RedBubble

”...The beauty that can neither be found nor counted is at the heart of that which gives value to life…” wonderfully said…

I’m with you all the way martin!

the need for beauty is hard wired into us as is the need for love…. beauty … how ever it’s constituted… is a powerful agent in the world and the theft of beauty from an individual or group or community is a kind of crime against humanity.

your first engineer was spot on the money.

Indeed, never lose sight of the bigger picture

Some truth in what you say perhaps, but without the ugly there can be no real appreciation of beauty….

Good words Martin,

Too often things are only quantified. How much ? How long ?

The quality of a thing is that indefinable aspect which, as you have rightly observed, is ‘beauty’.

Ask a scientist about an eagle in flight; and then ask a poet.

Absolutely agree, Martin, beautifully expressed!

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. i can’t remember at the moment who said that : )) but is the first thing that comes to mind when i read your letter.

i am a new member of RedBubble and even so, i will say that i think you have a beautiful website, a beautiful goal, a beautiful community and beautiful leadership.

i also think that is human nature to want more ~ and sometimes when so many messages are being received about wanting more and more, faster, easier, give me this give me that ... you just simply have to resist influence and stay fast on your beliefs and goals, and never forget where you came from and what you believe in and what you hope to achieve as a leader in high quality.

i disagree with you on your one point however. i do think that humanity can be found in our art (but perhaps i misunderstood, because you did say value ~ and mention gold teeth) so, maybe you mean the almighty monetary value that some people place on their worth and perceive merit.

So in essence, i do not disagree with you at all, and instead i agree with you completely.

without the beauty of the flower, some of us would not be lured to smell it’s intoxication

I was especically moved by The beauty that can neither be found nor counted is at the heart of that which gives value to life.

Well said Martin.

Yes to some of what you said. But ,if we would like to preserve the beauty on the web we as RB should be THE example to preserve…..black backgrounds save energy. More options on our personal websites will also help to preserve beauty….mother earth. We must extend a topic on aesthetics of web design – we can all learn from it.

Soooo true! We must take time to contemplate and reflect upon the beauty all around us. I’ve recently moved to London and many people thought I was mad moving from beautiful Devon to the big City. However, there’s a wealth of beauty all over the place here; I see it in the people, the buildings and the stunning parks all over the city. London is Beautiful! Let’s take time to contemplate what’s around us more often. Regards, Don.

Beauty will catch your attention…..but value will make you a resident..

There is some truth in this but I think true beauty lies in the heart of a person who looking at the image he are she enjoys at the time…but true beauty is more spiritual then human..and i think MuscularTeeth was talking about me ...cave man art just kidding<lol>

Hey Martin, I’d love for my job to have profound thinking as part of its job description!
Keep ‘em coming….

Hi Martin, I believe that it is indeed a very unique thing… Beauty. As it can be found in nearly all things, by those who have the clarity of vision and the feeling ability to percieve it, and appreciate it. Is there beauty in horror some may say? Well infact horror enables us to desire and thrive more within beauty and tranquility so horror is simply a sign as to what is the opposite of beauty. Bad taste is what it is, luckily it usually comes attached with a sense of aversion from the Human spirit. I vote for seeing hearing working, living breathing, eating beauty. Tis better that way
Cheers Steve

If any design ethos pervades the web it seems to be pursuit of banal utility. Too frequently this is simply ugly.

Oddly enough I’ve often thought that the RedBubble site itself was more utilitarian than beautiful in its design. Beautiful websites are seldom useful websites. They happen, but they seem to be rare.

Yes all true… But …....... Regardless of what we all try to define, as beauty … It is still in the eye of the beholder …........ What one man may find beautiful another may not ! ..... So we do , we take photos , we paint , we create and we hope that our artwork will touch one soul and bring them pleasure …. and we count on you RedBubble to provide us with the visual beauty tools we need here to showcase our art …. so that one certain piece will draw attention and sell !

Beauty it’s in the eye of the beholder ,and in order to define what is ’ beautiful ’,we have to define what’s ’ ugly ’ !! A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE !!

First I feel you must define “Beauty”..for instance a female warthog may seem ugly to us, but a ravishing beauty to a male warthog seeking its assessment of something beautiful. Truly it is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder…..!

Long live beauty

All the best to the wonderful RedBubble people….

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~Confucius

I especially love your last sentence. Well said, and quite beautiful. ;)

“Beauty will save the world” – Dostoevsky. I just wonder do world leaders know that?

Here, Here, words of wisdom!!!

It is true that beauty can be subjective, but no beauty can can come from an ugly heart.
All beauty starts from within I think.
Finding the beauty in the banal is the true secret to life.
This is where beauty and happiness cross paths.

I’m with Muscular Teeth, exactly what I was thinking… ;-)

I fully agree that beauty and an open an non possessive appreciation of it should be paramount to life. In modern society there seems to be a conditioning that has us feel a need to possess and control beauty. In general I feel that Red Bubble has an essence that is very nuturing for beauty to present itself freely. However of late I believe RB has allowed society pressure and perhaps perceived needs to block some of this freedom. I think it is so important for RB to put more time into being aware to it’s own heart and the influences that block awareness to this place.

Hi Martin – thanks for making my morning a little sweeter – Dave

Even though I have not been with you long it is a pleasure to view other persons views of Beauty, and to have a Haven where I may share my version, and such a positive place for feedback whom mostly appear to have the same goal, creation not destruction which can only grow through open minds – If we do not necessarily always see it, there is still Beauty, it is the viewer who can not see it, neither the fault of the Artist nor the viewer just is. Much like teaching not the fault of the pupil if they do not understand just may need stating a different way – or simply – what “Solefield” said
Enjoy all forms and be open :{)

Very interesting read. Ugliness can also be seen as beauty by some and visa versa. Life is beauty but then life can be ugly, nature is beautiful but then to survive nature can be ugly. There are so many angles to beauty, there is beauty all around us whether it be nature, art, animals, love, family, friendship beauty in itself is a beautiful thing!

When it comes to ‘things’, some have managed to combine utility with beauty, and I would highlight much of the Apple range; simple design classics, of that there can be no doubt (and no, I don’t own any of them, sadly!)

Perhaps if some members refrained from creating art simply for “shock value” there would be more beauty to be found here.

“The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.”

- Albert Einstein

beautifully said

.... all i know is that i look for beauty everywhere… i look for beauty in people, in places, in thought, in action, i strive for beauty in my art….. i look for beauty in what i deem ugly, for there must be a trace of beauty in everything, even that which is banal and mundane, even in that which has no colour, no form, no heart,....... and invariably this search for uncovering beauty gets me into all sorts of trouble…. alas, beauty is not always hidden…. beauty is sometimes not there, but unless we search it out, we may not find it…. beauty is not simply an aesthetic… it is something that emanates from the heart and the soul of a being, or a creation…. it can also be something self imposed… for instance a thing may not be beautiful, but an ugly crass metal monument, then we watch and we wait, and the sun hits the sharp edges, and it glows as if surrounded by a halo…now we have beauty…from ugly to beautiful….. and many beautiful forms that are simply appearances, are profoundly ugly inside….i learn to turn away quickly from these distractions and search for the beauty that lies deep within. I am on a journey, a quest, a search for truth…for there is nothing more beautiful than truth

Beauty HAS value. It raises us up above the rest of the animals on the planet. the fact that we are able to create and appreciate beauty makes us unique. Our actions as artists have serious reprecussions among our populations. Corporations and politicians worldwide are recognising that creating ‘beautiful’ environments enhance our lives and make us better workers and more responsible citizens and generally happier people. Roll on red bubble, share the beauty.

YES YES YES! That is a part of the reason why I called myself “Purely Decorative”- words that are often used in a derogatory way by capital “A” Artists.
Beauty brings JOY!

