“As the boys set out on their hike, their dogs followed along. One, named Robot, was about to become famous” (Curtis, 82). Can you imagine going out into the woods for a nice hike with your friends and end up finding treasure? What sort of treasure you might be thinking, right? This was no ordinary treasure, not something that you could put in your pocket and take back home with you. This group of young boys, with Marcel Ravidat being the eldest and also the group leader, chased his dog to a cave that ended up have remarkable treasure. Cave paintings, of bulls and horses and what is really interesting to me is a human figure painting. “A human figure, the only one in the cave, seemed to be falling over backwards. It was a man with the head of a birds and hands with only four fingers. He had apparently been knocked over by a bison that was standing beside him” (Curtis, 86). This painting is spread over 6 feet if the cave wall. This really just blows my mind, not only the sizes of these cave paintings, but that it is a human like figure. From what I have been reading in The Cave Painters by Gregory Curtis and what I been learning in my classes is that human figures where not as important or tended to than the animals that were painted. Yet we have this figure here that is not entirely human, but resemble closely to a human. Was this some sort of spirit that was being worshipped? Being that both the bison and the human figure are spirits and they are fighting with one another or one is making fun of the other. Was it some sort of animal that was of great importance in ritual or for food? It seems that way for a lot of the animals that are painted. But it could have just been a mere doodle as it was down a second passage of the cave. The fact is we may never know, I just find it so interesting that in most caves animals is the predominate theme but in this cave that could be argued as not so. I wish that I could go and see this with my own eyes; I would love to experience it. Any cave paintings for that matter.
Rebecca said after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop this friday, "Is this just a put on by Bansky or is it the real thing?" That question would of never crossed my mind. I don't even know what my answer would be because it could easily be a real documentary or it could be a big joke about street becoming more a art gallery kind of art. How that people are fall so easily for something if there is big hype attached to it. I will probably be thinking about this question all weekend.
It would be cool to be able to go back in time and find out what was really going on with the cave paintings... they're so haunting. I think it's interesting that all the people who find the cave paintings while out adventuring always try to keep it to themselves for a while, until they realize they have to share it. It reminds me of a book...I want to say it was written by Ayn Rand...where the man locks all the artwork in his basement and keeps it for himself and she raises the questions of whether this is real art. But art must be shared which is what these people who find the caves realize. Good thing they did!!
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