Would an aesthetic of ugliness be aesthetically pleasing?
Suppose you wanted to make an artistic statement that challenged every notion of normalcy. You sought out the ugliest people you could find. You found the ugliest scenes in nature and in man-made environments. You challenged every notion of beauty you could find in every society that has a standard.
Do you think people could find beauty in ugliness? What would that mean? How would that work? Would we have to intellectually retrain our eye to see beauty in ugliness, or could it happen naturally, somehow? Do you have any examples of an aesthetic of anti-beauty that works for you or anyone you know?
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9 Answers
Not entirely sure I follow, but I’ll say that I have always found beauty in dissonance (music, Sonic Youth, and a zillion other bands I like), and art/films that that illustrate some of the “uglier” parts of existence. But I’m not sure that’s what you’re asking.
Is this related to that old Twilight Zone episode where the patient removes her bandages and is disgusted because she looks “ugly”, and we finally see the doctors who are all “ugly” by our standards?
A student of mine only takes photos of urban or industrial wastelands. He finds beauty in that and was able to describe the beauty of a plastic bag in the wind, getting caught in a fence.
He saw beauty, shared his views and got us to appreciate his views—that doesn’t mean I will actually go out to an abandoned trainyard and find contentment and peace, like he does, but I can appreciate the fact someone finds it beautiful.
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If something was truly ugly—for example, an image of pain, destruction, cruelty, like the pile of skeletal bodies from concentration camps… I couldn’t find beauty in that at all because of the meaning, connotation and reasons for the picture existing. There’s no redeeming quality in a pile of bodies that suffered to death. shudder
However, I can appreciate the quality and impact of the photograph itself- the light, shading, effect, and intent—was the photographer successful in his goal, yes! And that success is beautiful.
Sure, as long as the ugliness doesn’t include human feces. lol
I have always liked photographs that depict an ugly environment like factories or other industrial ugliness which also show a bit of nature, beauty, in contrast. Like a butterfly in the midst of smoking smoke stacks or a tiny flowering weed in the crevice of the asphalt.
Yeah, it wouldn’t hard to see beauty in something like that.
There is a hunger for beauty and we find beauty in ugliness if we look at it long enough. Ugly things often become beautiful, think of babies, original music, new art or ugly ducklings.
It seems to have worked for Pablo Picasso!
Drink enough beer and everything becomes beautiful
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