The Art Neuro Weblog

David Turns 500
The most famous sculpture at the hand of Michelangelo Buonarotti turns 500 this week. Michelangelo sculpted this work from a single slab of marble that was considered not good enough for such exquisite work. 500 years later it stands in the Academia Museum, sheltered away from the elements, but Michelangelo originally conceived this work to be shown in public in the Piazza Vecchio outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Of course his contemporaries, Leonardo DaVinci and Sandro Botticelli disagreed that such a great work should be left to the elements and so it got stored indoors.

Since then, the Florentines have created a facsimile of the work which now stands in place where Michelangelo conceived it; but there is also a bronze version which stands above the city of Florence across the Arno River. What's more, you can see an exact duplicate in a shopping centre on the Gold Coast; which is disconcerting to say the least because when you sit by it, hardly anybody seems to care or notice what the big white nude bloke is meant to be. I guess you might call it a post-modern experience, but I found it more tragic than anything else.

When you encounter a work of art you have studied as a student, there is a strange ripple of recognition as well as a feeling of alienation. Florence is full of that weired conflicted feeling. When I saw the three "Michelangelo's Davids" in Florence, I was struck by the feeling that, wow, they have three facsimile's of the statue of David on the Gold Coast. That is to say, authenticity in of itself seemed utterly meaningless. Then, of course they try to sell you little statuette replicas as souvenirs all over Italy whether you are in Florence, Milan, Rome or Naples; and so one wonders what 'authenticity' in of it self is, as a critical 'value'.

Anyway, pardon the personal observation about such an important work of art turning 500. It's been a good half-millennium for the boy in the nude. Happy Birthday Dave.

Another Kind Of Genius
Our favourite Magic Cuban won again, this time against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Okay, it's only the Devil Rays, but a win is a win even if you get ejected arguing strikes and balls with the umpire; and he now El Duque has an astounding 7-0 record since coming back. The Yankees are 10-1 in the games he has started. He is the top dog, the pillar of strength, the dependable Ace in the very shaky Yankee rotation.

- Art Neuro