Art from the Outskirts

The Psychological Aesthetics of Sexual Attraction as Artistic Appreciation

A Commentary by Michael LaPenna

“Introduction”

It begins innocently enough: A young man gazes from across the room at a little diner in suburban Chicago. His eyes have fixed themselves upon the seemingly angelic presence of a vibrant, young, women in a gently draped pink, cotton blouse and white, Capri pants that both appear to fit quite well with her body’s contours. She has features that he’s rarely seen: richly carameled skin, and wavy, black hair that falls to the nape of her neck. All the while he can’t help but notice that her hair has the faintest indigo tint in the room’s light. As she turns her eyes toward him, the young man notices her familiar dark brown, walnut shaped eyes quite craftily and symmetrically woven into her face. Her nose is kitten-like and her mouth’s lines seem to invite him to conversation with her…and so the young man carefully approaches the women.

“Hi” he says. She looks calm back at him. “Dave?” she asks. Moksha” he exclaimed!
“How are you?” I knew it was you!”
Oh, I’m pretty well, I’d say.”
“Babe, c’mere! You remember Moksha from the figure drawing class? Ya know… the model.”

“Dressing Table” Pino Dangelico

Has this type of scenario ever happened to you? Have you noticed someone so striking that you couldn’t help but think of that person as a kind of art? Every line, curve, dip, dimple and indentation was almost palpably pleasing to you If so, you may, like me, be the type of person who occasionally visits art galleries, paints, writes, etcetera. On the other hand, you might be like a lot of folks on the planet who simply know what they like in any object, whether that object be a painting, a flower or yes…even a person! Do I risk credulity or misogyny in assuming this? Many if not most of us have likely admired aesthetic niceties, but more often we think the word aesthetic itself belongs tagged on to a piece of furniture as in “The craftsmanship of that chair is amazing!” or “This house looks Victorian.” or in the look of a particular film as in “That movie reminded me of a Hitchcock film.” But the world actually means specifically that which relates to the perception of beauty in art or nature. In this sense something that looks a particular way, feels, seems or reminds and so forth is expressed aesthetically. In other words, it is a that part of us which is not confined to rigid definitions of beauty, attractiveness or ugliness within the strictures of scientifically precise measurements. Whereas a person can know what the standard of beauty is mathematically, symmetrically and with regard to markers of health such as coloration or body mass index, there are those aspects which never quite conform to the prescribed definitions given by science such as Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky expressed in his 1864 novella Notes from the Underground When the Underground Man declared, “I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too.” In the same way, art is objectively placed far beyond the mechanics of science. Sometimes attraction is as well.

Stay tuned for Section 2!

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