F
inally, following this tentative characterization of aesthetic intimacy, I would like to draw some conclusion concerning the value that this special form of experiencing artworks may have as an aesthetic and as a more general experience. I think one way in which the aesthetic valueMartínez Marín (forthcoming in Debates in Aesthetics).
30 See note 16 above.
of this experience can be characterized is by focusing on the possibility of feeling a certain proximity or closeness that is not merely explained by having shared a lifespan – as in ordinary intimacy – or by sharing someone’s perspective, set of beliefs, or attitudes. The key aspect of aesthetic intimacy is precisely that we feel certain proximity with someone’s expressive world or manner of producing artworks; that is, whose aesthetic decisions we experience as close. The intimacy is with the aesthetic dimension of the work and not with the author’s expressed beliefs or attitudes; that is, the intimacy is felt with the way in which the artist aesthetically works out the world presented in her work, with the artist’s aesthetic self.31 In this sense, aesthetic intimacy affords a special kind of understanding where the bonding tie lies precisely in the artist’s aesthetic choices and in their expressive dimension and not in a theoretical or moral partnership.
This may also serve to explain the significance of aesthetic intimacy more generally. Beyond its aesthetic importance, aesthetic intimacy offers, I think, a kind of experience where one discovers modes of expression that, albeit produced by others and therefore not one’s own, speak to us with a particular closeness. In this sense, I think aesthetic intimacy shows the possibility of achieving a deep understanding of others’ subjectivity that is not based on a prior common history, familiarity or friendship.
Aesthetic intimacy, rare as it is, makes us aware of the possibility of a deep understanding and proximity that does not rely on a prior belonging to a particular group nor upon possessing a particular worldview.
31 By ‘aesthetic self’ I refer to those aesthetic features that are perceived as constituting an artist’s style, that is, to those aesthetic choices that become characteristic of an artist and that end up constituting a way to acknowledge her artistic and aesthetic profile.
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Knut Ove eLiassen