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DAVINCI - VITRUVIAN MAN

 
Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
1490
Exposing everything!

- Circle and square joined together in a human form.
- Circle and square symbol of the Philosopher's stone and their uniting represents spiritualizing the material, and materializing the spiritual.
- Jim Morrison.

To rush headlong into the comforting darkness of selfhood as a reborn human being, or even as beast, an unhappy ghost, a denizen of hell. Anything rather than the burning brightness of unmitigated Reality. (Aldous Huxley)



Hanging out

- The Vitruvian Man is philosophical anatomy not medical anatomy.
- It's all about the perfect proportions of the body in relation to architecture.
- It is right side up.
- Perfect whole number proportions, the bottom of the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the face; 1 to 2 to 3 to 4.
- The circle and square were considered the most perfect shapes in nature during the Renaissance.
- For DaVinci, the temple was the closest thing to God, the square within the circle, the dome, and he was busy drawing many temples during this period.


Leonardo would say that art is a science 'scienza' he sees something that perfectly fits its function with no redundancy and  no inadequacy as being a perfectly beautiful thing, therefore, form, function and beauty are locked in together and that sheer perfection of the detail of everything out there and its sheer mathematical and mechanical beauty is what the human being should do when they make their own things. (Professor Martin Kemp)


One thing outside the square is the left toe

- It was quite a puzzle working out the proportions of the square to the diameter of the circle and it is a mathematical solution.
- The sketch is almost more asymmetrical; the square is not centered in the circle and the corners of the square fall outside the circle.
- He used the navel as the center and then slipped everything down to make it work and this shift was his master stroke.


If you understand the geometry of the human body, when you design a little circular temple, the ghost of the Vitruvian Man is behind this. It's a reconstruction of nature on the basis of first principles and there is no more prime principle in Christianity than the human body. (Professor Martin Kemp)



The only thing outside the circle is the right middle finger

- Galileo's middle finger is preserved in a museum, and was actually passed around for 200 years, but not as a saint, but as a heretic of the church.
- Leonardo's right hand, specifically his right middle finger, may have been affected by a fall-related nerve damage, possibly due to a fainting episode.

Some scholars have attributed da Vinci’s late-in-life hand impairment to a stroke, although others have suggested that it was caused by Dupuytren’s contracture (also known as Vikings disease), a hand deformity that tends to develop over many years. (minnpost.com)



Outside the square there is also the left middle finger

- The Assassin's Creed video game series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Order of Assassins, who fight for peace and free will, and the Knights Templar.
- In Assassin's Creed the Levantine assassins amputated their left ring finger, although there are some depictions of the right hand too, in order to use the hidden blade.
- The cutting of the ring finger also held a deep significance for the Brotherhood.
- Assassin's Creed - The Hidden Blade's Finger Sacrifice Explained.


It’s also symbolism. The ‘cutting’ means a great change in your life. Think of Luke Skywalker losing his hand. In the Bible Adam and Eve see a flaming sword swinging in all directions after they leave the garden. A certain character losing his hand in Game of Thrones. (TheCascador)

 


The Doors, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

- Outside the square there is also the Doors left O.
- Why does the right O have different line thickness.
- Called reflective double-Os.
- The famous logo is composed of a graphically executed wordmark, which features two different fonts.
- 'The' in all-caps is executed in an elegant italicized Art Nouveau-style font when 'doors' in all the lowercase lettering is drawn in bold and geometric typeface which is similar to Densmore style font.

The iconic logo of the Doors, first appeared on the cover of their self titled debut album and then on the cover of 1968 album Waiting for the Sun, is one of the most famous band logos due to the employment of simple, bold geometric shapes as well as the reflective double O letters. In the upper left of the logo is the tiny yet essential “the” in Art Nouveau style. (FontMeme)



Elektra Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

- The Elektra Record label logo was also inspired by Densmore font.
- Triangles, circles and rectangles melded into a square.
- Except the Densmore font was created to mimic the Doors logo, which was a graphic designed creation and not taken from an existing font.
- The Elektra logo may have been inspired by the Doors logo.


