The Romantic Manifesto

"Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgements." 

This book by Ayn Rand discusses about art and literature, on how to understand and to evaluate art objectively according to its esthetical and metaphysical values. The book arrived a couple of days earlier together with three other books from the author that i bought at Barnes&Nobles. Well, ive been wanting to understand art my whole life as i was surrounded by walls full of frames and paintings since i was a kid. My dad is an abstract painter and an Expressionist. Even so,he never taught me nor show how to understand his art. Only by the titles i tried to understand what he was trying to convey. I guess i always learn things myself firsthand before people's help.There was no concepts or proper guidance as yet for me to indulge in this branch of life.

For a person who is familiar with Ayn Rand's Objectivism,i was called to know what the author had to say about art and the philosophy behind it. By definition, art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgements. Thus,it requires the artist and the observer to do some mind workups and mental exercises in order to create and to perceive art. From the eyes of an artist,he tries to concretize the abstractions that he formed in his conceptual thinking into a reality being. It is said that art is a concretization of metaphysics. On the other hand, the observer, will perceive the concretized abstraction created by the artist and through a process of induction,he tries to make it intelligible.

How do both of them communicate,technically? By what means? What is the bridge that ties the creator and the perceiver?

Sense of life.

" A sense of life is a pre-conceptual equivalent of metaphysics,an emotional,subconsciously intergrated appraisal of man and of existence." This is the source from which man creates his art and by this means a viewer can let the experience enters his soul. I always wonder everytime i look up at my dad's paintings, I ask myself, "what do i feel?" and i try to think what was his emotion when he was working on that particular piece. I usually found that his mental state and what was going on in his life during that time determined what would be expressed on the canvas. 

How could we understand this sense of life? 

Sense of life is a sum up,an emotional generalization that we formed in ourselves before we acquired a mature philosophical thinking towards things or conditions in our lives. It's a sort of 'rule' or 'emotional set' that we have and it will invoke particular emotions when we are confronted with something. Given an example, an expensive car. For people who admire and appreciate greatness, his sense of life will give him the feeling of grandiosity at the sight of the car. While on the other hand, a person who despises excellency will feel disgust and hatred. That is how your sense of life works. And remember,it is a build up, a sum up. Meaning it depends on how you treat your emotions from the start. Do you let your emotions filled with random chances,cheap whims,repeating others or you fill it with reasons, mental evaluations, and intelligency?

Lots to say in other entries. Ill write about the purpose and what art means in our lives. Stay tuned.