Aesthetic experience
Fundamental aspect
Inquiry discovery process
A quiet-contemplative but dynamic-landscape scene is shaped by the forces of nature in a constant interplay of creation and destruction.
“The aesthetic experience is a mode of living, not a mere accessory to life.” – John Dewey
In style
Day at the beach
Sun protection
This peculiar juxtaposition of the artificial and the natural, the inanimate and the animate, serves as a microcosm of the human condition, a reflection of our ceaseless desire to adorn ourselves, to project an idealized self onto the world.
“What is the greatest thing that can happen to a person? To be overcome by a new desire, to be drawn to a new goal. Then it is as if a wind were blowing through him, and suddenly everything becomes lighter and freer.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Yellow pipe
Chain-link fence
Seemingly unremarkable
It is a testament to the power of the aesthetic to transform our perception of the world and to invite us to see the world anew.
“Photography is about finding the poetry in the ordinary.” – Nicco Valenzuela
Vibrant colors
Playful forms
Consumer culture
All cultural artifacts are products of a multiplicity of voices, each with its own unique perspective and worldview.
“The word is never a purely personal or individual creation; it is always marked by its social and historical context.” – Mikhail Bakhtin
Dynamic performance
Graceful dance
Wind and waves
Dufrenne argued that aesthetic experience is a form of “perception” that involves a “fusion” of the subject and the object.
“Aesthetic experience is a way of being in the world.” – Mikel Dufrenne
Harmonious blend
Form function
Utility artistry
A vintage car mirror functions as a microcosm of the larger aesthetic universe that is the automobile.
“The aesthetic experience is the perception of the concrete in its fullness.” – Alfred North Whitehead
Control time
Capture fleeting moment
Make it eternal
A stage presented when photography was a new and exciting technology, capturing moments in time and preserving them for posterity.
“Art is the expression of the human spirit in its entirety.” – Benedetto Crocea
Chrome detail
Field of action
For the actor
The image invites us to engage with it on a deeper level, to explore the interplay between the viewer and the viewed.
“The world is not something we contemplate, but something we inhabit.” – Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Vital reason
Cognitive process
Deeply subjective
The hanging hangers become a symbol of the human impulse to order and create.
“Beauty is not a thing, but an act.” – José Ortega y Gasset
Explore the immediate
Guided by instinct
Serene waters
The eternal struggle for existence here presenting grace and poise suggest a harmony with its surroundings.
“The world is not merely something outside us; it is also within us.” – Karl Jaspers