Beware of Greeks Baring Buttocks
Surely by now you’ve heard of “Musica,” a four-story, classically-styled bronze statue at the entrance of Nashville’s Music Row. Alan LeQuire’s sculpture has received much of its notoriety from the fact that it features nine nude figures frolicking.
If you’re an uptight person, perhaps you interpret “Musica” differently, but the statue is supposed to make us think of music. Of course. When parents return home and find their teenage daughter and her ne’er-do-well boyfriend naked, the father’s first thought is always “Don’t move! Where’d I put my harmonica?”
No, seriously, the statue is supposed to spotlight the universality of music and the ancient heritage of music. Well, some people would feel a little less squeamish if it spotlighted the universality of The Gap or Old Navy. And some citizens question the logic of harking back to the ancient Greeks , who participated in athletic competitions naked, to the tune of ditties such as “The Skin Cancer Boogie.”
Some people are miffed that the statue pays homage to the style of a long-dead civilization, while ignoring the feelings of our grandmothers, who for the most part didn’t drop their drawers in public. Of course grandmothers do ask a lot of impertinent questions, like “If all the Greeks were jumping off a bridge, would you do it, too?” (“Depends on whether it featured classical architecture.”)
“Musica” is an earnest attempt to destroy stereotypes and show that Nashville’s music is more than country music. Just the same, I’m glad that Burger King advertises itself as “more than a burger joint” without commercials in which Brad and Jason get their zit-covered derrieres burned on the grill.
The cavorting in “Musica” illustrates the joy of the human spirit. Maybe at your house. But when we’re in a hurry for a social engagement and my wife announces “I don’t have a thing to wear,” ain’t nobody happy.
Fans of “Musica” are sorely tested by the Philistines who can’t comprehend the value of nudity in art. (Of course they’re also sorely tested by the assignment “Write a sentence WITHOUT using the word ‘diversity’.”)
Nude art of the perfected human body is supposed to inspire. Maybe it inspires you to smash your mirrors and bathroom scales, but it still inspires.
Nude art symbolizes man’s heroic qualities. Surely you can name hundreds of famous nude heroes, like, well, The Lone Ranger (“Who was that masked man with his cheeks stuck to the saddle?”)
The nudity illustrates the liberating effect of music. Try stripping down at your next music appreciation meeting and you might wind up liberated from large amounts of cash in the form of paternity payments. (Although, LeQuire points out that the genitalia on the statue are semi-hidden. I guess that means if people are inspired to party naked, they’ll get only semi-pregnant.)
Don’t bring your puritanical prejudices to bear on this project. It’s Art. Or is it a “national security issue,” or “a guy thing”? I never can keep those “Get out of jail free” excuses straight.
“Musica” is what it is, although perhaps the statue would have been designed differently if the spirit of the times were different, if LeQuire’s muse had whispered something different, if LeQuire hadn’t fallen asleep in class the day they learned to sculpt fabric…
Whatever, enjoy the statue or avoid it. Just don’t protest it or you’ll be branded as a yahoo.
That’s the way it goes: you can’t criticize art, but you can set it out for pigeons to poop on.
Only in Greece and America.
Originally published the week of October 26, 2003.
If you’re an uptight person, perhaps you interpret “Musica” differently, but the statue is supposed to make us think of music. Of course. When parents return home and find their teenage daughter and her ne’er-do-well boyfriend naked, the father’s first thought is always “Don’t move! Where’d I put my harmonica?”
No, seriously, the statue is supposed to spotlight the universality of music and the ancient heritage of music. Well, some people would feel a little less squeamish if it spotlighted the universality of The Gap or Old Navy. And some citizens question the logic of harking back to the ancient Greeks , who participated in athletic competitions naked, to the tune of ditties such as “The Skin Cancer Boogie.”
Some people are miffed that the statue pays homage to the style of a long-dead civilization, while ignoring the feelings of our grandmothers, who for the most part didn’t drop their drawers in public. Of course grandmothers do ask a lot of impertinent questions, like “If all the Greeks were jumping off a bridge, would you do it, too?” (“Depends on whether it featured classical architecture.”)
“Musica” is an earnest attempt to destroy stereotypes and show that Nashville’s music is more than country music. Just the same, I’m glad that Burger King advertises itself as “more than a burger joint” without commercials in which Brad and Jason get their zit-covered derrieres burned on the grill.
The cavorting in “Musica” illustrates the joy of the human spirit. Maybe at your house. But when we’re in a hurry for a social engagement and my wife announces “I don’t have a thing to wear,” ain’t nobody happy.
Fans of “Musica” are sorely tested by the Philistines who can’t comprehend the value of nudity in art. (Of course they’re also sorely tested by the assignment “Write a sentence WITHOUT using the word ‘diversity’.”)
Nude art of the perfected human body is supposed to inspire. Maybe it inspires you to smash your mirrors and bathroom scales, but it still inspires.
Nude art symbolizes man’s heroic qualities. Surely you can name hundreds of famous nude heroes, like, well, The Lone Ranger (“Who was that masked man with his cheeks stuck to the saddle?”)
The nudity illustrates the liberating effect of music. Try stripping down at your next music appreciation meeting and you might wind up liberated from large amounts of cash in the form of paternity payments. (Although, LeQuire points out that the genitalia on the statue are semi-hidden. I guess that means if people are inspired to party naked, they’ll get only semi-pregnant.)
Don’t bring your puritanical prejudices to bear on this project. It’s Art. Or is it a “national security issue,” or “a guy thing”? I never can keep those “Get out of jail free” excuses straight.
“Musica” is what it is, although perhaps the statue would have been designed differently if the spirit of the times were different, if LeQuire’s muse had whispered something different, if LeQuire hadn’t fallen asleep in class the day they learned to sculpt fabric…
Whatever, enjoy the statue or avoid it. Just don’t protest it or you’ll be branded as a yahoo.
That’s the way it goes: you can’t criticize art, but you can set it out for pigeons to poop on.
Only in Greece and America.
Originally published the week of October 26, 2003.
posted by Danny Tyree at 7:58 PM
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