Consciousness and Beauty
Kant wrote that "Art is purposiveness without purpose." He went on to write "Art does not want the representation of a beautiful thing, but the representation of something beautiful."
It's true that art is a creation of man primarily to elicit the emotions we associate the emotions that aesthetics evokes whatever the sensory inputs involved in their creation. That could be visual imagery of a beautiful painting or photograph, the sound of a piece of music, or the taste and smell of artfully prepared food.
But it is also true that art isn't the only source of beauty. Indeed, beauty can be found in the sight of a sunset, the sound of a babbling brook, ore the smell of a rose.
As for me, the beauty in art is it's creation for the pleasure and satisfaction is creation evokes. And, I am certain that that is true for all artists. You do art for the beauty in seeing, hearing, tasting it come alive as you create it. The artists satisfaction with his art is the ultimate reward for the creation of his art.
But, alas, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder as the beauty of all art is universally judged equally by all. And, in fact, beauty is not always the only reason for creating art to still the emotions. The work of painter George Condo who created the painting shown above of a disembodied human portrait always skirts the line between beautiful and ugly. He says "Behind the mask of beauty is often very ugly, and behind the mask of ugly is often very beautiful and humble and soulful. For me, art is like the desert question: If you had to take one painting with you to a desert island, which one would it be? But it’s not a question of what you can live with. When it comes to art: it’s what can you die with? What’s the last thing you want to see before you go?"
Art isn't about consciousness of the art or its beauty but about something much deeper. It is about of awareness of purposiveness without purpose.
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