[Aesthetic Engineers] [the Body as Art] [Mania] [Resume]
Aesthetic engineering is a term seeking to bestow a needed definition to a widespread group of ever-changing and continuously emerging art forms, which have in recent history taken center stage as high art. Many of these forms have taken wing in the gust created by the ideas of the 60's and 70's. Now is the right time to put forth a definition and a new category for this genre, so it can be appreciated, yet allow high art in the forms of painting, and sculpture to re-claim their places as expressive art, and as representations of the cultural pinnacle of civilization. The habitat for these constantly morphing forms has been artificially created by writers and journalists. Now that the forms have a strong niche, why not apply an accurate identity to them? Aesthetic engineering, or the manipulation of aesthetic elements and material, as purely a science and an exercise in applied inspiration, comes remarkably close to art, but is not the same as art. It is an honorable and skilled endeavor. The exploration of material, and element, and the purism involved in the pursuit of high aesthetics is a formidable study indeed. The subculture which follows and appreciates this form is captivated by the mystique of these agents of aesthetics, and they are elevated in sensing they are privy to a little known and under- appreciated art; however, I would tend to think that over- appreciated is much closer to the truth. Aesthetic engineering is fun and a good attraction for museums and books, but in many ways it is closer in feeling to a remarkable theme park, or an excellent miniature golf course. The engineering of aesthetics, be it with light, hardware, earth, stone, electronics, perceptions, or any material, and the rounding up in metaphor and simile of divergent elements into a choreographed assemblage of relationships, is similar to an accomplished bonsai or, Japanese rock garden. As a further example, a beautifully designed sports car such as a Ferrari, is sublime and sophisticated, yet it is not quite a human expression.
We should grant respect and place to the strong mystique and aura generated by agents of this form, and that place should be similar in spirit to a great clothing designer, a gifted architect, an aeronautical engineer, or a celebrated fireworks artist. The unfortunate result of this free-falling rush into any and all forms becoming instantly art, has been the displacement of high art and expressive art. The self- righteous idea that modern man is so highly advanced that painting and sculpture are out-moded, (luckily the wheel has been allowed to remain, and hasn't been made square because it's too old for us), is a snobbery of the present and a voluntary ignorance embraced prematurely. In exploring the works of Goldsworthy for instance, we find elements like a line of leaves, sewn together, and, fixed, upon a stream; or a wall of exquisite stone, spanning open fields, then, weaving surprisingly around a tree in fanciful fashion, showing the hand of man upon nature. But I suggest it may show man's total conquest over nature, and a cavalier self-aggrandizement declaring man's total conquest and victory over his environment. Consider Goldsworthy, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Christo, Kosuth, Irwin, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, and Barbara Kruger. Can the artists in this mode be satisfied with being master engineers, and celebrities, or must traditional art bow and disappear before them in order to complete the illusion? Not a shred of human meaning or symbolism exists in all the aesthetic explorations of this movement, and furthermore, in confusing art with aesthetic engineering, a disservice has been done to cultural history by misleading artists, and especially critics and writers, who seem to dig deeper into verbiage to find what is missing in the gulf between art and the aesthetic engineers. Many times great artists have crossed into this zone out of pure curiosity about materials and creative exploration, learning more about materials and art- making as well as leaving interesting and beautiful creations as a by-product. These constructive meanderings are a natural result of the creation of high art, many times accomplishing great expression and unconsciously stumbling upon new ideas. Within the context of artistic pursuit this is a freedom, and an artistic license, and often designers and architects and other users of applied science and aesthetics have learned from art. Traditionally that has been the wellspring of many design elements and a constructive and healthy transfer from the fringe of creativity, to the practical and beautiful.
