a few questions concerning aesthetics
for a really long time i couldn’t say the word aesthetic. my mouth just wouldn’t form the right shapes at the right time. for someone attending design school, this was a huge disadvantage for aesthetics is one of the top three words of choice for snotty design fools such as myself, the other of course being pedagogy and construct, duh. so i couldn’t say it, but i would try to say it, get really embarrassed, so embarrassed that maybe i didn’t think about it a lot. or i was just such a star i didn’t need to concern myself with thinking about it.
however now i can say aesthetics, form the sounds, make the word and i am comfortable admitting that ofcourse because of design school and maybe because nyc is so concerned with aesthetics, modern culture too even, i am obsessed, possessed by aesthetics and the over arching theme of the look of things. especially my things.
like am i trying to get a cohesive look going for my work? a style? a what and where with all?
yes. i think i am. i think i am looking for my certain special aesthetic.
but really here is the deal. here are the thoughts pounding my brain and heart constantly.
how much of an individuals artistic aesthetic can be called genuine if they fall under a certain “style” or movement? how can we know if it is ever really genuinely from and of them?
how much should an individual artist allow outside forces in their immediate world (the art/ creative world) to permeate their work and personal aesthetic?
is there any way to keep outside forces from bending and swaying your own work and world view? what about close personal relationships, friendships and all those ships?
can you decide to not be influenced by what is around you? and what are the consequences of deciding yes?
i suppose diligence is a key component in maintaining a true and clear, maybe distinct voice. but any other takes, your takes especially, on this seemingly never dying (this undead? this zombie?) dilemma would be great.
openness!
dialogue! discussion! maybe even a DIAGRAM!
it’s thursday and coffee smells wonderful! things that sparkle are valid NOT vapid, and apparently in my waking sleeping passed out world i find tearing open buckets of powder incredibly satisfying.
talk it out, work it through!
i love you.
i love you too!
ps: do you ever get wonderstruck by just how much there is out there? especially when you find incredible wonderful hyper productive stuff and such? here are three things that are absolutely making my life right now.
Posted in Blog
October 18th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
i am the opposite of knowing the answer (maybe you should ask nicholas?) but i will say that i think that if you’re asking the question of “aesthetics” too much then there is a danger of falling under a larger heading (you call them “movements” or “styles”). I think if you don’t think about aesthetics too much, than you just are, and your aesthetic develops naturally the more you get to know yourself as an artist. and at that point, who cares if you “look like” something or other else. it’s still you. and everything is derivative, and there’s nothing new under the sun and all that jazz so there’s really no pressure to be anything “new,” just pressure to be something “you” or something like that. as far as outside influence, it really depends. if you are a closed system, then what kind of artist are you? i need the outside. but i dont know, i guess that’s a really personal decision. i tend to think that everyone should be constantly looking…