Sometimes … ugly is beautiful.

as long as we never loose the ability to recognise, and stand and admire beauty, in whatever form it takes, it will always prevail…

Hmmm…but what is the definition of beauty? To a scientist it may be that very last proton. To the accountant it may be the perfect profit and loss account. To a web designer it may be the perfectly functioning webpage. To Constable it may be an idlyic landscape. To Pollock it may be abstract streaks and splashes of paint. Are you not in danger of trying to enforce your notion of beauty on others? Which, simply put, would be very ugly.

We are all born beautiful.

What we do with it after that is entirely up to us.

“Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do”. Rumi.

(One of my favourite quotes at the moment)

Oxford English Dictionary:

Beauty: A combination of qualities that delights the senses.

That’s Red Bubble in a nut shell isn’t it?

Awesome work…put him on my watchlist

Here, here, benjy!! well said… : ) Wen x

I don’t think beauty can be defined as such but one of the most beautiful people i have ever read about is Mother Teresa, she wasn’t by this world’s standards a looker but my good grief she was so loved and so beautiful, one thing she said was this:

“If we can’t love the person whom we see, how can we love GOD, whom we can’t see?”

If we could just learn to love the unlovable we would see beauty all around us just as she did…............to date i still haven’t achieved this but i still try!

Thanks Martin for your beautiful contemplative words!!

Well said, that’s why I love it here at redbubble!

Through having an ethical manifiesto one can incorporate “beauty” as a whole in the vision of companies or our own personal lives and doings, thks Martin, Paul :))

It takes no more time to design an object/building/web site/whatever to look aesthetically pleasing than to design one that doesn’t – just more thought. We can find beauty all around us in the smallest most insignificant things, we need only to look to see them.

Well said Martin!
The bean-counters would like us all to be gathered on the grid-lines and filaments of the ‘network’ – what you have voiced is an idea that many artists have also realised – that ‘beauty’ lies in the spaces between.

with you all the way , they always say beauty is in the eye of the beholder

An enjoyable read.

Martin, all is not lost. Can’t help but agree with Banal Heed.

Beauty really comes from within I believe. It’s the difference between a house & a home. It can be a perfect show place to look at but please don’t mess it up…. Then again, it can be a home where friends are always welcome to come & relax. Curl up on the couch if they wish & not panic if they spill something ….... I found a little kitten many years ago. It was really was rather strange looking but I took it home with me, much to my mother’s horror & loved it. She grew up to be the sweetest, smartest & most lovable cat you could ever meet. My point I guess….Outside beauty does not always mean something is always nice inside…......

And yet: “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you…” (Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself)

For those who have studied art, I think its sad that modernism has bought such a strong move towards minimalsm. Especially the white wash walls of minimalism. White walls, white (or black) lounge, less is best. NOT FOR ME! Give me color and shape, texture and design any day. Flowers are such a gift of glory, and to ignore them is nearly a plan to ignore design, the created and possibly the creator too I think. There is such an abundance of life in nature.

My first name is Yamile, which is Arabic and literally means “Beauty”.
I never liked it because I always thought of it as being a superficial name. I wanted something more meaningful like “wisdom” or anything to do with the deeper meaning of life.
But a few years ago I understood that beauty truly is something very important in life.
It makes people smile to see a beautiful girl, a beautiful flower or a beautiful painting.
So now I strife to make it my mission to let people see how much beauty we are able to enjoy on this beautiful planet because I think that if you are able to see and enjoy it, it also opens our heart to the beauty of our own self.

U2 sing a song called “Grace” They sing:
“Grace makes beauty out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace finds Goodness in everything”

Grace is an inner quality that gives freely and is expressed by those who give up their own lives to enrich others.
It flows from people who love what is good right and true.

A socalled beautiful person can be very ugly….so what is real beauty…maybe to be real…..and be wise enough to make every step with the the motive of dispel misery…....and someone with that at heart is beautiful…..

