Physical phenomena
As distinct from
Psychical phenomena
Our perception of the hood latch-spring mechanism, the blurred background, and the shimmering bokeh circles is not merely a passive reception of sensory data, but an active, directed engagement with these elements.
“The aesthetic object is not a thing but a meaning.” – Mikel Dufrenne
Spectral double
Physical origin
Inherent unpredictability
Our perceived reality is intertwined with unseen forces.
“The aesthetic object is not a thing but a meaning.” – Mikel Dufrenne
Organic rhythm
Otherwise rigid
Repetitive geometry
It is the immediate, undivided grasping of the image that constitutes its aesthetic character.
“The artist produces an image or a phantasm; and he who enjoys art turns his gaze on the point to which the artist has pointed, looks through the chink which he has opened, and reproduces the image in himself.” – Benedetto Crocea
Partial view
Hints of form
Actual occasion
The partiality of the image suggests that we are witnessing not a static object, but a fleeting glimpse of an ongoing concrescence, an actual occasion in its process of realizing its determinate character.
“The actual world is a process, and the process is the becoming of occasions of experience.” – Alfred North Whitehead
Segmented white tape
Behind which
Indistinct forms
This tension between the structured and the formless is central to our perception.
“The world is not what I think, but what I live.” – Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Permeable forms
Matter dissolves
Into the metaphysical
What truly captivates is not the objects themselves, but their interaction with light. Light here is not merely an illuminator; it is a transformative agent, shaping and reshaping the perceived reality of the glass.
“The world is too complex for our understanding; but it is not too complex for our dreams.” – Gaston Bachelard
Delicate petals
Spidery stamens
Hovering insect
The aesthetic appeal of a flower is inextricably linked to its function and its evolutionary history.
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” – Charles Darwin
Swirling colors
Dissolving forms
Perception boundaries
The image, with its fluid forms and vibrant hues, could be interpreted as a visual metaphor for transcendence characterized by a heightened sense of awareness and a breakdown of boundaries.
“We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime, within man, is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Precise angles
Polished surfaces
Functional conduit
The clean lines and reflective surfaces offer a promise of efficiency and professionalism, an aesthetic of controlled success that, for Adorno, ultimately serves to pacify and integrate the individual into the existing order.
“Culture today infects everything with sameness.” – Theodor Adorno
Delicate tension
Potential manifestation
Verdant promise
This visual dance of opposites mirrors the fundamental duality of existence, the constant flux between what is and what is becoming.
“Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfect.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson