ART 272 Spring 2009, Department of Art Theory & Practice, Northwestern University
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
if aesthetic intuition of artistic form occurs in relation to, but also before or below, cognition (as, say, Terry Eagleton described it to us), then what's its relationship to involuntary vs. voluntary memory?
Aesthetic intuition seems to go hand-in-hand with involuntary memory. Indeed, something that is aesthetically pleasing (that gives the viewer a unique experience) often spurs involuntary memory. This is certainly the case with Kara Walker's work. Her silhouettes are striking in their ambiguous and dark-natured subject matter. But it is precisely the aesthetically pleasing contrast and ambiguity in her work that evoke repressed, involuntary memories of racial tension and perverse thought. Though one may not have any specific memory of these things (which would constitute voluntary memory), but, as I think I've read before, the silhouettes seem to tap into the dark recesses of societal consciousness. By looking at Walker's work, one experiences the involuntary memory of perverse human experience and thought.
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Aesthetic intuition seems to go hand-in-hand with involuntary memory. Indeed, something that is aesthetically pleasing (that gives the viewer a unique experience) often spurs involuntary memory. This is certainly the case with Kara Walker's work. Her silhouettes are striking in their ambiguous and dark-natured subject matter. But it is precisely the aesthetically pleasing contrast and ambiguity in her work that evoke repressed, involuntary memories of racial tension and perverse thought. Though one may not have any specific memory of these things (which would constitute voluntary memory), but, as I think I've read before, the silhouettes seem to tap into the dark recesses of societal consciousness. By looking at Walker's work, one experiences the involuntary memory of perverse human experience and thought.
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