wondering about Vulcan art and design

[ratcreature]

To entice myself to tackle the background of my trekreversebang piece, I've been looking at Vulcan screencaps: to try to get a handle on Vulcan art and design in general, to help me draw background and decorations. I'm trying to decide what styles Vulcan stuff resembles, and on Enterprise in particular it seems somewhat Art Deco inspired, like if you look at this screencap of Vulcan buildings. Similar vistas in Reboot movie are less clear in that direction, but I can't place them otherwise either (I'm not really good at recognizing art styles).

I also looked at the other movies, but the Vulcan design there seems very stark, with not much in the way of decoration, except for the clothing with their robes and hats and such. Some of those seem kind of Asian-influenced maybe? But I couldn't say whether they resemble anything in particular, as I'm rather clueless about Asian art and design. TOS the series itself with the special effects of tv design being what they were at the time is not all that inspiring. I mean, in Amok Time we see that stone henge like circle with that elongated hexagonal gong, and T'Pau sitting on a chair (I can only assume that it seemingly being made of wood on a planet that does not have much in the way of trees makes it so special, otherwise it is rather sucky as far as impressive thrones go).

Back to the newer designs, in both the Reboot movie and in Enterprise we see quite a number of monumental statues (kind of like that giant Jesus statue in Rio, which I think is art deco too). Is there any canon that gives an explanation as to why they love monumental statues, or whom these are depicting? I'd assume at least some may be Surak, especially the ones from Enterprise that seem to stand around serenely, but there are also some with weapons and in the Reboot movie in their underground chamber some of them seem to carry weapons too, so I guess they are older pre-Reform? Or maybe a reminder not to forget the past. Are there any common interpretations? I mean, usually gigantic statues are around for a reason besides being decorative. And do you think they would put up some with weapons again when they are settling on their new planet, or would they stick with peaceful ones when they rebuild?

Anyway, overall there doesn't seem to be a single Vulcan style, which I guess makes sense as there isn't a single Human style either, and the examples are from different time periods too. Do you like any particular design choices for Vulcan better? Or find them more sensible than others? Any insights?

Then a few days ago I asked on a canon questions comm about the Vulcan scripts, but it seems we really don't have any info what the few samples we see mean. Also nobody seemed to know of any Vulcan symbols besides the IDIC one.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

It's not Chinese-influenced design (which rules out much of Asia) - there's too many even numbers of steps, pillars etc. I think the hat on the man at the bottom right of your linked picture has a hat that I think is referencing Song Dynasty hats? (Ming Dynasty maybe?) In Amok Time, it looked to me like they were using very ancient things rather than elaborate, which makes sense for that particular ritual, I think!

The giant statues that I've seen personally have all been Buddha, but there's so much variation just there. Even Buddha sometimes has a sword, though it's said to be to banish ignorance rather than be used as a weapon, but I don't know how much of that is later interpretation!

[ratcreature]

I didn't know that even/odd numbers of building elements were somehow significant. The only bit of Chinese numerology I've heard of was that eight is somehow thought of as lucky. But yeah, I meant more the costumes, like this guy.

You make a good point that the weapons could have symbolic meaning for them by now. They certainly still keep them around for their guards to carry in ceremonies, pacifist or not. Then the new ones might have weapons too.

And the stone circle in Amok Time definitely seemed to be meant as very old. I suppose originally beside a marriage-fight place that could have some astronomy function for calendars, like many such big ancient structures with the upright stones and such, maybe to determine the time for pon farr cycles?

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a astronomical function is a great idea, and one not easily replicated on another planet with different stars.

Personally, I can't see the Vulcans rebuilding things wholesale unless there is some specific function, even if that function is ceremonial. I think they would concentrate on the small things, like appropriate clothing for ceremonies, first. Giant statues will be last on the list, if on the list at all (though I bet there'll be one cranky archaeologist who was off on another planet at the time who says they MUST recreate the statues; another similar type of scholar who says they MUST NOT and so on...)

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I think if they weren't good for something in the present, they would have a hard time justifying rebuilding them, because just wanting their new places replicate the before in itself would, I guess, be seen as an emotional reaction. OTOH as jacquez points out below, if these were somehow related to their version of ancestor worship with the katras of the dead and such, they might be rebuild. Though the katric ark of Surak we've seen on Enterprise was smaller vessel, but it could be that different things are involved.