20160602 (effete)

Saturn, its rings, and a moon, or a graphic from early 1930s Soviet structuralism? Does it make a difference if it pleases?

“I don’t know much about art

But I know what I like” is enough

To know about aesthetic theory

For probably 90% of the people

Of any place and time despite

The recent numbers of college

Students training for careers in

Art history or criticism. It’s 

A field on which everyone

Plays even if they have no talent

For producing what they judge.

“Those who can, do; those 

Who can’t, teach.” The blind

Play music (Stevie Wonder),

The deaf make art (Chuck Baird),

Though even some deaf make

Music (Beethoven) and some

Blind paint (John Bramblitt).

But one needn’t produce or

Teach to have an opinion, which

Opinion flows from some 

Sensibility that either pleases 

Or offends the perceiver. I think

There is general agreement across

Cultures of what are pleasant sounds

Or pleasant colors, and pleasant

And unpleasant odors and tastes.

But above that some pleasantries

Depend on acculturation, most

Clearly odors and textures in 

Food. For us in this country, if

We are told, “It’s a dogburger,”

Whether it’s truly canine flesh

Or good old-fashioned beef, we

We refuse even to taste it, or

If we do, still react violently.

Similarly we may be misled

Into thinking the sounds from

Within a factory are actually a

Composition of sounds sampled

By a musician attempting

New approaches to music.

Photographs of the Hubble

Telescope of deep field galactic

Clusters or nebulae of exploding

Supernovae may strike us as

Intentional imagery of the

Highest order no matter how

Much randomness has governed

Their shapes and colorations.

In the most unlearned of us

Is this perceptual ability which

May originate in the capacities

Of our senses and become

Refined through criticism, but 

We all have it to one degree or

Another whether we are simply

Looking, or hearing, or feeling.

When by talking about it we

Discover we are sensing the 

Same reactions in the same

Degree of pleasure, we agree

We’re at the door of art: the

Thing—painting or piano piece—

Was designed to produce these

Feelings again by an author who

Felt similarly and wished to pass

It on. Not to disparage the scholars,

But we really don’t need three or

Four letters tacked behind our names

To know what we like. As for 

What scholars contribute and how

Essential it is to enjoyment of 

Art is a lot like the art itself: it

Either works or it doesn’t.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016