newspaper article!) would attract only philosophers and would not necessarily invoke any feelings. However, there are many pieces of artwork which are deeply engaging even though they contain ideas that are insignificant for us. For example, I adore the movie Chicago but can barely list any ideas in it. Why do I adore it then? Why do the few ideas contained within it became significant for me? How does art purify matters and assign meaning to issues for us, in general terms?
We can assume that the aesthetic form plays the principal and essential role here. It is this form that organizes details, tying them together in virtual space-time as an aspect of a new world built by a work of art. Indeed, it is this aesthetic form that brings a sense of reality into the newly created world, and it is this form that makes this new world engaging and interesting. It is through this form that ideas emerge and speak to us.
Now let us recall that an author’s intrinsic feelings must be at the center of an imagined world and dictate its aesthetic form.
Rules for the Creator
Now, if feelings dictate then the author has to obey, although this may sound strange. What can we derive out of this? We have learned a few things about a work of art, but is art something comprised entirely of “works?” Or is there such a thing as “art itself?”
The first answer is easy to formulate, it is “yes and no.” Why “yes?” When we say “sculpture,” we refer to a general notion, which in turn defines a work of art as a sculpture in our eyes. Likewise, it becomes this in the eyes of its creator. Most importantly, it was a sculpture in the creator’s mind before it was created. What about some other phenomena reflected in such diverse general terms as baroque, comedy, Antiquity[1], etc.? There appear to be some general patterns working beyond artworks. Thus, we can definitely say that art in and of itself does exist.
- ↑ Here, and throughout the book, I refer to “Antiquity” meaning Classical Antiquity, i.e. the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations which developed approximately from the 8th century BCE to the 5th century CE.
