Paragone Group Discussion

In our group discussion we had many points that agreed with what Leonardo's Paragone covered but also points that refute certain statements. Since all of us recently spent a week as either a sculptor or a painter, I think our opinions may have been slighty biased. It appears though, that Leonardo may have been slightly biased in his opinions, as if considering some points of sculpting superior is a direct criticism of his efforts as an artist.

The Paragone points out key differences between painting and sculpting, such as the physical work involved in making the piece of art. As Leonardo describes it, a sculptor sweats in his labor, surrounded by noise while the artist sits to paint while music is playing in the background. There is some truth to this but the tone appears to disgrace sculpting as merely a physical work while painting is a much more noble form of art. Our general consensus was, while sculpting may be a more physically demanding art form, both painting and sculpting are reputable with their own specific qualities and difficulties. It may in fact be the difficulties in each respective art form that construct its points of admiration by the audience.

A sculpture is physically demanding and a meticulous process, removing just enough material to create the right detail. It is, however, this detail which makes sculptures attractive and respected as an art. Sculpting , in general, must be able to be viewed from any angle. A painting also has its difficulties, using colors, lines, and other features effectively to potray the intended mood. Without these qualities a painting is just a picture not a piece of art. It is these qualities which give paintings their mood and touch the audience. Although none of us are professional artists each of us can sympathize in our particular struggles during our week as an artist.

Although we came to no distinct consensus as to which art form has more merit than the other we understand how the Paragone is effective in raising the discussion. It makes each one of us address the strong points of each form of art and realize what in fact makes them art. It also helps us to share our difficulties in making our piece of art.

I chose to do a drawing from a Leonardo da Vinci perspective. The black and white drawing above shows a man pulling his pant leg over his cowboy boot as he sits in a wooden chair. The setting is in a very simple indoor space with a wooden floor and a fireplace in the background. The wooden boards of the floor offered a very useful way of giving the aerial perspective of the room. Other tools include the difference in detail of objects up close compared to those in the background. Another key element is the presence of the right boot by the fireplace, which has very blurred detail compared to the left boot and is considerably smaller in size. The vanishing point is the fireplace and the eye is specifically drawn to the fire itself. The vertical lines of the fireplace run on either side of the fire and the lines of the boards converge in front of the fire. I felt that by doing the drawing in black and white the importance of utilizing other elements besides color to convey the linear perspective was emphasized.

Storm

I decided to draw a picture for this project, and let me just say now that I know I have very little artistic talent when it comes to drawing. Like many, I had very extravagent ideas for what I wanted to draw but realized my limited ability would make it impossible. So this is what I came up with.
To show atmospherical/aerial perspective I decided to attempt at creating mammatus clouds (the bowl-like shapes pertruding from the bottom of the cloud). There are fewer the closer to the front of the picture and as the horizon gets farther away they are bunched up from the viewer's perspective. I also tried to darken the shades the closer you get to the horizon. I included trees in the foreground and background to enhance the scale difference. The vanishing point is on the horizon at the end of the road.

I guess I was going for a realistic style but not having the experience necessary I do not think I succeeded. I had to draw/color the foreground objects first to make sure I didn't color over anything that was more prominent. While I already knew painters had impressive talent I am even more envious of their ability after doing this project (but I don't think I"ll change my major just yet).

I chose Michelangelo for my project and now that I have gone through four or five bars of soap just to produce a forgettable sculpture of a canoe, I have an even greater appreciation of the talent, patience and effort it takes to bring a work of art like "David" to completion. I would think that a sculptor would have to be in good physical condition to be able to chisel marble and at the same time use the fine motor skills needed to be able to make the precise cut that is required for some of the detail.

The subtraction method does not give the artist any room for error. If one makes a cut that is too deep and/or gouges the medium at a critical point in the development of the sculpture then there is no "fixing" it.

When I started my first attempt I used a steak knife. When I couldn't handle the steak knife I chose an Exacto knife. I even tried heating a butter knife to see if it would help me make better cuts. I ended up using one of my husband's pocket knives since it was smaller and easier for me to handle.

Vicki Galati

Michelangelo Project

Using subtraction to create something out of soap was even more difficult than I anticipated. I went through four bars of soap! At first, I tried to force something out of the soap and that did not go well. After three disasterous bars, I finally stopped forcing and relaxed a bit. I ended up carving a baseball cap, because easily enough it was raining and I happened to be wearing one. Since I had such a difficult time carving soap, I have no idea how anyone can carve marble. It takes such patience and attention to detail. And heaven forbid you take too much from one side because the whole thing is shot. My hat kept getting smaller because I ended up going back and forth from side to side trying to even it out. I have much respect for all the sculptors out there!

Subtractive Project

I did the Michelangelo Project. Using a Pear Knife, I did my best using the subtractive process to turn a bar of soap into a smaller rendition of the same knife. As I was cutting large chunks off the bar of soap to get down to the rough size I needed, I realized how hard it would be to do the same with brittle stone. Also, using the subtractive process, there is no room for messing up since you can’t put back what you took away. In my case the only loss for messing up could be a precious 30 minutes of my life and another $0.39 for soap but in the case of Michelangelo or other artists of this type, I imagine those life size pieces of stone were not cheap along with the time and effort put in. Cracking the nose off of “David” would have surely put me into a deep depression. To me this was an entirely different way of thinking. We normally draw and play with play-do in an “adding” process. Here, I was constantly having to reevaluated the intended shape before every cut. It was much harder to do than I had anticipated. I can’t imagine having to do it under time pressure like Ice Sculptors do. In a ridiculous way, I decided to call my piece “Suicide” since it appears that the soap has carved itself!