Michelangelo`s Pieta
To see a scorned, beaten, and crucified man
lying dead in the arms of his mother
is an image, which can inspire
overwhelming emotions within the heart of an
observer. Yet, for the longest
time I've had such difficulty looking at
Michelangelo's Pieta or any
piece of art in this way. To me, art has never been
about expressing oneself
or conveying a message to others, but simply creating
an image for the sake
of beauty and perfection. When I look at the Pieta I see a
cold, solid mass
of marble carved by the skilled hands of a master. I look at it
in terms of
the technique Michelangelo used, the understanding he had of the
human form,
the movement within the composition, and ultimately the precision
and realism
with which the piece was rendered. For it has been upon these
standards that
I have based my concept of what art is. In my eyes, art has
always been just
a unique ability that I have. I feel driven by it, not to
express some deep
emotion, but almost as an obsession to perfect my own ability.
Every
stroke of a brush and every motion of a file has been to make what
I've
created more detailed, graceful, and real. I'm only now beginning to
realize how
much more there is to art than what I had previously understood.
When I look at
a piece of my work, I see the detail and realism of it, yet
somehow I feel that
these aspects are all that it possesses. I wonder whether
or not I've almost
turned my sense of art into a science that lacks the
essential characteristics
of art, which are expression and emotion. Yet now I
have also begun to see that
the strictness and precision of my art truly is
an expression of who I am, and
that through it, one can understand how I
perceive the world around me. I feel
uncomfortable in a world where nearly
every aspect of our lives is becoming less
clearly defined and where right
and wrong are continually forsaken for a vague
sense of truth. So in some
respects, art provides me with the sense of
structure, order, and continuity,
which I feel, is lacking in modern life. I've
found that the meaning of art
goes far beyond any technique or style, and that
for each individual, art is
a reflection of his or her own unique identity.
While the touching image
of a mother and child or the powerful story of the
scorned savior in the
Pieta may bring tears to the eyes of some. In my eyes the
greatest beauty and
the deepest meaning exists in the grace and realism that
lies within every
detail of this masterpiece.