The Doors logo was designed by Bill Harvey, an art department employee at Elektra Records, which was the band's record label. The logo first appeared on the band's debut album in 1967. It's characterized by a unique Art Nouveau "The" and a bold, geometric "Doors". Some say the Doors logo was designed by NickFerrão. (Assistant)



Jim's crown

- 'When the doors of perception are cleansed, all things will appear as they really are' (Jim).
- William Blake used the term doors of perception.
- So Jim Morrison read William Blake and a book called The Door's Of Perception by Aldous Huxley.
- This book is credited with influencing the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s and its exploration of altered states of consciousness.
- In gematria, W is a crown and O is a crown.
- We have WOO here.


If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. (Aldous Huxley)



The Lizard King

- James Douglas Morrison (1943-1971) member of the 27 Club.
- Born on December 8, 1943 (388), in Melbourne, Florida, and died on July 3, 1971 (739), in Paris.
- The band released 6 albums while Jim was alive and another 3 after his death.
- 6+3=9.
- All in all, the surviving band members (keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore) recorded 2 additional albums as a trio still called the Doors, but broke up in 1973 and the final spoken word album released as a tribute in 1978.


The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend. (Aldous Huxley)



Cooper Black

- Later the band used a few different logos on their album covers, for example, the cover of the 1971 album L.A. Woman, their last when Jim was still alive, featured a rounded and plump Cooper Black.
- The album was released on April 19, 1971.
- It was the 6th studio album and was recorded from December 1970 through January 1971.
- We think D. B. Cooper may have died on that jump but we don't really know.


D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. (Wikipedia)



Elegant and thin

-  The ultra thin geometric style typeface on the cover of Other Voices, released in October 18, 1971.
- Recorded from June–August 1971, it was their 7th album and the first released after Jim's death.
- It was an extension of L.A. Woman and used tracks recorded before Jim left for Paris.
- Reached number 31 on the Billboard charts.
- The Os are very wide.
- Something about the fat lady singing.


About the Doors font where you can download the font for free. (fontmeme.com)



Full Circle

- The bands 8th album, Full Circle was released on August 15, 1972, and peaked at No. 68 on the Billboard chart.
- Recorded in Spring 1972.
- Click on the graphic title to see the album cover.


While there are a handful of undeniably remarkable cuts scattered throughout, Full Circle is increasingly sporadic and less focused than its predecessor. (AllMusic)



Copperplate gothic

- Finally, a copperplate gothic for their title on the cover of An American Prayer, the 9th and final studio album on November 17, 1978, which was in spoken word.
- Recorded in March 1969, and December 1970, and featured Morrison playing the piano in the second half.
- Poetry, lyrics and stories are written and recited by Jim Morrison; the music is composed by Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.


Keyboardist Ray Manzarek perceived An American Prayer as being divided into five parts, with the first covering Morrison's childhood, the second covering his high school years, the third concerning "the young poet, stoned on a rooftop with acid dreams", the fourth covering his musical career and finally the fifth being a "final summation in a way, of the man's entire life and his philosophy." (Wikipedia)



Breitenbach triptych

- By January 1971, after the completion of these recordings, Morrison had developed some concepts for the album cover art, and was in correspondence with artist T. E. Breitenbach to design this cover in the form of a triptych (3 panels that fold together).
- Morrison had originally planned on using Lalo Schifrin (1932-), an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor.


However expressive, symbols can never be the things they stand for. (Aldous Huxley)



Waiting for the sun

- Morrison was the first one to cuss on live TV and he was also the first to crowd surf.
- Waiting for the sun, this is the strangest life I've ever known.


Crowd surfing is the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person (often during a concert). The "crowd surfer" is passed above everyone's heads, with everyone's hands supporting the person's weight. (Assistant)



Sun rise, Moon set
Theta

- The 'silent majority' speech President Nixon gave from the Oval Office in 1969 during his first year in office can be directly traced to the Doors’ performance in Miami.
- Reports of indecent exposure from Morrison made their way up the chain to Nixon who used it as inspiration for the speech.
- The Rally for Decency at the Orange Bowl in late March of 1969 was a direct response to the Doors concert, and Nixon’s speech was drafted shortly thereafter.
- Nixon gave the speech on November 3, 1969.


The Greek letter theta (Θ, θ) is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet. It's pronounced as "th" in English, like in "think." In mathematics and physics, theta is often used to represent an angle. It also has other uses in fields like meteorology and statistics. (Assistant)




X-rated

- The event of which Nixon spoke was organized in response to an incident at a Doors concert some three weeks earlier.
- A drunk, combative and sometimes barely coherent Jim Morrison allegedly exposed himself to the crowd at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium.
- The alleged exposure, whether it took place or not, created serious legal problems for Morrison.


