Interpretive Question Essay

How does artistic vision difer from ordinary perception?

An ordinary bystander merely sees in the world the necessary objects in her life; in other words, she is unable to see beyond the immediate things in life, immersed as she is in the events and occurrences than can affect only her. Contrastingly, the artist, in her line of work, is many times forced to open her eyes up to a broader view of her surroundings and is then aware of so many other things that the ordinary bystander was simply unable to see. In short, artistic vision gives one the opportunity to experience a greater degree of conscious awareness in her life. This advantage is much harder to achieve and experience when viewing the world through ordinary perception.
In the modern world, speed and efficiency are the prevailing and overall preferred modes of living. Commercials advertise products designed for people on the go. Meals, houshold appliances, and so many other products that we use in our day-to-day lives boast of having the ability to free up our time. But many argue, myself included, that the western world seems to be speed racing through life and is no longer able to appreciate it.
As we rush through our day, our perception of our immediate atmosphere becomes a blur, and we are only able to see what we need to see. Necessity takes precedence. We are unable to witness some of the very true and important aspects in our lives. Roger Fry claims that these aspects often wear a "cap of invisibility". Ordinary perception is extremely limited in what it can see and experience. It is as if we are like horses with our blinders on. We are simply unable to see objects outside of our direct lin of vision. Now some may argue that without these blinders, we would become hopelessly distracted, and never have a direct path in life to follow. But I disagree, because we are more focused only because we have less to focus on. We are living in ignorance by using only our ordinary perception.
I feel that artistic vision and conscious awareness go hand in hand. The artist, when examining a landscape or event must be fully aware of what's going on in the given place and time. I'm not saying that an artist's goal in doing so is to simply replicate the situation in her art. In fact, many artists try to distort reality in their works. But whether the artist wishes to portray or distort reality, she still must have an understanding of it. She has to know the situation, object, or person she's studying in order to manipulate it in her work. So in all venues of art, a full appreciation and unerstanding of whatever it is the artist wishes to portray or distort is essential. This appreciation and understanding is accomplished by using artistic vision, or what I believe is conscious awareness.
Conscious awareness is what comes about when one if fully immersed in the present moment. One tries to be consciously aware of everything that is going on around her. She focuses on the sights, sounds, and sensations her body is going through, but at the same time tries to quiet her mind. Many cultures and belief systems refer to this a meditation. Conscious awareness comes in spurts; it is very hard to maintain for long periods of time. But these flashes of true awareness gives one a great apppreciation for life, or at least it does so for me. For the artist, a degree of this awareness is vital in her line of work. So the difference between ordinary perception and artistic vision is the presence of conscious awareness. In ordinary perception, there is a lack of conscious awarenesss. But in artistic vision, conscious awareness is essential.