Beauty is in the...
Posted by Tommy Blumenfeld on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Under: Musings
... operant conditioning of the beholders eye? Likely.
Happy New Year to all!
This is mainly for Mel, but others of you may be interested as well.
One of the guys on the classic motorcycle forum to which I belong is a sculptor by the name of Juan Balandran. I don't know Juan, but there was a link to his site and blog in one of the threads on the bike forum. I visited both out of curiosity, and I found that, though must of his work is not entirely consistent with what I have been "programmed" to consider "beautiful", I was nevertheless struck by its singularity. And that got me to thinking that beauty might not, in fact, be in the eye of the beholder, but in the operant conditioning of the beholder's eye. This became more apparent to me as I examined Juan's work more; my own operant conditioning began to collapse under the weight of my curiosity, and the beauty of his work became more apparent to me.
This may be true for some of you as well, most of all you, Mel, our resident artist. It's interesting to me how, after seeing so much of your work and talking with you so often and for so long, I can no longer admire a creation without thinking of you and wondering if you might like to see it. In a very literal way, your pursuit of art has forever enhanced my response to it. Art takes on new import for an observer when the observer knows an artist well.
That said, let me offer this small disclaimer: Some of Juan's work is a bit "edgy", even risque. He's a competent writer too, and this caveat extends to his blog entries as well. I feel an ethical imperative to respond to, and influence, all of you 'Scopers in healthy ways, so I often struggle to balance my inclination to insulate you with my desire to expose you to the unvarnished truth of the world. But who am I to censor what you experience?
Therefore, I'll take another step toward recognizing your maturity, and share with you all Juan's site, and his blog. I hope you'll enjoy it. Perhaps it will spark some interesting discussion about our perceptions of beauty, and how they are so ethereal and subject to influence.
TC
One of the guys on the classic motorcycle forum to which I belong is a sculptor by the name of Juan Balandran. I don't know Juan, but there was a link to his site and blog in one of the threads on the bike forum. I visited both out of curiosity, and I found that, though must of his work is not entirely consistent with what I have been "programmed" to consider "beautiful", I was nevertheless struck by its singularity. And that got me to thinking that beauty might not, in fact, be in the eye of the beholder, but in the operant conditioning of the beholder's eye. This became more apparent to me as I examined Juan's work more; my own operant conditioning began to collapse under the weight of my curiosity, and the beauty of his work became more apparent to me.
This may be true for some of you as well, most of all you, Mel, our resident artist. It's interesting to me how, after seeing so much of your work and talking with you so often and for so long, I can no longer admire a creation without thinking of you and wondering if you might like to see it. In a very literal way, your pursuit of art has forever enhanced my response to it. Art takes on new import for an observer when the observer knows an artist well.
That said, let me offer this small disclaimer: Some of Juan's work is a bit "edgy", even risque. He's a competent writer too, and this caveat extends to his blog entries as well. I feel an ethical imperative to respond to, and influence, all of you 'Scopers in healthy ways, so I often struggle to balance my inclination to insulate you with my desire to expose you to the unvarnished truth of the world. But who am I to censor what you experience?
Therefore, I'll take another step toward recognizing your maturity, and share with you all Juan's site, and his blog. I hope you'll enjoy it. Perhaps it will spark some interesting discussion about our perceptions of beauty, and how they are so ethereal and subject to influence.
TC
In : Musings