Posted September 18, 2011 in Beauty, Blog, Uncategorized
“Love the One You’re With”
Stephen Stills
“…Gus turned to face her. Perhaps because the paintings had sensitized him, he found himself admiring her face. He noticed the sharp lines of her nose and chin, the high cheekbones, the long neck. The angularity of her features was softened by her full lips and large green eyes…”
Ken Follett, “Fall of the Giants: Book One of the Century
I am often asked why I attend facial aesthetic educational conferences and meetings, such as the recently concluded American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2011 Annual Fall meeting in San Francisco. My answer is to not only to stay up to date on the latest cosmetic treatments, procedures, surgical and injectable techniques, but the exposure to the evaluation of beauty, proportions,and to be “sensitized’ to aesthetics. Then there are the educational opportunities outside of the conference rooms, sharing thoughts and ideas with friends and expert colleagues from around the world.
After presenting my 5 year experience with Fraxel repair fractional carbon dioxide laser skin rejuvenation last Friday (with co-presenters Lisa Grunebaum, MD, Ryan Heffelfinger, MD, and Howard Krein, MD) I had the pleasure to join RealSelf.com founder Tom Seary at the Ian Schraeger’s Clift Hotel Redwood Room. The Redwood room’s interior features original redwood paneling and an enormous bar, which, legend has, was carved from a single redwood tree. There is an ever-changing array of digital artwork displayed on plasma television screens hung throughout the room. Having been “sensitized”by 3 days at the facial plastic surgery meeting before and after photo evaluations, I found myself enchanted by the painting facing me. The model in the painting was an Italian Renaissance type beauty. The lighting accented the perfect convex lines of her face, the symmetry of her lovely facial features in perfect classical da Vinci proportions, her delicate hair falling lightly on “the sharp lines of her neck”. As I was pointing this out to Mr. Seary, the “painting” blinked for a split second and then shifted her “full lips and round green eyes” on me! I had been completely fooled by the live model behind the plasma TV screen! (Click here to see “painting” Clift Hotel Picture)
At that moment, I shared the creative inspiration the artists and sculptors of Renaissance Florence and Rome must have felt. If Michelangelo or Bernini were in SF, they would either be chiseling or painting the women’s divine image. There is truth and divinity in pure human beauty. Beyond that epiphany, it was the first time in my life that I had “flirted” with a painting.
On the way to the conference the next day, I stopped at the Weinstein Gallery383 Geary Street to have a look at the Picasso’s, and Chagall’s. Curator Frederick R. Holmes hosts a beautiful gallery. Though Picasso’s subject in his “Vollard” etching (in the accompanying etching below) seems to studying the nose sculpture in the fore ground, we hope that actual plastic surgeons study and use the classic proportions of da Vinci rather than those of Picasso for their live patients. Otherwise they may create more of those “Housewives of Beverly Hills or Atlanta” television show “lips and cheeks on a stick” faces. Next time you are in SF, stop in the Weinstein Gallery.
One week following the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With” came to mind. We take so much for granted. Tell the one you are with how much you appreciate them, how you love them, as well as their divine beauty; before they are gone. Be well.
Dr Michael Persky and Dr. Sarmela Sunder are located in Encino, California and Beverly Hills, California (The Lasky Clinic) but service all of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Including, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and more
