The Fundamental Law in Aesthetics

A work of art is like a gong and hammer; materials and tools in one hand, visions, ideas, and beliefs in the other. By themselves they are mere potential; but when struck together they reverberate.

That reverberation then stirs the spirit and stirs one to be moved beyond words.

Now you can strike the gong and hammer together, but if it is not struck in that single moment of totality, a dull sound is created. It has no impact. It does not resound into the far recesses of one’s mind and imagination long after the perception is experienced.

Well, the same is true with a work of art, in all arts.

A picture placidly done, placidly conceived do not excite anyone to imagination. The pictures which do not represent an intense interest cannot expect to create an intense interest.

Just like a person, when he becomes excited about life, he becomes interesting to other people. I once met someone who told me that I always had an exaggerated idea of things. He said “look at me, I am never excited,” I looked at him, and true enough, he was not exciting at all.

Now, there’s a lot of complaint among artists that the public do not appreciate art, they do not come to art exhibitions- they are not interested in art.

Well, perhaps, the public is dull, but there is just that possibility that the works of the artists are also dull. To say that the public is not interested in art implies as though it is largely the public’s fault and there could not possibly be anything the matter with art.

So how do we resolve this dilemma?

In my previous speech before other Rotary Club meetings, I stressed the importance of developing one’s individual judgement and taste because to me that is the only true way to achieve a greater consciousness of art in our own time and place.

The development of personal taste and judgement in art does not call for great sophistication, nor high education, nor a lot of money. In fact, our sense of what is appealing, moving, and enhancing, in short, our aesthetic sense is fundamental in all of us. But... only if we listen to our inner selves, if only we take time to be more sensitive toward our sensibilities. And if it is fundamental that we always know what is good for us, a natural tendency of expression will also take over and that is to acquire only things that enhance and enrich one’s life. This is the fundamental law in aesthetics.

Listening to others may have some value of sorts: it surely reflects good breeding, politeness and of course, diplomacy, but when applied to art appreciation it becomes an intrusion into one’s sensitivity.

To be moved by a story, a movie, music, or painting, requires all of one’s own personal life experiences all the way back to childhood.

A friend of mine was so moved by a painting he saw because it reminded him so much of a similar experience of beholding beauty of that almost similar landscape when he was a boy. That reverberation again stirred in him.

An art patron I know, to show a classic example of judgment in art, recently purchased several paintings from one artist friend but because she made it a point to limit her purchases, she arbitrarily excluded buying one painting which had stirred something within herself. While she was at home, she laid out all the paintings and began to look at them one by one obviously beaming with delight in her acquisitions. However, days later, she came to me and confided that although she was happy with the paintings, she felt a kind of empty joy, and an unexplained search for something not there. Later she understood what it was. She went back to my artist friend and asked him if he would oblige to exchange one of her purchases to that particular work which had remarkably moved her. To her that particular painting has more meaning in her life. It reflected a strong connection with her life experiences.

My artist friend was more overjoyed than she, because he too believes, as I do, that one’s work must only be purchased and acquired by others if it means something to that person. To echo the words of the art critic and historian Bernard Berenson “the function of art is to enhance life.”

Buying art and later realising one cannot relate to it is not too uncommon an occurrence. Yet all this can easily be avoided, and a lot of people will be happier if only we take time to listen to our inner selves.

It is true that our way of seeing the world is conditioned by other people’s opinion, by the media, especially by advertising and promotions that we begin to lose our own personal viewpoint and perspective. We become uncaring and callous to what we really want and what benefits us most. We fall into the trap of what the majority says but only because we find it is some kind of a fail-safe method. In the process, we lose our own judgement and take our sense of independence for granted. When this happens, we are back to year one, and that is Ignorance.

Now suppose one says “well, I don’t want to make a mistake, I don’t want to make the wrong choice, I need professional help.”

Well, don’t you think the artists are also risking a lot of mistakes in their effort? The public should also risk making a mistake. In the long run, it will be to the public’s benefit. And why? Because the public enters into the same struggle for self-expression in the same way the true artist seeks self-expression. There will be more room for progress and development of art in our time and place.

Look what happens to an artist who, to use colloquial, becomes a hot property. Typically, when he finds that his works are sold left and right, he paints the same thing over and over again and refuses to grow out of that mode for the simple reason of security and economics. He tends to be spoiled by the buyers demands for his craft that he turns out works as if from a factory and not from the hands of an artist who puts deep consideration into what he is doing.

After a time, that particular painter will look more closely into what he is doing and inquire why he is stagnating in his creativity. He would look at where his creative energies are spent. If he is a sincere artist, he will grow out and develop his energies to other heights and if he is not, he will continue to do the same things and become cynical.

Most of us artists do not care much about fame and popularity if our works are not truly appreciated for what it is by those who possess them. In the same manner that we wish the public will not also care too much about joining the bandwagon of instant celebrities because, to me, a good artist, a true artist, and a great work of art will always emerge amid and above the immediate noise and haste and confusion.

It is therefore important now for us artists to strike that gong in a precise single moment of totality to feel a profound reverberation in our spirit and that by so doing, the listeners will also catch that same reverberation within their inner selves.