Thursday entry (for 4/1/10): Aesthetics in the Eye of the Beholder

Passages from Defining Art, Creating the Canon

Crowther, Paul. Defining Art, Creating the Canon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Page 68:

“Kant observes: ‘We can easily see that, in order for me to say that an object is beautiful, and to prove that I have taste, what matters is what I do with this presentation within myself, and not the [respect] in which I depend on the object’s existence.’

Kant’s point here, is that our pleasure in beauty (which he also describes as a mode of ‘pure aesthetic judgment’) is a function of how the object appears to the senses. What kind of thing the object is; its relevance for our practical interests; indeed, whether the object is real or not; are questions which have no necessary bearing on our enjoyment of its mere appearance. Through its rootedness in the immediate sensible particular our pleasure can be characterized as disinterested.

Disinterestedness is, on these terms, a logical characteristic which separates pure aesthetic judgments from those of the agreeable and the good. Pure aesthetic judgments are, in logical terms, indifferent to the real existence of the object.

It is, however, important to be clear about the scope and significance of this claim. In respect of it, Kant has been very badly served by subsequent tradition. As we have already seen in Chapter 1, formalists such as Monroe Beardsley and Clive Bell (and others who I have no previously mentioned, such as Edmund Bullough and Harold Osborne) have, in effect, interpreted the disinterested aspect of aesthetic judgment, as though it were in essence psychological – a kind of detached attitude or mental stance wherein one purges oneself of all considerations deriving from ‘real existence’. Many critics of disinterestedness such as George Dickie, Richard Shusterman, and manifold Marxist and feminists theoreticians, have interpreted it in similar terms.

This has led some of them to the view that there simply ‘aint no such thing’ or, indeed (in the case of Marxists), that the very idea of a detached ‘disinterested’ standpoint, is itself ideologically ‘interested’ to the highest degree.

Now there are elements in Kant – such as his additional characterization of the pure aesthetic judgment as ‘contemplative’ – which lend some weight to this interpretative tradition. These, however, pale into insignificance alongside Kant’s – wholly valid – logic of negation. The key logical significance of the pure aesthetic judgment lies in what it does not presuppose in order to be enjoyed.

To take a pleasure in the way things appear to the sense is just that. We may find that our being in a position to experience such pleasure has required a certain path through life; it may also be that lots of factual knowledge and practical considerations impinge upon our pleasure. However, such factors are not logical preconditions of our enjoying beauty: there are contingent elements. We do not have to take account of them in appreciating formal qualities for their own sake.

On these terms, then, the aesthetic experience of beauty is autonomous in logical terms. This is its definitive trait. However, such experiences occur under historically specific circumstances which means that their significance is mediated. By virtue of both the context in which it occurs and the kind of objects which bear it, beauty can be ethically and politically neutral or rendered negative or positive."

Monday entry (for 3/29/10): Artist of Interest: Nick Walker

Biography from Walker's official website:

In 1992 I began to combine stencils with my freehand work which allowed me to juxtapose almost photographic imagery with the rawness which evolved from conventional graffiti styles.

Stencils introduce an impact element to my work. The appeal of stencils is that they allow me to take an image from anywhere - dissect any part of life - and recreate it on any surface.

I try to add an element of humor or irony to some paintings to add a little light relief to the walls. Painting is a form of escapism for me and if my work allows the spectator to do the same thing, then I've achieved more than I set out to do.

Walker's official website.

Interview with Walker conducted by Juxtapoz magazine.

Walker's last solo exhibition was held at the Black Rat Press Gallery in London, England in April 2008.

The following images were found on Juxtapoz.com. Titles and medium of artworks were not available.

