Aesthetics and Experience - Essay Example

Valerie Fowler number: 0603729 ­ Aesthetics and Experience FCTX3005 Year 3 Semesters 6 It is all too easy to pass an object and think of it as little more than just a thing. However, previous lectures attended and research conducted indicates that an object is not just an inanimate thing; it can carry a lot of purpose not only from its use but also from the impact has on its observers and even the environment. Any object can bring to light an individual’s social class, beliefs, gender identification and even how educated a person is. This suggests that there is an intended idea or emotion behind every object selected to fill an individual’s personal space, even if this idea or emotion is semi-subconscious. Attfield (2000) suggests understanding culture through objects ‘acknowledges the physical object in all its materiality and encompasses the work of design, making, distributing, consuming, using, discarding, recycling and so on. But above all it focuses on how things have gone through all those stages as part of the mediation process between people and the physical world at different stages in their biographies’ (1-7). From this it is clear that objects can have multiple meanings. For example, a shaver may hold numerous positions in society. It holds its place in history as a social and cultural object, its history can trace the development of technology, there are now male and female versions of the shaver in most of its manifestations (manual, electric, etc.) and it has been designed to suit the lifestyle of the person that uses it as it is either plugged into the wall, carries a battery pack, is designed for travelling or is given a more aesthetic appearance for display on the bathroom counter. Advertising, design and materials have been constructed to suit a particular market and durability has also been taken into account. All these factors are what make this and thousands of other objects what they are. How these elements function together to appeal to the individual’s personal sense of function and appearance is what is referred to as aesthetics. This term is most often used in the art world to designate important works of art. To understand these concepts better, I applied what I have learned about aesthetics to a specific photographic print entitled ‘Smutty’. In looking at photographs or other works of art, it is important to remember that what I may see as beautiful may appear quite different to another person. It is true that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, as John Armstrong suggests. He says aesthetics is the process that ‘enables one person to find beauty in an object which leaves another unmoved’ (Armstrong, 2004: 4). Although this is an interesting statement, I aim to investigate this further in my own analysis of an object. After much deliberation I decided to go to the University library and look within the photography section, a subject area that I wouldn’t usually have any reason to look at. I honestly found it quite difficult to find an object on which to base my analysis. Initially I was going to take a trip to London and visit The National Gallery or other such places. Then I realized that I am not much of a museum person, frequently finding myself bored to tears rather than remaining focused on what I intended to accomplish. Instead I thought choosing a photograph by an unknown photographer would give me more of a chance to explore into the aesthetics of photography and the meaning behind a image. This might also give me the opportunity to learn more about the photographer’s biography to understand more about what the image might represent to him. After having my first tutorial and gaining a stronger sense of what was expected of me, I flicked though various photography books I found in the library and elsewhere. Some of them either looked uninteresting or far too surreal for my tastes. Finally, I found a book with the works of various photographers working today. The image I found seemed rather though provoking and almost on the edge of ‘accepted taste’. I thought this would not only be challenging but would give me the chance to explore for myself how my own feelings regarding ‘good’ photography compared with the ideas of others. The image I chose is called ‘Smutty’ by Robert Maplethorpe. The photograph was produced in 1980. Through an Internet search, I discovered that Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 and is well-known for his rather controversial images. These images ranged from nudes to portraits as well as a wide variety of other subjects. I didn’t want to research any further at that time because I thought more knowledge of the artist might change my opinion of the photograph. Although he is apparently a very famous photographer, I had not heard of him before and felt privileged that my experience of his work could be based mostly upon the work rather than on the artist. I was concerned that if I discovered the artist frequently worked according to a specific theme or subject, then I would begin to see these things in the photograph whether they were intended or not. I wanted to judge the work just on what I felt and thought as I looked at it. The image I selected consists of a half dressed man seated or perhaps simply squatting down to the ground and looking directly into the camera. He is a very lean person perhaps in his upper teens or early 20s and the upper portion of his body is bare. Both of his