“Flute Bot” (2018)
by Lauren Briere (1985-)
12 x 24 in., oil on wood
Coppola Collection

Another (rare) original from Lauren “Robots in Rowboats” Briere, whose work I encountered at the (well worth the visit, in person or online) Austin Art Garage.

I like the composition on this a lot. The open triangle originating from the moon dominates the piece. The gray-tones are all lunar, and the “dark side” of the robot is pock-marked much as is the dark side of the moon. The little birds are casting their own light as little suns. And remember that the ancient philosophers (including that triangle champion, Pythagoras) believed in “the music of the spheres” (musica universalis) and a grand harmony that the motion of the heavenly bodies had here on earth (the obvious center of everything). The idea of this metaphysical harmony persisted, including and especially with astronomers, well into the 1600s.