Thursday entry (for 3/25/10): Entertainment and Art continued

Passages from Beyond Price

Hutter, Michael, and David Throsby. Beyond Price: Value in Culture, Economics, and the Arts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Page 41, essay by Richard Shusterman

“We often speak of the entertainment value of novels, plays, music, and other works of art. But cultural critics just as often contrast art to entertainment, viewing the former as culturally far superior in value. Is entertainment value an important part of art’s value or merely a subordinate, inessential means to conveying that value? Is it perhaps even an unwanted distraction from true artistic value?...Although the precise nature of aesthetic value is unclear and hotly contested, it is generally conceived as an intrinsic rather than an instrumental value. Entertainment, however, seems to imply instrumentality – a means of distracting, amusing, or refreshing oneself, or a way of enjoyably passing one’s time. So besides examining the concept of entertainment, I will also analyze the crucial but problematic notion of intrinsic value. This analysis will enable me to argue that intrinsic value can be reasonably construed in a way that allows a contextual contrast with instrumental value without presuming a radical dichotomy between them that would deny intrinsic value to things that clearly have instrumental value. Being instrumentally effective would not then automatically preclude entertainment value from being also an intrinsic value of art and aesthetic experience and would allow it to be considered a possible constituent of aesthetic value.

One prominent aspect of aesthetic value is its experiential quality. Such value does not lend itself to quantitative calculation or discursive proof but is realized or made evident in direct experience. It is in the experience of an appreciating subject that this value comes to life and is demonstrated; that is why aesthetic value is often described as being subjective in some sense, even when it is argued that such judgments also exhibit some objectivity of consensus and criteria of evaluation. In this sense of experiential value, it does not really make sense to speak of appreciating the aesthetic value of an artwork by merely having read or heard about it but without ever having experienced it, either in its original form or in an adequate reproducing. In the same way, entertainment value needs to be appreciated in direct and personal experience of the artwork enjoyed.

There are also other values that play an important role in evaluation of art, especially whenever we go beyond the specific aesthetic domain to consider the wider field of culture. We sometimes praise (or condemn) an artwork in terms of its social value – its effects in promoting social harmony or social progress. We also speak of the political value of art in similar terms. In the debates over the value of popular art, for example, there are arguments affirming its social and political value in terms of democratic expression, just as there are vehement allegations of its noxious social and political effects in terms of lowering of cultural standards and promotion of an unthinkingly conformist, mass mentality (Shusterman 1992, Ch. 7). Moreover, there are economic valuations of art that relate to sales and profit figures, and those that relate to issues of symbolic capital and status that are more difficult to quantify. To understand or appreciate such values it does not seem necessary to base one’s evaluation on vivid, direct experience of the artwork itself; one can instead concentrate on the work’s effects and relationships in the social, political, or economic fields in which it is situated.

These dimensions of valuing art most aestheticians regard as clearly extrinsic to genuine aesthetic value. But there are two other ways of valuing art that seem closer to the core notion of intrinsic aesthetic value but can still be distinguished form it: art-historical value and artistic value. The first relates to the contribution an artwork or genre has made to art history and cultural history. An artwork that no longer provides rewarding aesthetic experience to many people can still be widely hailed as artistically valuable because it earlier achieved classic status and thus forms an integral, inseparable part of an influential tradition that we still greatly value. The now unappealing classic thus remains highly valued for the still appealing tradition of works that it helped inspire. This value seems clearly relational – a function of the work’s place of role with respect to other works…

To have artistic, as distinguished from art-historical, value, an artwork need not be historically influential; it could simply demonstrate valuable qualities of technique in a given artistic genre. This sense of value hearkens back to the old general meaning of art as a specific skill or craft. A work might be aesthetically disappointing and fail to produce rewarding experience but still have the redeeming value of demonstrating some technical skill in the artistic medium. It is at least artistically valuable to that extent. One can imagine an aesthetically dismal portrait that nonetheless showed technical skill in drawing, or a note-perfect but unexpressive and uninspiring performance of a difficult musical work. If the technical skill demonstrated is innovative or impressive enough to be influential, then such artistic value could also constitute art-historical value. But even if we cannot speak of influence, artistic value seems clearly relational, since excellence of skill or technique make at least implicit reference to standards or paradigms of excellence that lie beyond the artwork itself. This, however, does not entail that artistic value is extrinsic rather than intrinsic, since the value is nonetheless embodied or expressed in the work itself rather than merely its external effects. As with aesthetic value, the proper appreciation of artistic value seems to require a direct experience of the work, though being told that a difficult musical performance was “note-perfect” may perhaps be enough for us to accord it some degree of artistic value without having heard it. Because of this common experiential anchorage (if not also for other reasons), artistic value and aesthetic value are more often run together than distinguished. “

Proof of Anderson Gallery student juried exhibition entry.

Monday entry (for 3/22/10): Artist of interest: Eelus

Biography from Eelus' official website:

Hello, I’m Eelus. People like me because I’m polite and rarely late.

My career as a graphic artist began when I was 10 years old in the ruthless, Thunderdome like playground of a Wigan primary school. Being quite handy with the old pencil, I decided to tool myself up and began knocking out hand drawn posters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to either A: sell for tuck shop money or B: give away to escape a good kicking due to the shortness of my trousers.

Life continued, my trousers thankfully became longer and the kicking’s subsided, before I knew it 10 years had passed and I was now living in London. Wigan isn’t known for its street art, so when I arrived in London I was excited and inspired by the already booming scene. I bought the countless books, read the expensive imported magazines and after a few years of sitting on the sidelines like the school rugby games 10 years previous, I picked up a scalpel and decided to get involved. Before I knew it I was making a mess on walls as well as knocking out pieces on canvas to A: sell for beer money or B: give away to escape a good kicking due to the longness of my trousers.

In October 2006 I quit my day job and became a graphic artist full time, putting myself on a long road of experimentation, progression, hangovers and worrying about the rent. My goal is to push my limits, learn the skills of my trade and to hopefully continue to make a living from my art. This site is here to document that journey and give you the chance to buy any work I create on the way.

Eelus' official website.

Interview with Eelus conducted by Juxtapoz magazine.

Eelus recently had his work shown in his first London debut at Blackall Studios in London, England on February 25, 2010.

The following images were found on Eelus' official website.

Not Everything is so Black and White, spray paint on reclaimed wood

Lung Mixture on Metal, spray paint on vintage metal

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, spray paint on aluminium

I Said I'm Happy (What More Do You Want?), hand screen print on Arches Velin paper

Artist lecture: Megan Biddle 3/12/10

Megan Biddle is a young artist who creates sculptures and dabbles in drawing and film. She graduated from VCU with a MFA in 2005. In 2000 she received her undergrad from RISD. She's received many residencies and awards, the latest in 2009 include Sculpture Space Utica, NY. Artist in Residence, Creative Glass Center of America Millville, NJ. Artist in Residence, Jentel Artist Residency Program Banner, WY. Artist in Residence and The Macdowell Colony Peterborough, NH. Artist in Residence. She's also exhibited her work in several solo and group exhibitions, which include XO Projects Brooklyn NY. Site Specific Installation, The Old American Can Factory Brooklyn, NY. RISD NYC Alumni Biennial 2008, Long Island University Brooklyn, NY. Urban Glass Instructors and A.I.R. Gallery New York, NY. Generations 6.

Biddle gave a lecture in one of the critique rooms of the Fine Arts Building to a small group of students. It felt like a very intimate affair, unlike most of the artist lectures I've since attended here at VCU. Unfortunately, Biddle was a horrible public speaker, found herself unable to play her short films that were embedded into her Powerpoint presentation and rushed through all of her slides. The lecture was over within thirty-five minutes. In her presentation she included random photos of objects she found during her travels that inspired her, which seemed pointless given the fact that they weren't related to any of her completed artworks. I enjoyed a few of her sculptures and installations, including a wall full of melted wax paper that were hung with what appeared to be small rusty nails, but for the most part I felt she seemed more impressive on paper.

