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by T. Edward
An artistic experience for me is my unique perspective of seeing the physical world in a more meaningful sense. Since the real definition of art is ambiguous, an artistic experience can also be vague itself. I think the whole point of understanding an artistic experience is for you to elaborate and understand art in general. An artistic experience for me is divided into three points of view: how I perceive art as the creator, how I see art as an assessor, and how I distinguish the difference between art and reality.
To fully define what an artistic experience is, I came up with a simple idea that art, although perceived or seen or felt like a form of an object as its byproduct, is the actual transformation and application of the person’s thoughts to the object which his/her creativity is applied to. This way, I can easily recognize where and when an artistic experience is happening.
The first point of view of artistic experience is when I am perceiving art as the creator, or simply when I am actually doing art myself as a way of my personal expression and creation. For me, changing a bleak object into a work of wonder is an artistic experience in itself. The actual experience is the conversion of my ingenious approach to a substantial entity--an output. An example is when I turn a piece of white paper into a colorful abstract painting. Through this kind of transformation, an artistic experience is actually happening.
Another standpoint of artistic experience is when I am the critic of a particular artwork. Basically, it is when I see how profound a subject is just by looking at it or how the artist meticulously applied all of his/her productivity to the end result. It is also when I apply my opinions or/and judgment on a piece of art. An example is when I watch films and I see loopholes on them and criticize them, and after seeing the film completely, I think of how the movie should have ended if I made it myself, or how the cameras should have been placed. When I have my own outlook, whether applied or not, is a time that I am having an artistic experience.
Finally, to complete the artistic experience is to understand the difference between art and simple reality. An argument may arise when I say “difference” as others may say that art is also part of reality, but what I mean with this is that art is more of perspective and interpretation while the reality is the actual state of the subject. An example is contemplating the difference between “music and lyrics” and the “quality of the sound” of a particular The Beatles song. Music and its meaning (the lyrics) is an art while the quality of the CD or the sound (volume, smoothness, etc.) is just the actual state of the song that is playing. This way, I was able to recognize my understanding of their differences.
To sum it up, artistic experience for me is the distinctive perception of seeing art with a more evocative sense that is seen in three different points of view. The points of views are materialized effectively through a better understanding of art.
Reference:
Reid, L. A. (1926). Artistic Experience. Mind (New Series ed., p. 469). Manchester: Manchester University Press.