Three questions about beauty

Author:China Photography Press Time:2022.06.15

You may have a lot of doubts about the understanding of beauty. In the world -renowned designer Stephen Schride and Jessica Wall's new work "The Beauty of Design", you can follow the nature of the two authors to explore the essence of beauty and its change of power. Next, "Three questions about beauty" will answer your doubts and start a journey of exploration of beauty.

1. Is beauty objective or subjective?

Is beauty the internal characteristics of things itself or the subjective feelings of observer? I am afraid that this issue has been quarreling since the birth of humans, and from the theory of ignorance. Plato believes that no matter whether anyone appreciates, the gorgeous universe is always a gorgeous universe. Therefore, beauty must be the inner characteristics of the universe, as is other wonderful things.

But later scholars generally believe that beauty is not the inherent characteristics of things. David Hume once wrote: "Beauty, not the attributes of things itself, but only in the hearts of the admirer." Some people believe that beauty is related to other things, such as white and purity, such as white and purity, as purely related to purity, which is related to purity. It is related to the towering mountains that represent the power of the gods, so white is beautiful.

Artists such as Arum Felbaha dedicated their entire careers to beauty.

French writer Stendhal said a famous saying: "Beauty is a promise to happiness."

Friedrich Nietzsche has gone further. He is looking at our existence in this world from the perspective of "aesthetic phenomena". He believes that the world is terrible. Only art can prevent us from destroying ourselves: "The truth is bloody, and 'art' allows us to avoid the truth." I hope to use the beauty to fight the truth, so that it is possible to play the power of beauty in ugliness. Similarly, listening to disagreement music can also make people gain happiness, and enhance the pleasure in the process of appreciation through an inexplicable sense of tension. Tension is a boring rival. People like the sudden giant sounds and palpitations: "Excited makes people happy."

This trick is quite common in the field of creative advertising, because stimulation is more effective than beauty. The banking industry highlights the "beauty" method in advertising, either artificial beauty (such as inviting beautiful models to tell product advantages), or use natural beauty (such as places full of exotic mood) to reflect. We rarely see the masterpiece that deliberately implemented the principles of aesthetics, but the "Benson Hedges (British cigarette brand) advertisements in the 1980s were exceptions.

2. Natural beauty and artificial beauty, who is more beautiful?

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel believes that beauty is not natural and can only be achieved through art. Therefore, a dandelion field is beautiful, but it will be more beautiful to draw it, and smart people understand this artistic achievement better. We think Hegel is likely to think that the work of German artist Wolfgang Laib is the most beautiful, because understanding plays a positive role in understanding this beauty. Lieber spent several months in early spring and early summer to collect dandelions, pine trees and hazelnut pollen, and then displayed it in the white box gallery.

Stefan Sagmeister said that he was playing in the Blagenzz Forest in the mountainous area of Western Austria when he was a child because he was very close to him. When encountering good weather, good mood, and finding a new viewing location at the same time, in a moment, he will find that he is standing in the intoxicating scenery: just the right time to meet the beautiful scenery -really rare is really rare Happy moment.

400 years ago in New York and today's New York

In New York, Schidming often climbed to the roof to enjoy the Manhattan skyline. When the mood and weather are very good, the clouds are integrated with the building. This feeling is almost the same as that he saw in the Blagenz Forest when he was a child, which would make him feel awe in front of the majestic scene.

If the old name of Manahatta, Manhattan, Peter Minuit is called this name from the current Manhattan in the hands of the American Aboriginal. The event greatly improved the appearance of nature, and Manhattan now looks much more beautiful than the original.

Nature spent almost 30 million years to shape the Alps. New Yorkers built the Manhattan skyline in only 300 years. The construction of the metropolis is obviously much faster than the formation of the mountains, so it is the New Yorker instead of nature left a deeper impression on Shidming.

3. How to judge that a thing is beautiful from a scientific perspective?

So, can we judge that a thing is beautiful from a scientific perspective? Or in other words, things are not beautiful in people's eyes. It was originally a sense of irrationalism. If it is necessary to determine through scientific analysis, is it limited?

Studies have shown that people like places that have special significance in their personal minds, places that are easy to resonate with themselves, and they also like to be more or less familiar. Psychologist Alex Forsythe and Noel Sheehy once wrote: "We respect everything, pursue omnipers, and also like to win (complicated) (with complexity) It is also a matter of logic (with a sense of participation). Expressing, it pays attention to clearly distinguished and simple and straightforward; while exploring the unknown field, a certain degree of obscure and mysterious unpredictability can evoke people's interests. "Michelangelo Luo's , Virgin Pianzi Map, 1499

Benoit Mandelbrot, a mathematician, proposed in 1975 that the form that looks messy (that is, the structure is not regular), such as coastline and clouds, actually contains strict order. He can use several super simple rules to reproduce the complex coastline, and this structure is called "fractal". Forming not only determines the form of high mountains and rivers and all creatures, but also determines the sound of sound (such as the sound of rain and waterfalls). Although they seem to be irregular (of course, it also sounds), there is actually a mathematical sequence behind it.

Generally speaking, humans prefer images between 1.3 and 1.5, Tiancheng (coastline or cloud), human art (Jackson Polock's drip painting), and mathematical graphics are all true. We seem to have a soft spot for the complexity of the right, and there are conclusive evidence that watching the fractal pattern can help relieve stress.

Graphic extract

Author: [British] Schndming Walsh Studio