Artist lecture: Sanford Biggers 3/11/10

I immensely enjoyed Sanford Biggers' lecture. He was a great public speaker and was not only articulate but charming and witty as well. And he had the artwork to back him up. One piece that he showed that I was fond of the most was his film Small World, which depicted two different films playing side by side. One film was a continuous loop of old home movies shot by a middle class white family in Connecticut in the 1970s while the other film was also a continuous loop of old home movies but shot by a middle class black family in California, also in the 1970s. The home movies of the black family belonged to Biggers while the home movies of the white family belonged to a friend of his. The point of this joint film was to show the similarities, not differences, between the two families of different race across the country during the same time period. Biggers explained that for the installation of the film, the room was adorned with shag carpet and a comfy, worn in couch of the same time period to further escalate the ambiance of the setting and time period within the home movies.

Thursday entry (for 3/11/10): Art museums

Passage from Art in Context.

Fenner, David. Art in Context: Understanding Aesthetic Value. Athens: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2008.

“Anyone who has ever visited an art museum knows that all sorts of efforts are taken to provide “proper framing” for enhancing art-appreciation experiences. The paintings are lit well – not too brightly but in such a way that glare is minimized and viewers do not have to strain to see. Natural light is frequently available, but it is diffused. The rays of the sun are not permitted to touch the paintings and other delicate artifacts; if they touch sculptures, they do not linger for long. This is certainly for the continued health of the artworks, but it has the added benefit of providing excellent lighting for viewers: natural light is considered the “truest,” and diffused light eliminates glare. The same is true of temperature. While a constant temperature (and humidity level) is essential to the continued well-being of the artworks, it has the added advantage of providing viewers a level of comfort. This level of comfort allows the viewer to avoid fanning herself or wrapping up tightly in her coat (although many art museums probably require the wearing of sweaters or cardigans). Without having to think about being too hot or too cold, the viewer can direct her attention more fully to the artworks. Art museums are traditionally composed of many rooms. Modestly sized paintings tend to be in modestly sized rooms; very large paintings regularly can be found in larger halls. Rooms have enough artwork to encourage a long stay in each, but the fact that there are more modestly sized rooms than large halls has advantages for viewing. First, the viewer is not overwhelmed by the number of works immediately available; this encourages her to take time with each room and probably added time with particular works in a room. Second, the viewer is not overwhelmed by variety. Most art museum curators group together works from the same period or works that have a similar style or national origin. Not feeling overwhelmed, feeling at ease, allows viewers to linger comfortably, considering the works for as long as the like. The rooms in art museums tend to be painted a netural color, but attention has been given to how the room’s decorations will enhance rather than detract from an art-appreciation experience. Generally speaking, the rule in constructing and decorating an art museum is to provide a venue, a context, that will substantively contribute to the art-appreciation experiences of museum patrons. This usually means that such a venue is grand enough to focus attention away from the cares of the world – the ecclesiastical correlate phrase would be “to provide a sense of the transcendent” – yet simple and neutral enough to focus attention onto the artworks. There are functions to be served in the design of art museum spaces, and what I have written above is only one viewer’s sense of these functions and how they are served. All we really need is the most common sense of what art museums are like to see that such spaces are essentially spaces of decontextualization.

Human beings do little without purpose. Perhaps we do nothing outside of service to some function or other. When we go to the bother – the expense, the care of design – to create an art museum space, we do so very purposefully. We work to create proper framing for art-appreciation experiences, and this proper framing may most succinctly be described as a kind of blank slate – blank not in the sense of being stark but in the sense of directing focus away from itself. Essentially what the art museum designer wishes to do is to provide an uncontextualized space or, if that is a theoretical impossibility, to provide a space where the context is all about pointing to the artworks, the artworks on their own, separate from the cares of the world, separate from their use as instruments of political reform, national pride, social commentary, sexual arousal, psychological exploration, or religious proselytism. Although the contents and styles of individual works may have effects in these categories and others, the art museum spaces in which the works are displayed are generally designed only to point to the works. Whatever viewers take away from these works is their own deal. Art museum designers mean for art museums to be decontextualized spaces. Francis Sparshott writes, “An art museum, like [a] lab, is a carefully neutral environment, with its oatmeal-colored walls…[W]e are not just introduced to paitings in our museum tours, we are introduced to a specific practice of picture seeing.” Kathleen Walsh-Piper, a museum educator, writes, “The very existence of an institution devoted to collecting, preserving, exhibiting, researching, and interpreting works of art demonstrates the concept of “setting aside an object for aesthetic contemplation…The building, whether a grand temple, a spare modern tower, or an intimate historical structure, is frequently designed to encourage a feeling of separateness from the everyday world, a place in which to marvel.”

