At the bar on Friday, I point out to my friend, Joe K., that the esteemed sculptor of David was gay, a notion he fights a bit. I tell him my first such inclination was when I saw how he rendered women - as muscle-bound burly men - and the idea was supported by allusions to his "infatuations" with pretty youths in historical accounts. Don't know that Vasari touched on that aspect, but the proof's in the work, People, if you're asking me.
In any case, he is impressed by the sculpture, and rightly so. Though I had little care for the decor of The Vatican when I saw it in 2001, The Pieta was positively stunning, and one of the few pieces of art that has provoked tears from me (Guernica's another, funny as I've never seen the original and I don't particularly care for Picasso). For that matter, I'm not really fond of Christian art generally, but the power of the gesture in the mother holding her dead child is something to see.
Joe, who is some kind of quirky artist, turns to me and says, how do you go about making something like that? "Well Joe, you get yourself a big hunk of marble, some tools, and about a decade of apprenticeship to a master..."
Joe interjects, "Naw, I'm goin' right in there!"
10 comments:
Who was the Sculptor that said "All you have to do is remove that which should not be there"?
I used to do a lot of Ice Carving; always wondered how it would be to do Marble.
steve - google produced nothing as an answer to your query. rats.
ice carving sounds fun and cleaner than marble, if impermanent. what did you make?
There are some really good Ice Sculptors out there...I was not one of them....i got to be really good at getting a lot out of the ice though, and looking at it multidimensionally. For instance,instead 0of carving a fish omn a wave or seawwed, i would cut the block into two pieces, making one the Seaweed and the other a fish which I would "Weld " back onto the seawwed....it gave me better "movement" and texture as opposed to the typical fashion.
Every body does the Swan; I got to ge good at Flowers; roses on thin stems were very nice, and Daisies were easy...
The one I kept trying to do and always fractured was a Horse, rared up on two legs, supported by a saguerro (sp) Cactus in back...I used a piece of scrap ice to increase the height of the Cactus...but I always managed to break him while working on the two front legs. Pretty aggressive, no?It was fun and very Physical...i always thought in a way marble might be easier because you have no time constraints... but I was really never enough of an artist to think much about it.
That is a real quote from a real sculptor, but I can't remember who, or his exact words.
Gobble-Gobble to you!
Steve - I was going to ask about the swan, but it seemed too Obvious, and my ego prevents me from indulging there consciously, though I'm sure I stumble into that territory all the time unwittingly.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, too. Hope Water Baby's back home and Rip's behaving!
That's the spirit, Joe!
I like seeing the drawing of myself in the little box to right >
Agreed. I've seen the Pieta or whatever in person. Pretty damn stunning.
A frind of mine jus got back from the mediterranian - it struck me that only a gay man would dream up some of the outlandish statues, fountains and facades pictured in all those postcards.
GrizzB, Steve - That is the spirit! I forgot to mention that Joe's a Texan. Figures.
I remember seeing the pictures of the fish Daddy would carve, they were so cool! In the sixth grade I molded a horse out of clay, does that count?
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