RM, Boy Band Superstar, Embraces New Role: Art Patron

　SEOUL — RM, the leader of?the South Korean pop group BTS, first visited Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan?to perform for Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show.”

　首爾——那是防彈少年團（簡稱BTS）的隊長RM第一次來到曼哈頓中央車站，為吉米·法倫的《今夜秀》擔(dān)任表演嘉賓。

?　It was early 2020, before the?coronavirus lockdown, and in middle of the night, joined by a?sizable?dance?crew, BTS’s seven members put on?a raucous display?for their single “ON” in the?otherwise?empty hall.

　時值2020年初，新冠封鎖尚不存在，到了午夜時分，BTS的七名成員就與一群數(shù)量相當(dāng)可觀的舞者一起，在除了他們之外空蕩蕩的車站大廳里為宣傳他們的單曲《ON》進行了一番喧鬧的表演。

　Late last year, RM returned as a civilian. “It felt really strange to?be in Grand Central for the second time with so many people,” he told me one recent afternoon, sitting in the Seoul headquarters of?Hybe, the entertainment firm behind the boy band.?

　去年年底，RM以普通人的身份重回了一趟紐約?！暗诙紊硖幹醒胲囌荆磉呌心敲炊嗳?，感覺真的很奇怪，”不久前的一天下午，他在Hybe首爾總部對我說道，這家娛樂公司是BTS的經(jīng)紀(jì)方。

　This time, he said, “I went with my friends, and I’m just a visitor?buying tickets.” They?jumped aboard?a?Metro-North?train headed to?Dia Beacon,?the?Minimalist art Xanadu in the Hudson Valley.?

　他說這回“我是跟朋友來的，只是買票的游客”。他們登上了一列開往迪亞畢肯美術(shù)館的大都會北方鐵路列車，這是坐落于哈德遜河谷的一處極簡主義藝術(shù)仙境。

　“It’s a?utopia,” he said. A room there is devoted to his favorite artist,?On Kawara, who spent his career making?austere?darkly colored paintings?that?bear?the date of their?creation?in white text.

　“它是一處烏托邦，”他說。他最喜歡的藝術(shù)家河原溫在那里有一個主題展廳，后者在藝術(shù)生涯中一直在創(chuàng)作深色背景上用白色文字寫上創(chuàng)作日期的簡潔畫作。

　Dia was the latest stop in?a far-ranging art journey?that RM, 27, has been on over the past few years as he has been building an art collection and thinking about opening an art space. BTS’s fervent fans (who call themselves Army) have used his social-media posts and press reports to follow after him, boosting attendance?at the places that he hits.?

　迪亞畢肯美術(shù)館是27歲的RM過去幾年涉獵廣泛的藝術(shù)之旅的最新一站，他一直在打造自己的藝術(shù)收藏，并考慮開設(shè)一處藝術(shù)空間。BTS的狂熱粉絲（以Army自稱）依靠他的社交媒體動態(tài)和媒體報道追隨他，因此，他所到之處的人氣也被推高。

　The veteran dealer?Park Kyung-mee?credits the singer and rapper with making art more accessible to the general public. “He is throwing away the kind of barrier between?the art institutions?— galleries and museums — and younger people,” she said in an interview at her gallery, PKM, in Seoul.

　資深藝術(shù)商樸京美（音）認(rèn)為，這位歌手兼說唱樂手讓藝術(shù)更容易為大眾所接受。“他正在破除畫廊和博物館等藝術(shù)機構(gòu)與年輕人之間的那種壁壘，”她在自己位于首爾的畫廊PKM接受采訪時表示。

　RM has also been embracing the role of art supporter, loaning a terra cotta sculpture of a horse?by the Korean artist?Kwon Jin-kyu?to a Seoul Museum of Art?retrospective that ran until May, and in 2020 donating 100 million won (about $84,000 at the time) to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA)?so that it could reissue out-of-print art books?and distribute them to libraries.?

　RM也一直在扮演藝術(shù)支持者的角色，把韓國藝術(shù)家權(quán)鎮(zhèn)圭的陶瓦馬匹雕塑借給了首爾美術(shù)館舉辦的一場回顧展（該展覽一直持續(xù)到5月）；并在2020年向韓國國立現(xiàn)代美術(shù)館(MMCA)捐贈了一億韓元（當(dāng)時約合8.4萬美元），使其能夠重新發(fā)行絕版藝術(shù)書籍，并將之分發(fā)給各個圖書館。（哇哦）

　Arts Council Korea, a government-affiliated body, subsequently named him an Art Sponsor of the Year. “We are very happy that RM, who has a high global influence, is an art lover,” the MMCA’s director, Youn Bummo, said in an email.