DISPELLING maybe sorry
this could look like something ugly on the surface ….if we do not look deeper

...”Beauty is truth and truth beauty” or something along those lines. I can’t remember who said that, but it sounds cool :). Of course, if this is the vision statement, then half of my art will have to be removed -I battle to draw beautiful people or creatures :) best I can achieve is cute (interesting but ugly :)) just kidding, but beauty is just one half of the coin. We recognise it, because of its comparative opposite.

I have often looked at sunsets and other natural beautiful phenomena and wondered why I perceive them as beautiul. After all, they are just collections of atoms, arranged in a particular energetic structure, received by a few receptors in my collection of atoms, those that operate along the narrow band of the visible light spectrum and something in my conciousness, repsonds with another energy flow which I feel and judge to be positive. Yup, I guess beauty is indeed, in the eye of the beholder. It would be interesting to find out though, what it actually is, why it is and how it ends up, in the beholder and how it gets to be so different :)

My favourite saying by Helen Keller “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart”

I may not be adding anything new to the comments here but my thought is that beauty is a guide that changes from person to person. I disagree that beauty is being sacrificed in our pursuit to comprehend and value. I disagree that beauty is without value and therefore ignored. I think you’re doing just fine.

The beauty that can neither be found nor counted is at the heart of that which gives value to life…..

i think that beauty is as different as life itself…it is in what we see when we look..and why..

peace and good writing…

Yay!

as so many artists here have declared…beauty is a guiding light for all we seek to see and create and strive for…for my journey, it is the principle that I seek for all of life…in people, places and my art…and it is everywhere if we are open to seeing it ~ from the mundane to the divine and the divine is in everything, everywhere…I wish to share one of my favorite quotes…Beauty
“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.
For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.
For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”
-Ivan Panin
(1855-1942)
thank you for sharing your thoughts here ~ inspiring to see even in business ~ beauty can be considered a core value ~ it represents all of these artists so very well xx

Dear Martin,

I believe I understand your comments and would concur on the essence of the statement. You ability to voice what you believe without fear of the response from the community is blissfully reassuring in a time when the words I hear coming out of politician’s mouths on TV puts chills down my spine….

So let me move away from politics and speak of beauty…

Firstly, I am an accountant, an artist, an aspiring author, a lover of science, nature and poetry, kindness and also aggression. I value the whore and the nun, the sword and the pen, the rose and the thorn, a soft word in the ear of a lover and the roar of rage when love is threatened.

Beauty is a word we have pinned to a concept no language of man can define, confine, ensnare or limit. As an account I do find beauty in numbers, thier interaction with each other and the way they seem to dance from decimal, to percentage, to run rate and to forecast – as if scrying and predicting the future. If I did not see these things I could not do the job and would have me and my wife living like true artists – on the breadline.

But then I saw the comment that “Ask a scientist about an eagle in flight; and then ask a poet” – not your words Martin, but in support of yours in many ways. I have a fascination with movement and try to capture it in my work and once sat down with a book written by a scientist about flight. In there was a minute breakdown of the wing of a bird, photographed in such equisite detail and commented on with genuine admiration by the scientist. Is this admiration and consideration to detail not thier recognition of beauty at work? The scientist is one of the most likely to admit that they can not compete with nature – but I applaud them (in most instances) for trying.

There was another comment above saying “It raises us up above the rest of the animals on the planet. the fact that we are able to create and appreciate beauty makes us unique.” I wonder how you feel about this comment Martin, or anyone else out there? Are we going to claim that appreciation of beauty is a faculty entitled only to humans? Would that not belie every mating dance performed in the aniumal kingdom? Look too at the animal kindom for creation because I think I am yet to find something as beautifull in terms of mathmatical precision as the wasp nest I took out of my loft last month…

I have said much and not much at all – but has no value. Beauty has no definition and beauty has no comparrison. Ugly is not the opporsite of beauty despite what people think….

To me beauty is the brother of love. Both are impossible to harness. At times they will serve us and are equally likely to destroy us. Let it be like an elixir and drink of it, for there will be none to have when we are dead.

Blessings

Beauty is to the beholder.

