Today’s Sketch is from the RISD art museum and is a bronze statue from South India made in the Vijayanagara period (1336-1565) of the god Shiva in his function as Nataraja, the lord of the dance. He is performing the “dance of bliss” destroying and recreating the universe in the eternal cycle of regeneration.
I had the opportunity to see Puccini‘s Turandot at the Seattle Opera last night and I’m happy to say it was a most enjoyable experience. I don’t get out to see the opera very often but I always enjoy my experience for the people watching as much as the show itself.
For me the best productions are the ones that come close to causing sensory overload. Where the visual and the musical compete so much it’s difficult to take everything in… but in a good way.
The play takes place in a beautiful crafted fantasy version of China (of course since one of the characters is the son of Timur (spoiler) we can guess that it is early Ming or the very end of the Yuan Dynasty ) Starting with the ritualistic execution of Turandot’s last suitor to the play’s climax.
Musically the whole thing holds together magnificently to the point that with the exception of Nessun Dorma even though I left humming leitmotifs the opera felt like one single individual work, as opposed to a collection of arias the way many of my favorite works are.
Speaking of Nessun Dorma having grown up with it as Pavorotti‘s signature piece. It was fascinating how it sounded in a slightly lower register. Having always loved musical theater from Opera to Broadway this is truly the best reason to get to see multiple versions.
All in all this was a lovely production presenting a classical fairy tale that was a joy to listen to and watch.
Today we’re going on yet another take on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. This one is a the Calculus Rhapsody By Phil Kirk & Mike Gospel and it replaces the original lyrics to a fun little math lesson. Enjoy
Today’s sketch is yet another detail and angle of Lamentation of the Dead Christ by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, previous sketches can be seen here and here. As I’ve mentioned before this is one of the pieces I keep coming back too since there is so much detail in it I can get a completely different drawing every single time. Even if I try to do the exact same angle.
This one is a bit of a mixed bag. As far as accuracy is concerned I kind of screwed the pooch. I fidgeted one too many times and ended up drawing at least three different angles at the same time and on top of that I don’t think I got the foreshortening on Christ’s leg’s quite right. Despite this I think I managed to pull it together and managed to do a halfway drawing even though it’s similarity to what I was looking at is lacking.
Let’s all with one one of his greats, the Saint Louis Blues.
I went to Seattle Art Museum for their first free Thursday for the first time since I let my membership expire last year which means New Material!
Today’s sketch is Hagar and the Angel by Bernardo Strozzi
A very nice example of chiaroscuro where the artist “creates a metaphorical wilderness out of nothing but darkness into which the arrival of the angel sheds bright light.”
