And I love your explication about wishing to be offered a 'handle' for the
collage, Kathie.I've been giving a lot of thought to the aesthetics conversation within and without the RSC -- I've even been digging up my aesthetics from the course in aesthetics that I took in the Philosophy Dept. in college. As may be true with many academic disciplines, emersion in the theoretical, unfettered by 'practice', by field testing, when it comes to
aesthetics, can be a kick -- but also a cul de sac.I've seen within Alternate Roots over the years an aversion to getting too "academic", and I usually feel myself that our focus must be on taking action. (Not that Rooters aren't also notorious for talking things 'to death'.) But I think we can find humor and even fun in the challenge to seriously consider the aesthetic dimensions of our work, to insist on maintaining the integrity of our art as art, while still keeping it all "real" and connected to
the way people really talk about their most powerful experiences. My tangent: (if you've got a minute)A friend of mine, for a time, was on a panel of artists who got to select which artists, of those applying, would be offered a spot to set up their display tent at the big Arts Festival of Atlanta in Piedmont Park (which, sadly is not held anymore). She said to me once, about reviewing portfolios from all the artists submitting, "If I see another image of 'trees in fog' I think I'm going to throw up!". But, clearly, there is a reason that so many of the portfolios, particularly photographers', contain versions of this image. It sells. Why does it sell?
I recently drove into a town in south Georgia for the first day of a residency through thick ''pea soup" fog. It made this very ordinary little town look incredibly beautiful, I thought. I asked all of the students I met that day what they thought of the fog outside. To my surprise the opinions seem to be split almost 50/50, with half saying they loved the fog
and half saying it made them uncomfortable, that it was creepy.My dad used to have a sailboat and I went on a few father/son excursion with him. He loved to put on his greek captain's cap and spout things like: 'There Are Old Sailors and There Are Bold Sailors, But There Are No Old Bold Sailors!". One time we set out from the Niantic River on the Connecticut shore and, as soon as we got into the bay off of the Long Island Sound, we were in thick fog. Couldn't see a thing. I had just been reading the aethetics of Edward Bullough, and in his theory of 'psychical distance', he made being caught in thick fog when out on a boat sound like one of the most intense aesthetic experiences one could have. I somehow persuaded my cautious 'captain' that we should not turn back, but continue, using the boat's compass to set our bearings. I thought we could simply navigate from buoy to buoy through the fog, 'feeling' our way through the bay. And we could have that 'Edward Bullough' experience of psychical distance. Well.......after about 15 minutes of sailing on, reaching for this aesthetic experience, it suddenly hit me: This is Stupid!! I said to my dad,
"okay, that's enough. let's go back!".What did I learn? Sometimes you have to know when to let go of certain idealistic notions.
To close this entry the RSC log, pasted below is short clip I found on the web with another
take on the dilemma of 'psychical distance':<< Bullough writes that his capacity to appreciate fog while at sea is a function of his distance from being worried about the fog as causing a greater hazard to his health or his enterprise. But his beautiful, mysterious experience of the fog-world is certainly not more vivid than the experience of Jim, the runaway slave, shouting for his lost friend Huck through the fog on the river. Bullough is able to appreciate the experience as beautiful. Jim experiences the same natural phenomenon as terrifying, not beautiful, or in any other way positive. The aesthetic experience can be an experience of intense terror or ugliness, and it always involves interest, often a very intimate or non-distanced interest. >>
My thought as to why 'trees in fog' is a bestseller? I think that it is because it makes the
kind of space that us sculptors are so interested in more tangible. Jeff -------------------- Kathie de Nobriga wrote:
Gwylene,I love this explication, but I think we should share it with the reader in some way.....or simply in the description of the italicized bits, use the word "collage" (maybe you do, I'm not able to access the whole text right now). --- I know how to look at a collage if I know that's what it is, otherwise I'm trying to use a different logic to interpret/ experience it. I think fundamentally, it's about giving me a tool to access the work of art.....should I need a tool? maybe not, but when faced with something unfamiliar, I feel more confident about my ability to engage with the work in a way that doesn't make me feel somehow lacking...Hey, we're having a conversation about Aesthetics!!! whaddya know!I agree that the text in italic may be pretty confusing at first. That is its intent: to present the confusing artist mind in action at every stage of the work. This was an important part of the first text that I initiated. We may look at it the same way we see a collage with no words. Is a collage confusing? yes and it may be why the interpretation of it, or mostly parts of it, will depend on who is looking at it and projecting his/her own sensibility, therefore enriching its potential. It is not only a question of beauty or clarity. If we want to change the place of the artist in our culture it seems to me that the texts are also a place where our expression needs to join the analytical logical expression.That said i really agree that the flier fulfill a different purpose and should be a document offering services. It is an advertisement with a purpose.Thanks all who brought their comments. Gwylene-- Kathie deNobriga PO Box 1087 Pine Lake GA 30072 USA (404) 299-9498 phone & fax (678) 427-9673 cell"To stumble is not to fall, it's just a way to move forward more quickly."Ben Cohen, co-founder Ben & Jerry's"If you fall down, do it again 2 more times. They'll think it's part of the choreography."Nick Condos, tap dancer extraordinaire Visit the Community Arts Network and APInews! <www.communityarts.net>