Beauty is the most wonderful and profound gift we can ever receive…it is everywhere in this world if we observe and look at this world from the beauty of the eye within…from the inhabitants to our four legges friends to the landscape to the sea to flora and fauna which all abounds with fantastic beauty…great to see RB have their priorities in the right place :))

Beauty captures even the wildest of Beasts
Softens the coldest Hearts
Moves everyone
Beauty is all

I think, with beauty, the problems in our society lay along the same lines as with everything else. It is not that it doesn’t exist, it is that it has become condensed, boiled down to certain social acceptable aspects and prepackaged for our convenience. Look at Pamela Anderson, who is in fact beautiful (last I saw of her) now, but not as beautiful as she used to be when she was in a more natural state of being. Certain lips, breasts, etc. are considered beautiful and thousands flock to the surgeon to make theirs fit in. That’s not how to obtain beauty, but how to destroy it. Beauty is not, as many seem to think, about perfection. I mean, yes, you can be beautiful and perfect, too; but, outside of Brooke Shields, who was almost completely the same measurements on both sides, none of the persons of the past that were truly considered beautiful came that close. Health, personality, and diversity are the true keys of beauty in people and they are the most often ignored in pursuit of it.

blah blah blah

Mostly, I agree with everything you say.; and , I admire the writing with which it was stated.

The wonderful thing about being a professional photographer is that I can pursue the elusive concept of beauty every day. The challenge is that I also have correctly interpret the sensibilities of those I create portraits for. Some see beauty in a glossy glamorous image and others in the deep lines of experiences lived. Landscapes and other natural beauty photos follow the same personal predilections in an almost Jungian way. Some prefer a highly manipulated pursuit of perfection and others rough grainy goodness. Some prefer scenes dark and hidden while others are in search of straight forward undeniable grandeur.

To each their own & I will continue to try to create moments of joy that both they and I can enjoy…

Well expressed….......thank you

Thanks, Martin!

I really appreciate your ability to prompt us to ‘get inside ourselves’ and not just look at things superficially. The different perspectives expressed from so many different artists on your writing, “SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL”, makes me realize that the reason I am creating in different styles is to satisfy the diversity of people’s understanding and judgment of ‘beauty’.

Thanks for continuing to give us encouragement to strive for that which is so illusive, yet so necessary to our existence: an ‘eye’ to see that which is indeed ‘beautiful’, and a ‘heart’ to share it with others. memac

So often people, even artists themselves (a least here in the Chicago area) feel that beautiul art is also shallow art. Theres room in the world for all kinds of art. Thank you for writing this entry and with such eloquence.

It is something natural and something constructed, like in art or music. All good things can be beautiful and some bad things also.

“If any design ethos pervades the web it seems to be pursuit of banal utility.”

I don’t agree – utility and beauty aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact for web design the opposite is true – one is required for the other. Maybe I’m too much of a web geek, but putting a picasso on the web isn’t beautiful at all.

Beauty in web design combines both utility and aesthetics – that is what defines the form.

I love beauty

Thank you for saying this…sharing this.

It is easy to quote Lao Tsu, Nothing is beautiful if all is beautiful. But beauty is never the same for everyone, even with in their own cultures. Beauty strikes your eyes, heart and emotions. Freedom is beautiful. Freedom of expression is beautiful therefore acceptance even without agreeing, tolerance without destruction is necessary. Individualism is as beautiful as unity. Life is as beautiful as death. For ugly and beauty is still one, the same thing.

For myself, beauty is not named.. it is experienced. And that is very individual. When I created my profile on RedBubble I could think of no better words to describe the influence of beauty on my work than those by DH Lawrence: THE HUMAN SOUL NEEDS ACTUAL BEAUTY MORE THAN BREAD.

Yes!! Simply put “we all must take the time to smell our particular variety of rose”

“The scientists will pull apart the universe to the last proton without getting a micron closer to beauty. The accountants will count to the last bean and beauty will not have been found”.