The sum of all the works in this mode would be hard pressed to equal the "Mona Lisa," for example. This painting instantly brings to mind a forgotten time, and in one picture there is revealed the life's breath of the human condition and spirit, through time, without a burdensome inventory of the particulars of that time. And Mona smiles the consciousness of life, a slight smirk as if warning against complacency. DaVinci's other great works in architecture, science, engineering and invention, albeit magnificent, are not elevated to the stature of high art. From this point in time, however, we find lesser works coming after: American Indian earth works, many old cultures such as the Egyptian and Indian, bar none, and constructs such as Stonehenge, laden with mysticism and religious intent. Great cities and pyramids now grown over with jungle, are subject to shallow excerpts and sampling. Works that arrived in their present condition through natural time, without deliberate weathering, are mimicked in aspect but not equaled in scope or purpose by constructs celebrated as glimpses of modern genius. High art in recent history has been clouded over, and Jackson Pollock's modern perception breakthrough in the artist, "becoming nature," has now become the "artist" moving nature and exerting force directly upon nature as some mystical intelligent force. I think we all sense a confusion when we construct the sentence in which, "that artist" moves earth, or, "works" with lights, or, "does" performance. The usage, "does" is uncomfortable; there is a disjointed feeling in that choice of language, and that strange feeling is the deep knowledge that it is not art. So why, I ask, can we not find a separate category simply defined as “aesthetic engineering,” a separate discipline, and let it run its course without eliminating high art? And if that course turns out to be a finite evolutionary offshoot of high art, so it might appear upon an evolutionary map in the future. Human life and condition should be reflected in expressive visual art; it is an important time capsule for the future and for learning truths in the present; by just, "willing away'" painting and sculpture, we exhibit a deliberate callousness in the same spirit as the inferred conquest over nature that much of this mode of expression implies. The genre of Aesthetic Engineering should take its rightful place as a strong evolutionary offshoot of art, with its unique features such as utilizing publicity, journals, political pressure, and media. We must not reflect commercialism by making art constantly but shallowly, "new and improved" like a laundry soap. Art is always fresh and new, new as the spirit and new person, the artist, who brings it new and unique life. Aesthetic Engineering should not be confused with or displace art. Essentially all in life is not art. If all is art, there is no art, and if all are great, then no one is great.
 Photographer - Chris Buck, www.chrisbuck.com |
 Photographer - Nicholas Baker-Maffei |
 Photographer - Nicholas Baker-Maffei |
As an artist I want to emphasize that the body mind connection is essential in the creative process. In my work I find that working out intensely at strength training gives me a clarity and elevated mood and desire to create. I think the boost in testosterone levels helps bring me back to the spirit of our cave ancestors, bringing up strange & vivid primitive images. From this I like to distill psycho-sexual images and tie them to a gestalt, embedding a "presence" and hypnotic quality into the painting. The use of gestalt is an influence from a great Canadian-American sculptor I once knew, named Ronald Bladen. His minimal sculpture imprinted itself in the viewer's memory with gestalt symbolism.
It is important to avoid the somewhat western idea of a brain and body apart; the head being the center of thought connected to this body we just happen to carry around with us. I want to encourage younger artists not to fall into the notion that being some kind of "brainy nerd" or "depressed genius" is the key to creative excellence. And to advise young artists not to loose their futures to drugs; falling into them is the end of energy. One must try to see the bad influences for what they are. Realize that the media is selling us, Gangsta Rap, heavy metal, and Satanic music. And packaged together,(sex & violence) as if they belonged together, which they don't! The media, then sells you the movie, the toy, the game, the CD, the clothes, the cosmetics, and everything else it takes to finance the pursuit of being "COOL". Being "cool" is what one needs when they have nothing else going for them: no intelligence, education, subtlety, complexity, self-confidence, or individuality; it's a defense mechanism.
Work on your entire self and don't be afraid to be beautiful, sensual, intelligent, and physically fit, as well as unique & hard working. One of the greatest geniuses of all time, Leonardo DaVinci, was not only known as a great artist and mind, but for his incredible strength, beauty and symmetry. Celebrating the "self" is not egoism; as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his, Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, "...egoism is when you celebrate that which you don't have as if you do..." and accomplishing real feats both mental & physical are worth celebrating. Much of our "modern" education strategy is full of, "feel good stuff". Learning is hard, like bodybuilding it hurts, but it hurts in a subtle way. It hurts the mind and we feel frustrated and turn to the easier way out. It's easy to fill ourselves with holes, earrings, tatoos, pink hair, loud mindless music, but a mind is like a Ferrari sports car; you cant fill it with cheap fuel! When your mind is strong and hard and full of real imformation, you have a great gift that can't be taken away; and if you want to add styles to your image at that point well, once you have knowledge, you are free.
