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Lately, I’ve been doing some reading about Michelangelo.  Apart from being one or the world’s greatest genius artist -as a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, poet- and  other than his immense sense of detail, form, figures, proportion, anatomy, composition, lighting, structure, and deep meaning behind each work, what else can we learn from Michelangelo?

I’d like to draw your attention to his innate sense of materials.  He was such a perfectionist, and that started with his materials.  He would spend 6 to 8 months in the quarries picking out the perfect pieces of marble before he started any of sculpting.   Could you imagine spending almost a year before you even start the art application process!  You’re just trying to get the materials.  The right materials.

He especially learned how important  the right materials are when he was working on a sculpture and a black vein came through across the face of  the Rebellious Slave.   From that he realized that the marble slab he picked wasn’t large enough to work with and far from perfect.  Usually he would carve and carve to mold the form, but with the slave, he ran out of room. What he learned from this he also applied to all of the huge projects he undertook later on, like the Tomb of Pope Julius II.

Also, with his  first version of Christ Carrying the Cross, he discovered a black vein  in the marble and quickly left it to start working on a new.  He was nearly completed with the first Christ, but found the impurity and left it with no hesitancy.  He did an entirely  new marble statue because the first one had a large blemish!

So how does this apply to contemporary day artists?  How often is it easy to just pick up a canvas and start painting?  Do we even learn about what kind of linen, canvas, or paper that we’re using?  Would we spend 8 months trying to make our materials perfect and lasting? Yes, it costs money.  Yes, it takes time.   I’m even wonder how much it even means to clients.  Do installations and contemporary art have to be a good quality?  Not really.   Rotten vegetables, feces, old mattresses… come on… why do you have to really put energy and effort into your materials?

Um, maybe because it lasts… No one is going to remember your name unless you actually have work with your name on it.  Seriously, why not use good quality materials and go through lengthy process to make sure that your artwork doesn’t dissolve into a million pieces or lose color or warp or crack.  How important is it?  Hmmm….

We live in this instant age.  We want to create now. We want art now.  Does it even matter how much time we put into our work?

You could say that it comes down to the branding of your art, not necessarily the quality.  But for some people, like Michelangelo, his branding was his style and quality of art.  He was known and will forever be known as the best.  From the materials to the finished work, he gave every bit of his attention to the creation process.  Instant art didn’t exist then, does it now? Should it?

Shout out your feelings and let me know your thoughts

Peace of cake.

Grace