I do see a white dot there, but that's... I don't know if that's supposed to be there.

我看到了一些白點，但是... 我不知道這些白點是不是本來就是作品的一部分。

It looks like something I would cook on, like a baking sheet.

看起來像是我拿來做菜的東西，像是張烘焙紙之類的。

Could be a lot of flies stuck to a bit of paper.

搞不好是想表達一堆蒼蠅被黏在一張紙上。

Yeah, 'cause I would put this down on my floor. My floor tiles.

好喔，我的話會把這個貼在我的地板上，當作地磚。

These people are describing Robert Ryman's painting "Bridge."

這些人口中描述的是 Robert Ryman 的繪畫作品《橋梁》。

It sold for $20.6 million at a Christie's auction in 2015.

這幅畫在 2015 年時於一場佳士得拍賣會上以兩億零六百萬美元的價格賣出。

How is an all-white painting considered art, and why would anyone shell out millions for something like this?

一幅被認為是一片空白的畫作怎麼會被認為是藝術傑作？又怎麼會有人會以如此高價買下這樣的作品？

There are a lot of these "white paintings."

世上其實有很多這種「空白畫作」。

Many people trace them back to Kazimir Malevich's 1918 work "White on White."

許多人認為 Kazimir Malevich 在 1918 年所創作的《白上加白》是一切的濫觴。

But there are many artists who created these kinds of paintings: Agnes Martin, Jo Baer, Josef Albers.

但還有許多其他的藝術家們也創作了這樣的畫作：Agnes Martin、Jo Baer、Josef Albers。

Most of these artists were associated with an art movement called Minimalism, which emerged in the late 1950s.

其中大多數的藝術家都與一個在 1950 年代末興起，叫做極簡主義的藝術運動有關。

When I say the Minimalists I mean Minimalism with a capital M, not a lowercase.

我所提到的極簡主義者是個藝術專有名詞，而不是一般指稱的極簡主義者。

This is Elisabeth Sherman, she's an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum in New York.

這位是 Elisabeth Sherman，他是紐約惠特尼美術館的助理策展人。

It's tempting to look at one of these paintings and think that some jerk just took a tube of white paint and spread it on a canvas—but it's not actually that easy.

雖然我們很容易會把這些畫作，當作某個調皮蛋拿個白色顏料隨便塗在一張畫布後交差了事的結果，但其實要創作這樣的作品並沒有那麼容易。

I mean mine rules, obviously, because I'm a f****** genius, but there's usually a lot more than meets the eye.

對我而言顯然是輕輕鬆鬆啦，畢竟我可是個他 O 的天才，不過這樣的作品其實潛藏著比看起來更多的意涵。

White isn't really a pure thing. White is always tinted in some way. Paint is made up of a variety of pigments.

白色其實並不是個純粹的顏色。白色永遠都依然有某種色調，因為顏料是用多種染劑所製作而成的。

If you've ever painted the walls of your house, you know how many different whites there are to choose from.

如果你曾經粉刷過自己家裡的牆壁，就能了解自己有多少種不同色調的白色油漆可以選擇。

And maybe if you only look at one it looks like pure white, but when you hold them up in an array you can see the subtle differences.

你在看其中一種的時候可能會覺得這就是最純的白色了，但當你把它與其他的白色油漆放在一起比較後，便能看出細微的差異。

It's blue, it's green, it's purple, it's warm, it's cold.

這個比較藍、那個比較綠、這個比較紫、那個比較偏暖色系、這個比較偏冷色系。

And when you get close—

而當你靠近看這種畫作時——

Hey!

嘿！

Not too close. There's a lot going on here.

別靠太近。其實你能看到許多細節。

Lines, texture, patterns, even color.

線條、筆觸、花樣，甚至是顏色。

There are a lot of subtle intricacies that make it more than "just a white canvas."

當中其實有許多錯綜複雜的細節，讓它不只是「一塊純白的畫布」而已。

Minimalist artists wanted their work to embody order, simplicity, and harmony.

極簡主義藝術家們想要他們的作品體現出秩序、純粹與和諧。

These artists began with these ideas as a rejection of abstract expressionism.

這些作家一開始這麼做的原因是對於抽象表現主義的反抗。

Abstract expressionism was a movement of artists in the 1940s and 50s, who thought that art should be gestural, expressive, and emotional, evoking the unconscious mind through movement and color.

抽象表現主義是一群藝術家在 1940 到 1950 年代時發起的藝術風格，他們認為藝術應該要飽含動作、表現自我且情感豐沛，藉此以行動與色彩激發出潛意識中的想法。

So if we think about Jackson Pollock as being kind of the abstract expressionist that many people think of,

例如 Jackson Pollock 這位許多人講到抽象表現主義便會想到的藝術家，

you can take that picture of him with the canvas on the floor of his studio, spilling paints everywhere,

我們可以看到他把畫布放在工作室地板上，把顏料灑得到處都是的那張照片，

and it's his gesture, it's his physical body, it's his arm, it's who he is as a person that's creating that canvas, that painting.

而這就是他的動作表現，這就是他的肢體與他的手臂，這就是他這個人，在這幅畫布上創作出這個作品的過程。

Minimalists weren't about that.

極簡主義者則不管這些。

All that paint splashing everywhere?

把顏料灑得到處都是？

No thanks.

不，謝了。

And there was a lot of desire to get away from that sensibility where the individual's expression was put into the canvas.

他們亟欲擺脫那種把個人情感寄託在畫布上的感性。

The idea was that the art object—be it sculpture or painting or installation—should kind of be as far removed from the author as possible.

他們的主張是藝術物件，不論是雕塑、繪畫或裝置，都應該盡可能地遠離作者本人的影響。

You can see what she means when you compare the two schools of art. Abstract expressionism. Minimalism.

