Oftentimes, I’ll have ideas about aesthetics that are generic and can apply to any art form. Some principles apply to any art, especially with regards to the appeal aspect. I’ve done posts on this before, but for now on, they’ll all be posted in “art principles”. It’s my nature as a programmer to find patterns. Write generic templating code and implement specifics later…
People like things that are like people, like an individual:
- Is complex. A good [movie] can be watched repeatedly and you find something new on each watch. Some things will always be mysterious, just like a person always dies with secrets. It’s a mistake to think that little unnoticeable things themselves make something more appealing. Rather, knowing that such things exists is enough to make it more appealing.
- Has highs and lows. You are “teased” through the lows (such as a not very danceable part of a pop song) or even allowed rest during them, and rewarded with highs. Hope keeps you through lows of highs with people. So it is with art.
- Mostly smells good, but slightly smells like shit (like the aroma of a rose with its “fecal” notes.. the way rose perfume sublimely combines a beautiful lie with the truth is a lot like what Nietzsche alluded to a few times in The Gay Science). The way a beautiful face is mostly symmetrical, but has real flaws therein… The way good jazz music will incorporate an almost sour note in the melody.
- Can be categorized and immediately understood on a superficial level but, upon closer inspection, violates a good number of stereotypes and other preconceptions. The way a good painter brings in a color completely unlike blue into a blue sea (even if it’s not realistic) does this.
- Grows on you. How many of you have friends or even a lover who you disliked at first but then grew to like over time? At first, she looked funny but you grew to love you.
- A sense of intimacy on the part of the lover (art lover) exists. When one feels like others don’t know the art or don’t like it as much as they, themselves do, the experience is enhanced. Exclusion is just as important a part of human relationships as is inclusion. To feel loved is to feel special. Like Boyd Rice said about his old girl pop records:
…And the knowledge that I was listening to songs that virtually no one else seemed to know of, afforded me a peculiar kind of thrill…
- This is the apparent opposite of the previous point - the bandwagon effect. Knowing that something (/someone) is well liked, creates a type of jealousy and desire to have the thing all for oneself or to partake in it before others eat it up. Pop music is just like the popular kid.
- Any other examples? Many of these are kinda similar.
Tags: art, fecal notes, music, paintings, people, personality, smell