Scintillating discussions of art and philosophy, by Rebecca Blocksome's Western Thought I class at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Alex Pintus
Hello! My name is Alex Pintus. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I am of Italian, Irish, and Peruvian decent. Honestly, I am not sure what I would like to major in just yet. During high school I was mostly exposed to painting and drawing, but while I have been here at KCAI I have been diving into the 3D world. Philosophy hasn't been something I have taken the time to study, but I imagine that I could enjoy doing so. Two people that I have been a little exposed to are St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. When I have time I thourghly enjoy examining Aquinas's 5 proofs of God's existence. In my spare time I love to read books on Catholic Apologetics, Theological writings. A few books I plan on reading this year are "The Four Loves" by C.S Lewis, "The Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Hell, Heaven" by Fr. Martin von Cochem, and "A Letter to The Artist" by Pope John Paul II.
That's a very interesting reading list, Alex! If you like books about God's existence, I will recommend my favorite, which has a healthy dose of art theory in it as well: The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers (better known as a British mystery writer in the 1930s). And I might take your recommendation of "A Letter to the Artist" -- I have a great deal of respect for Pope John Paul II, so I'll be interested to hear what he has to say on the arts.
ReplyDeleteHe has a lot to say but here is a little taste of it! "The theme of beauty is decisive for a discourse on art. It was already present when I stressed God's delighted gaze upon creation. In perceiving that all he had created was good, God saw that it was beautiful as well.The link between good and beautiful stirs fruitful reflection. In a certain sense, beauty is the visible form of the good, just as the good is the metaphysical condition of beauty. This was well understood by the Greeks who, by fusing the two concepts, coined a term which embraces both: kalokagathía, or beauty-goodness. On this point Plato writes: “The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful”."
ReplyDeleteHere is a web copy of it: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists_en.html