Technics of art vs. aesthetics
Summary: There at least are two dimensions to any kind of artwork: art vs. aesthetics. More specifically, it’s the difference between artistic skill vs. aesthetic vision. One way to understand this difference between art vs. aesthetics is to consider it in the context of using technology.
For instance, take fashion design as an example. This industrial art involves the skill of designing clothes with apparel technologies to create a personal aesthetic or fashion style. Hence, art can be understood as the skill or technique of using a particular technology—sometimes known as technics or craftsmanship—to create a unique aesthetic vision.
I never thought I’d be interested in watching shows about fashion design. And yet, I once found myself intrigued by a television series called Project Runway, a reality TV show in which fashion design contestants compete to create chic wardrobes—typically under insane time pressures and with limited resources. At the end of each episode, judges would evaluate the fashion designs, worn by models on a runway, and eliminate contestants whose designs didn’t quite make the cut.
What most struck me about the show, however, is how evidently the judges could separate expertise from bluff. Even I, knowing next to nothing about fashion, could usually see why judges chose to eliminate some contestants over others. Of course, it wasn’t uncommon for some of the eliminated contestants to complain about the judges.
Those complaints would often imply something like this: “The judges just don’t understand my aesthetic as an artist!” In any case, such complaints demonstrate a sort of shortsightedness. Really, it’s a failure to distinguish between two dimensions in any artwork: art vs. aesthetics.
Two dimensions of artwork: art vs. aesthetics
So, what’s the difference between art vs. aesthetics? No doubt, it’s a topic maestros, virtuosos, and philosophers have discussed and debated throughout the ages. Nevertheless, we can put forward a simple way to break down this distinction, using fashion design as an example.
- Art as Artistic Skill: Like other art forms, designing clothes with apparel technologies entails a specific set of skills or techniques. (Interestingly, the ancient Greek word for art is techne, which serves as the root word for technique, as well as technology). Thus, fashion designers work hard to develop pattern-cutting, sewing, and garment-construction skills and techniques.
- Aesthetics as Aesthetic Vision: When artistic skills get cultivated over time, artists—including fashion designers—can channel these energies into a vision of their personal aesthetic, such as a fashion style. As philosophers like John Dewey and Martin Heidegger pointed out, aesthetics (from the ancient Greek word aisthetikos, which means “perceiving by the senses”) may signify skillful ways of envisioning—or make sensing of—our perceived experience of the world.
Now, with that art vs. aesthetics distinction in mind, let’s return to the fashion design example from Project Runway.
An eliminated contestant in Project Runway might complain that the judges don’t understand his or her aesthetic vision. However, that complaint misses the fact that judges generally eliminate folks due to inadequate artistic skill. The moral is that no artist can truly develop an appreciable aesthetic without first developing an appropriate skill set. Needless to say, developing an appropriate skill set isn’t easy. It requires lots of hard work and deliberate practice.
Artistic skill, aesthetic vision, and technology
Another way to understand this difference between art vs. aesthetics—or artistic skill vs. aesthetic vision—is to consider it in the context of using technology. Most art forms, after all, involve using some kind of technology.
Let’s return once more to the fashion design example. Here, we’re talking about an industrial art, in which an artist employs the skill of designing clothes with apparel technologies to create a fashion style, or personal aesthetic of clothing. Hence, art can be understood as the skill or technique of using a particular technology to create a unique aesthetic vision.
There’s an old word for understanding art and aesthetics in this way: technics, which is kind of like the words technique and technology combined. In essence, it means the technique of using a particular technology. It more or less implies the same idea as the word craftsmanship.
Note on art criticism
With this idea of technics (or craftsmanship) in mind, a final note deserves mention about how it relates to art criticism. In other words, how should artists attempt to deal with criticism of their artwork? Again, let’s try to answer this question using the art vs. aesthetics distinction.
On one hand, the great artists of society are frequently those who learn from their critics (assuming the critics know what they’re talking about and come from a place of expertise). That learning, in turn, allows artists to continually grow their artistic skills and create better art. And while this artistic path to perfection develops and matures, it never stops. As singer Tony Bennett once said, “I always feel like I’m just starting out. I never want to stop learning.”
On the other hand, after artists develop a mature set of skills to make their way in the world, they may discover it’s necessary to contradict certain conventions and go against the style of the crowd (as philosophers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Soren Kierkegaard urged us to do). In the end, it’s imperative to find your own aesthetic vision as an artist.
Therefore, within art criticism, it’s important to graciously receive feedback and criticism with respect to perfecting one’s artistic skills. Certainly, when it comes to developing skills and refining techniques, there’s always room for improvement. But when it comes to disagreement over aesthetic vision, it’s okay to take that criticism with a grain of salt. Because, well, you just can’t please everyone.