　韓國文化藝術(shù)委員會這家政府機構(gòu)后來將他評為年度藝術(shù)贊助人?！拔覀兒芨吲d看到全球影響力極高的RM是一位藝術(shù)愛好者，”MMCA負(fù)責(zé)人尹范模在郵件中表示。

　That global influence has almost unfathomable reach.?BTS’s YouTube channel?has over 70 million subscribers (another K-pop act,?Blackpink, is the only artist with more), and RM’s Instagram alone has 37 million followers. (The MMCA’s has 200,000.)?

　他的全球影響力幾乎深不可測。BTS的YouTube頻道的粉絲數(shù)超過7000萬（另一個K-pop人氣團體Blackpink是唯一一個粉絲數(shù)超過他們的藝人團體），單是RM的Instagram賬號就有3700萬粉絲（MMCA有20萬）。

　A 35-minute?vlog?that he recorded about his visit to?the Art Basel fair in Switzerland?this past summer has racked up almost 6 million views. For the insular, impenetrable world, he may be a dream ambassador.

　去年夏天，他錄制了一段35分鐘的視頻博客，講述了自己參觀瑞士巴塞爾藝術(shù)展的經(jīng)歷，收獲了近600萬的點擊量。對于這個與世隔絕且難以逾越的領(lǐng)域，他或許是最理想的大使。

　Which makes it remarkable that?his passion for visual art came about through “serendipity, more of an accidental encounter,” said RM, whose given name is Kim Namjun. (He adopted the stage name formally in 2017 to replace the moniker Rap Monster.)?

　真名為金南俊的RM說，難得的是，他對視覺藝術(shù)的熱情來自于“機緣巧合，更像是一次意外的邂逅”。（他在2017年正式使用了這個藝名，代替了“Rap Monster”的綽號。）

　He grew up near Seoul, and his parents “did take me to museums, but I don’t think I enjoyed it that much,” he said.?

　他說，自己在首爾附近長大，父母“也帶我去過博物館，但我并不是很喜歡”。

　Sitting in his hotel room while on tour in 2018, deciding what to do during some downtime, RM opted to venture to the Art Institute of Chicago. Paintings by Seurat and Monet captivated him.

　在2018年的巡演中，RM坐在酒店房間里，思考在休息時間可以做些什么，他決定去芝加哥藝術(shù)學(xué)院看看。修拉和莫奈的畫作深深吸引了他。

　“It was almost like Stendhal syndrome,” he said, referring to the condition whereby art induces physical symptoms in a viewer, like lightheadedness or?a quickened heart rate. It was a shock to see works that he knew from reproductions in person. “It was like: wow. I was looking at these art pieces, and it was an amazing experience.”

　“我像是犯了司湯達綜合征，”他指的是藝術(shù)引發(fā)觀賞者出現(xiàn)的身體癥狀，比如頭暈或心跳加速。親眼見到所知復(fù)制品的真跡，令他震驚不已?！熬拖袷恰靺?。當(dāng)時我看著這些藝術(shù)品，真是一種超凡體驗?！?/span>

1817年，法國大作家司湯達來到意大利，在佛羅倫薩終日沉醉于歐洲文藝復(fù)興運動時期的大師杰作。一天，他到圣十字教堂參觀米開朗基羅、伽利略和馬基雅維利的陵墓，剛走出教堂大門，突然感到頭腦紛亂，心臟劇烈顫動，每走一步都像要摔倒。醫(yī)生診斷這是由于頻繁欣賞藝術(shù)珍品使心理過于激動所至，這種因強烈的美感而引發(fā)的罕見病癥從此被稱為"司湯達綜合癥"。

　Anytime the subject turned to art, the already energetic musician got especially excited; he was with an interpreter, but he usually switched to English (he is very fluent, and has said?that he learned watching “Friends”). “I quit my studying when I was 17 because of this BTS thing, because I was a trainee,” he said, listing off all the practice that involved.?

　只要話題轉(zhuǎn)到藝術(shù)，這位本就充滿活力的音樂人會變得更加興奮；他身邊有口譯員，但一般他會改說英語（說得非常流利，他表示自己是看《老友記》學(xué)的）。“因為BTS，因為我是一名練習(xí)生，我17歲就放棄了學(xué)業(yè)，”他說道，并列出了他要參與的大量訓(xùn)練。

　“But after 10 years, I met art, and I started to read the books again —?seriously.” He is?charismatic?and a quick study, and you could imagine him being?an effective politician?or?a beloved,?slightly eccentric professor.

