Rivers Johnson - Is Beauty Universal?

One question that's been running through my head while taking Search for Beauty is does beauty translate across cultures? Does culture apply to beauty? It seems like the answer would be obviously yes because we see and hear art from other cultures all the time that we can appreciate as beautiful. But think of it this way: do we see the art of another culture the same way they do? I tend to doubt it. If this is true, wouldn't the beauty we derive from another culture's artwork merely be a translation of their concept of beauty to our own culture's concept of beauty? A translation maintains the idea of the original content, but it always adds it's own twist, creating entirely new content.

Rivers Johnson - Sublime

Most people don't use the term sublime the way that it was originally intended, or when they do it's usually on accident. The term is meant to describe something beyond your ability to deal with, something so grand that just realizing its existence puts you at a loss. Sometimes sublime means something scary. Not scary like a-man-coming-at-you-with-a-knife scary, but scary in the way that the unknowable is scary. Like the way that the vastness of the universe is scary. Not scary in a bad way, but scary nonetheless. Scary can be beautiful. Never be afraid to be afraid.

Rivers Johnson - Nietzsche's Apollo and Dionysus

The dichotomy between the Apollonian and the Dionysian is everywhere around us. Simply look at the leaf of a tree and you are part of this battle. It seems that our society seems to view life in terms of beauty or in terms of explanation and order. The leaf can either be regarded as beautiful and admired for it's form and appearance or pondered scientifically to decipher the mechanisms behind the leaf's existence.


What is sad is that people don't recognize the connectedness of these two things. The scientific study of a leaf should not simply inform you of the leaf's function, but also of it's beauty. Next time you examine a leaf closely think of how beautiful the idea of a leaf is and appreciate the wonder of nature you hold in your hands.

Rivers Johnson - Schopenhauer's Escape From Will

Schopenhauer wrote that art was the only true escape Man has from the grasp of Will, our basal drive for survival. Out of the all the arts, Schopenhauer singled out music as the truest form of art because it speaks directly to the emotion of a person. Emotion is completely separate from the Will and therefore speaking to it separates us from the Will in a way. Schopenhauer describes great artists as geniuses because they can separate themselves from their bodily needs and focus and their art which reminds me of a song lyric I heard the other day:

"I'm not upset, just confused/And it's so tough/I can't relate to this world/I'm not bored enough/Watch out/The music will complete the change in you"

Escape from this world, music changing the listener, sounds something like what Schopenhauer is talking about, doesn't it?

Rivers Johnson - Was Plato Right About Art Being Imitation?

Plato's theory on art is based on the idea that art is an imitation of real life, which itself is an imitation of the Forms. Back when he wrote that, art generally was representative of real things. But how does this view hold up when we take into account modern art?


Jackson Pollack's work is world renowned and generally accepted to be art. But his art certainly doesn't fit into Plato's view of art as imitation of real life. So either Pollack's work cannot be art or Plato was wrong. Thoughts?

Rivers Johnson - Audience Involvement

I recently watched a great video online about overcoming apathy in today’s society. In the video the speaker discusses communication techniques that we could implement in order to get people more involved in politics and other facets of responsible society. A few of the techniques he spoke about included ways to involve the audience to stimulate response and this reminded me of the talks we had earlier in the semester about the relationship between performer and audience. What do you all think about what the speaker has to say? Do you think greater audience involvement would lead to greater societal participation?

Hank Harrison - Sport as a form of Art

In another blog entry, I said I felt like my laptop is in some way a form of art because of the creative engineering that went into producing and designing it. Are there, though, other forms of art? At the moment I'm watching the beginning of the NFL draft and it got me thinking about sports. After a few moments of thought, I realized I find much beauty in sport, specifically football.

Imagine a field of 22 men, each facing off with a man of the opposite team. That means eleven different little battles being fought or one purpose: to move the ball downfield. A play, for example, that calls for a deep pass down the field is something that requires a massive amount of coordination and determination. The quarterback snaps the ball and the linemen each block their man and provide a pocket for the quarterback to stand in. The receivers sprint downfield, executing cuts and dodges in order to run their rout to perfection. Just when the quarterback sees an open man, a defensive end comes barreling through the offensive line at the QB's blindside like a freight train through a tunnel on track for a collision. Just in time, the running back picks up the block and gives the QB another two tenths of a second... just long enough to launch the ball 40 yards down field where he thinks the receiver is going to be. The receiver has to find a way to break from his defender and make his way to the ball flying through mid air. Using all the energy he has at his disposal, he churns his legs just a little faster and leaves the defender behind. He snatches the ball from the air with outstretched hands and falls into the endzone...

Or, maybe the quarterback gets laid out at the start of the play. Such is football, such is sports, and such is the reason (in my view) that a completed deep pass in football is one of the most beautiful things in sports. It is perfect coordination and adaptive ability between eleven men doing their part to achieve the same goal.