Martin Rice on thu 11 apr 02
Bruce:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Lots to think about. Certainly
what you say about the relationship between art/beauty and nature is of
prime interest.
One thing in particular you said struck a chord with me:
A moment of grace..a shiver up the spine..... simple recognition!
There is no art without mimesis (imitation), according to Aristotle in the
"Poetics", that is, the imitation of life which results in recognition. For
this reason, what you say about the relationship of beauty to our human form
and natural world has, for me at least, an essential Aristotelian truth to
it.
But also "a shiver up the spine" reminds me of the poet (for the life of me
I can't remember who it was), who said that he knows a good poem when his
beard bristles.
And that brings me to something that I've always believed. There is, in a
certain sense, there is no art and no beauty -- that is, in the sense that
people can "all" agree.
But what does exist for all of us is the aesthetic experience, something
ultimately personal and subjective. One can't deny that there are certain
things, works, if you will, that seem inherently beautiful because so many
people seem to agree.
But by and large, this agreement is based on either received knowledge
that's accepted and/or shared cultural experience.
The most universally shared experience, of course, is the human form and
nature. That's why what you said makes so much sense.
But who are we to deny that, to use a most hackneyed example, a depiction of
Elvis on black velvet does not provide a pleasurable aesthetic experience
for many people. That dried straw flowers and crocheted chickens at the
county crafts fair are not perceived as beautiful by thousands of people. We
all know that this is so.
For us on this list, ceramic craft and art has great value for its beauty
(but of course just look at how many of us write about pottery that "I hate"
or "was really ugly"). I would venture to say that there are as many people
out there who would say about that same piece "I love it" and "it's
beautiful."
We Clayarters love the visual and tactile impact made on our aesthetic
senses by much of the work we see. But then there's that woman who recently
told one of our Clayarters that all she would buy is factory-made bone
china. And why not? It obviously speaks to her.
I can't help thinking that we would all spare ourselves a great deal of
mental suffering and anguish if we didn't set our egos into opposition with
other egos. Because that is what's happening when we rail against individual
artists' works and movements. None of us knows what a beautiful work of art
is, we only know what is beautiful to us.
Regards,
Martin
Lagunas de Barú, Costa Rica
www.rice-family.org
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