My 'fetish'

My magic tool, my fetish, as it may be called, is aesthetics.

I realized the other day in another class, that I can be classified as an aesthetic. Even before I realized this, I chose aesthetic-medic for my name for my website and personal email, combining the fact that I always feel I have the power to make things look better as a plastic surgeon can make a body look better (NOT condoning plastic surgery), and the fact that for a certain, life-defining period of my college years, I thought seriously of being an army medic. (COMPLETELY different from everything I usually represent.)

I never thought of aestheticism as a movement, though it should be noted that I am blissfully ignorant of such "movements" as these - think of it as a willing brain block against modern philosophy. But, the other day I realized that I am an aesthetic, of sorts. I value art simply for art's sake. I most often care not what is in a photograph as long as the colors complement each other, or the contrast is striking, or the composition is well planned. That is not to mean that I do not look at and appreciate the subject matter of art. But I do not seek out art that speaks to me on some emotional level. Then again, I do. The colors, the forms, the composition, they all have the capacity to move me. Even (and especially) in nature. If I am having a bad day, I take a back road on my way home which goes by a field filled with tall trees planted in rows. Driving slowly by it, watching each of the rows become level with my vision and then fly by, always calms me. It never fails. Similarly, seeing a beautiful piece of art - whether it be photograph, painting, sculpture, furniture piece, craft piece, or simply a beautiful leaf or rusting building - always makes my day a little bit better.

In a sense, this is why I want to be a book cover designer. I am entirely guilty of judging a book by its cover, and I'm not [too] ashamed to admit it. I believe a well put-together image is beneficial to any part of life, whether it be personal style, art, etc. And what better to combine my two loves of books and art in book design? I've even attended a national book-arts conference, where I learned to actually craft books from basic materials and met many famous book-as-art artists from across the country.

So I would say that the beautiful is my fetish. It is my "magic tool" to get through the hero narrative of my life.