I am interested in what creates and constitutes an appealing aesthetic and why different populations and classes of people differ in their opinion about this. Is it a matter of taste, class, social construction? The Artists Komar and Melamid did a series called the People’s Choice where they polled 11 countries on what constituted the most wanted and unwanted things in a painting. Though the final assemblage of paintings differed greatly in appearance from country to country, one thing nearly all of them had in common was a resounding like of, and desire for, the representation of natural aesthetics- landscapic settings and sceneries. What is particularly important to me about this is the use of the poll to determine a general desire for the natural aesthetic. As representative of the American democratic polling system, the outcome was a reflection of the broad publics opinion on art, instead of the bourgeoisie highbrow intellectual circle that encompasses the art world. Conclusively it is determined that this ‘natural aesthetic’ has a direct tie to the middle class- to the general public. It is ‘of’ and ‘for’ the general public and has been class-afied as a middle class aesthetic. It is looked at with objection by the general art world as largely incapable of producing high-art.
I would like to challenge that assumption. To confuse the distiction between middle class/ middle brow (where I come from) and high brow art.
Hey Anna
ReplyDeleteYou've laid out your interests pretty clearly, but im not understanding how you plan on going about challenging the assumption that everyday middle class people are not capable of producing art (am i understanding the goal correctly?)
The Komar and Melamid project is a great reference for you. but now that this poll has been taken and we've been presented with the result that landscape imagery is the most appealing, what specifically are you interested in doing with this? what form will your project take? this is still vague..
There are many distinctions between what is considered "middle brow" and "high brow" art including the reason it is created, who creates it, who it's for and the way the work functions in society.
who is the audience for such a project? - is the ultimate goal to bridge the gap between the audiences for what you're identifying as two separate categories of art?