What You See, Unseen

22
Materiality
So the aesthetic experience allows us to “apprehend”
the ideas art points to. In his essay “Creative
Intuition in Art and Poetry”, French philosopher
Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) wrote about the
idea of the inner quality in art, defining it with the
following three stages. Maritain asserts that first,
art transforms nature in order to disclose a reality.
Second, art liberates us from conventional natural
language. And third, art is ultimately a rejection of
reason and logic, an obscuring of plain meanings.
In these ways, Maritain suggests, art exits ordinary
realms and provides access to extraordinary truth.
As has always been the case, the degree to which
we are familiar with a subject determines its ability
to impact us.
3. Martin Heidegger. Poetry, Language,
Thought. Albert Hofstadter,
trans. (New York, New York. Harper
Collins Publishers. 1971), 44.
4. Martin Heidegger. Poetry, Language,
Thought. Albert Hofstadter,
trans. New York, New York. Harper
Collins Publishers. 1971, 25.
5. Martin Heidegger. Poetry, Language,
Thought. Albert Hofstadter,
trans. (New York, New York. Harper
Collins Publishers. 1971), 19.
10. Jean-Paul Sartre. The Psychology
of Imagination. (Seacaucus,
New Jersey. The Citadel Press,
1972), 177.
11. Ibid, 277.
a. Richard Tuttle, Ten , A, acrylic on
waferboard, 2000
b. Andy Warhol, Brillo Box, silkscreen
and paint on plywood , 1963-
1964.
c. Eva Hesse, Untitled, fiberglass on
rope armature, 1970
6. Martin Buber. I and Thou, (Edinburgh,
Great Brittain. T & T Clark).
1953.
7. Andrew Juniper. Wabi Sabi: The
Japanese art of Impermanence.
(North Clarendon, Vermont. Tuttle
Publishing. 2003), 157.
8. Arthur Danto. Philosophizing Art:
Selected Essays. (Berkeley and Los
Angeles, California. 1999), 212.
9. Martin Heidegger. Poetry, Language,
Thought. Albert Hofstadter,
trans. (New York, New York. Harper
Collins Publishers. 1971), 19.