I am starting a week of beauty. I know what you are thinking, ‘but you
are already so cute Marty, you don’t need a week at a spa’. You are
probably right. I think I will forego the spa and just spend the time
drawing and talking about beauty instead.
The idea of beauty is problematic for an artist. If the artist is to be
honest he or she would have to say that outer beauty matters to them.
After all, they are creating objects that have outer beauty. They are looking
at the outside of things and giving their interpretation of them. They
are attracted to beauty. Beauty, of course, is defined differently by each
artist, but it is still a searching for and appreciation of beauty. Not
inner beauty, but outer beauty. The appearance of things.
So, how does an artist reconcile that desire to linger and study objects
of beauty and create objects that are also beautiful with the desire and
need to see the hidden beauty in things and people? How does an artist
build that appreciation for deeper beauty, the inner beauty while promoting
the value and worth of outer beauty?
Good questions.
“I am tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep. That’s enough, what you do you want – an adorable pancreas?” – Jean Kerr, 1922—2003, American author and playwright