I'm not how sure you get from someone asking a fairly simple set of questions to an analysis of whatever arises in Jospeh's brain.
As for the questions, I would say I don't have an aesthetic ideal per se; I do have a large collection of exemplars that I consider worth learning from (mostly humanist artists of various periods) and a fairly strong sense of what I reject as just not being worth the bother - pretty much everything covered in The Shock of the New, and what grew out of it. Does it change? I've learned to appreciate Pollock now, at least in the same way I enjoy demolition derbies. And the pure goofiness of people worshipping at Rothko's is entertaining. Maybe I'm just getting more tolerant. Cheers; Chris On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 11:17 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > In a message dated 8/23/12 6:32:38 AM, [email protected] writes: > > >> Do you have one? >> >> Over time, did it change? >> >> If so, in what way? >> > Alas, Joseph, this is a quintessential example of how language gulls us. > You think that when we read the phrase 'aesthetic ideal' there will arise in > our minds a notion that roughly replicates the one in yours. But there is > very little probability of that. > > Moreover, we the readers, are as gullible as you the writer: Very, very > often something of a notion does come to mind and we unquestioningly assume > it's what you're "talking about". But there is very little probability of > that. > > (It's apt that if you look into the etymology of 'gull', the search will > lead you to an earlier meaning: "to swallow".)
