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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Florence, May 25th, 2009

The great thing about Florence, for me, was the incidental splendor caused by a thousand years of urban sprawl and clutter. Beauty of almost any variety can be manufactured and duplicated. From makeup to fashion to fine art, almost all of our culture's 'beauty' really contrived. I know people who have learned the formula for a pleasing landscape or portrait, who can tell you, from memory, which color combinations inspire which feelings in the beholder. We artists trade in manufactured beauty, and there isn't a lot in the man-made world that can't be picked apart and seen for the illusion that it is. 

It was refreshing, after spending days and days in museums full of deliberate compositions and carefully orchestrated experiences, to get out and see the haphazardly real, organic, accidental beauty of cluttered urban development over the centuries, the growth of a city organism, dirty and ancient and functional.

It is, to me, just as much a natural wonder as any landform or vegetation- it is an un-planned, un-designed form created by erosion and eruption over time.

And then I went and turned it into another mannered contrivance.

9 comments:

Chelsea Stebar said...

Love it. Man, each individual page of your sketchbook could be framed and hung in a gallery.

Jed said...

oh, so nice.

Just a little 'shop on this puppy, and you've got yourself a comic page, bizzle.

Anthony Holden said...

You picked the best page. This was my favorite one too.

Michael Mercer said...

Mmm...

Tyson Murphy said...

good job at drawing those drawings, jake

kanishk said...

i love it ....


Work from home

Simini said...

what are some "sketchbook games"?

Duke said...

hey this all so fantastic

i got here through claire gordon and kory hubbel

claire gave my brother sister and i a tour of BYU that is the college for me i think

i agree with chelsea stebar

i also read your comic

so i think i'll keep an eye your blog

-dallin duke
www.dallinman.blogspot.com

thanks

Rachel J said...

Dude, you wrote that just beautifully. Drew it just beautifully, too. I'm inspired.