Argh! I have to protest slightly (even though I know exactly what you are getting at). I love both science and math and believe both to be just as beautiful as art. There is infinite beauty in the universe and some of it is created with emotion and some of it is equally created with logic. :-)

Beauty is in everyone,s soul. You can feel it, smell it, see it and also hear it. Just go with your sences. Dont discect it or analyse it, its a gift ,along with the gift of life and many other gifts, we all have, one way or another.

THE POET WILL SEE THE BEAUTY ..

beauty is in the eye of the beholder we all have our ideas of whats beautiful or not its what we as indivuials see..

i could say this old faded flower is beautiful because it represented something yu could say its ugly throw it away…

here here, pilgrim(s). truth & beauty for all. xx

Ok Martin, sounds like you dont like the layout of this site ….. quote ….... Perhaps this is no more evident than on the Internet. Web design frequently pursues a relentless focus on functionality at the expense of any consideration of aesthetics. If any design ethos pervades the web it seems to be pursuit of banal utility. Too frequently this is simply ugly.
You have a valid point …... Example

So much already said – so I will only add; Thank you for sharing these thoughts and vision.

ditto

Contradictions, decay, decline and beauty,chaos and creation, pain and pleasure. One needs contradictions to compare , to weigh. You can only know and understand beauty if you also know uggliness.

I disagree. Ugly galvanizes us and provides the the balance. Yin and yang, my friend. Ugly IS ugly because beauty is not. Ugly is sometimes titillating and provocative simply because of the contrast it provides. I love ugly for it is me.

I wish they would make cars less beautiful and more functional. Tiny back windows i cant see out of, bumpers i cant bump without the fear of a $500 respray….and nowhere to put a burger and chips when eating on the run late for an appointment. Is beauty a real thing or a reality we have given something to make us feel good and pure and give us a sense of hope….......great subject Martin…..beauty does transend vision/touch/feeling/hope/ even ugly can be beautiful.

i disagree george.; beauty can be ugly take a beautiful animal it goes to hurt or kill most times take a beauyiful woman she can destroy a people or persons that which is ugly under a beautiful face or facade ..

I like your piece Martin. This is a quote of Benjamin Britten:
“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony.” Benjamin Britten.

‘Tis in the eye of the beholder’....this uniqueness, makes us ALL beautiful.

Hello .I read the essay above.

I also perennially lament the loss of beauty in the present era , the present era as i the era is blighted by yuppie trendiness …gentrification .

I must say in commentary that , in the essay above , there is the presupposition you put forth that treats comprehension (analysis) as of it were somehow contrary to beauty.

Well it is not. I have written a number of treatises where I propose an anlytical approach to esthetics ..explaining how beauty is analyzable ..that beauty is NOT indefinable (despite how some are so oddly quick to claim it is)

Roger Fry and Clive Bell present some quite trenchant , quite remarkable analysis of beauty when they identify the essential characteristic (from which all the other characteristics of it flow) as being ‘significant form’. that has served as the template for dissertaion that i ahve posted on the subject of beauty .

Beauty transcends mere pleasure. It transcends both pleasure and pain—-and goes beyond them.

The experience of the beautiful (the pure cherishing of beauty) is a selfless ..totally
unselfish excperience …since beauty reveals characteristics of significance which transcend the self .

Beauty is in NO way relative to mere opinion . it is certainly not relative to mere opinion. Esthetic relativism is about as bad as relativism in regard to ethics .

Like relativism in regard to ethics it is trite, glib, banal and bourgousie..and thus it is weirdly incongruous that a number of people which seem to be bohemian support such relativism/postmodernism that undermines the very esthetic preciousness that bohemians are supposed to support !

The relativism/postmdernism that seeks to get people to respect mere opinions for the sake of balance or the sake of respecting opinions is sell-out thinking, and has led to so much of the loss of beauty and the preponderence of vapid, tacky kitch in the present era . Paintings by Marc Chagall or photos of the deserts of the American Southwest are beautiful…soulless trendy photos of celebrities with milk mustaches are not beautiful !

Chartes Cathedral is beautiful ..dime a dozen Blockbuster video rental stores or Target store are not !

