We have all experienced it at one time or other; the client wants a change done to the artwork or the copy that really does nothing to enhance what is already there. I have always believed that at these times, the client needs to feel that he/she is functioning at their job, so the directive to make a change is given. Bah humbug! This, nonetheless, comes with the territory. It however is not a modern day happening. Interference by those paying the creative mind to create goes back to time immemorial. Just ask Michelangelo.
Back in 1504, Michael Angelo, Italian Renaisance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer, was asked to sculpt a giant-size statue of David (of David and Goliath fame). When Michael revealed the finished statue, he was told that the nose was too big and to reduce the size. Michelangelo was incensed, however, with the financier looking on from below, he went up the ladder to the face of David and pretended to chisel away at the nose. Occasionally he would drop some dust that he had carried up with him to create the impression that pieces of the marble were being removed. When “finished”, the patron looked at the nose of the David and said it was perfect.
Like Michelangelo, I am faced with “patrons” who from time to time, tinker. Unlike Michael, I have no dust at my disposal. Alas.
