'Art Aesthetics and Woman: Some Reflections'

The domain of art and aesthetics is one of the most crucial concerns of human life in which, directly or indirectly and knowingly and unknowingly; all human beings are involved. It is a domain where those human creations are considered which are beautiful and which give men supra-carnal pleasure. In this way the life becomes meaningful, satisfying and complete. The human creations which give aesthetics experience become possible because of the power to create new worlds. The metaphysics of such creations is expressed through the metaphor of a creative organic being which bears the productivity of creations. This is a feminine part of the reality which is personified as a living creature. The energy responsible to creation is given the form of a female being. The process of creation gives pleasure to those beings / agents who participate into the process as its two necessary halves. The process gives pleasure and the completion of the process keeps its agents into a pleasant state. When the pleasure is experienced on physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual levels it takes to a pleasant state which is the preceding condition of the state of happiness. Such happiness is experienced even on the mundane practical level also. Art plays a vital role in human life to take the being to such a happy state which ranges from practical to spiritual. Spiritual here indicates the subtle state of being which has transcended the limitations of physicality in every sense, though on the solid foundations of the physical body. The creations of artists in the form of art-objects have their own world. That world is the world of pleasure an aesthetics pleasure. The world is, in fact, world of enjoyment and it is through this enjoyment man gets pleasure. The art-objects become enjoyable when they also become aesthetic objects by bearing inherently the aesthetic quality of beauty. Thus the aim of the world of art, which is the world of creations of man, is to create appreciate and enjoy beauty. This enjoyment, again, is a non-carnal enjoyment though it is not possible without physical body. The creation of species is procreation on the physical level. The entire process of procreation is a process of enjoyment. The result of this process is the continuity of the race of mankind in general and continuity of self as an individual in particular. The awareness of continuity satisfies the ego and gives pleasure to the self. The mortality of human body is overcome by continuing the essence of human person and this continuing the essence of human person and this is how the continuity of human race on a social level maintained. This is the basic physical life of man. The deeper, more lasting and spirituality elevating pleasure consists in human creations which is constructing and revealing newer forms. Man does not live merely on the physical level and hence his pleasure and satisfaction is not complete in his life lived on physical level. His supra-mundane life lived with the non-physical awareness completes his pleasure and satisfaction. Thus he continuously strives for this pleasure by keeping himself engaged in creative acts. Thus the world of art gives man his sought pleasure and satisfaction. This is an aesthetic pleasure and man gets it in enjoying objects of this world. The enjoyment of this world as a whole gives him happiness and fulfillment.

In this mode of life two halves are conceived on a metaphysical level, i.e., one the enjoyer agent and the other as energy which makers possible the creations. These halves are metaphorically identified as male and female and culturally as man and woman. The very world of human creations is constituted of these two components and the process involves at more instances the presence and crucial role of the feminine component in the form of a woman. In human society this process of art-creation and enjoyment forms the part of culture. When an enjoyment is done collectively on a social level with an exilirated spirit overcoming the carnal limitations it becomes a celebration. In Indian culture particularly celebration is the most important aspect of life where men come together and enjoy the results of their creations with an interactive format. Thus art and artistic activities including enjoying them assumes a social dimension. Right from the beginning of the creative process till the satisfaction of the enjoyment the entire span of activities becomes celebration where the basic two components of togetherness in celebrations are man and woman. They are inseparably essential components and hence are conceived as halves of the whole of life with a social dimension. The role of a woman is significant at various levels in many occasions.

Woman is the giver of enjoyment, thought wrongly she is taken as a means to enjoyment. Woman gives enjoyment not only to men but to all members of the society, irrespective of their state, state and sex. Through playing different roles in social life. If we focus our attention on performing arts and sculpture and painting we notice the prominent role of a woman contributing to an aesthetic experience. As a part of nature a woman is an aesthetic object with almost all properties which make an object an aesthetic object. As a member of society her role in bestowing an aesthetic experience becomes the foundation of human culture. Besides nature the major context of getting an aesthetic experience is culture which itself is a grand creation of man over a wide span of time through collective contributions of many men together. The grand form of culture for bestowing an aesthetic experience is seen in the phenomenon of celebration. The focal centre of culture and celebrations in culture has been a woman. Directly and indirectly cultural activities and celebrations revolve around a woman. Culture consists in creations and their enjoyment is expressed in celebrations bestowing pleasure. A woman is always associated to enjoyment and pleasure on higher, sophisticated and subtler levels. Cultural celebrations open more space giving more opportunities to women enjoying the lives of members of society at their own dictates. There are many cultural celebrations by woman without a participation and involvement of men. All major activities in social life are tuned into celebrations and these celebrations are woman-centric forms of life.

- Dr. S. E. Bhelkey

{ To be Continued...}

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