TINY LETTER: AESTHETIC

what it is and what it means

Dearest,

I recently watched this video on Modigliani, which was interesting, but I was surprised to hear the narrator mention he doesn’t think style is enough to keep his interest in paintings. He likes paintings that make you think. He’s concerned with Modigliani’s personal life with his wife. Ultimately he finds a story woven into the artist’s style- softness of the lines and the artist’s own take on romance and his love interest.

I don’t see an issue in having a focus on aesthetic or style. Style without technique or understanding, without depth, is an issue to me, and usually hard to be developed without explorations into what has existed before, experience, and thoughts on what’s possible (children’s art excluded). Then again, I’m not sure it has to be so cerebral.

I feel aesthetic is how we experience the world. It’s our sense of smell, the details our eyes naturally fixate on, the sonic-scape you like, what life feels like in your body. It could also be your fantasies projected. Your ideal vision of the world.

To be able to express that and really deliver a nuanced, personal aesthetic, or take on the human experience, is a beautiful thing, to me.

Yours,

Connie