Your Thoughts On Art

[Alan V]

I'm surprised you didn't point out that my two criteria are also pretty subjective.

I'm doing my best to avoid seeming hostile. 

I do think that absent any further way of specifying what exactly counts as "aesthetically satisfying," the term ends up being a way of saying "I like it" that is only slightly more descriptive. It narrows down what you like about the painting to just -- how it looks. As opposed to, I don't know, how it covers the stain on your wall.

For example, people might say that they like something because the colors are beautiful. But without any rules for what constitutes beautiful color, the term "beautiful color" becomes a synonym for "colors I like." 

I am not saying that we can or should describe such rules. Only that a lot of the terms we use end up being little more than tautologies.

Do you think you have some objective basis for the arts?

In my own case, I made efforts to extend my appreciation to any number of artists and styles, but have mostly reached my limits in that regard.  At a point, I think those who try to make art into something it really isn't, through elaborate theories or undermining the basics, don't really love the arts.  They might be happier as performers or writers.  What art does best is capture beauty and emotion, not intellectual ideas (except perhaps about art itself).  So the criteria I mentioned have as much to do with the strengths and limitations of art as with any subjective responses.