LIFESTYLE

In pursuit of perfection

From artists to archaeologists, the ideal is elusive

LAURIE HIGGINS

I’ve always thought striving for perfection is the surest road to crazy. For me, perfection comes in small but potent doses: meeting your baby for the first time, watching a child laugh, inhaling the scent of pine in a forest, biting into a juicy heirloom tomato, watching a sunset over Cape Cod Bay, reading a perfect sentence and thinking, yesss!

We all know what perfection means to the Patriots — a record-breaking season of wins that they and their fans hope will continue at the Super Bowl, making NFL history. Yet, perfection is elusive and highly subjective. For most people, the idea is firmly rooted in the work they do, the things they love and the way they view the world.

Wellfleet artist Vincent Amicosante says he’s thought a lot about perfection because he struggles to make things absolutely perfect in his paintings. Realizing that’s impossible, he tries to create the illusion that it’s ideal. “The underlying tone of nature is pretty much perfection,” he says. “That’s part of what always amazes me and the fact that I’m never going to achieve that. So in my work, I sort of revel in the fact that a lot of times it is not perfect. You can give the impression of being perfect, but if you study it, it’s really not perfect.”