lover as model, model as muse

I had a breakfast of strawberries and cream at taverna degli artisti. Via degli artisti turns into borgo pinti and borgo pinti is my favorite street in the city. It's all tunnel and no air, the buildings reach up so high above me. And there is this green door that blends into a green wall with a small gold plaque that reads "Club Fotografia di Firenze" and I am determined to get inside. The door was left open, once, to the gallery.


Dramatically cropped bodies of photo and marble are currently the main attraction at the Galleria dell'Accademia. The hall that leads to the David is lined with Michelangelo's other works. It appears he reached a point where he became disinterested with (though certainly still satiated by) the final piece, caring more about the revelation of figure from stone. They are both feeling and form, culminating at the end of the hall with the David, moments before or moments after battle, depending who you ask. In the exhibit currently are a series of Mapplethorpe photographs, carefully paired with each of the marble figures. The contours, the movement, the feel of the muscle: the nude models mimic the marble. The series of the four Ajitto portraits are at the four points of the David's base. Their veins match. The scandal and the glorified, displayed together. But weren't they both so ordinary before? Before they were cast into the light?


And this one song has been playing here without end:

"I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people,
I want to sleep with common people,
like you."
Well what else could I do -
I said "I'll see what I can do."

but

"You'll never live like common people,
you'll never do what common people do,
you'll never fail like common people,
you'll never watch your life slide out of view,
and dance and drink and screw,
because there's nothing else to do."