Up: [[Spirituality]] Created: 2024-04-06 I decided to make a spontaneous collage. Opening the book *People* by photographer Roloff Beny, this sculpture is what I opened to. He makes me think of play. I found later that the sculpture is called Amor-Atys, 1440-50s and is a small bronze made by Donatello and residing in the Bargello Museum in Florence. There’s lots of dispute about whether the sculpture actually is of Atys who was, in Greek mythology, a shepherd made into Cybele’s priest on condition that he preserve his chastity. He didn’t and was driven by Cybele into madness where he castrated himself. Eesh. Beny’s photograph doesn’t include his lower body which shows exposed genitals and a snake at his feet. It is his smile, his carefree nature that I am drawn to. Apparently his raised arms would have held an object of some kind that would have confirmed his identity. To me he simply looks carefree and joyful. The [Donatello site](https://www.donatello.net/atys.jsp#google_vignette) suggests the sculpture might have been a private commission by humanists. I opened my Mary Oliver collection of poems to *Five A.M. in the Pinewoods*, a beautiful poem I had not read before. The three lines at the end spoke to me. I believe that play is a form of prayer, a way to both swim inward and flow outward. I am tired of my seriousness, of my despair and regret. The background was not spontaneous. I sought soft colour. These are ice sculptures at a hot springs in Japan. They don’t look cold and hard to me. The colours make them soft, gentle, flowing, beautiful. I love this. I’ve put it beside my computer so I can see it. #Art ![[Play Pray Sculpture.webp]]