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Visual art
Hi,
I second Jessyka's appreciation of David. I wasn't prepared for how powerful
that piece is. It's become such a camp cliche, particularly through Terry
Gilliam's use of it in Monty Python animations, as well as those refridgerator
magnets, but when you're actually standing there, looking at it... it's
amazing. Somehow being able to see it in three dimensions, to walk around it,
to see how the light plays off the contours... it's a completely different
experience than looking at photographs of it. There was another Michaelangelo
piece in Florence I particularly liked because it wasn't finished; he got
called away to do the Sistine Chapel, and he left this trio of statues undone.
It was a real treat because you could really *see* the artistic process in
progress: the rough hews to get the shape right, the more careful cuts to get
the details, and the fine buffing to finish it off and give it luster. Really
eye-opening.
Favorite visual artists? Galileo, for one. Another thing I saw in Florence
besides David (the Uffizi was closed when I was there because the Mafia had
tried to bomb it) was the science museum, and Galileo's science instruments
were also stunning works of art. Hieronymous Bosch is also pretty stunning. I
like Diego Rivera's murals quite a bit. Freeman Patterson is the best
photographer I've ever seen (with Michael Wilson a close second). I find Max
Beckman very intriguing, especially the sculpture. (see, e.g.
http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/photos/europe/sommer01/beckman.jpg) I'm a big fan
of calligraphy, and while I don't know the names, there are many stunning
Ottoman and Persian manuscripts that I could look at for hours. I also like
the ancient Chinese landscape paintings that play with perspective. Chinese
ink paintings in general I find inspiring, especially the ones that are super,
super simple. A tree branch in three brush strokes. A thrush in shades of
grey with one bright red spot above its eye. An undulating Octopus in flowing
ink. There was someone else who's name I've forgotten who was contemporary
with Duerer and did these amazing paintings that just overwhelmed you with
detail. What was his name??? He was right around the corner from the Durer at
the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Bah, can't remember. Da Vinci, of course.
Well, that's enough, I think...
--
Don Smith Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
donaldas at umich_edu http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/
"Life is ... moments flabbergasted to be in each others' presence."
- "Speed" Levitch in _Waking Life_
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