I’ve been pondering over the difference between beauty and art in what I, and other “artists”, do. Now, clearly a lot depends on your definition of art. My definition of art is something which has been created or arranged in such a manner as to try to stimulate emotions and thoughts. I think this can be generally simplified into the statement that ‘art should say something’. I think beauty on the other hand, does not need to say anything, it just is; or isn’t, depending on taste.
Another thing about I recently heard somewhere is that art has no purpose other than as art. This is another way in which I think art differs from beauty, because I think beauty can be expressed in more ways than just one (aesthetics); in that, something can be done in a beautiful way. I have realised that a lot of the things I like in life, I like because they are beautiful in more ways than one.
An example of this would be a car. I am a bit of a car fan, nothing obsessive, but the reason I like cars is because they can be beautiful in more ways than one. They can look beautiful and sound beautiful; but here is where they differ from art, because they can also be beautifully comfortable to sit in and drive/perform beautifully, for example. Another example of beauty not art for me, is architecture. The reason I like architecture is because the greatest buildings are not only visually beautiful but also perform their function beautifully. They can be very heat/cool efficient, nice places to work in, or rest in, they can be space efficient, and so on. This is beauty for me, form and function. So a car or building can never be art because they serve more than one purpose.
A slightly funny effect of thinking like this results in the conclusion that something an be ‘beautiful but not art’ or ‘art but not beautiful’.
So where does my work fit into this? Well, lighting design is about creating something which serves a number of purposes; enabling the actors to be seen, first and foremost, plus enhancing the set and setting the ‘mood’ of the scene. Clearly this fits firmly in the realm of beauty not art. Photography wise, I find commissioned work is rarely about art. It is about recording peoples memories or portraying products, services and so on. With my personal photography I think I am probably more interested in showing people the ‘hidden’ beauty in the world. Things that are beautiful that they might otherwise not have noticed. Generally I don’t feel there is any message other than “look at this, isn’t it beautiful”. I guess this means I’m not an artist, but a beautist.....