From Aesthetic to Aesthetics

Much has been documented on the philosophical aspect of aesthetics. However, it has not yet known which aspect of aesthetics is useful for artists. Philosophers and artists look at aesthetics from two different perspectives. For the philosophers, the works of art are unmistakable evidence supporting theories psychologically and shed light on their aspects. However, art samples serve as a model for the artists. If the artist learns about the model, he would be able to predict the outcome of his artwork. Though this issue has received a wide attention all around the world, it needs an urgent consideration in the Iranian context.
The underlying concern is that aesthetics has rarely been drawn upon to inform Iranian arts. The major problem is that Iranian philosophers have brought their influence to bear on aesthetics. Unfortunately, they have failed to meet the needs of artists and the artists to benefit from systematic inspiration in crafting human civilization. Among the thousands of courses in various fields of art, the aesthetic assessment of art history has been overlooked. Available subjects on aesthetics in the doctorate courses have been much influenced by philosophers’ thoughts. However, strong debates provided by philosophers have less contributed to the improvement of the works of artists. .
In addition, the changes in art education in Iran over decades including the attempts made by the cultural revolution of the 60s and by the transform council recently for enriching the lessons with concept of identity and emphasizing the practical aspects of the lesson for addressing the indigenous problems of Iran, have failed to have a meaningful look at the subject of aesthetics in art.
Although the critique of art in all disciplines first requires aesthetic analysis, rarely has this priority given to this criterion. Thematic analysis, political and sociological critique has attracted the attention of the critics more than the impact of artists’ work. However, art criticism should be preceded by an aesthetic assessment; the other dimensions of art should be interpreted in its light.
The imitation of the form is a pest which comes to damage the artworks in the absence of the artist’s aesthetic knowledge. Thanks to the fast growth of the media, anyone who is not well equipped with the aesthetic knowledge will be struck by devastating floods of the information about the art and artistic activities. The flow of information has grown plagiarism and resulted in the resemblance of artworks. The continuous flow of information has provided artists with opportunities to plagiarize. Developing a sense of identity as a strategy not to be the victim of the flood of globalization requires adequate preparations. Identity, the rules which are being shaped by the history of individuals and their society, create artists and its understanding requires the principles of aesthetics. Identity as the product of diversity in human behavior is developed through interaction with the environment and history. One of the identity element is the tastes of people about the face of the environment, which is understandable in the aesthetic world. Without understanding what a beautiful work is and why it is considered beautiful, nations would face difficulty maintaining their identities. Therefore, despite much endeavor and emphasis on developing cultural and artistic based on the identity, considerable success has not been made.
The art education system in all disciplines is required to develop syllabus on the aesthetics of art (and not the philosophy of art) in order to prevent the identities shaped accidentally or under the influence of Medias. An example of such attempts which was made over the Ph.D. course in Landscape Architecture at Tehran University is extensive reach on the aesthetics of art. The attempts have resulted in five articles included in the special issue of this journal. Different topics and research methods in each of the five studies indicate the extent and depth of the effect of aesthetics on various artistic works.
The topics of the article are: Preferences for renovating residential facades among the residents of worn out textures; Aesthetics of the landscape of sky in Iran in the traditional era and the contemporary world; Effect of the models on the Aesthetics of the landscape architectural projects of the University of Tehran; Aesthetics of urban management interventions on Zand street in Shiraz and Plant Aesthetics in Baysunqur’s Shahnameh. The scope of these studies shows the great potential of Aesthetics for analysis and evaluations of artworks. Such analysis not only can be used in training but also in designing and management process. The method of analysis was developed as follows: identifying beautiful examples in each study, analyzing what work is beautiful and making the inference about why it is considered beautiful. This method can provide useful information for the production or management of the arts.