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Where is beauty? What is beauty?



Chameleon rose from my garden. 

The answer to "where is beauty?" seems  easy .... beauty is  all around us, but do we all see the same beauty ?  There is a Chinese saying, "Flowers look different to different eyes" Yes, we've all heard that before ..."Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

Contemporary artists worldwide often challenge our notion of beauty and many celebrate the ordinary and the familiar, making comment on daily rituals and consumer items.  None of this is very surprising since early man recorded every day life in cave paintings  and it has been happening in the art world ever since.  Up until 1960s, household items often appeared in still life paintings, but it was the contemporary pop art movement where artists sought out the commonplace to elevate artistically. What could be more "everyday" than Andy Warhol's iconic Campbell Soup Tins ? 
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/andy-warhol-campbells-soup-cans-1962/

All sorts of useful mundane items have been celebrated in art - I am particularly intrigued by artists who transform everyday items not only into subjects for their art works but use them as art materials. It is as if they see beauty in the every day object not as it is but in its transformation. This sculptured tyre  has been created by contemporary artist, Wim Delvoye.. "The artist hand-carves rubber car tyres with motifs whose curlicued florals and sinuous vines recall Art Nouveau decoration." 
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/making-art-from-mundane-materials-900188
These artworks by  French artist, Albert Legrand are amongst my favourites as he seems to be able to inject emotion into these commonplace  found objects.    


https://www.boredpanda.com/everyday-object-character-art-gilbert-legrand/


In my recent  series of little wearable art pins, I have been trying to depict  the very ordinary, the very everyday and  to capture daily thoughts or ideas which are not momentous or genius but things that we all wonder about from time to time. Most of the beauty I see around me is in my garden or close by, but even so, others may not think what I use as my inspiration as particularly beautiful.  so ... is this the answer ? .... 

“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”  And then is it possible to interpret in art the beauty one perceives and does it retain its beauty? ....



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