Michelangelo vs. Leonardo
If you study art history you’ll know that there were thousands of artists that could sculpt and paint on par with Michelangelo during the Italian Renaissance but a difference between genius and competent craftsman can perhaps be seen in the dedication to the lifestyle of being an artist.
Giorgio Vasari, former student of Michelangelo, was a competent Renaissance Man in the complete definition of the word, but his love and dedication of the artistic lifestyle lead him to literally be the father of art history when he wrote his ‘Lives of the Artists’ biographies.
Michelangelo couldn’t just stop being an artist because he found a better paying job, Leonardo Da Vinci DID.
There was time when Leonardo could have inspired people as much as Michelangelo has done, but, as Vasari said, Leonardo didn’t like to get dirty, and doing art on a grand scale requires one to get filthy! Haha makes me think of the movie Paint Your Wagon and that song "the best things in life are dirty", hell, Michelangelo washed his feet less than Sid Vicious!
Leonardo, or as Michelangelo called him ‘that lute player from Milan’, was a dandy, or the Renaissance equivalent of the modern metrosexual, haha! Ok, so I am digressing from my point but as an artist I think Leonardo could have done so much more, to inspire everyone than he did back in the day. Remember that while generations of people thrilled to the Sistine Chapel and the statue of David, Leonardo’s sketchbooks weren’t publicly available until relatively recently.
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I just have a beef with Leonardo because he drew the greatest Renaissance sketch ever, The Battle of Anghiari and then never attempted anything as spectacular again!!! You should read this nice page on the greatest rivalry in art history Leonardo vs. Michelangelo: The Battle Between the Masters by AH Anuar.
Leonardo saw art mostly as a job or at best a tool, but Michelangelo did art to glorify God and to inspire people. The artist doesn’t need to look presentable, the art does. Do you want art that is done by a 9 to 5 person who leaves his creativity at his desk or do you want art made by people who love being artists? If you think it doesn’t matter then you have that choice but it’s not as much fun as if you do I’d say.
Intent and fun are key factors for me when I make art and how I live my life. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I live art and I am dedicated to my vision of making the world a more inspirational place with it.
May 2009 makes ten years since I graduated from Bradley University in peoria Illinois and co-founded Riverfront Media with my friend Scott Tranchitella (aka DJ Disaster).
Riverfront Media, named for our former studio next to the Illinois river in downtown Peoria, is an ongoing art project where we provide professional A/V and Graphic Design services but without conforming to the traditional business models. Our business model movie was Tapeheads rather than Wall Street haha!
This independent thinking has allowed us to take risks on just about every facet of modern communication without having to feel like we must follow the money to survive.
Now with the recession in full effect and with it less dollars available for advertising, companies aren’t so concerned with a prestigious agency that has subscriptions to 40$ an issue graphic design magazines and the latest fonts, because quite frankly, the market is saturated with fonts and clip art and talented people who know Photoshop.
What matters, and what they can’t teach you at a school, is to take risks and live creatively, not just be creative on demand for pay. .jpg)
Riverfront Media – creating great stuff since 1999 and we wash our feet far less than the other A/V companies in Central Illinois! I mean why pay for one of those fancy pants ad-agencies who rent a mansion for their offices when the product is the same or better by people who live in a house that looks like Cheech and Chongs house in Cheech and Chongs Next Movie! No, we don’t do drugs but we are scary looking and pretty hilarious at times!
Seriously though, Riverfront Media will be filming the East Peoria High Tech Expo May 8-10 and creating video art. Thanks to our beloved business manager Ted White who has bankrolled us so we have all the modern gear and paperwork done correctly, we’ve teamed up with Independence Media, a company that owns four of our local radio stations WHPI-FM WPIA-FM WWCT-FM WZPN-FM and are mentioned prominently in commercials for the event. We will make some of our own commercials soon too, oh wow that is going to be so much fun! Heck I already have a lifetime radio broadcasting license signed by the FCC (from my college FM radio days!) plus DJ Disaster and I had our own internet radio show (The Homer Simplex old time radio horror comedy porno theatre show) where we made funny commercials to promote the artists we recorded in our recording studio.
We will be getting a nice new banner made by the excellent folks at Technicraft in Peoria Illinois who allowed us to tour their facilty last friday. Wow, my long term plan is to roll whatever profits we make this year into getting my digital art printed onto canvas and gallery wrapped in wood frames. Oh man, I totally want that!
Anyway here’s an example of one of my pencil sketches with digital paint that I would love to make a limited series of ready to hang (no frame needed) gallery wrapped canvases!
Angelbears fine art illustration by the worlds greatest artist Darren Cox aka Daz!
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April 6th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Interesting post…as usual, my artist friend. I like how you think out of the box.
I can’t imagine not painting, drawing, pasting,…my way through this wonderful but crazy life. If I inspire anyone on my this life journey of mine..all the sweeter.
Good luck with your film..do keep us updated.
gypsy-hearts last blog post..The Language of Eyes
April 11th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Best of luck. I saw the poster, advertising the Tech Expo, on Flickr.
On another note I must say that your blog is cool in that it looks like you have been busy posting all the time… yet slightly offputting when it re-posts a Christmas one. It sends one’s sense of timeline really out of whack! It’s like a Doctor Who blog…
April 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Me again… ooh look… on my previous comment it gave me exactly the right creature – a one-eyed version. Clearly your alien picture computer generator knows that I like to leave an eye off my subjects.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:08 am
i hate art it sucks!!!
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:54 am
Thanks for providing this inspiring blog. See my very own!