Not all art necessarily makes an appeal to the visual senses, but let's say that most of it does.
并非所有的艺术品都必须在视觉上吸引人但大多数是这样的
So it might seem unnecessary or unnecessarily elementary to say so,
这样说也许显得有些多余
but sometimes it's worth reminding ourselves that art is something meant to be seen primarily,
但是有时这一点会提醒我们艺术首先是供人欣赏的
that the appeal that makes to our intellect and emotions, our attention, is achieved through visual stimuli
也就是说艺术对于我们智力 情绪和注意力等方面的影响是来自感官的刺激
and that's a different animal than other things, than writing or music.
这是一种完全不同的影响 相较于写作或者音乐

The eyes are capable of incredibly subtle perceptual distinctions that happen at an unconscious level.
不可思议的是我们的眼睛能够无意识地识别微妙的感知差异
So the act of looking consciously is the really partly a matter of paying attention to what when we really look at something.
所以有意识地看 这个动作其实是在某种程度上我们在分析我们所注视的东西
Because the… Another way of putting it is to think about drawing,
因为……换一种说法 想象一下绘画
if you've ever taken a drawing class or you've ever even read a book about how drawing is taught,
如果你以前上过绘画课或者看过关于如何教人画画的书的话
the first most elementary lesson is usually a demonstration of the difference between what you see in front of you and what you think you see.
最基础的一课通常是描述一下摆在你面前你所看到的东西和你认为你看到了什么之间的不同之处
The first attempts at drawing something from life, from perception, invariably involve distorting what's actually in front of you
最开始尝试画一些生活中或认知中的东西 总是会将你实际上看到的东西画得失真
because the brain intercedes with the eye and gives false information.
因为大脑会干扰视觉判断给出错误的信息
For example, we know that the head has two eyes a nose and a mouth so we will draw it that way
比如说 我们知道人头上有两个眼睛一个鼻子一个嘴巴然后我们就那样画
even if in fact we don't see both eyes equally or we don't see depending upon our point of view
即使我们实际上没有同时看到两只眼睛 或者我们没有基于我们对人脸的认知
we'll see a partial representation of what the brain thinks of as reality.
结果画出来的是有代表性的局部 但大脑认为是那即是真实
So this is a long way around of saying that the way to approach the visual world is to take in the information and let it work on your cortex, without, well it's impossible to say without
所以说来话长接近真实的视觉世界的方法是 收集信息 让其在脑皮层中发酵 不用（去深究） 好吧 那是不可能的
but while trying to stay neutral in terms of what we think we know because part of the confusion surrounding contemporary art is
但应试图让自己的认知保持中立 因为人们对当代艺术感到不解
we know it's laden with meaning and we go to it intent on ferreting out the meaning,which sometimes happens in advance of doing the actual looking.
部分原因是我们知道它承载着意义 有时在我们认真观看艺术品之前 我们就怀着试图找出意义的心态
When I say that ideally one should approach art with a visually neutral kind of screen that visual neutrality is, of course, a kind of cultural impossibility.
理想情况是 人们应该带着视觉的中立去理解艺术品 视觉中立 当然 在现代的文化生活中是不可能的
None of us are neutral nor could we ever be and probably nor should we be.
没有人是中立的 或曾经可以中立 也许我们也不应该中立
When I say one should approach art with a neutral eye what I mean is to try to log, in your brain to log what's there physically in terms of what was made in advance of reaching for what the thing might or might not mean.
当我说一个人应该在看艺术品时保持视觉中立 我是指试着去观察 用心地观察 看看这些艺术品的本身 在想它有什么或没有什么意义之前
So if you're looking at a portrait, let's say what is a portrait?
所以如果你看着一副肖像画 先说说什么是肖像画
A portrait is a painting of a face.
一副肖像画是指一副画了人脸的画
Of course the face is the subject but the way the face is painted,
当然 人脸是一个客观物体 但是它被画下来的方式
the way the portrait is presented to us in its specificity is more important as art than who it's a portrait of.
肖像画独特的呈现方式 从艺术层面来讲比画中人更重要
It's probably not possible to view art without the filter of 17 different kinds of cultural filters.
