Art Aesthetics - A few thoughts (Part 1)
Hi darling,
I hope you are doing well. I have been pretty busy at work lately, preoccupied with quite mundane laborious tasks. I am writing this on a Monday night because I really wanted to talk to you about this topic. My thoughts may be a little scattered, but I hope you will understand.
Today, in our times, we use the word “aesthetics” quite frequently, but we often do not know its true meaning. I do not know what forms of art and media will exist in your time. Even now, new VR headsets and AI in art are making a lot of noise. Maybe the way you consume media will be completely different. But, coming back to the topic at hand, the subject of aesthetics will remain even then (I hope).
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy relating to the enjoyment or study of beauty
People forever have been scratching their heads over what is beautiful - in all that they create. Always asking the question - “Is it beautiful ? “, whether its a potter or a sculptor or a carpenter or a jeweller.
The branch of Aesthetics is quite a serious subject, if you are interested in heavy reading there are quite a few books, I haven’t read them myself yet. But, there are quite a few ways in which I think about it, in a semi-structured manner. Let’s call it Papa’s Theory of Aesthetics. :p
All art comprises of three parts
The creator (Single or multiple)
The object
The consumer
Let’s start with the creator. The creator, for multiple purposes creates an object of art under various circumstances. Let’s try to use some mathematical expression.
Any object of art is a function of c (the creator) and s (the society, surroundings, circumstances) object = f(c, s_creator) The cave paintings, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Balinese Gamelan, everything.
Now coming to the creator, we do not know how certain people are such geniuses in their respective fields. How they can wow so many people over millenia. That is something intrisinc along with lots of practice and effort. This constitutes the creator c.
This object which has been created is only beautiful when someone appreciates it. This may seem like a trivial point, but it is not. Art becomes art when someone appreciates it.
Now we come to the consumer, con . The consumer may look at the the object in another surrounding s_consumer. The consumer has their own set of likes and dislikes and choices, which constitute the consumer.
If the difference between s_creator and s_consumer is quite large, then it becomes difficult to appreciate the aesthetics of the object. For example, we do not fully know how Angkor Wat would have looked like back then, hence we may not full appreciate its beauty fully today.
This has set up the basis for my further enquiries into this topic. But, I am too sleepy to type right now and gather my thoughts. I will write to you soon about Part 2.
Yours as always,
Dad
P.S - Guess which is the best piece of art I have :p <3