Thiophene_Guy
Unintended art: morning contrast
“Why is the attempt to connect the higher and ideal things of experience with the basic vital roots so often regarded as betrayal of their nature and denial of their value? … A complete answer to the question would involve the writing of a history of morals that would set forth the conditions that have brought about contempt for the body, fear of the senses, and the opposition of flesh to spirit.”
(Quoted from John Dewey’s Art as Experience, 1934.)
The true nature of art has been argued by some truly wise folks, in scratchy-suited talks and books that took years to write and academic theses defended in dark corners of whiskey bars. Some insist that art is a high thing, something beyond us, that belongs in a museum setting — something we can’t possibly appreciate until we step outside of ourselves and off the path of the everyday. But others say the truth of art is the act of opening our eyes to what’s really around us — a route, if you will, to a fuller experience of what we see and hear and feel.
Our friend Thiophene_Guy recently took notice of shadow, motion, line, and light, mingled in the everyday pursuit of relief from heat. And by sharing that serendipity with us in a Weekend Project (“Unintended Art”), he made it possible for the international Utata community at large to experience it too, but with a layer of separation, as if we’re browsing in a museum of sorts.
I can’t decide which experience I’d personally prefer. I’m grateful to see this beauty and imagine the sensory impact while I’m hunkering over my computer, likely hundreds or thousands of miles away. But I’m a little envious of the way this light must have caught the photographer’s breath as he passed it in the hall.
If it’d been me, I might have been tempted to skip the photo altogether. I might have just soaked in the experience for a little while, feeling that warming breeze, and kept it all just for myself.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Jenn Wilson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
