+1 #681: The Perfectly Imperfect MasterpieceYou

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another optimize +1. In our last couple plus ones, we talked about Michelangelo in his studio. Today we're going to step back and chat about some historical facts regarding his actual studio. And we're going to chat about that block of marble he used to carve what would become one of history's finest masterpieces. Hi, David. First, let's take a quick look at the statue of David. In the plus one. We've got this image of it. Check it out. It's amazing. It's one of the most perfect statues ever sculpted. Only it's not perfect. In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that his hands aren't quite proportional and his head is a little too big. Gasp. And get this. At one point, of course, David was locked up in that block of marble. Did you know that our beautiful 17 foot David came from a block of marble that was rejected by two other sculptors because it had too many imperfections in it? I got goosebumps as I typed that one of the greatest statues ever created was sculpted out of marble that wasn't even good enough for two artists you've probably never even heard of. Yeah. And finally, get this. It took Michelangelo two years to sculpt David. He finished it in 1504. Have you ever thought about what his studio was like? Well, it wasn't inside. With perfect climate control, it wasn't even inside. It was outside. And you know what? When it rained, Michelangelo got soaked as he worked today's +1. Imagine that imperfect block of marble. Imperfect creative conditions. Sounds a lot like what we have to work with, eh? Let's, as Teddy Roosevelt would say, do what you can with what you have, where you are as we sculpt ourselves into perfectly imperfect masterpieces.