The Associated Press described the event as being part of "a teen-age crusade for decency in entertainment." On hand to support that crusade was a handful of celebrities not normally associated with the youth market: Kate Smith, Jackie Gleason, The Lettermen and Anita Bryant, spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission. Ms. Bryant, who would later become an outspoken opponent of gay rights, was not the only grownup to make political hay out of what began as a sincere event organized by the teenage members of a Roman Catholic youth group. (history.com)



Bathtub in Paris

- Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971, in Paris, France, supposedly in a bathtub but no one is sure what happened.
- There was no autopsy performed and his name was filed with middlename as his firstname and that is Douglas.
- He had two copies of his passport, and the newer copy was missing.
- His social security number is still active.


As for Jim Morrison, the incident that sparked the Rally for Decency led to his conviction seven months later on charges of profanity and indecent exposure. Sentenced to six months' hard labor in a Florida prison, Morrison left the United States for France while his conviction was under appeal. He died in Paris in July 1971. (history.com)




Flipped (after and before)

- No one is really sure what happened posthumously in 1985 when the Os were turned upside down (left).
- Did someone decide to close the doors?
- Reminiscent of a butterfly coming out of its cocoon.


We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. (Aldous Huxley)



Kingman to Wickenburg

- Would that be U.S. Route 93?
- And no, it wasn't the moon in the desert, it was a shiny metallic orb coming out of Area 51 or someplace, and we drove for 135 miles together and went past Congress, Salome, the London Bridge and Baghdad.
- Coming out of Oregon, 16 hours and 19 minutes and 1,074 miles on the road, made for a long day.


Try doing a triptych. The left panel depicting a radiant moon-lit beach and an endless stream of young naked couples running silently along the water's edge. On the beach, a tiny infant grins at the universe and around its crib stand several ancient, old people ... The center, a modern city or metropolis of the future at noon, insane with activity ... The last panel, a view through a car windshield at night on a long straight desert highway. (Jim Morrison instructions)



Eclipse route

- Then there was U.S. Route 40 that started us on a journey through Texas, Oklahoma. Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and Maine.
- 11 states total on this leg.
- Roadhouse Blues - Let it roll, baby, roll Let it roll All night long.


U.S. Route 40 (US 40), also known as the "Main Street of America," is a significant east-west United States Highway. It once spanned the entire country, running from San Francisco, California, to Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Assistant)


Imgur
The eyes have it

- What is with all these Os, some touch, some don't, some of them only touch each other.
- Some are fat and some even overlap.
- But all of them are the same height as the rest of the letters.
- Some look like slit eyes, some are slanted and others are just wide and round.

The course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred. (Aldous Huxley)



Both eyes

- Most humans have one eye larger than the other, usually the right side because the majority are right-handed.
- And there is a narrow path and a wide path.
- The right eye appears on the left when you look at someone from your own perspective.


“...we were back at home, and I had returned to that reassuring but profoundly unsatisfactory state known as 'being in one's right mind.” (Aldous Huxley)


     
Dead?

- Everything will be revealed.



Art and religion, carnivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory - all these have served, in H. G. Wells's phrase, as Doors in the Wall. (Aldous Huxley)



Owl

- An erudite nature that was misunderstood and overlooked.
- He seemed to have been wrongly convicted and the government was using him as their 'model' to eradicate freedom.
- We're talking about the same government that dragged in marijuana from across the border, dealt it out to the boomers, and then arrested them and ruined them and stole everything from them.
- Meanwhile, marijuana is less addictive than tea and they're using it now as pain medication and for ADHD type problems.



This is the side of Jim Morrison few people ever get know. He is always depicted as an obnoxious drunk maniac but he was so much more. He was a highly sophisticated, intelligent, well read southern gentlemen in his quiet moments which his close friends say was his demeanor the majority of the time but his lizard king alter ego was so outrageous and wild that it overshadowed so much of the positive aspects of who he really was. (Adam Watson)



Lifeboat

- A work in progress.


What everyone should say is the medium is the message and the message is me. And that’s the answer is for everyone to… You’re asking for an answer, the answer is for everyone to stand up and say, I’m me and be fully aware of that fact and let everyone else know it. (Jim Morrison)



Signed by Leonardo DaVinci

DaVinci

 

 

Obstacles cannot crush me.
Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.
He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.
.
 

Leonardo DaVinci


 

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