The word ‘dozen’ itself was brought to us from the Franks – either the Venetians or the French who - named their ‘twelve’ thus. As a unit of measurement it is not just simply a number, and as such it is a lot older than the Franks, and it seems likely that its origins can be traced to the depths of ancient Mesopotamia and the sumerians.
The dozen as number 12
- The year has 12 months, which means that the moon has about 12 phases, and for every phase, the ancient Greeks made a god – so there are
- 12 gods on Olympus.
- The year was determined by the phases of the moon itself so the number of gods and the length of the days; two dozen hours, separated as single hours. The 12 hours of the night hand over the baton to the new day and the midday 12 noon stands like a zenith, after which the day begins to decline.
- For some incomprehensible reason, eggs are always sold in dozens and football teams often acquire a ‘twelfth player’ for whom some thousands of people may sing, or boo, in unison.
- Twelve is also a number you can count on your hand, if you use the thumb as the counter and the three separate bones of the remaining four fingers to make 12.
- Twelve was the greek titans and the
- Tribes of Israel. Each tribe "offered" to Jesus one apostle so they become
- 12 Apostles (like the ancient Greek gods).
- The zodiac has twelve signs and
- we count 1 -12 using uniq words for these numbers and then return to ten and three [thirteen], ten and four[fourteen] etc
A dozen artworks each time
Is twelve a magic number/ a number with some special dynamism/ what is the hidden relationship between the months, the digits on the fingers, the eggs and thousands of voices lifted in unison among football fans/
I don’t know. And this is why this blog won’t be looking for the mystical meanings of the number 12. At least that is not its aim. Its aim is to present ‘a dozen artworks’ every time. Twelve similar objects.
The same logic
The same techniques
The same subject
And because, as I see it, the boundary between the technician and the artist is blurred, because this border is rather suspect, and because, finally, I don’t want to segregate the technician and the artist, even though this is what is usually done, in this blog all who have something to say will be hosted and presented, and with whatever material they choose as their ‘voice’.
And if necessary the creators themselves will be spotlighted – and all the works will be chosen using my own criteria.
Because, at the end of the day, the adozenofart. Blogspot.com represents my freedom to travel through cyberspace…
And that needs neither reason, nor explanation. Welcome.
