Estrella de la manana Morning Star
by Doug Johnson
Title
Estrella de la manana Morning Star
Artist
Doug Johnson
Medium
Drawing - Pen And Ink
Description
My artistic journey, in the shadow of Arreguin, has been guided by Mayan mathematics and cosmology. While both the Maya and their Greco-European counterparts gazed up at the same stars and recognized the same constellations, the Maya developed their own advanced calculations from the heavens, and this is apparent in their calendar and measurement of time. The Maya measured the 584-day Venus cycle and calculated that five cycles of Venus equaled eight 365-day Earth cycles.
My artwork has also been influenced by other parallels between the Maya and the European civilizations. It is fascinating that the Maya independently discovered the concept of zero, a number essential for algebra and higher mathematics, yet absent from many human cultures. The grid pattern of this work (as in Arreguins Tierra y Libertad) acknowledges the parallel development of higher mathematics in the two civilizations.
This piece borrows its subject and composition from Venus at a Mirror by Peter Paul Rubens (1615), acknowledging the Greco-European ideal of the human form as the highest expression of beauty (espoused by the ancient Greeks and later reborn in the Italian Renaissance); in honor of this ideal of beauty, this work honors Rubenesque women in our modern age. Estrella de la manana translates to morning star, the common name for the planet Venus in European cosmology.
Uploaded
September 11th, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 399 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/19/2024 at 11:19 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for Estrella de la manana Morning Star. Click here to post the first comment.