The Aesthetic Defense
It became apparent to me, while making my way back up to the surface after a medicine journey to the underworld, that the great power of visual art is that one does not have to think about it at all whatsoever. In that moment of coming back from a certain kind of hell, I found immediate relief and stability by staring at a Navajo style rug of zig-zag pattern and vibrant pink/red/orange colors. This rug was immediately captivating, and likewise commanded or mesmerized perception-consciousness so that I could sit up right and begin to feel more like myself—in particular a self that likes the mescaline style of the American south west.
The genre of visual art known as Op-Art—short for Optical Art—utilizes that same immediate visual power found in the Navejo style. This art is locally derived from minimalism, or is the same thing, and further derives from the greater movement of abstract expressionism. Its immediacy is no doubt due to its non-representational status—that is, you do not have to know anything to get it; its effect is there for all who have eyes to see. If the Prcpt-cs system is empty, then this kind of visual style fills or mesmerizes that system in an instant. Marcel Duchamp’s disparaging name for this was retinal art; he wanted art to be in the “service of the mind.” I, personally, find a great deal of solace and stability in this kind of mesmeric visual simplicity; it feels good to not have to engage my mind.
Nor does art need to. The captivating power of immediate aesthetic style might otherwise be called the aesthetic defense. It is probably the earliest (and best) defense we possess—if babies mesmerized by color and shape are any indication.
Untitled (Fragment 2), 1965, Bridget Riley
Turkish Mambo, 1967, Frank Stella
Blaze, 1964, Bridget Riley
Harran II, 1967, Frank Stella
Ganado Navejo Rug, 1920s, Unknown
Infinite Regress CXLIX, 2021, Eamon Ore Giron