不带文化偏见地观看艺术也许是不可能的文化偏见有17种
I don't think that that would be - probably that would require the equanimity of a Buddha,
我不认为那是也许那需要佛祖的镇定
however what I'm suggesting and what I'm advocating in the book is simply to devote some of one's attention to the physical fact of what is in front of us, the physical fact of what was made;
然而 我在书中所建议和提倡的 仅仅是对眼前物体的物理性质给予一定的关注 它是什么做的
how it was made; what materials we used; how was it done kind of question as opposed to what it's a representation of.
怎么做的 用了什么材料 它是怎么创造出来的 而不是想它象征着什么
This kind of attention is what used to be called formalism, which I think is a little bit of a misnomer
这种关注常常被称作形式主义 我认为这有点用词不当
and it has been I think unfairly or unusefully demonized as something either culturally aloof or simply not interesting.
它被妖魔化成与文化不相关或无趣的东西 我认为那是不公正且徒劳的
But the first principles of in any field on any art form, music, architecture, literature,
但是我认为任何领域任何形式的艺术例如音乐 建筑 文学等都具有其首要准则
the first principles being how is it constructed, what is it construct of, those are the kinds of perceptual questions,
即如何构建以及构建的材料是什么 这些都是感知层次的问题
which anyone can ask themselves and be aware of without any cultural training.
任何人都会想到而且无需任何文化训练就能知道
The impulse to make art is a mysterious one. It still remains mysterious after many millennia.
总有一种神秘的力量驱使人们去创造艺术 即便过去了千万年它仍然存在
What is that impulse that compels someone to make an image of something on a two-dimensional surface or a three-dimensional form for that matter?
到底是一种什么样的力量驱使人们将某物用三维或者二维平面的方式描绘出来呢
I often think that the way to approach art is to imagine doing it for one's self, imagine what are the steps involved to make that thing that you're looking at.
我认为走进艺术的方式是想象这件艺术品是为自己而制作的 想象描绘你看到的事需要哪些步骤
What would you have to do if you were going to make that, whatever that is?
如果你要做成那个还必须要做什么 无论那是什么
Even things as banal as getting on the subway to go to the art supply store what do you have to buy?
也许是像坐地铁去艺廊这样平常的事 你必须要买什么？
What are the materials you have to buy?
你必须要买什么材料？
What kind of space do you need to be able to make that thing in?
你需要什么样的空间将那件事呈现？
In other words, one way to think about art is to imagine yourself as the artist;imagine yourself as the maker;
也就是说欣赏艺术的方式之一就是把自己当做那个艺术家或者制作者
put yourself in the artist's shoes so to speak and imagine the steps that one would have to go through.
把自己想象成是那个艺术家 也就是说想象一下你完成一件艺术品需要做哪些工作
Very much like when you read a cookbook and there's an illustrated step-by-step recipe that you follow,
这很像看食谱书里有详解的步骤 你可以照着做
first you have to put these ingredients in and then you have to preheat the oven.
首先你要将这些调料放进去 然后加热平底锅
Sometimes imagining the banal task like steps involved in the making something helps us to appreciate what it is that was made
有时将平常的工作想象成制作什么东西的步骤可以帮助我们去欣赏它是由哪些部分构成的
instead of looking at the results in a completely meaning laden kind of way.
而不是以一种全然承载意义的方式看待结果
I mean not to strain it to the breaking point
我是指不要强求到极限
but if the cooking analogy has any use at all,
但如果食谱的比喻有什么用
we don't ask a pie what does it mean we just ask does it taste good.
那就是 我们不会问一个派它有什么意义 我们只会问它好吃吗
And then if you're interested in how it stacks up next to other pies then you might ask yourself
如果你想知道为什么它跟其他的派的味道不一样 然后你可能问你自己
what was the recipe and why were there ingredients and what's different about those from some other ingredients?
秘密配方是什么 为什么用这些调料 这些调料与其它派的调料有什么不同
All of this is another way of saying that art is something that someone made and the human aspect of the making part of it is
所以这些只是以另一种方式说明艺术是人做出来的 正因为它们是人为的
I think the place where one can reliably go to both find a connection to the art and also to get closer to whatever the artist's emotional field might be.
我认为从这里人们可以可靠地 找到与艺术的关联 也可以更进一步地理解艺术家的可能出现的情感世界