Love Long Lost

An oil painting on wood by Milo Dlouhy. A portrait of a boy and a girl holding hands in a dreary landscape.

Traditions & Institutions

Art forms an identity and recognition by the way it is categorized into historical traditions or socially constructed art institutions.

Dedication & Special Focus

Art is a category separate from ordinary life. It takes dedication to create an object of singular attention, a masterpiece.

Skill & Virtuosity

We value and attempt to harvest Skill. Virtuosity is a commodity. There is a universal impulse to improve and expedite the process of creation.

Representation

Representation is not imitation, rather a repetition of a pattern in the fabric of our visual and auditory senses. Words are oral and written patterns.

Novelty & Creativity

Searching through chaos to find order (a pattern), by exploring aspects of art not governed by rules and routines provides a surprising new pattern that results in pleasure and a sense of knowing.

Intellectual Challenge

Perceptual and intellectual capacities are a source of aesthetic pleasure. Objects that deny easy explanation give pleasure in tracing out their complex historical or interpretive dimensions.

Imaginative Experience

Artistic experience happens in the theatre of the mind. Like mythology and personal experience, objects of art provide an imaginative experience. Art happens in a make-belief world.