　“但在十年后，我遇到了藝術(shù)，又開始看書了——很認(rèn)真地看?！?span id="s0sssss00s" class="color-pink-03 font-size-12">他很有魅力，而且學(xué)得很快，可以把他想象成一名高效的政治人物，或是一位受人愛戴但有點古怪的教授。?

　From an early?age, RM was collecting: stamps, coins, Pokémon cards, rare stones (“not expensive ones”) and then toy figures. A large KAWS?“Companion”?stands in his art-filled recording studio at Hybe, but much of his art is older.?

　RM從小就熱愛收集：郵票、硬幣、“精靈寶可夢”卡片、稀有寶石（“并不貴”），還有玩具人偶。他在Hybe充滿藝術(shù)氣息的個人錄音室里，擺著一個KAWS“伙伴”的大型人偶，但他收集的大部分藝術(shù)品都很有年頭。

　A?George Nakashima?table holds his computer workstation, which has a spare abstract painting?by?Yun Hyong-keun?— just three luminous masses of paint — hovering behind it. A wall is hung with more than 20 works, many by key 20th-century Korean artists like Park Soo Keun, Chang Ucchin and Nam June Paik.

　一張喬治·中島的桌子上放著他的電腦工作站，后面是一幅尹亨根的抽象簡畫——只有三個鮮亮的色塊。有一面墻上掛了20多件作品，其中很多都是20世紀(jì)韓國重要藝術(shù)家的作品，比如樸壽根、張旭鎮(zhèn)和白南準(zhǔn)。

　Touring abroad underscored for RM that “my roots are in Korea,” he said, and he has centered his collecting on artists from home, particularly of the generations that lived through the Korean War, military dictatorship and immense economic precarity.?

　RM說，出國巡演讓他更清楚地意識到，“我的根在韓國”，而他的收藏也集中于國內(nèi)的藝術(shù)家，尤其是那些經(jīng)歷過朝鮮戰(zhàn)爭、軍事獨裁和經(jīng)濟嚴(yán)重動蕩時期的人。

　These artists remain too-little-known beyond their country. (Other idols have preferred well-recognized blue-chip artists, dealers told me.) “I was able to feel their kind of sweat and blood,” RM said, relating to them as “human beings that were trying to present their artworks in the world.”

　這些藝術(shù)家在國外仍然鮮為人知。（藝術(shù)商都告訴我，其他偶像都更喜歡廣為人知的熱門藝術(shù)家。）“我能感受到他們的血與汗，”RM說，將他們稱為“努力將自己的藝術(shù)作品呈現(xiàn)于世間的人”。

　The BTS leader comes across as an old soul. Asked to define his taste, he mentioned being drawn to?art about “eternity, and that comes because of this fast and hectic aura from this K-pop industry.” His interest is in the past, but he has been trying to learn about newer art. (His?solo music, in stark contrast, has a bracingly of-the-moment, even experimental, texture.)?

　這位BTS隊長給人的感覺很老成。當(dāng)被問及藝術(shù)品位時，他提到自己會被關(guān)于“永恒”的藝術(shù)所吸引，“因為K-pop行業(yè)的氛圍是快速而匆忙的?！彼呐d趣在過去，但他一直嘗試了解更新的藝術(shù)。（與此形成鮮明對比的是，他的獨唱作品有一種當(dāng)下令人振奮的甚至堪稱實驗性的質(zhì)感。）

　He posted from a summer show at the N/A space organized by the emerging gallerist?Dooyong Ro,?who said that some assumed that the star had bought the work photographed in his post.?

　他在嶄露頭角的畫廊經(jīng)營者盧斗永（音）組織的N/A空間的夏季展上發(fā)帖，盧斗永說，有人以為這位大明星買下了帖子中的作品。

　Not so. Still, RM’s post brought in visitors, even without identifying the location by name, and the ever-assiduous Army found the?Instagram?of Ro’s own space,?Cylinder, he said. “How did they know about this?”

　事實并非如此。RM的帖子雖然沒有寫明地點，但還是吸引了不少來訪者，而且盧斗永說，一直勤奮追星的“Army”找到了他個人的藝術(shù)空間“Cylinder”的Instagram賬號?！八麄冊趺催B這都知道？”?（hhh阿米就是這么牛）

　Surrounded?by the work of deceased greats, “I feel like they’re watching me,” RM said. “I’m motivated. I want to be a better person, a better adult, because there is this aura that is coming from these artworks on display.”?

　被已故偉大藝術(shù)家的作品所環(huán)繞，“我感覺他們在看著我，”RM說。“我受到了很大鼓舞。因為展出的這些藝術(shù)品散發(fā)出的一種氣場，讓我想成為一個更好的人，更好的成年人?！?/span>

　When he is feeling “tired or let down, I sometimes stand there and have a conversation” with them, he said. Standing in front of a spare painting by Yun, he might ask, “Mr. Yun, it’s going to be OK, right?”

