Friday, September 28, 2007

Just do it.

"Nike continues to serve as a symbol of victory, although in a more subtle and generally unrecognized sense. The shoe company Nike chose that name in order to associate themselves with the idea of victory in athletics and the famous swoosh of their logo is supposed to represent Nike's wings. In many ways Nike also celebrates the victory of beauty and perfection because of the high quality of some of the statues of Nike which have been found." source


My ad!

Comments for this post are due by Monday October 1st.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful piece of art but I'm not so sure I would have wanted to be caught in fixing my shoes :o) The all out motion is beautiful and how they carved her. The motion is very smooth yet you can actually picture her walking along and all of a sudden needing to fix her shoe so she hops her way to fixing her show. :o) I like this a lot better than just people standing or reaching up to get something. But maybe just not 'fixing my shoe' pose.

Anonymous said...

The idea that Nike stems from is definitely cool. Using a historical symbol such as Nike victory tells a whole story that goes far beyond a tennis shoe. The fact that the people in Greece were very focused on athletics ties the whole idea of selling shoes that are athletic with the Nike logo.

I love how realistic the statues were being portrayed. The folds of the clothing and the fact that she is fixing her sandal are refreshingly normal and natural. It's really interesting that these statues were depicting gods, but were so normal and people like. It's quite a bit different from the Egyptians with their half human/ half animal statues.

VictorVonDoom said...

It really is very beautiful. It's not to erotic but still a very sensuous and tantalizing picture. As Kaitlin said they really were getting better at making statues looks more realistic. I don't know if I'd buy shoes because of this ad though...maybe just underwear?

Anonymous said...

I really like the Nike statue. Its probably one of my favorites actually. I love how the the clothing just drapes all over her and how shes actually doing something other than standing straight. I never knew where they got Nike from until I heard about it in class but i really liked the whole background of it.

Anonymous said...

I heart Nike--the statue, not the shoe company that pays children in Southeast Asia $0.25 a day to make their over priced sneakers. Bastards.
There is a sense of shock in seeing Nike adjusting her sandle. It's like seeing the Queen of England driving a car. It's something that you never thought you would see, but obviously it happens. Nike adjusting her sandle makes one realize, "Oh, even the gods get the straps of their sandles twisted." She, of a brief moment, becomes human. I'm sure that the Greeks found a bit of reassurance in seeing Nike adjusting her sandle. "Ah, yes. Even Victory takes a moment to get things in order, too."

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree with everyone else, this is really a beautiful piece and one of a kind for sure. The wet drapery accentuates almost every part of her body and no minor details are left out concerning her clothing. I do like how she was captured in the moment, rather then most statues that have a standing body with a bent elbow leaning on a pillar. I was also not aware of the origin of Nike until class, so it brings a new perspective to the matter.

artperson said...

(to me) it is extremely upsetting to see these sculptures. I mean from the remnants you can tell that, when complete, these were extrordinary works of art. I mean the amount of detail and realism is insane. I would have to say when it comes to famous works of art these sculptures definitely are at the top of my list. It just sucks that a large majority of these pieces were destroyed.

Rexus Lunazul said...

Nike is quite one of the biggest companies in the shoe making industry , their symbol has a nice story, but of course is not the first company using mythologic symbols, or names for their products or company names.

other company that use a popular name from greek mythologies is the company Cronos, named after Kronos father of Zeus

http://www.cronos.be/index.html

Anonymous said...

I think it is extremely interesting that the Nike shoe company actually has some historical backing to its name. I always just assumed it was someone's last name or something similar, but victory seems perfect. I will look at those shoes differently from now on. :)

The statues seem to be becoming so life-like. I mean really, it was such a short time before where the bodies had box chests and the cloth was unnaturally straight. I wonder how these artists made so much progress in a reasonably short period of time. I have to also throw out there that the wet drapery style is completely gorgeous. This is the kind of statues that I absolutely love.

big bad teacher said...

I have to admit, every time I see the image of the Nike of Paionios (the 1st image on this post) all I see is George Washington--I blame that whole "faceless" thing.

Unknown said...

I doubt many people who wear their apparel know what Nike actually stands for. Unfortunately, ancient Greek mythology doesn't market well. It would be cool to see them use it in advertisements, maybe some football player in Reebok's goes out for a pass and gets leveled by a sneaker-clad goddess. She then proceeds to taunt him and runs off in the distance. Screen fades to the Swoosh.

Oh yeah, that would totally sell in Athens.

daddytobe58 said...

It is truly a beautiful piece of work. The wet look shows everyting that the model is doing with her body. You can see the body movements and the way that the body actually works instead of being able to walk and not have any hip movements like the egyptions portrayed.

jpayne said...

I agree with everyone else here. I really like this piece and how it has become more realistic than many of the other statues. As retorclide said, it brings the thought to mind that even the gods or goddess go through some of the same daily frustrations such as having the strap of your sandal fall off your ankle. Also, I love the deatail and how the clothing drapes over the body but yet is conformed to the figure to show every detail of what is underneath. Great piece!! :)

Anonymous said...

First of all, that George Washington comment, I totally agree! I love the second statue though. It really is just like a photograph. It reminds me of the tabloids that snap pictures of celebrities doing everyday things and then publish and sell them. Makes me wonder how different their basic culture really was than ours. They seem to love their leaders and worship their celebrities just as much as we do!

Anonymous said...

Nike is a very beautiful sculpture. I like how much detail is put into the cloths, and other features. I never knew that nike was a person in ancient greece. I found it very interesting to learn where the label on the shoes came from. It is very fitting to name athletic wear something like nike, becuase the greeks were so into athletics and this of that nature.

James Almquist said...

Im usually not a big fan of sculptures but the detail of the cloth in the second image is really amazing; the time, effort and skill needed to make that is crazy.

I was aware of Nike's name and the meaning of the logo only because I read an article back on it a couple months ago also if im not mistaken alot of the fonts we use today (Times New Roman comes to mind) is based off of the structure in the pillars from Greek and Roman architecture.

Anonymous said...

This post has been graded.

aydin1107 said...

I didn't know about where the name Nike came from either. It's pretty funny that for a company who sells their brand mainly through name recognition. (i.e.- it says Nike they'll buy it.)that at the same time, i'm sure that, most of their customers have no idea where it originates from.

But on the pieces themselves the statue, I would have to agree that it is remarkable. There is such great detail put into every part. I myself haven't seen anything like it in my life. Maybe I need to see more art?