Monday, February 28, 2011

Controlling the Illusion - Ordering Chaos and Other All Too Human Errors

The feeling of the terrifying sublime is sometimes accompanied with a certain dread or melancholy. The feeling of the noble sublime is quiet wonder. Feelings of the splendid sublime are pervaded with beauty.
Wiki Summary - Kant's "Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime"

The "Terrifying" Sublime
The "Noble" Sublime

The "Splendid" Sublime

5 comments:

  1. I love Kant's explanation of the sublime.

    btw, I first saw Fuseli's painting "The Nightmare" in my first college psychology course when we were discussing lucid dreaming...actually lucid nightmares, I guess.

    That painting describes the experience perfectly!

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  2. As humans, I suspect we'll do almost anything to avoid actual feelings of the terrifying sublime. But somehow, I suspect it's man's most "intellectually honest" state. Abject fear impairing and likely eliminating most deliberate and self-conscious thought.

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  3. FJ, I want to share this with you.
    I'm so excited!

    I had an interview with the graduate advisor of the art dept. this morning to discuss....everything.

    I took my portfolio on a cd, which ended up not working on his machine because he uses a Mac and I use a PC. :( Luckily I had most of the images on my blog. Happily, he gave the most positive feedback on my favorite images, those which are more symbolic and intuitive for me, versus the ones that seem more popular (like the portraits and architectural). That was GREAT news to me!

    It looks like a MFA is going to be a major reach for me, considering my other obligations with work and family. However, a MA is definitely do-able.

    I had to laugh at how "contemporary" the discussion seemed to me. Everything revolved around current issues/problems in art, and he described my most sparse images as being "very economical". I thought that was funny!
    I wonder what he'd think if he knew how much I liked Cassat and Manet...not to mention William Morris! ahhhhhhhh. I'm rambling.

    just wanted to share my moment of excitement with you.

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  4. Everything I know about art, I learned from him.

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  5. Well it sounds like an exciting and productive meeting. I hope you get into the program of your choice. I look forward to following your progress and learning more about art and photography from your experiences. You should definitely let mr ducky know what you're up to as well. He's a great resource and could give you valuable assistance, especially regarding art in the twentieth century.

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