(gentle music) （柔和的音乐）
- [Steven] We're in the galleries -[史蒂文]我们在画廊里
of the Art Institute of Chicago, 芝加哥艺术学院的
and we're looking at a large painting. 我们正在看一幅大画。
It's brilliantly colored, and it's abstract. 它色彩鲜艳，而且是抽象的。
We wanted to spend a little time just looking. 我们只想花一点时间看看。
- [Sarah] And we want to think about ways -[萨拉]我们想想办法
in which those of us who maybe don't encounter abstraction 在我们当中可能没有遇到抽象的人
on a regular basis can find entry points. 可以定期找到入口点。
- [Steven] Abstraction can seem difficult. -[Steven]抽象似乎很困难。
It's easy to dismiss quickly, 快速解雇很容易，
and it really does take a little bit of our commitment 这确实需要我们的一点承诺
to make sense of it. 使它有意义。
- [Sarah] One of the things about abstraction -[Sarah]关于抽象的一件事
is that you benefit from taking your time. 是您从花费时间中受益。
So I'd like to have us just start 所以我想让我们开始
by glancing across the canvas 在画布上看一眼
and finding a color that stands out to you 找到适合您的颜色
and trace not only the color, 并不仅追踪颜色，
but the way the color is applied. 但是颜色的应用方式。
- [Steven] I'm looking at this beautiful bright blue. -[史蒂文]我在看这个美丽的亮蓝色。
You see traces of it in the top third of the canvas, 您会在画布的顶部三分之一处看到它的痕迹，
but then you see more in the central area 但随后您会在中心区域看到更多
and none of those lines are straight. 而且这些线都不是直线。
They seem like signatures. 它们看起来像签名。
They turn and reverse on themselves. 他们转向并扭转自己。
And while some of that blue exists on the surface, 虽然表面上存在一些蓝色，
some of it seems underneath, 有些似乎在下面
and all of a sudden, I'm aware of a kind of space. 突然之间，我意识到了一种空间。
Suddenly, this canvas doesn't feel flat to me. 突然，这块画布让我感到不舒服。
- [Sarah] There are places where I feel -[莎拉]我觉得有些地方
I couldn't even begin to get in between the brushstrokes; 我什至无法进入笔触之间。
they're so ensnarled with one another. 他们是如此相互困扰。
And then there are places which seem to open up, 然后似乎有一些开放的地方，
as if they expand back into space. 仿佛它们又膨胀回太空。
- [Steven] The denser central passages feel activated to me. -[史蒂文]密集的中央通道让我兴奋。
The word I would use is energy. 我会用的词是能量。
There seems to be a colliding of color and stroke and tone. 颜色，笔触和色调似乎发生了冲突。
- [Beth] I'm really drawn to the pink, -[Beth]我真的很喜欢粉红色，
which is largely underneath those blues that you noticed. 这很大程度上是在您注意到的那些忧郁之下。
- [Sarah] There's a section of the pink -[莎拉]有一段粉红色
that almost seems to reveal the linen, 几乎可以看出亚麻了
and then I start to look for that same feature elsewhere, 然后我开始在其他地方寻找相同的功能，
and I see it in other spots as well, 我在其他地方也看到了
with aqua, or blue, or yellow. 浅绿色，蓝色或黄色。
- [Beth] And some areas seem very intentional, -[贝斯]有些地方似乎是故意的，
where we can feel the movement of the artist's hand, 我们可以感觉到艺术家的手的运动，
and then other areas feel rather accidental, 然后其他地方感觉很偶然
where the paint is dripping down. 油漆滴下来的地方。
- [Steven] And so all of a sudden, -[Steven]突然之间，
this painting feels archeological, 这幅画有考古学的感觉，
as if we're able to reveal earlier moments 好像我们能够揭示更早的时刻
in its creative process. 在其创作过程中。
- [Sarah] Let's think about this title, "City Landscape." -[Sarah]让我们考虑一下“城市景观”这个标题。
When you look at the painting, 当你看这幅画时，
do you start to conjure up a memory of a city landscape? 您是否开始想起对城市景观的记忆？
