Are there exercises he could do?

August 17, 2016 8:04 AM

Ruminations on art, bad ankles, Michaelangelo's David, and perfection (SLNYT)
posted by pt68 (7 comments total)

This really is a great piece, worth reading, although I really have nothing to add. I visited Florence in 2010 and really didn't expect to be awed by the David, but I was maybe more-than-awed. You can see (as is mentioned) plenty of replicas around the city, but the real thing is different to an almost shocking degree. Luckily we were there in November, when the museums were largely deserted, but I really didn't want to leave. There's something almost magical about being so close to it.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:43 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

There's already that Venus statue with the arms broke off so we have a history of things breaking at the limbs.
posted by JibberJabber at 8:44 AM on August 17, 2016

That was a far better essay than I was expecting. I went in ready to see either some hot take on time and art or some new journalism type piece about the author and instead got just hints of both but a good deal more in the bargain. A fine model for what a good think piece should look like, well written and pointing the way to many different paths for reflecting on its subject.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I also met David in Florence back in 2006, and like uncleozzy says, there is nothing that can prepare you for it... not even the life-size replica outside.

When I approached it, moving across the Academia, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before or since.

It's like meeting god. It was definitely the closest thing to god and perfection that I'd ever seen. My heart pounded like I was seeing the absolute most handsome, most precious, most perfect man ever. Time collapses. Crowds disappear. Really: there's no substitute.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 9:14 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

Wow that is an excellent read. I identified immediately with the Author whose asides suggested a childhood that did not point to a future of international travel. My interaction with seeing David was, standing there, reflecting on my own life and what it took me to get there. Then I noticed that you can see the muscles and the veins in the sculpture. Then I thought about art. Transcendent.
posted by pipoquinha at 10:03 AM on August 17, 2016

This is a really solid piece of writing. I have had (and do have, often) a lot of thoughts on similar lines but which whisk around my head in an incomplete fashion, and he manages to capture them and lay them out with good words.
posted by PussKillian at 11:20 AM on August 17, 2016

Excellent thought-piece, with a sting in the tail - or rather the ankles.
posted by Autumn Leaf at 12:59 AM on August 19, 2016