Jordan Post 4

The Last Judgment, as you all know is located in the Sistine Chapel. Commissioned to Michelangelo by Pope Paul III. The working process of The Last Judgment took place between 1535 and 1541and is located behind the alter of the sistine chapel on a grand scale.

When first ask to take on commission for the sistine chapel in 1508 by Pope Julius II, Michelangelo was overwhelmed by the scale and believed himself to be more of a sculptor than a painter. 

The wall tells the story of the second coming of Christ and the Apocalypse. The human race is being determined by that of Christ and selected saints. This is all evident in the painting. 

What I discovered through more research was that this piece was not only inspired by biblical references but also by mythology. Also what I have overlooked was that the various saints depicted are holding instruments of matrimony, instead of having actual scenes of torture. I was aware some of man kind are damned to hell upon looking, but failed to notice the instruments of suggested torture.

Of course years later there was a dispute over the figures being naked in a sacred place, later being covered by Daniele da Volteria.

My idea for my piece is to keep certain aspects of this painting for my transformation into a drawing. There is certain content I rather not include or perhaps may denounce. First, I am not a religious person, I at first was thinking of portraying a "God is Dead" message but concluded it wasn't my place to do so or even something I can say I have a great deal of care. Apparently this pieces scale and content was intended to be slightly fearful to represent gods power. Gods power is not of importance to me, however a large scale is something I would be interested to keep and am considering taking up a wall similar to that of the Sistine Chapel (Using paper as we discussed). 

Looking up all the different areas of the painting such as Christ is in the center, his gesture suggests that he is damning a large part of humanity to hell while some rise to heaven.  The Madonna is depicted in fear. St. Bartholomew who is holding both the flayed skin portrait of Michelangelo and a knife is suggesting his own fate. (St. Bartholomew was flayed alive). St. Peter who holds the gold and silver keys represents Pope Paul III (the commissioner) etc.. I thought about all the different ways I could go about this, I disregarded portraying celebrities because that was never anything that I had any interest in. 

What I was most interested in working with is idealization. These figures of the 1500's, whose bodies are described as "heavily muscled and tortured", comes from a style likely stemming from the idea of perfection from mythology. To bring it into contemporary times, I would like to portray my figures into 2012 idealization, making everyone look as if they walked out of a magazine, using media as my reference for perfection. Perhaps other aspects of todays society as well. I really liked the idea of portraying clothes instead of a portrait of myself to suggest and represent materialistic values of todays society. I am still considering whether or not my figures should be clothed or unclothed, so I am thinking perhaps I should do them unclothed and then decide to cloth them later..

Above are a few drawings on a single piece of paper with sharpie I have done, not at all intending to be realistic this was more for fun but gives the idea of clothing and content I have worked with in my past

I just came across this drawing online, I don't necessarily like this figure but I found the lighting inspiring. Unlike my other drawings, I would like to attempt something similar to this to further investigate and show more of a sophisticated representation.