Whenever Arian has a problem with some sort of social issue (which, let's be real, she does 24/7), she usually reaches for her art tools to create something snarky and targeted. Her art blogs are filled with social pieces inspired by capitalism, abortion, the rise of the Italian right wing, anything that gives her a deep anger. Give her an issue and she's out there with twenty palettes and one will to change the system.
Today she was working on a set of two sculptures. They were pretty much copies of two of the most famous statues of Classical Greece: Polykleitos' Doryphoros and Praxiteles' Knidian Aphrodite. Both had been hailed by academics and art historians as the best examples of Classical gender ideals, representing peak masculinity and peak femininity.
And Arian had a big problem with that.
Why?
Cause the Doryphoros was a statue of a cool, muscular guy with his chest out and a relaxed, open stance. Everything in his body language, from his upright posture to his straight head tilt indicates he's awesome and he knows it. To the average Classical Greek guy, he was peak masculinity. A chad, if you will.
And the Knidian Aphrodite?
It's a statue of a woman who's just realized she's being spied on. Greek art was 3D for a reason: it wasn't just a static sculpture, it was a situation in which the viewer was supposed to participate. In this context, the Knidian Aphrodite was taking a bath and a guy just walked in on her. She's hunched in, her body language shows she's super uncomfortable and definitely did not sign up for some creepy voyeur to see her naked. And yet this statue has been applauded and admired as the most sensual statue of Aphrodite ever created up till then?? (It was actually the first naked statue of Aphrodite made, women statues before then were fully clothed. It was a scandal when it first came out.)
So yeah - when you look at the Doryphoros, he's the one in power, cause he's better than the viewer and he knows it. But for the Knidian Aphrodite, the viewer's the one in power. She's just wanting to have a bath in peace.
And if there's something that Arian really hates, it's creepy voyeuristic tendencies romanticized as normal and exciting. She's been on the receiving end of it. Practically all of her friends have been on the receiving end of it. She guessed way more girls she knew had been as well. And it infuriated her.
So here she was, snipping away at the two statues. Marble chips fell the floor as the sculptures gradually emerged from the stone. The Doryphoros, hunched over in the exact same pose as the original Knidian Aphrodite, trying to cover his naked body with his hands to escape the look of some voyeuristic dude. And the Aphrodite, standing tall and proud, looking at the viewer with the same noble, detached look the original Doryphoros had.
Today she was working on a set of two sculptures. They were pretty much copies of two of the most famous statues of Classical Greece: Polykleitos' Doryphoros and Praxiteles' Knidian Aphrodite. Both had been hailed by academics and art historians as the best examples of Classical gender ideals, representing peak masculinity and peak femininity.
And Arian had a big problem with that.
Why?
Cause the Doryphoros was a statue of a cool, muscular guy with his chest out and a relaxed, open stance. Everything in his body language, from his upright posture to his straight head tilt indicates he's awesome and he knows it. To the average Classical Greek guy, he was peak masculinity. A chad, if you will.
And the Knidian Aphrodite?
It's a statue of a woman who's just realized she's being spied on. Greek art was 3D for a reason: it wasn't just a static sculpture, it was a situation in which the viewer was supposed to participate. In this context, the Knidian Aphrodite was taking a bath and a guy just walked in on her. She's hunched in, her body language shows she's super uncomfortable and definitely did not sign up for some creepy voyeur to see her naked. And yet this statue has been applauded and admired as the most sensual statue of Aphrodite ever created up till then?? (It was actually the first naked statue of Aphrodite made, women statues before then were fully clothed. It was a scandal when it first came out.)
So yeah - when you look at the Doryphoros, he's the one in power, cause he's better than the viewer and he knows it. But for the Knidian Aphrodite, the viewer's the one in power. She's just wanting to have a bath in peace.
And if there's something that Arian really hates, it's creepy voyeuristic tendencies romanticized as normal and exciting. She's been on the receiving end of it. Practically all of her friends have been on the receiving end of it. She guessed way more girls she knew had been as well. And it infuriated her.
So here she was, snipping away at the two statues. Marble chips fell the floor as the sculptures gradually emerged from the stone. The Doryphoros, hunched over in the exact same pose as the original Knidian Aphrodite, trying to cover his naked body with his hands to escape the look of some voyeuristic dude. And the Aphrodite, standing tall and proud, looking at the viewer with the same noble, detached look the original Doryphoros had.
Last edited by Morgan Landry on 10/4/2018, 5:01 am; edited 5 times in total