Part II: Can you feel it?

Last night’s queries having given way to sleep; this morning’s sunrise has given way to suspicion. There must be more to the story than that.

When I lived in China, I came across a curious phenomenon. That curiosity was soon lost, replaced with a hopeless acceptance of the inevitable. A copy-this-format culture will inevitably lead to technically beautiful, emotion-less art.

Allow me to explain. Sitting and listening to friends, students, and friends’ children play the piano, I found one thing was true nearly across the board—these children played the piano with technical rigor, agility, and precision. There was often nearly nothing wrong with their pieces, technically speaking. They were perfect, but were they “好听?” That is to say, were they beautiful to listen to? Not really. Were they moving? No. There was no passion. There was no intimacy with the composer. There was nothing but flat notes on a 2-dimensional staff… only this and nothing more.

So take this phenomenon back to photography and think it through again. I have seen beautiful, precise, well-exposed photos; photos whose creators have taken the time to set the scene, check the lighting, and even done a bit of editing (“Kosher,” could-be-done-in-a-darkroom editing) to make their photos shine. I know people personally who have taken (technically) absolutely stunning photos, and I have even “liked” some of those photos… but are they 好看? Are they beautiful to look at? Well… yes and no. It comes back to the same issue—they are technically beautiful and emotionally distant. When I consider them at first, I find them stunning in their precision, but given a few minutes I find them cold, despite the warm red of an Anzac Day poppy. They are flat, emotion-less, two-dimensional representations of skill with no heart.

And so we come to part two—what is art if you cannot feel it? Is their beauty with rough edges? Is there beauty without emotion? Can art be technically beautiful but emotionally lifeless, or does “art” require both to be… well… art?

More old questions… your thoughts, as always, are welcome.
(Written on Sunday... finally posted today.)