And finding its true beauty

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I’ve been spending a lot of time with art lately, it’s philosophy, it’s application, it’s beauty.

It’s the one form of human expression that makes the most sense to me, so naturally, it’s been a place I’ve enjoyed being in. After embarking on my pursuit of learning, one area of focus I knew was inevitable was going to be art. The discipline is the perfect amalgamation of history, language, philosophy, even science packaged in a beautiful and powerful form that tells the story of human existence.

One can visit any moment of history and find some form of artistic expression that gives us evidence that, at one point, there was a person who thought deeply about the world around them.

When I began this piece, my hope was to do a deep dive into this beautiful world, prepared to discuss any and everything I was learning. I sat with this piece for quite a while, because the concept of ‘art’ was difficult to pin down.

What is art, anyway?

Throughout this exploration, one thing has been apparent – we have notoriously been unable to define what ‘art’ is. I knew what I considered ‘art’, but I wanted to understand its formal definition and see if it matched my own.

I was instantly humbled by the wealth of knowledge available about art. Entire schools of thought have been created in order to understand this frustratingly elusive expression that exists in our lives. And yet, we still haven’t been able to arrive at a definition that fully encapsulates its essence to help guide us as we experience different forms of art.

To start, we can always lean into its etymology of the word art, its early translations coming from the Latin “ars” meaning “skill” or “craft” to get a sense of its meaning. That’s easy enough. We can use this to qualify works that could be considered ‘art’ when they display an impressive amount of skill.

In spite of this, the definition of art is still contested by many. Many still don’t consider rap to be an art form, and yet, the work of Kendrick Lamar and others has been studied at the university level to understand its complex language and how it expresses the Black experience.

Fashion as an art form is always being discussed, with many believing it is not true fashion, while others continue to defend its place in the art world, declaring it the perfect combination of art and utility.

To me, art is difficult to define, as it should be. I’ve always felt it is more of a spiritual experience, registering an emotional response unique to the individual. What I take away from an artwork is going to be different from what another might take away.

Definitions are, in this case, subjective and restrictive. The beauty in not having a formal definition allows the artist to truly play, giving them full freedom in creating work without the restrictions of defined parameters to create within. Any definition that tries to explain what art is, often limits this creativity, never quite fully capturing its dynamism.

Each work created presents us with an artist’s attempt to show more about the world around them and, ultimately, the artists themselves. Shouldn’t that be the point? To understand the world and the people within it on a deeper level?

Art & Purpose

It is difficult to tread along in the world of art, without landing in the philosophy of aesthetics, a philosophy that entered the canon around the 18th century by Alexander Baumgarten.

Baumbarten formalized aesthetics into a field of study that was tied to the understanding that, in its simplest terms, the purpose of art is to be beautiful and derive pleasure.

In it is the joy and appreciation from this beauty that we can extract the value of art. My explorations on aesthetics and the philosophy of art and creativity continue, as the field of aesthetics and the philosophy of art have evolved, expanding beyond westernized ideals in some cases, but at its core, it remains concerned with the idea of art and beauty.

“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been concealed by the answers.”

~ James Baldwin

In the 19th century, the idea of aesthetics and beauty evolved into a popular movement that became a fixture in British culture. The movement focused on celebrating beauty, and that achieving this beauty was the ultimate goal for anyone’s life.

This beauty wasn’t just focused on art. It made its way to almost every aspect of Victorian life, from literature to fashion. Everyone wanted to envelop themselves in beauty and pleasure to unlock a meaningful life, without the inconvenience of morality getting in the way. More on that later.

I stumbled across aestheticism as I work my way through Oscar Wilde’s body of work. Wilde, the literary champion of aestheticism, was known to weave in themes of art and beauty throughout much of his work. His embrace of this ideal made a lot of sense, why he held beauty to such high regard.

In his essay, The Critic As An Artist, he discusses the idea that art is meant to focus on beauty, being the ultimate achievement of the artist, leaving the true art to the critic to make art more meaningful. What stuck out to me was the secondary role the artist played in this view. Everything seemed to come at the price of beauty, the true essence of art. Was this really art’s only purpose?

Many romanticize Wilde and the aesthetics movement in its pursuit of pleasure over morality, applauding contemporaries at the time for breaking free of the stuffy, restrictive social norms the Victorian era was known for. But in this view, I couldn’t help but wonder:

Where, then, does the artist’s vision get its recognition?

Where does their commentary on the world around them get to speak out to the viewer in the audience to initiate some kind of change or action?

According to Wilde and the aesthetic view, it doesn’t.

At the time, while England was expanding its empire, evolving industrially, and pursuing other advancements, its people were battling famine, poverty, pollution, and more. Artists and others used their work as a form of protest, bringing attention to these issues and demanded change.

This happened, much to the irritation of the privileged, who preferred to enjoy art and live a life of pleasure, rather than be lectured about their immorality.

In other words, art was becoming too ‘woke’ for their liking.

“The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world, and themselves more completely. That’s how I see it. Otherwise, I don’t know why you do it.”

~Amiri Baraka

We’re in a similar moment as the Victorians found themselves in, where people are looking for an escape from the harsh dose of reality they’re seeing daily. Social media feeds, the news, and then our art is dripping with too much reality for their comfort when they prefer to be entertained.

Whether it’s witnessing multiple genocides happening halfway around the world, recognizing capitalism and maintaining systems that uphold white supremacy have led the world to question its moral compass, or that AI and other technologies continue to contribute to the world’s declining literacy, art forces us to confront the reality that we live in a world that is imperfect and constantly on fire.

The true beauty of art is not just in its power to evoke pleasure, but also its ability to open a path for this confrontation, allowing us to see the world for what it is and inspire us to change it.

Artists throughout history have known this power all too well.

It was artistic expression that allowed prehistoric humans to share their stories with each other as we see in the Chauvet cave in France…

Art that challenged society to see the humanity in Black people in order to see that in themselves James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and the work of many others…

Or art that encourages us to explore new territory, as we saw with photographer Vivian Maier as she ventured into New York’s often uncharted neighborhoods to showcase the city’s humanity in a new light, the list goes on.

All of these artists and more used their work to show the world as they saw it, reflecting the beauty of the world back to us and, ultimately, helping us understand our own humanity better.

Art in and of itself is an enigma, but I personally don’t mind if it remains elusive. But what is undeniable is its ability to reflect the world back to us, helping to gain a deeper meaning in our own humanity, and unlocking hidden parts of ourselves.

Some days, this means it can be a beautiful escape for us to go to when the world gets loud. Other days, it will challenge us to look a bit deeper at the world and decide for ourselves what meanings we can extract to help us in our constant evolution. We diminish its value when we admire the surface, when there is a whole world waiting to be discovered underneath.

Beautiful things are always nice, but make sure you go deeper once in a while and explore what’s underneath the facade presented to you.