Is beauty subjective or objective?
Project 3
I chose this project to look at the way beauty is seen and research the science along with the philosophy.
English
&
Self in the modern world
For my research I really looked into the philosophy of aesthetics and in particular Plato. A lot of what I found was that beauty was objective. In ancient Greece beauty standards were influenced hugely by the Greek Gods. For women in particular it would be aphrodite who was thought to be the most beautiful because she was the goddess of love, beauty, and lust. If you were chiseled and strong and had the looks of a Greek God you would be praised. Beauty was also a direct indicator of intelligence. It was pretty easy to determine if you were beautiful or not because there were blueprints (Gods and Goddesses). So for english I wanted to create 2 pieces of writing that incorporated both an objective and subjective view. For one I made a woman speaking on the Greek beauty standards and how she didn't fit them sowing the reasoning behind what could be more objective. In response I wrote a subjective poem that countered each line of the objective one to show reasoning on both sides. As for self in the modern world I made a series of blog posts where the information on today's beauty standards, psychology, science, and the philosophy are all presented. I support both sides with reasoning that supports many different ways that beauty can be seen. Whether it is biological, psychological, or to the eye of the beholder I don't choose a side and I remain to just layout the research and let one decide for themself.
Art
For my art portion I wanted to show body standards back then (ancient Greece) compared to today's beauty standards. I wanted to show reasoning through body types specifically male body types. I cose male bodies because I feel as though no one talks about their standards as much as they do women. So I wanted to outline two body types to symbolize that its okay to have either one. Along with normalizing body types I was also testing the waters with the subjective and objective ideas of beauty standards. Women beauty standards have changed a lot of the years even if your body type isn't the beauty standard at one point it WAS. As for men I feel that it has always been pressure for them to be big and strong and that has been a common standard through the years of course not for everyone but its just something i've seen. I used a clay that was normal oven baked which I've never used before and had to experiment with it. I really struggled with the shaping because they were more compact then I was use to and I felt some pressure with creating body types. I created these sculptures small because of my inspiration the venus de milo. I want my sculptures to test the times and mean something as the venus sculptures have over centuries.