The path of an artist is the path of the warrior. As the Carlos Castanedas' book - "A Yaqui Way of Knowledge", the character, Don Juan, the Yaqui Indian shaman would say, the path of the warrior is the path to knowledge. The exploration of reality is the fearsome task of the warrior; it requires all the warrior's powers to remain composed, before the chasm of chaos.
Nicholas Baker-Maffei Nicholas Baker-Maffei
Studio, 14 Lake Str., Hudson NY 12534
e-mail: see website for contact info.
website: www.maffei.com
Solo Exhibitions
"Metallic Dreams…Sunlit Paths" Sideshow Gallery, New York N.Y. 2002
M-13 Gallery-New York, New York - 1996
M-13 Gallery- New York, New York - 1991
David Beitzel Gallery - New York, New York - 1987
Selected Group Exhibitions
Exhibiting Artist, representing the U.S.A. at the 2003 Biennial, Florence Italy.
"Sleight of Hand", an exhibition of painters' block prints.
Studio 38, Oudegracht 38, Utrecht, The Netherlands - 10/10-31/99
Formerly traveled to:
Cummings Art Center, Connecticut College, New London, CT. 1/25/99 -2/12/99.
76 Varick Gallery, New York, NY - 8/20-30/99
Three person show, Michael Antonson Gallery, Hudson N.Y. 2/99-4/99
"Oil Wood, Glass & Steel." 76 Varick Gallery, N.Y. N.Y. 10/98
"Invitational Show." New Britain Museum, New Britain Conn. 2/98
"Contemporary Expressions" - Tampa Museum
Of Art - Tampa, Florida - 1998
"The Enduring Presence" - Roland Gibson Gallery - Potsdam, New York - 1997
"The Enduring Presence" - The Ewing Gallery - Knoxville, Tennessee - 1996
"Fantastic Wanderings" - Connecticut College - New London, Connecticut - 1993
"Eccentric Painters" - M-13 Gallery New York, New York - 1992
"Group Benefit Show" - White Columns - New York, New York - 1992
"Realism and Abstraction, 20th Century Art" - Newark Museum - 1987
Reviews
"Survey of Three Painters," by, Peter Barton, Hudson Register Star, page A,6; Friday, 2/19/99
"Artist's Forum," by, John Mason, Hudson Register Star ( cover page). Sunday 5/24/98
Dellafiora, James - 1996 - "Freeing Painting, the Prisoner" - The Villager
"Four New London Exhibitions", by William Zimmer, The New York Times. 1993
"Freeing Painting, the Prisoner", by James Dellafiora, The Villager. 1991.
John Yau, Art Forum, 1991.
Reproductions
"Big,Blue Silver," Hudson Register Star," page, A-6; Friday, 2/19/99.
"Aphrodisiac," The N.Y. Villager, N.Y. N.Y. page, 9; 6/12/96.
Grants and Awards
"Pollock - Krasner Support Grant"
1/98-1/99
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Grant, 1991
Selected Presentations and Lectures
2002- Guest Speaker at Hudson Opera House, Hudson NY.Education
Herbert H Lehman College - New York, Bachelor
of Fine Arts
Conversational in French and American Sign Language
Works by Nicholas Baker-Maffei are in the collections of:
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Raymond Learsy, Sharon, CT.
Henry and Maria Feiweil, New York, N.Y.
Edward Downe, New York N.Y.
John Yau, New York, N.Y.
Pamela Kumgle, Minneapolis, MN.
Burt and Suzy Farbman, Detroit, MI.
Andrew T. Barton Jr., Detroit MI.
Virginia Cuppidge, New York, N.Y.
Sarah Blumenthal, New York, N.Y.
Bill Jensen, New York, N.Y.
James O. Clark, Brooklyn, N.Y.
George Beitzel, Chappaqua, N.Y.
Howard Scott, New York, N.Y.
Ronald Bladen and Connie Reyes, New York, N.Y.
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa FL.
Oscar Hijuelos, New York, N.Y
Larry Webb & Teryl Sehlers, Brooklyn N.Y.
Dr. Michael Gelbart, Stamford CT.
Richard Gere, Pound Ridge N.Y.
Wilson Hand-Kidde, Hudson N.Y.
Phyllis Schnepf, New Rochelle N.Y.
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