After all , we should keep in mind that so-called “shades of grey” in thinking are never a subsitute for accuracy and truth .

Beauty is not contrary to value—-except merely monetary values—which care only if something esthetic can be commodified . In truth there is a dovetailing of esthetic and ethical concerns …a parallelism in terms of systematic axiology (the study of value) .

To intentionally make something beautiful for the sake of fostering beauty is a virtuous, ethical act. Whereas to intentionally manifest visual or sensory ugliness for the sake of making something ugly / tacky (as with kitch) an evil, unethical act .

The Red Bubble site is an oasis of good taste where beauty can abound and edify mankind. May beauty prevail and may all that is crass and murky be swept away. May crassness declare its unconditional total surrendor and may beauty be totally victorious !.Let there be NO duplicious “conflicted” balance between beauty and even so much as a little crassness !

Let beauty in all its sharp boundaries shine forth and *destroy the murky darkness of ambiguity !

Perhaps our opinion of beauty is doomed to be tainted by that upon which we place value.
And, in lacking adequate quantifiers, we merely outline it with a definition of that which we do not value or for some that which we set ourselves as not.

I agree with you wholeheartedly with Martin and secretagentman7. George Yesthal, George Yesthal and KMFalcon: I disagree. I believe that our “values” are inextricably tied to our art..and, rather than tainting our art, they bring life and beauty to the images. We do have “adequate quantifiers” if we choose to acknowlwdge them or set them for ourselves. For me, they include anything that is uplifting, inspiring, praiseworthy, etc. Now, I realize this is subjective, but it is the ruler I use to quantify what is beautiful as opposed to what is not..and what is good as opposed to what is evil. There are understandably some impressive works of art that don’t fit my vision of what is beautiful or praiseworthy or of value..but the beauty of this whole process is, I can choose to view and comment on those images that are most appealing to my senses and- for the most part, still reflect my values.

What is beauty? We all have our opinions as to what the definition of beauty is. External beauty is based upon physical appearance which is superficial because we all get old eventually, but inner beauty is dependent upon what a person loves. People who love what is true & good have an inner beauty that will never fade. So quite literally, beauty is as beauty does, as the old saying goes. Virtue goes hand-in-hand with the definition of beauty. True beauty inspires us to look beyond physical appearances to that which is within, true love. No one else is going to love you the way you need, so love yourself. If you don’t know how, do fun activities you enjoy whether that would be singing, dancing in the rain, etc. Mother Earth/Nature is an excellent place to start looking for beauty out of chaotic tragedy. For example, Mt. Saint Helens the volcano exploded (what back in 95’ wasn’t it) causing alot of damage in her wake I mean she wiped out alot of trees, but new trees & plants grew & flourished. My point being that despite traumatic childhood abuse or neglect, beauty is as beauty does. So like I said before, True beauty inspires us to look beyond physical appearances to that which is within, true love. No one else is going to love you the way you need, so love yourself.

Beauty: a never ending search of a treasure hidden within and around us all which we can’t see with the naked eye UNLESS we feel it with the heart. What makes you happy? What makes you smile? and you call that beauty??? Ohhhhhhhhhhh, ok, so beauty is found in the eye of the beholder? So thats what that means!! Now….where’s that beautiful chocolate bar??!!?? smile
p.s. If I were blind, then beauty would be a scent or a feel of a texture, and I couldn’t hear beauty if i were deaf.
Helen Keller, she found beauty…........There is beauty, from minute sizes to mountain sizes….it’s how we see it and accept it that makes it real :)

Nice article and well written. I think the way some people use words is beautiful.
But beauty cannot be defined. The scientist may see beauty in those protons, the accountants see beauty in the beans. 2 pigs in mud…Is there beauty in ugliness? or are they just playing in the dirt? Depends who is observing. Pornography is a classic example of what I mean.

