--- On Wed, 10/15/08, John Thornton <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I never defended the idea that it was an attempt to impose
> human will on
> the universe.
> I don't see it as an attempt to impose a divine will
> either.
> If there's a divine will isn't it inherently
> imposed upon the universe?
>
> The idea that when you make sculpture you're pulling
> out a form that is
> already in the rock is BS.
> It sounds good but doesn't convey what is actually
> going on.
> In a sense you're frequently (but not always) both
> imposing your will on
> the stone and finding forms that are already there because
> you see the
> grain structure of the stone and work with that.
> Lots of classic sculptures ignore this and it's obvious
> when you look at
> them that the artist made the shape he wanted in spite of
> the structure
> of the stone not being well suited to the form sculpted.
> I don't believe for one second Michelangelo's
> Pietà was already in a
> piece of marble
>
> John Thornton
>
>
>
>
> Chris Doss wrote:
> > True, but really this makes it even less of an attempt
> to impose human will on the universe. It's an attempt to
> impose the divine will.
> >
> > I think the whole idea of humans imposing their will
> on the world is pretty recent. I mean, it's alien to the
> Greek idea of tekhne. When you carve a statue out of a rock,
> you're not imposing an idea on it, you're pulling
> out a form that's already there. And in both paganism
> and Judeo-Christianity, if you try to impose yourself on the
> world what usually happens to you is a sound ass-kicking
> from the god(s).
> >
> > --- On Tue, 10/14/08, John Thornton
> <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Most of the complex wasn't used as a tomb and
> >> advertising with huge
> >> monuments the location of interred wealth is not
> much a
> >> defense.
> >> We obviously do not know the exact function of
> this complex
> >> but as some
> >> form of a reproduction of celestial importance
> there can be
> >> no real doubt.
> >>
> >> John Thornton
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