Increasingly determinate
Purposeful structure
Coherent whole
The vastness above and the calm below evoke a sense of the infinite, hinting at a reality that precedes all distinctions and forms.
“It is beyond all things, and is not even knowable by negation.” – Damascius
Participation rationality
Casual disposition
Inherent harmony
The order and proportion we perceive resonate with an innate human capacity to grasp truth and goodness, which are inextricably linked to beauty.
“For there is no such thing as blind fate, or necessity, in the universe, but all things are ordered by a most wise and understanding principle.” – Ralph Cudworth
Intricate tapestry
Nascent primer
Exposed metal
In this image, we encounter not merely a collection of accidental qualities—a patch of rust here, a glint of primer there—but a substance (the vehicle itself) undergoing a process of change and revealing its underlying form.
“Actuality is prior to potency.” – Aristotle
Illumination object
Phenomenon in itself
Stripped of its referent
An image as an visual metaphor for a reality that cannot be fully objectified or conceptually contained.
“The Encompassing is that which is beyond all particular objects, that which manifests itself in all objects and yet is not exhausted by them.” – John Dewey
Car as an object
Dissolves into
Manifold of sensations
A moment of sensation that bypasses conceptual understanding, offering itself directly to the body and mind.
“Art does not render the visible, but renders visible.” – Paul Klee
Physical phenomena
As distinct from
Psychical phenomena
Our perception of the hood latch-spring mechanism, the blurred background, and the shimmering bokeh circles is not merely a passive reception of sensory data, but an active, directed engagement with these elements.
“The aesthetic object is not a thing but a meaning.” – Mikel Dufrenne
Human intention
Yielding nature
Material world
The aesthetic experience arises from the dynamic interaction between a living being and its environment.
“The aesthetic is no intruder in experience but the clarified and intensified development of traits that belong to every normally complete experience.” – John Dewey
Material vestiges
Embedded form
Silent narrative
The wheel is not simply an object for us, but something that is, independent of our gaze, bearing the weight of its own history and potentiality.
“The very relationship with the other is the relationship with the future.” – Emmanuel Levinas
Fractured mosaic
Brutal beauty
Momentarily arrested
The shimmering refractions within the cracks dance like fleeting thoughts, reflecting a world splintered into a thousand perspectives.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Aesthetic quality
Functional design
Corporate branding
The stark contrast between the bright red cab and the muted white of the cargo container immediately strikes the eye.
“To see something as art requires something the eye cannot decry—an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an artworld.” – Arthur Danto