Interesting Topic/Question for Artists, Art Enthusiasts, and Facebook Friends: Over the past few weeks I have found the idea of ‘beauty’ at the core of several engaging discussions. From public events like the recent Representational Art Conference (TRAC 2014) in California to fascinating private exchanges with esteemed colleagues---exploring the concept of beauty seems to be increasingly popular. As many of you have come to know, I do make an effort to pin down somewhat malleable terms before discussion so let’s start with a general understanding of ‘beauty’. Among the multitude of definitions currently available---I have chosen one that I have found to be fairly straight forward and in alignment with what I currently understand as beauty**. (This is also the definition that can be found on that most popular repository of human knowledge: Wikipedia. :-) Wikipedia defines beauty as “a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An ideal beauty is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection. Over the past year I have invested a bit of time into the Neurobiology behind the art experience in a line of study referred to as Neuroaesthetics. This science has completely changed the way that I have come to both experience and appreciate art and has also had much influence on how I understand the concept of beauty (and yes, before you ask, this includes much Modern Art). However, I have encountered quite a few individuals that regard the exploration of beauty (and art in general) in this manner as somewhat ineffective. Some have warned that the abstraction of beauty into component physical stimuli/reaction events may not produce a quality understanding of the concept. Some of the reasoning behind this is difficult for me to follow and seems to sometimes border on the ethereal. So I ask my friends here on Facebook---how do you think a concept like beauty can be best explored or defined? How do you think beauty should be presented in the classroom or studio (or should it not?)? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. **Additionally: If you feel the above definition is incorrect, incomplete, or misleading in any way---please feel free to contribute an alternative definition with your thoughts as to why. Thank you!!!!
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:36:39 +0000
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