- [Steven] The title is tricky for me, -[Steven]这个标题对我来说很棘手，
because it closes down the openness 因为它关闭了开放性
of the meaning of the painting. 绘画的意义。
It's a little bit like when you read a book. 有点像看书的时候。
You have your own ideas about what a character looks like, 您对角色的外观有自己的想法，
but then you go see the movie, 然后你去看电影，
and the director has made that decision for you. 导演已经为您做出了决定。
In an interesting way, you lose something. 您以一种有趣的方式失去了一些东西。
- [Sarah] But I want to challenge the idea -[莎拉]但我想挑战这个想法
that it can't also invite us in 也不能邀请我们参加
to bring our own personal interpretations 带来我们自己的个人解释
and let just the prompt of "City Landscape" 并仅提示“城市景观”
open up a new avenue for exploration of this painting. 为探索这幅画开辟了一条新途径。
- [Beth] There's such a variety in the application of paint. -[贝斯]油漆的应用有这么多种。
All of those differences make me think about 所有这些差异让我思考
the bombardment of all of the different kinds of things 轰炸所有不同种类的东西
that one experiences in a city. 那个人在城市里经历。
- [Steven] It's a kind of cacophony. -[史蒂文]这是一种刺耳的声音。
- [Sarah] There are different questions -[莎拉]有不同的问题
that this painting poses for us. 这幅画对我们构成的。
One of them is, how do we engage with abstraction? 其中之一是，我们如何参与抽象？
How do we understand it in the larger context 在更大的背景下我们如何理解它
of abstract expressionism? 抽象表现主义？
- [Steven] Joan Mitchell, although she comes from Chicago, -[Steven] Joan Mitchell，尽管她来自芝加哥，
goes to New York, eventually to Paris, 去纽约，最后去巴黎，
and has lived through the Second World War 并经历了第二次世界大战
and is spending time with abstract expressionists. 并花时间与抽象表现主义。
She is throwing off the yoke of representation 她摆脱了代表制的束缚
that had ruled painting for centuries, 统治了几个世纪的绘画，
and there was a tremendous assertion of freedom, 并且有巨大的自由主张，
of exploration, that existed at this historical moment. 在这个历史性时刻存在的探索。
- [Beth] For me, it's enormously pleasurable -[Beth]对我来说，这是非常愉快的
to stand and just look at the paint, 站起来，看着油漆，
and to imagine the brushstrokes 并想象一下笔触
and to indulge in the oranges and the yellows 并沉迷于橘子和黄色
and the blues and the pinks and the magentas 蓝调，粉红色和洋红色
and all the different kinds of grays and creams 以及各种不同的灰色和面霜
that we see. 我们看到的。
But it's also just as interesting to think about 但是，思考也同样有趣
why abstraction emerged in the United States 为什么抽象出现在美国
after World War II, what did it mean at that moment, 第二次世界大战之后，那是什么意思，
and those are questions 这些是问题
that are really interesting to consider. 真的很有趣。
- [Steven] And I think it can be useful, -[史蒂文]而且我认为这很有用，
when you look at abstract painting, 当你看抽象绘画时
to think about music without words. 想一想无言的音乐。
(upbeat music) （欢快的音乐）
In a sense, what an abstract painting is asking us to do 从某种意义上说，一幅抽象画要求我们做什么
is to be satisfied with composition, 要满足于构图，
color, brushwork, tonalities, the way that we're satisfied 颜色，笔法，色调，我们满意的方式
with notes and rhythms and harmonies in music. 音乐中的音符，节奏和和声。
Music doesn't always need words, 音乐并不总是需要文字，
and painting doesn't always need to represent something. 绘画并不一定需要代表某种东西。
It can simply sometimes just be itself. 有时它可能只是本身。
(gentle music) （柔和的音乐）