　他說，當(dāng)他感到“疲倦或失落，我有時會站在那里和他們聊天”。站在尹亨根的一幅簡畫前，他可能會發(fā)問，“尹先生，一切都會好的，對吧？”（哇哦）

　RM is?mulling his future. Mandatory military service is on the horizon. (The band’s members are spending time on solo projects right now, though their label has been emphatic that BTS is not on hiatus.)?

　RM正在考慮他的未來。強制兵役即將到來。（雖然唱片公司一直強調(diào)BTS并未中斷團體活動，但該樂團成員目前都在追求個人發(fā)展。）（刀了 嗚嗚嗚）

　A couple months back, RM told?Marc Spiegler,?the global director of Art Basel, on the fair’s podcast, that he was thinking about opening an art space of some kind.?

　幾個月前，RM在巴塞爾藝術(shù)展的播客上對該展覽的全球總監(jiān)馬克·斯皮勒表示，他在考慮開設(shè)某種藝術(shù)空間。

“I want it to be really quiet and calm, but it must still look cool, like Axel,” he told me, name-checking?the Belgian designer, antiquarian and gallerist?Axel Vervoordt?(also a favorite of one of RM’s musical inspirations, Kanye West).

　“我希望那會有非常寧靜、平和的感覺，但看起來必須很酷，就像阿塞維爾一樣，”他告訴我，特別提到了比利時設(shè)計師、古董商及畫廊經(jīng)營者阿塞維爾·伍德（還有RM最中意的音樂靈感來源之一——坎耶·韋斯特）。

　That space is still some ways off, but RM imagines?a ground-floor cafe and exhibition areas above showing Korean and international artists in ways that appeal to the young. “I think that there’s something that I can offer as an outsider of the art industry,” he said.

　這個空間距離成為現(xiàn)實還有很遠，但RM設(shè)想在一樓開一家咖啡廳，樓上是展示韓國和國際藝術(shù)家的區(qū)域，要拿出能吸引年輕人的辦法。“我想，作為藝術(shù)圈的局外人，我是可以帶來一些東西的，”他說。（想做的都去做吧）

　He may be able to claim outsider status only for so long. He recently added one of Roni Horn’s?cast-glass cylinders?— in a spectral, semi-translucent white — to his collection, and he is becoming recognized as?an art expert.?

　他聲稱自己是局外人的機會可能也不多了。最近，他將羅尼·霍恩的壓鑄玻璃圓柱體——一種幽靈般半透明的白色——加入了自己的收藏，他也正在成為公認(rèn)的藝術(shù)專家。

　Ms. Park, the established Seoul dealer, said that he has found texts about Yun that her gallery did not have in its archives.

　首爾的知名藝術(shù)商樸京美說，他所發(fā)現(xiàn)的尹亨根文本是她的畫廊檔案所沒有的。

　(She represents the Yun estate, and became Army a few years ago, before she met RM. “I started to study them through YouTube,” she said. “There is so much content. It really requires a long, long time to master.”)

?。ㄋ?strong>尹亨根遺作的代理，幾年前成為了“Army”，后來她認(rèn)識了RM本人。“我開始通過Youtube了解他們，”她說，“內(nèi)容太多了。真需要很長的時間才能掌握。”）

　Yun had a harrowing life, as RM recounted to me. Imprisoned four times for political reasons, he narrowly escaped execution on one occasion. In his 40s, he began making meditative paintings by spreading?large swaths of diluted, ink-like umber and blue paint across?linen or canvas. “It is a complete kind of combination of Western and Eastern, or Asian or Korean styles,” RM said.

　正如RM向我講述的那樣，尹亨根的一生很悲慘。他曾因政治原因四次入獄，有次險些遭到處決。40多歲時，他開始在亞麻布或帆布上涂抹大量稀釋過的墨色和藍色顏料，創(chuàng)作冥想式畫作?！斑@是一種西方和東方，或者說亞洲或者韓國風(fēng)格的完美結(jié)合，”RM說。

　Does he have a favorite era of the artist’s work? “I started really liking his works from the ’70s, his paintings, but now I’m so into him, his world, his artwork, that I love everything. I’m not objective anymore,” RM said. “That’s what we call a fan.”

　他最喜歡這位藝術(shù)家那個時期的作品呢？“一開始我非常喜歡他在上世紀(jì)70年代的作品，他的繪畫，但現(xiàn)在我已經(jīng)深深沉迷于他，他的世界，他的藝術(shù)，我喜歡他的一切。我已經(jīng)不再客觀了，”RM說。“這就是我們所說的粉絲了。”