Aesthetic Toast

So today I want to touch on the topic of aestheticism. The world of current is one that is obsessed with all things efficient. As it is, immediacy is expected in all things. We say things like, “I want my food done by the time a drive around this corner and I want it delivered directly to my car” or “I want to shop from my home by the press of a button. Oh, and I expect express mail”, and even “I cannot waste more than a few hours at this funeral, I have too much to do.” The rule of modern thinking is time that can be cut should be cut. As a people, we are raised in a culture of irritability, haste, and anxiety. All of which are derived from the misguided turn of attention to the “efficient.” I would offer, that, with the technologies at our disposal, we have much more time than in any past era. I could go off on several tangents about the time we have and how much it should be enjoyed, but I want to focus, rather, on doing my small part to sway the focus from the practical to the extravagant.


Let us try a little experiment, for each word or phrase that I give you think over back no more than a few days and quickly take inventory of all the time put into time put into task relating.

-Facebook

-Texting

-Small talk

-Lady Ga Ga





Now, the same exercise with the next few words.

    

     -Literature

    

-Phone calls

-Deep Discussion

-Bach

Now I understand that two categories of four words each hardly sums up the entirety of a society, and I also understand that not all of these things are for everyone. I know personally I would never talk on the phone if I did not absolutely have to, and I would be lying if I said I was even a remote fan of Bach; however, the point illustrated still stands. We are a generation that is attuned to search the web for information rather than to pick up a novel and read. We are a people who will constantly be texting powerless words rather than on that calls and really communicates. We are a society that will partake in small talk with twenty to thirty people a day without sitting with a single person and delving in to the depths of the human mind. We are a world that will listen to a mainstream shallow woman sing of sex and sin rather than enjoy the deep talents of a well composed work of art. You may say, “ oh Zackoe, you scorn us all in the name of your “high and mighty” inklings, lower your nose and step off your soap box! The internet gives us more knowledge at the tips of our fingers than books and it allows us to stay up to date. With a text we can stay in touch with every single person in our lives without ever having to say goodbye. We do not need a single discussion for we are talking to everyone, constantly expanding our horizons. We are becoming diversified! and music is art in all aspects. Who has a right to say that what we like is less of an art than that of his own personal taste?” it is true that I cannot expect any of these activities to desist, In fact, I would offer that I have participated in and enjoyed every one of them. I would offer, however, that as these behaviors become a lifestyle, we will meld with them and take on their characteristics. Imagine a world that continues to move away from novels, fine art, grand architecture, and masterful music, The people will be efficient, linear, and dry. We are a world that is growing in efficiency; finding more direct, straight paths; and slowly losing the art of the extravagant.

     
I am an illustrator and I feed off the beauty of the world. I am saddened as I see all of the arts die out and be turned into "the sciences." for Perfection is not a straight line, or a clean studioed sound, rather, it is a smudge that was left in just the right spot to convey a meaning, or the small scratches of the needle as vinyl record is played. Throughout my time writing this blog, I plan to try to share a few things that I find truly beautiful, To slowly reintroduce a real appreciation for the aesthetically pleasing. It is, as okakura kakuza said in his book of tea, there is a power in the “subtle use of the useless.






Art: Here is what i have recently found that is truly beautiful

Music: Speaking of finding use of the useless, I will leave you with an amazingly artistic music video by the group “ok go”, all done with toast.

Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos