From ancient times, Art has made a name for itself, simultaneously provoking thoughts of both horrifying and inspiring images in the minds of its beholders. Much of the Great Art is considered beautiful, although if it had been created today, I’m not sure it would be.
Michelangelo certainly did not fill the Sistine Chapel with zero sized models, nor people with perfect skin; however, we still find his work awe-inspiring and magical.
As an Artist, I can attest to the different ways creators look at the world: replacing the sun with yellow and white oil paint, imprinting the lines in a person’s face with charcoal, standing in opaque waves that curl around feet of glass.
The beauty in Art is about looking at the meaning behind what you are seeing. For example, a boy with a pimple-covered face: he is learning how to adapt and grow as his baby skin is shed and peer pressure is added to the mix of emotions and life situations he is dealing with. A newborn baby covered in bodily fluids, not yet washed shows the miracle of life. The less-than-perfect abs protruding from a mother’s stomach signify countless hours of work, lack of sleep, and limitless love. Freckles and the variety of stains on our skin give uniqueness to an arm, a leg, a forehead. Noses that protrude a little more or lips that contain a lot of lines are especially fun to draw. Each one of these gives a person character.
Today we have taken to a new art. We hide red, yellow, black, and white masterpieces under surplus amounts of make-up and plastic surgeries. We think of Beauty in all the same terms— clear skin, bright eyes, straight teeth, gorgeous smile, thin waist, curves where they go…
When did character become less noticeable than nice hair? What if teenage girls could not wait to have wrinkles, knowing that when they smiled, both light and dark would roll across their cheeks? And they would be gorgeous. What if people saw past the clear or unclear skin, ribs or fat rolls, into the character of a person’s heart? There are far too many things considered beautiful that should be considered repulsive and a boundless amount of things that don’t get a second look that are the most beautiful of all.
Like Michelangelo’s paintings, we are all Art of different character, flaws, and beauty. Just because someone says something is pretty, doesn’t mean it is and vice versa.
We can learn from the many great artists who showed Beauty in a light unknown to our current society. These proved that there is more than one way to be beautiful. Instead of seeing “flaws” as unwanted or ugly, why don’t we see people as if they were smiling at us from the ceiling of a celebrated chapel? There is something to learn when we gaze upon others as works of art and not only as limited human beings. Instead of labeling ourselves as imperfect because of societal standards, we must decide that WE, yes We, are masterpieces. The Sistine Chapel has inspired multitudes. Who knows who you may inspire, who I may inspire as we dazzle our own cathedrals with the beauty of the flaws that make us who we are.