你能藉由比較這兩個藝術學派的作品來搞懂他的意思。抽象表現主義。極簡主義。

Okay, you get it.

好啦，現在你應該懂了。

Minimalist artists stripped art of the burden of being about "something else."

極簡主義藝術家們把藝術從必須昇華成「別的東西」的負擔中解放出來。

They presented art not as an imitation of reality, but as an object unto itself.

他們不將藝術作品當作對現實的詮釋，而是獨立的物件。

Artist Frank Stella summed it up nicely when he said, "What you see is what you see."

藝術家 Frank Stella 用了一種很棒的方法作結：「見山便是山。」

One of my favorite things about modern art is the rage that it seems to provoke in some people.

我最喜歡現代藝術的其中一點，就是看到它能引起某些人的無能狂怒。

Cue videos of men freaking out:

以下就是一些人為此抓狂的景象：

I'm not gonna sit there and try to find a meaning in a red circle on a blank white canvas, 'cause I'm not gonna find any meaning!

我才不要浪費時間坐在那，然後試著找出一塊白色畫布上一個紅色圈圈背後的意涵，因為我絕對找不到什麼意義！

I may not understand art but I do understand the English language, and that's pretentious nonsense.

我或許不懂藝術，但我至少懂怎麼說英文，而這作品根本是個故弄玄虛的狗屁。

Did you see the painting that was just a white painting that had nothing on it?

你有看到那幅上面什麼都沒有的白色畫作嗎？

It's like super pretentious meets uber pretentious.

那簡直是超級無敵究極故弄玄虛的。

Modern art sets people off, and believe me when I say that I am here for it.

現代藝術會讓人抓狂，而我完全理解這種心態。

But with modern art, by definition every interpretation is genuine and legitimate and okay.

但在現代藝術領域中，從定義上來看任何對作品的詮釋都是真誠、正確且可接受的。

Or not! How about not?

或者根本不是這麼一回事！怎麼樣啊？

I love it.

我愛死這段了。

There's even an entire play about a group of lifelong friends who are torn apart when one of them buys an all-white painting for $200,000.

有一齣劇甚至就是在講一群畢生摯友們，因為其中一個人用二十萬美元買下了一幅純白畫作而分崩離析的故事。

With a very kind of absent blank painting, you have to do a lot more work in some ways than maybe you have to do with, let's say, pop art that has tons of obvious references,

面對如此缺少情報的空白畫作，與例如說普普藝術作品相比，你得要花上更多時間來解釋它，因為普普藝術作品有著大量明顯的參照物，

and you see the Coca-Cola or the American flag and you can say, I have all of these relationships with these objects with these brands with these things.

你可能會在上面看到了可口可樂或是美國國旗，然後能解釋這些元素與物件與品牌之間的關聯性。

Um, when you're looking at simply a square of white paint, you have to do a lot more work, but sometimes there maybe is something more rewarding in the end.

呃，但當你看著一大塊空白的畫作時，你得花上更多功夫去解析，但有時最後可能有著更豐厚的獎勵。

Another common reaction to modern art, specifically minimalist pieces like white paintings is, c'mon, say it with me now,

人們在評價現代藝術時還有一句常會說的話，特別像是在看到白色畫作這種極簡主義作品時。來吧，和我一起說出來：

"I could do that!". Good.

「這我也畫得出來啊！」很好。

Almost no matter what show I've worked on in my career, somebody has said that.

在我的工作生涯中，不論我在哪一個展場上工作，都會有人說一樣的話。

While there is a lot of skill in a lot of modern and contemporary art, there's also a lot of art that is more about the idea than it is about skill.

雖然現代與當代藝術中仍有許多技法，但在許多藝術作品中，背後隱藏的意涵比技法更加重要。

And so yes, you could do it, but you didn't.

所以，對啦，你畫得出來啦，但你沒有動筆畫啊。

Damn, Elisabeth.

歹喔，Elisabeth。

And that may sound obnoxious or flip, but the reality is is that once art begins to live just as much in the mind as it does in the eye,

雖然這聽起來可能有些粗魯或輕率，但現實就是在作品誕生了之後，其在心靈上對觀眾所產生的影響和視覺上的效果一樣重要，

you have to bring your ideas as well as your physical construction of the work.

你得要把想法和作品本身在實體上的表現都呈現出來才行。

White paintings are a fascinating kind of Rorschach test.

白色畫作就像是種令人驚豔的羅夏墨跡測驗一樣。

They offer viewers an ambiguous, I'm so sorry, but, canvas to project their own interpretations, emotions, beliefs, and stories onto.

他們提供觀眾一種曖昧的畫布 （我很抱歉），讓它們將自己的詮釋、情感、信仰與故事投射出來。

So if looking at a white painting makes you feel angry or excited or soothed, those are all valid responses.

所以不論你對一幅白色的畫作感到生氣、興奮或是安心，這些都是正常的反應。

But take a moment to think about why that was your response.

但記得稍微想想為什麼它們會讓你有這種感受。

It's very easy to be dismissive of things that we're not immediately attracted to.

我們很容易就會對一開始沒有立刻吸引到我們的東西感到排斥。

So if you have a kind of negative gut reaction, one of defensiveness or fear or anxiety or rejection, maybe try to move past that and see what's available afterwards.

所以如果你在直覺上感受到了負面的反應，可能是防禦心態、恐懼、焦躁或是抗拒，或許可以試著先跳過這幅作品，看看後面還有哪些作品。

And it doesn't have to change your mind, but it's sometimes the process of working through that reaction that you learn the most both about the work, but also about yourself.

就算這麼做還是沒辦法讓你改變想法，有時在處理這種情緒的過程中你不但能學習到關於那個作品的更多層面，還能更加瞭解你自己。