The attraction of historical cities like ancient rome is usually a final destination for majority of art lovers. This is no surprise as they fill the streets of these cities with earlier artistry attractions. It is said that they do this to make up for the void left in their childhood ambitions with whatever comes while admiring the buildings and Roman Art. This story, resonating with what some of my colleagues have said they admire, and I in my childish dreams had no thoughts about art let alone getting any desires, even into adulthood. Having had a rough childhood upbringing my love for life had always been in architecture and nothing about art since it was emotional and reminded me of the past. At some point I thought of taking my life after being enrolled in junior high school and art was one of the compulsory units, I was supposed to pass before going to the next level of my career in architecture. It never crossed my mind that some of the best architectural designs the world has ever seen began with simple touch and imagination from art. There was no form of convincing that could change my initial reservations about art not just as a subject but as a career. Anyone who could approach me would be given a cold shoulder and what followed was constant rebukes and laughs of despise. I saw that the colleagues of mine who opted for this subject as a career choice were just making a fool of themselves and even the resources provided by their parents. Then, one day something happened which changed my whole imagination about art and I realized that all that I had believed in were just childish fears without any form of base or rationality. It occurred on October the 1st and as a routine, the school sponsored our class to visit some of the great cities that have a good history of not just art, but also great buildings developed by artists. The first destination was in London whose great buildings made me believe that everything about them was about architecture and nothing to do with art. We visited among others, the Covent Garden in the heart of London. At first, it looked like just any other building with colorful architectural designs. Surprisingly, while getting inside my eyes could not believe what was inside. Never in my life had I seen such a colorful artistry material with a feeling of heavenly living. The “Heartbeat” as designed by French artist, Charles Petillon, consisted of almost one hundred thousand colored balloons on top of a market where people could enjoy the feeling by just catching a glimpse. The walls of the building were just as colorful as ever with windows extending all the way to heaven. I thought the balloons were clouds taken directly from the sky and the windows extending upwards were leading to heaven, just here on earth. I could not explain the amazement of colleagues as well. The feeling was just extraordinary. The class took time and traveled to other cities in Europe such as Rome where the great leaning tower of Pisa also attracted my eyes and I also took the time to learn more about the designers’ intentions. More importantly, the visit in Rome reminded me of life as a Christian and the stories in the bible about the great apostles. Just as I was reminiscing about Christianity our guide reminded us of one of the world’s most known artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, who I felt I had known for some time but never took an interest. To my surprise, the story of Leonardo hit my subconscious hard and I had to change my conception of art. His application of motion in pictures and light, as well as some shadow, made me realize there is an intersection between art and architecture. I never believed that art had anything to do architecture. The world and even my classmates know Leonardo Da Vinci by his work on Mona Lisa, but in my mind, I felt Mona Lisa does not capture imagination properly compared to the “Last Supper” which the guide elaborated. Rather, the attraction of Christ in the painting reminds me of the life of emotions and spirituality that needs to be part of my architectural designs going into the future. In this painting, I cannot imagine how the “Heartbeat” by a fellow French artist fails to resonate with the Last Supper. First, the balloons formed the central attraction of the building, in "the last supper," Christ was at the center of the window and his disciples. The emotional attraction between these two artistry materials just could not get out of my mind. I realized that I had this great calling to attach art and architecture in order to make my career one of the best in the world and one that I could die for at any moment just like Da Vinci who is my all time favorite artist. They both link my love for transcend artistry works and life to that on earth. Also, there was no better way that I could sell my designs in future if they were not going to be making a meaning to the lives of those living by now and future generations. In my case, the “Last Supper” by Da Vinci remains as one the most inspirational and touching painting that made a lot of difference in my life as an artist. At some point in my career, I decided to change my career and I focused entirely on doing art since it had not time limitation and the response from my colleagues was just extraordinary.
Copy of the Last Supper by Da Vinci Leonardo
