John Dewey’s Thoughts On Art, Experience, And Creating

The philosophy of John Dewey was never a big part of my own education, so I was very pleased to have stumbled upon this essay by Antonis Chaliakopoulos in The Collector website. It’s not very long by traditional standards, but in this era of high-tech short attention spans it may appear to be a bit on the long side. It’s well worth the time spent. In addition to the excellent written essay, you’ll find a great selection of works of art to illustrate the points made.

In short, Dewey somewhat depreciated the physical work of art into a “receipt” (my word) of the maker’s experience while creating—something that a viewer may at some point appreciate according to whatever aesthetic sensibilities have accumulated so far. In this analysis, “Art” only exists in between these two states and elevates the viewing into “an experience” which can be more meaningful than just noticing an object is over there. This approach seems to explain somewhat why we create and appreciate abstractions.

Yellow Paint On The Road, 2019, Giovanni Calia from Pexels, also included in the essay mentioned above