Monday entry (for 3/8/10): Artist of interest: Ron English

Biography from English's official website:

Ron English is a well-known painter, whose work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Paris and the Whitney Museum in New York. Ron is also widely considered to be one of the seminal figures in the ever-growing culture jamming movement. He has pirated over a thousand billboards over the last twenty years, replacing existing advertisements with his own hand-painted subvertisements.

Biography from Wikipedia.org:

Ron English is an American contemporary artist born in 1959 who explores popular brand imagery and advertising. His signature style employs a mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, including comic superhero mythology and totems of art history, to create a visual language of evolution. He is also widely considered a seminal figure in the advancement of street art away from traditional wild-style lettering and into clever statement and masterful trompe l’oeil based art. He has created illegal murals and billboards that blend stunning visuals with biting political, consumerist and surrealist statements, hijacking public space worldwide for the sake of art since the 1980s.

Ron English's official website.

Interview with Ron English conducted by Juxtapoz magazine.

English's work will be on display May 15-August 22 at the Bristol City Museum in Bristol, England.

The following images were taken from English's official website.

Cowgirl Hat Red Brown, silkscreen on paper, 2006

Marlboro Boy, oil on canvas, 2006

Disco McDonalds, oil on canvas, 2006

Cowgirl Milkshake, oil on canvas, 2006

Thursday entry (for 3/4/10): Entertainment and Art

Passages from Beyond Price

Hutter, Michael, and David Throsby. Beyond Price: Value in Culture, Economics, and the Arts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Page 50, essay by Richard Shusterman

“This balanced view of entertainment is decisively disturbed by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s influential aesthetics, with its fateful spiritualizing turn toward the ideal. With Hegel, entertainment seems unequivocally identified with what is unworthy of the name of art. In his initial remarks to affirm the worthiness of art in his Vorlesungen uber die Asthetik, Hegel feels he must sharply distinguished between “true art” and the “servile” artistic distractions that are merely “a fleeting game in the service of pleasure and entertainment”…and of other “external” ends of “life-related pleasantness.” Entertainment thus marks the inferior realm of servitude to pleasure and it external ends. In contrast, the fine arts (die schonen Kunste) only become true art (wahrhafte Kunst) when the are free of this subservience. This Hegelian attitude still, sadly, dominates contemporary aesthetics, whose idealist turn has privileged, in the realm of art, truth over beauty and pleasure, while also aesthetically privileging the realm of art high above natural splendors.

Friedrich Nietzsche presents a more complex and salutary view of entertainment and its relationship to art and though. He can deploy the term very pejoratively to denote a trivial concern with shall pleasure and the passing of time to alleviate boredom. On the other hand, in Ecce Homo (“Why I Am So Clever”, Section 3), Nietzsche expresses the positive power of entertainment through the notion of “recreation” (Erholung), which he regards, along with choice of climate and nourishment, as essential to self-care, as what allows him to escape himself and his own self-demanding “seriousness” (Ernst). Nietzsche in fact claims, “Every kind of reading belongs among my recreations.” An intense practitioner of self-meditation like Montaigne, Nietzsche seems to affirm the productive paradox of entertainment’s distraction that we earlier gleaned from etymology and from Montaigne – that the self is sustained and strengthened by being freed from attention to itself, that serious self-care also entails amusing distraction from oneself. And this paradox, I think, implies a further dialectical lesson: that the self is enlarged and improved by forgetting itself and plunging its interest in the wider world.”