美国国家公共电台 NPR This New York Gallery Has An Unusual Age Limit: No Artists Younger Than 60

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Our special correspondent, Susan Stamberg, has been visiting an art gallery in New York. The Carter Burden Gallery is like plenty of other galleries with one important difference, and the difference tells you a lot about age discrimination in the art world.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE¹: So I'm 59 years old.

I'm playing make believe with gallery director Marlena Vaccaro.

And I have a wonderful painting, and I'd like to show it here. Would you take a look?

MARLENA VACCARO: I probably wouldn't take a look, but I would say there's good news and bad news. Good news is you're 59. Bad news is you're 59. Come back next year and, you know, that would be great.

STAMBERG: The Carter Burden is for artists 60 years old and older. The oldest is 95. No kids allowed. Why?

VACCARO: Older adults do not stop being who they are because they hit a particular age. Professional artists never stop doing what we do. And in many cases, we get better at it as we go along.

STAMBERG: What does change is the art market. With rare exceptions, artists who were hot when they started out found that galleries and certainly museums cooled to them as the years passed. They kept working but weren't being shown or bought. The Carter Burden mission is to give them a wall.

VACCARO: Because walls are the thing we need.

STAMBERG: Very few galleries represent older professional artists, Vaccaro says, unless they're really famous.

VACCARO: And I get that galleries are a business. They need to show artists that are going to bring in big bucks².

STAMBERG: Carter Burden is different. It's nonprofit, supported by a board a corporate³ sponsor and philanthropists.

VACCARO: And that allows us to show the work that is purely⁴ an aesthetic⁵ choice and not be concerned if I'm going to get $25,000 for a painting that sells. We could not do that if we had to survive just on the sale of the work.

STAMBERG: Three artists came by the day we were there. Nieves Saah, age 67 from Bilbao, Spain, has painted all her life.

NIEVES SAAH: Yes, my first show was in SoHo in '85. And I had like 28 paintings there. I sold a few. Then from that, I got many shows. So I think that year I was like in 15 shows.

STAMBERG: And then things slowed down, not much interest for 10 years. Nieves kept painting vividly⁶ colored cheerful oils, figures, fantasies. One day, she heard about Carter Burden and decided⁷ to apply online.

SAAH: I was in the show one month after I sent the application.

STAMBERG: A group show, two or three artists together, always at Carter Burden, also always and only artists who live in New York. Nieves has been in four or five shows now. She likes the concept - artists supporting one another, making community.

VACCARO: Tons and tons and tons of loyal people come.

STAMBERG: Again, Director Marlena Vaccaro.

VACCARO: All of the artists come out to support each other. Every artist brings their people in. Those people become your regulars. And it just builds and builds.

STAMBERG: Shows are up for three weeks, then there's a weeklong break, then another three-week show. Five-hundred people can turn up at openings. There's always wine, pretzels and chocolate. Visitors nosh, schmooze, buy. Artists get to know one another and see and comment on one another's work.

ELISABETH JACOBSEN: It is community. When you do your art work, you usually are alone.

STAMBERG: Elisabeth Jacobsen is 68, from Long Island. She does assemblage, puts wood, fabric⁸, various objects together in elegant three-dimensional works. She's exhibited pretty consistently since the late 1980s, and at Carter Burden, since 2014. But that took time.

JACOBSEN: When I first heard of the gallery, I sent an application but I was rejected and got one of these letters like, you know, in a couple years try again, blah, blah, blah, you know.

STAMBERG: She did and now shows and sells there often. Werner Bargsten is a newbie, had his first show this past October - stunning⁹, powerful sculptured wall hangings made with clay and copper¹⁰ tubing formed into what looked like wrapped packages. Werner had stopped doing art for 30 years. His career was making props¹¹ for TV and films. Retired¹² now, we spoke¹³ before his Carter Burden show opened.

WERNER BARGSTEN: I'm supposed to have expectations, but I don't have really expectations because I feel like, you know, I'm lucky to be here. Every day is - I'm lucky to be alive. I feel good. It'd be great to have a lot of people here and see the work. And my expectation, I guess, is to just show up, put the piece on the wall and have a cookie or a glass of - I can't have wine anymore. You know, no more wine. So that's it pretty much.

STAMBERG: Well, he sold some drawings, but there weren't any cookies. At 69, Bargsten is glad to be part of the Carter Burden over-60 crowd.

BARGSTEN: I mean, look. It's always harder to get out of bed the older you get. But most of the artists that I've met here seemed like they missed that memo¹⁴ that they were getting old. Most of them have the brains of a 20-year-old or a 30-year-old or something. So they haven't really aged¹⁵ in terms of their spirit.

STAMBERG: Isn't this ageist what you're doing here?

VACCARO: I think it's more a defense¹⁶ against ageism.

STAMBERG: Again, Director Marlena Vaccaro.

VACCARO: I think it's giving an opportunity to a group of people that have had the opportunity removed simply because of their age. Opportunities are few and far between at any gallery for any artist of any age. So I think we're trying to just right a wrong rather than get in the way of anyone else having an opportunity.

STAMBERG: It's such a lively, bustling¹⁷ place the Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea, makes you wish you'd get 60 quicker to be part of it. Making believe again, I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

5 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

6 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

9 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

10 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

11 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

12 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

15 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

17 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。