Lysa Benton
problems in aesthetics
Jan. 19/11 assignments:
We were asked to answer the following questions for this course:
What questions do I want to explore in this course:
I wrote about this is my first journal entry. In short, I would like to begin to understand the core of how people feel about and view art. Obviously some are drawn to abstract and others to realism. Is it the ‘artsy’ people only who understand abstract works? Is it just me who gets frustrated at the ‘non-believers’ who only view photographic works to be true art? As a teacher I notice that my young students love anything that sparkles or has texture. Do our aesthics change over time just as our tastebuds do? This would speak to Denis Dutton’s 2010 Ted talk, A Darwinian theory of beauty.
Beyond how aesthetics relates to people as a whole, how do I view my own work? As an artist who is currently working in sculpture, am I considering the viewer first or am I working intuitively to satisfy myself? I used to not want to share my art because I was not making it for others. It also allowed me the freedom to work as I wished. Now, with the expectation (in my grad studies) to share, there is new pressure on how others will react aestheticly to my work. I’d like to embrace the likes of Duchamp who are beleived to have shouted: “It’s art because I said so!” However, this could be an excuse.
Lastly, I am very interested in the unique, organic, and simple. The artist who weaves an iv scarf and fills it with her own blood, the acceptance of transience in wabi sabi, the simplicity of a gorgeous font. Beauty is all around us, Dutton (2010), felt that as a race, humans share similar aesthetic likes and dislikes. In a modern society how have we evolved from early man? Surely, modern times affect how we view beauty. How could it not with people stretched across every curve of the earth? I am very much looking forward to delving deeper into this subject and hearing what my classmates and the readings have to say.
source:
Dutton, D. (Producer). (2010). Denis dutton: a darwinian theory of beauty. [Web]. Retrieved from www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty.html
