Song of the Week:
They Don’t See Us by The Tiara Sisters
Which aesthetic are you?
T.U.T ALERT!! It is that time of the week⌠drumroll please! Time to unveil the brand-new post of the week! To all my newcomers, welcome to The Unfinished Times, what a dramatic entrance? And to my regulars, you know the drill, buckle up, it is time to get right into it.
Before I got into this business, I truly thought it would be so easy to promote and gain followers and likes on social media. My thought process and formula for success was to consistently post pretty aesthetic things and bam! Iâll be an overnight sensation! Of course, that didnât or doesnât happen and I realized somethingâŚactually, a couple of things. I am not cut out for this gig.
Break Free
Now, that is really dramatic, and I am only half kidding; let me explainâŚI come from a generation of major perfectionists; throughout my life, things have always had exact order, or it wasnât good enough. Stressing the littlest, tiniest order of events or the way things looked in order to win approval. I came into adulthood realizing this mentality wasnât sustainable and struggled to come to terms with this realization. The problem lies in the fact that there is no over-the-counter solution. Instead, it requires deep meditation to get out of what I call; the battle of You vs You. The idea that your biggest enemy isnât your neighbor, coworker, or friend, but rather yourself. Absolutely mind-boggling.
I am bringing this to the table because I want to come clean about something. I am reaching that point where I dissect everything I do. Little-by-little, criticizing the smallest of details, stunting my own creativity to avoid doing the work because I am not getting recognition. And thatâs the first revelation, how do we get the aesthetic look? Actually, who even determines what looks aesthetically pleasing or not? I stopped questioning myself and started questioning those around me-virtually. I really started to pay attention to the content I was viewing and why they went viral.
Which led me back again to my Philosophy of Art class. I know, I know, I bet youâre tired of me referencing this class. And this may or may not be the last time I mention it, but I guess this class taught me something. One thing in particular was, The Role of Theory in Aesthetics, written by Morris Weitz in 1956. First time reading it, and it actually is very insightful.
Nature of Art
The aesthetics theory debate has been the core of the philosophy of the art community since its beginning. Before we tackle âwhat is aesthetic?â, we need to answer the mother of all questions: âWhat is art?â. Sounds tricky right?
Here comes the fun part, the reason I love this article written by Morris Weitz is because he actually tells us to stop, donât even bother answering these questions. He writes âI want to show that the inadequacies of the theories are not complexity of art, which might be corrected by further probing and research. Their basic inadequacies reside instead in a fundamental misconception of art. Aesthetic theory- all of it- is wrong in principle in thinking that a correct theory is possible because it radically misconstrues the logic of the concept of art.â (Morris Weitz). What philosopher tells other philosophers to stop thinking? Like? We are on the same team! Although, he has a point- using logic to define art is impossible, you canât put a box around art. And those who have tried for example the Emotionalists[1] or the Intuitionists[2] always feel like they are missing a piece of the puzzle. Putting a real definition means they are sufficient and necessary properties to art which is why they always feel like they are missing a piece. Art is as free as a bird. And if we agree with that, then we are one step closer to answering the theory of aesthetics.
Open or Closed
Morris Weitz not only just states the fact, but he also leads us in a different direction by showing us a different light. Rather we answer, âWhat sort of concept is âArt?â so the focus switches to the use or employment of art. He draws on Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein in 1953 – which is known for his explorations of language, meaning, and the nature of philosophy. In this book he calls upon the word âgameâ. What is a game? A game could be a sports game, a card game, a computer game, board game etc. What do all of these have in common? What ties these all under the âgameâ category is the strands of similarities.
You can say this about âartâ. By going in this direction, the focus on pinpointing common conditions is at the surface. But this is diverse because there are no common conditions in art, only similarities traits. And thus, you get an open concept, âA concept is open if its conditions of application are emendable and corrigible; i.e., if a situation or case can be imagined or secured which would call for some sort of decision on our part to extend the use of the concept to cover this, or to close the concept and invent a new one to deal with the new case and its new property.â (Morris Weitz). Donât worry, something that is âemendable and corrigibleâ (cor-ri-gi-ble) just means when a word has a broader scope in context- I had to look it up so I am guessing yâall would too. All this just proves my point further that art cannot be contained in a box. But the most important part of that long quote is what is bolded; the word decision is used.
I know most people donât find this fascinating, but us, art fans, know that this is actually a really big deal especially with a term like âartâ. If there are no guidelines to what art is then, art can be anything from a childâs finger painting all the way to a painting done by Michaelangelo. On the other hand, he does this because by leaving art an open concept it leaves room for growth for the future. New movements, new forms of art, new styles would collapse the old concept and invent anew every time if art is a closed concept. Art being an open concept seemed like a no brainer to me but now with this it is more concrete. It is necessary for art to be open, but what about aesthetics?
Criterion of Excellence
In order to answer that question and take into consideration all that was talked about here today. Can aesthetics be considered an open concept? Is it free as a bird? I think it is safe to say, we can just not think about it. Just kidding! On a real note, Morris Weitz brings forth this openness with art that has me questioning can aesthetics too be open? Dancing on the edge of limitless bounds can be liberating to us, to accept and find the beauty of everything. Discourage that voice in your head telling you it is not perfect because it is in fact, incorrect.
So, the next time you crave that taste of social media aesthetics i.e., the clean girl, the mob wife, the gamer girl look- just remind yourself of the wise words of Morris Weitz, âThus, mostly, when we describe something as a work of art, we do so under the conditions of there being present some sort of artifact, made by human skill, ingenuity, and imagination, which embodies in its sensuous, public medium-stone, wood, sounds, words etc.- certain disguisable elements and relations.â Find your own niche of style and let go of the rigid rules of social media. Nothing has to perfectly fit inside this box or category. Because at the end of the day, a work of art embodies the criterion of excellence and recognition. And you get to decide how you define those terms.
Which brings me to this song of the week! One hidden gem, by a Latina group, I actually think they are sisters, They Donât See Us by The Tiara Sisters. I love a beautiful uplighting beat that I can just get groovy with, and this is a perfect example. The touch of bongos adds such a fun twist to it that canât help but move my hips along. The bonus is that it perfectly fits this week and not being seen. We have to trust the power to find our way. And your way into next week, stick around for another touchy and feely kind of vibe.
[1] âEmotionalists theory says that the truly essential property of art requisite defining property is not significant form but rather the expression of emotion in some sensuous public medium. Without projection of emotion into someone piece of stone, or words or sounds etc., there can be no art.â (Morris Weitz).
[2] âThe Intuitionists disclaim both emotion and form as defining properties. For example, art is identified not with some physical, public object but with a specific creative, cognitive, and spiritual act. Art is really a first stage of knowledge in which certain humans beings (artists) bring their images and intuitions into lyrical clarification or expression. (Morris Weitz).
Thank you for joining me on this journey at The Unfinished Times! Don’t forget to follow me for more insightful content, give a shout-out to spread the word, and consider signing up for our Co-Collective to be part of our vibrant community. And if you missed any posts from previous weeks, take a moment to catch up! Let’s continue exploring, sharing, and growing together! See you in the next post~ XOXO
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