把地球从天堂中分离了出来
Dividing the light from the darkness, the earth from the heavens,
然后施以英雄般的烈火中的涅磐
bent on heroic self-cremation.
你看到了 我完全弄错了 在1970年的那个早上
So you see, I got it all wrong, that morning in 1970.
我曾经认为看了西格拉姆大厦的作品 就像是一次抽象的墓地之旅
I'd thought seeing the Seagram paintings would be like a trip to the cemetery of abstraction.
所有恭敬的尊重 只不过是一个死亡的结局
All dutiful reverence. A dead end.
再看看这个 你看到了什么
Look at this one. What do you see?
在两根柱子之间悬挂的一片幕帐
A hanging veil suspended between two columns?
抑或一个召唤或拒绝进入的入口
An opening that beckons or denies entrance?
再或一个封闭的窗户
A blind window?
对于我来说 这是一条通道
For me, it's a gateway.
如果那些入口锁上了的话
If some of those portals are blocked,
罗斯科谈论的其它那些通往未知空间的通道就会打开
others open into the unknown space that Rothko talked about,
艺术会引领我们通过
the place that only art can take us.
远离尘世的喧嚣
Far away from the buzzing static of the moment
去聆听动人的天体乐章
and towards the music of the spheres.
罗斯科为这些作品所做的每一件事情
Everything Rothko did to these paintings,
这些柱子似的形式在暗示而非吸引
the column-like forms suggested rather than drawn,
散在的墨斑都使作品显得是那么的暧昧
the loose stainings, were all meant to make the surface ambiguous.
如此的松散
Porous.
或许可以慢慢的渗透过去
Perhaps softly penetrable.
也许我们就是来自那个地方
A space that might be where we came from,
抑或我们将会在那里终结
or where we will end up.
它们不是在拒绝而是在召唤我们
They're meant not to keep us out, but to embrace.
那是来自一个高度称颂艺术的艺术家的称呼你为人类的呼唤
From an artist whose highest compliment was to call you a human being.
处在泰特现代博物馆的中心
Can anything be less cool than this room
世界上还有其它比此地更凉爽的地方吗
in the heart of Tate Modern?
远离同时代那些眼花缭乱的艺术风格
Further away from the razzle dazzle of contemporary art,
以及现世疯狂的拥挤喧嚷
the frantic hustle of now.
这不是关于现在 而是关于永恒