Philosophy of Art

Why is art such a complicated topic? It isn’t. It is complicated because it is easier to complicate than to try to define something both very simple and impossible to fully grasp. In essence it is just the search for true beauty, which is where everyone trips up. What does it even mean to search for beauty? 

What about everyone having different truths about beauty, does that not open Pandora's box of subjectivity? Art becoming more and more ugly as a statement: “this is my art”. It can, but art is also a form for communication. However much some artists may wish that not be the case, communication requires two people. The creator and the viewer.

In some circles the value of art can’t be quantified, yet it is in many others. The viewers decide what has value and what does not. Even then an artist cannot create while catering to the viewer because this is a great disrespect towards the viewers intelligence and taste.

In all great art there is soul, this soul reflects both the creator and the viewer. Like a double sided mirror, the viewer and the creator can’t really see eachother but through their shared experience of looking at themselves in the mirror they are connected.

I hope you're hanging with me here, the soul of art lies within real human experience. This is where the subjectivity of art comes in, not in the actual art itself but in its creation. Everyone has different experiences, none more special or less special than the other.

An artist is someone who due to their heightened sensitivity notices these bite sized chunks of authentic human experience. Their heightened sense of emotion is what allows them to notice the true beauty all around them.

This is where it becomes difficult, the signal has been received, yet translating it is of the highest difficulty. Here it is very easy to become narcissistic in creation, forgetting that art is a dance, you are not to force your viewer somewhere, you are to lead them. In the end they might see something completely different than what you saw, this is a good thing.

This is why there are endless artists out there, begging people for attention, begging people to like their art. Look at me, look at how beautiful my mind is, look at my beautiful creation. This is very narcissistic, yet people keep saying art is subjective, if one is not to showcase oneself what is one to showcase?

Simply what you find beautiful, there needs not be any great reason behind it. What is it that when you look at it makes you feel something inexplicable, what makes you shed a tear over its immense beauty? Your perception of beauty will change, it’s not a destination, it's an endless search.

The best art reflects its creator, but that’s not its goal. It is simply to showcase what is beautiful. The most interesting thing to witness is how two artists might have the same signal yet the creation turns out completely different. In feeling and in soul.

This reflects in how some readers of manga refuse to read a manga if someone else starts writing on it, even if the original creator is dead and can’t ever finish it.

“If you know the way broadly you will see it in all things” Book of Five rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

The search for truth known as philosophy leads to immense beauty, while the search for beauty known as art leads to immense truth. Both of these are roads that continue on into the eternal horizon. This does not mean it is a road to avoid, it just means you should focus on each step instead of living in a future that does not exist.

Part of the beauty of art is in its reflection of deep truth, one you don’t really understand, yet you can feel its significance. Progress in both of these paths are made in the same way, through asking repetitive questions.

The best artists were scientists. Their search for beauty led them to truth and their search for truth led them to beauty. They reflected the ideal of the polymath, one headed into the unknown. Led by curiosity, not bound by arbitrary categories.

This led most of them to a discovery, a deep discovery, I could tell you directly what that is. But… it would not be as fun, nor would the deeper idea even have a chance at sinking in. It is not in the discovery of a thing, it is in the journey to discover a thing that really matters, so let me take you on a little journey:

I used to be severely addicted/obsessed over Rocket League. My friend once introduced me to it telling me it would be a game perfectly fit for me, that I would love it. Initially I did not believe him, but he was completely right. 

The game fit me like a glove, I loved showing off and it allowed for that, I loved learning and there were infinite things to learn. I loved competing and there was no lack of competition. For those of you not in the know, the game is simply car soccer, it’s different from fifa in the sense that if you want to shoot you don’t press a button, you have to execute the maneuver using the car as your avatar.

It is sort of similar to a sport in that sense. Which gave me complete immersion, from when I hit my first aerial (the cars are strapped with rockets so they can fly, hence “Rocket” League). I progressed abnormally fast (hit the highest rank at the time within 6 months), which to all outside perspectives might have seemed like a talent, but it was just too much fun. That too might be a talent, but that’s a story for another day …

I remember one of my training sessions in the game, part of the reason I improved so fast by the way. I was practicing a certain skill (the double flip reset for those of you who have to know) and while doing this I entered a new state.

Honestly I would have known if it was the flow state, because I entered it constantly on my rise through the ranks, it was different. It had a sense of incessant bliss and joy, beyond the usual flow state. I remember getting this feeling that everything was truly interconnected. In that room, in that state, I felt closer to the universe for some reason.

Fast forward a year and my friend inspired me to pick up football. One of the things I decided to focus on improving was my ball control, specifically in how many kick-ups I could do. There is one day I can vividly remember, I was sweating profusely under the late spring sun, I was entering the same state again. Bliss.

In this state that same realization appeared, everything is so deeply interconnected. Everything is everything.

Finally I will leave you with this, from Dune: "There is in all things a pattern that is a part of our universe. It has symmetry elegance and grace - those qualities you find always in that which the true artist captures. You can find it in the turning of the seasons, in the way sand trails along a ridge, in the branch clusters of the creosote bush or the pattern of its leaves. We try to copy these patterns in our lives and our society, seeking the rhythms, the dances, the forms that comfort. Yet, it is possible to see peril in the finding of ultimate perfection. It is clear that the ultimate pattern contains its own fixity. In such perfection, all things move toward death."