We should call this Bohemian Bubble. Now, all you need to do is journal about truth, freedom, and love. ;oP This post is great! I am a true believer in bohemian values and beauty is definitely one of them! :)

i didn’t read the rest yet, but there is beauty, even in the proton, it eventually falls apart as do we all, and it horrifies me JUST A LITTLE BIT! but whaddyagonnado?
as for me, i’m still gonna be nice to my friends, and my friends friends, and my friends f riends friends and maybe even their mothers-in-law

peace

surely, in the information-age, it should be possible to convert beauty to ones and zeros and email it to our friends..?

:¬/

The glib, trite claim that beauty is merely in the eye of the beholder is wrong. Beauty is NOT in the eye of the beholder if the beholder has the wrong outlook .

Beauty is objective NOT subjective. Kitch that pervades the present yuppie era of history is NOT beautiful !

The desire for beauty is NOT a mere need . It transcends mere personal need .

Apparently , a good template for the essential trait of beauty was provided by Clive Bell and Roger Fry —when according to Monroe Beardsley—they presented the notion that the condition consisted essentially of

‘unified organization with vitality of regional quality ’.

However, a better emmendation would be as follows :

‘unified organization with vividness of regional quality’—

Since vividness of presentational form—as presented through the senses and/or in apperceptive impressions (and/or synesthesia sometimes also) ...is so integral tot he concept of beauty .

Harmony alone is not beauty but a fertile interactiveness between harmony in the components AND vividness of regional parts (or in the cases of simple qualia—like a dot of light..the single part) is what is salient to the essential , defintional traits of beauty .

My final comment…(let’s see if this works) Do folk see beauty or ugliness in the following?
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/53/53/598e228348a0701ce96ad010.L.jpg
Maybe my 2nd final comment?

i have no idea what this means but nice work !

Beauty has nothing to do with how something looks. Rather it has everything to do with how we feel.
I think the most beautiful thing in the world is a generous person.

Now, you only have to define generous… ;-)

im with you 100% Love you xxxx

beauty is as beauty does;; there…

Beauty is with in….. but most of us are looking for the outer beauty ..i find as i get older i look for the inner beauty instead of the outer …..: )

Awe inspiring

You know ugly can be beauty; who’s to judge ugly? Beauty is many things and ugly is just one of the beauties in the world. Remember that old saying!!! Oop’s I’m falling into the going 2 deep! Category!!

Regards EJ

ah! beauty
in a heart a galaxy
moves molecules to attract muliply creating more beauty
this is what we are where we came from where we are going
where we already are eaglelight new mexico

YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE
IT’S A REFLECTION OF YOU. Life will give you back everything you have given to it, always, even if often this is not at all obvious to decipher. If you see beauty, you will give beauty. If you see ugliness…you will give ugliness, no matter on what step of the Maslow’s scale you stand, and I know first hand… I “try” to see, feel, find and give beauty even if I am puzzled with the definition of beauty and even if I do see ugliness (people in power who contribute to the problems of this planet rather than to the solutions, people without moral, empathy, shame, an inability to live, give and receive love is sad and ugly). I have no clue how to really define love either, but being loving is also cultivating beauty. In my book, life is too short for ugliness that we impose on others and we are surrounded by it… I think I try to be good, to live life with respect and treat life (any form) also with respect through my imperfections. How successful I am, even this is relative… All I know is that tears and smiles can both be beautiful…and ugly. All it takes to make a difference is one person… one at a time to raise and build higher levels of consciousness… I am no philosopher, just a humble student of life trying to do what I can with what I have. Namaste. (excuse my english if any mistakes, i am french).

Ohhhh, and thank you for this “beautful” article Martin (aka Pilgrim ;).

“The beauty that can neither be found nor counted is at the heart of that which gives value to life” ~ Martin [aka Pilgrim] Redbubble 2008
May it go down in the quote books forever!
Bravo Martin ♥

To me a work of truly great art has always been so beautiful that one never tires of looking at it…nothing to deciphier, no enigmas, and not schocking or abrasive. I get bored with politcal art angst art and art that seems completely meaningless such as I have seen at this years biennials!!