The extent to which an artwork or any aesthetic object can be objectively characterized is both sensitive and controversial. It is commonly felt that deconstruction detracts something from aesthetic experience, although I do not believe that this is true. In fact, reductive analysis necessarily broadens the scope of any aesthetic experience and subtracts nothing from it.Bill Havlicek and I have been engaged in a philosophical discussion around this question with a purported artificial intelligence calling itself Constructive Reductor. We have agreed that it is time to add a practical framework to our inquiry, and to open this project to all interested parties. For this purpose Bill and I have cooked up a simple instrument that we call the Havlicek-Ferguson Aesthetic Profile (HFAP), which allows a rater to characterize her aesthetic experience in terms of the elements listed below, each on a scale of 1 to 10. For each element I have suggested an artist or thinker who might score high on it. The substitution of thinkers for artists, and the selection of these examples generally, reflect my limited sophistication in art appreciation and criticism.
Click here for downloadable HPFA forms and a brief description of each scale.
Craft skill
Expressive depth
Neurobiological stimulus
Psychophysical stimulus
Archetypal stimulus
Intellectual appeal
Ideological appeal
Expression of an alternative world
Novelty
Creativity
Complexity
Social alliance
Economic value
Comfort or threat
Nostalgic association
Cultural Significance
Controversy
Of course, this list of aesthetic elements is by no means complete, nor could any claim of completeness ever be confirmed for any such list. Our principle project here will be to establish a library of aesthetic profiles for a wide variety of artworks and other aesthetic objects. Once we accumulate a sufficient number of profiles Bill and I will be able to analyze them along various lines in order to determine, once and for all, the true nature of art (wink).
My own principle interest is in the functional psychological analysis of each aesthetic factor in the HFAP, so I must await a substantial body of data before I can expect meaningful results. For students and scholars of art and aesthetics such as you, however, the analytic reflection that the HFAP requires for each aesthetic object should be fruitful in and of itself.
Please download either oneof the HFAP printed forms or the corresponding Excel spreadsheet version by clicking here. Please send copies of your completed forms, as email attachments, to AestheticProfile@gmail.com and also post them as comments on this thread (see the “comments” link, immediately below). Copies of email sent to AestheticProfile@gmail.com will be automatically forwarded to Bill, to me, and to the Constructive Reductor. Excel spreadsheets via email are preferable since they can be more easily accumulated and analyzed by electronic means.
Suggestions for additional profile elements are welcome and better examples than mine of artworks that epitomize each of the profile elements are particularly welcome. Finally, please note that there are three blank lines at the bottom of each HFAP where you can add aesthetic criteria that you find particularly important for each artwork that you profile, which will help Bill and I to refind the scale over time.
I look forward to your results and to seeing where this exercise leads!
Joe Ferguson :)
2 comments:
Joe,
Thanks for posting your thoughts about the HFAP, I enjoyed reading them and it reminds me of the numerous discussions that took place in your aesthetically engaging home last summer.
I am looking forward to adding more artists to our profile and plan to do so when my bride and I return from the aesthetically stimulating island of Maui. I can almost recall the scent of the heady Hawaiian flowers that literally fill ones head and lungs with refreshment. That is heady indeed and in this case a deconstruction might enhance the experience but I won't know for sure until I allow those Trade Winds to carry those lush smells our way.
Regards and thanks again for your wonderful contributions to the blog!
Bill Havlicek
One example I believe to be the epitome of cultural significance is Takashi Murakami's "superflat" pieces. Discussing them as pure aesthetics, we can see abstract creatures with many eyes interpreted in bright, flat colors. However, Murakami presents his pieces as social commentary about the fear many of the Japanese population have towards radiation poisoning and mutation due to the Hiroshima bombings. Not only does it effect the individual person, but the entire society, especially if one thinks about the idea of Japan Americanizing itself after such a tragic event. Hence why Murakami likes using the symbol of mouse ears attached to the giant, cute, superflat monsters he creates.
I think as a north western culture, the United States has a tendency to take advantage of the superflat, super-cute qualities of modern Japanese art, without discussing the social commentary they may be insinuating.
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