arms are covered with tattoos and his style of clothing, what can be seen of it, is much like that of a punk rocker, which was popular in that era. The pants he wears are so black that they lose their dimension on the bottom portion of the picture, he is wearing a black bracelet about an inch wide with silver metal discs on it and his waistline looks to have two or three belts on it with some white and metal accents. What drew me to this image was how people may find the model attractive. I thought the model’s appearance tied in with the idea of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Still, to some extent, the male model looked slightly feminine to me. Nevertheless, I took a photocopy of the image and placed it in my room. This would give me a chance to see how my opinion of it would change from one day to the next. This also gave me the allowance to find out more about the photograph and its photographer. From one day to the next I started to become interested in finding out more about the person in the image rather than the photographer who took it. It almost seemed as though there was an element of mystery to the image. One day it would seem as though the model was hiding a secret from me, based upon the expression on his face. Another day it would seem as if there was something sexual about his glance that still managed to elude me. Sometimes he seemed almost frightened of something or worried. His posture seemed relaxed sometimes, artificially posed other times and ready to spring away at other times. I began to question whether these ideas were the intentions of the model or the photographer. This led to endless questions circling in my head regarding just how these two people might have worked together to accomplish this look. Did they agree on the appearance? Did the model have to think about something sexy to achieve the look Maplethorpe considered mysterious? Was the model truly concerned that Maplethorpe had dark intentions for him to cause that slight look of fear or worry to creep into his face? What, if anything, did this mean for the final image? As the image began to provoke me to some degree, I decided to discover how it would affect other people. I began showing it to various people of my acquaintance ranging in age from people in their 50s to people in my own age group. The older people I showed the photograph to thought he looked rather dangerous and as though he would be capable of mischief. Generally, they took an instant disliking to him and did not consider the photograph to be a work of art. An interesting response I received from the women of all ages that I showed the image to was that the model seemed rather camp or even gay. This surprised me since I had been thinking he had a somewhat sexy look to him at times. When I asked them why they felt this way, most of the women said it was because he seemed to be trying too hard to appear manly with his tattoos and his studded bracelet and his pose, but that they could see through this. Their response began to change my opinion of the photo slightly as I began to see what they were talking about. They also didn’t seem to recognize the photograph as necessarily a work of art but considered it to be something perhaps useful for an advertising campaign. I’m not sure what they thought this image would be suited to sell, but one woman suggested a line of male hair care products because of the way his hair is done up in the front. Still, I didn’t want to be entirely convinced by what others thought, as it would seem as though I didn’t have my own opinions. I started to get a little tired of experiencing the photograph and wanted to gain more knowledge behind me which lead me into a new part of the month that I took taking it in. My research revealed that Maplethorpe was working in what is largely termed the postmodern mode of expression. This means of expression is based on the exploration of symbols and signs as something made up or false as opposed to what is real. The investigation indicates that there is very little that is real in the world as most of the symbols and images we see are based on simulation. This idea seems to meet with my own observation that the model seems to both be posed naturally and unnaturally, specifically with respect to the placement of his left arm. Introducing the idea of the simulation, Baudrillard (1988) says that we have come to a place where the false precedes the real. In addition to discovering that the simulation no longer matches the real, Baudrillard says it has gone farther, reducing everything down to miniature and making it hyperreal, something that exists in and of itself, with little to connect it to the original. The danger with simulacra as opposed to representation is that representation starts with the idea of the real while simulation wraps around the representation and calls everything false. Disneyland is used as an example of how the imaginary happy social world contained within its gates is opposed to the isolation of the parking lot. This masks how the world we believe to be America is just as falsely envisioned. It is always a question of proving the real by the imaginary; proving truth by scandal; proving the law by transgression; proving work by the strike; proving the system by crisis and capital by revolution’ (Baudrillard, 1988: 10). This related to my image because it suggests a strong sense of simulation in the appearance of the model with almost no sense of the real. This same sort of breakdown between what is false and what is true can be discovered in Mulvey’s article “Visual Pleasure” (1999). Here, Mulvey uses psychoanalysis to determine how fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of behaviour and social formations, demonstrating the way in which film has been influenced by and has influenced a patriarchal society. Scopophilia, the pleasure to be had in looking, is discussed as having an objectifying effect upon the object of interest, claiming films do this unconsciously by introducing a world that exists with, yet separate from, the audience. This concept directly applied to my image as the model was obviously being displayed for me to look at but I have really no means of knowing anything real about him. Within mainstream film, Mulvey (1999) points out that characters are set up to be the active/male who does the looking and the passive/female who exists to be looked at. This is done because female involvement on a human scale tends to interrupt the flow of the film, while cut out shots of body portions serve to objectify while allowing the male dominated action of the film to continue. Men drive the action, women decorate it. Maplethorpe seems to be working directly against these ideas as he provides a male model to be looked at. This may explain part of the reason why so many of the women I asked about the photograph saw the model as gay or effeminate, because he has taken on the role of the passive female to be looked at instead of the active male who is expected to look. Representation, whether expressed in words or images, is not a neutral or innocent activity, but rather one with profound effects on everyday lives. Although some would argue that postmodern art relies on a non-definition of societal symbols and forms to provide the ultimate expression of the sublime, the reality is that there are no forms that have not attached to themselves specific societal meanings. However, my photograph demonstrates how artists have been working to redefine some of these symbols by taking advantage of the image to influence contemporary thought, an inexact science in itself because of the indeterminate nature of the message contained. What is clear through postmodernism is that images change us at the same time that we change them through our various cultural, historical and societal perspectives. By challenging our ideas of specific images, these art forms become powerful tools in reshaping political and/or societal views and blurring the boundaries of what we thought we knew. After completing so much study and observation of my chosen artwork, I eventually decided that the model in the image is inaccessible and that’s what fascinates me. His partial nudity suggests a person who is vulnerable and accessible to me, but I really don’t know anything more about him than the way he looks in this image. Although he has a number of tattoos that should tell me something about his personality, the only one I can truly recognize in the image is a picture of Mickey Mouse, which relates back to Baudrillard’s discussion about postmodernism and the simulated image. This forces me to wonder if these tattoos are real tattoos or just ink drawings on the model’s skin placed there for the purposes of the photograph and then simply washed off once the photo shoot was finished. These ideas are started with the position of the model’s left arm as it calls into question whether the pose is ‘real’ as in ‘natural’ or ‘false’ as in ‘posed.’ This also calls into question how many of my own actions or behaviours are natural instead of posed. While I sit at my computer typing, am I in a natural position or am I posed so that anyone walking in would believe I am hard at work? What else about my external appearance is designed specifically to give others a certain impression of me? Perhaps this is the secret that the model is hiding and is somewhat fearful that someone will discover. After studying this image for so long and getting some opinions from experts in the field, I find I am questioning a lot more about the world I live in and the way that I and others put together objects to create an image. It seems as if nothing is real or perhaps our definition of reality is closer to our definition of made up. The model might be gay, he might be straight, he might be hiding something, he might be as accessible as his bare chest and blatant tattoos. There is just no way of knowing for certain. Even the photographer’s purpose in capturing this image seems to contain many messages. Is he attempting to upset our traditional positions of man and woman, is he simply enjoying the smooth lines and clear expression of the model’s form, is he telling us that we can’t believe everything we see is real? While Maplethorpe’s image might not be ready to change the world on its own, I must admit that my study of this image has changed the way I see the world around me, all because of a greater appreciation of what is meant by the term ‘aesthetics.’ References Armstrong, John. (2004). The Secret Power of Beauty. London: Penguin Books. Attfield, J. (2000). Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg. Baudrillard, Jean. (1988). “Simulacra and Simulations.” Selected Writings. Mark Poster (Ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press: 166-184. Mulvey, Laura. (1999). “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Leo Braudy & Marshall Cohen (Eds.). New York: Oxford University Press: 833-844. Read More