2nd Arts & Humanities Conference, Florence

DEFINING THE MEANING AND OPPOSITE OF ART

VICTOR SAGALOVSKY

Abstract:

As visual art continues to evolve in context and style, we must re-examine what constitutes “art.” We argue that the word “art” has been corrupted by a lack of meaning we can quantify and a solution is proposed. Is there a universal “standard” for art, that is the question. The word “art” originates from the Latin word "ars,” meaning "skill" or "craft.” In the 20th century, what constituted skill and craft took on a broader meaning; the word “art” lost its connection to its classical definition of “effective goodness.” Today, the art world is a highly complex entity, so a broad consensus as to what can be labelled “art,” has proved highly elusive. But in the 21st century, the science of Neuroesthetics can aid in the delineation of what is and isn’t “art.” In scientific literature supported by Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel there is new evidence that viewing different works of art creates different physiological conditions; for example an increase in the production of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, responsible for states of joy and well being are experienced when art meets a certain aesthetic, (Mozayeni, Amirmostofian, IISES 2016, Wolfgang Tschacher, 2011, McCraty and Childre 2004). If we can presuppose that “beauty is art and art is beauty” then this new scientific insight shows that beauty is not in so much in the eye of the beholder, as it is hardwired into their brain. Beauty can now be defined scientifically, and so can art. Beauty is synonymous with “right proportion;” as it follows the universal principles of what is aesthetically pleasing. This aligns with “effective goodness,” a classical definition of art. Kamran Khavarani, creator of Abstract Romanticism, seeing this crisis of identity within the world of art has coined a new term to define the travesty of what is presently being called art. In Khavarani’s definition, “Art is the only form of creation that in harmony with universal values emanates positive values and objectively beautifies life, anything else is a personal expression and should be called personart.” “Personart” is a neologism that is a combination of persona + art; i.e., creative work expressing the limited self expression of the ego vs. the universal values of beauty and harmony. Naming the opposite serves the task of restoring the value to “art.” Since “Personart” is a new word, we propose to track its adoption in the scientific literature of neuroesthetics.

Keywords: Neuroesthetics, Abstract Romanticism, Khavarani’s Paintings, Personart

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