Robert Irwin

I am a big fan of Irwin’s approach to art. I believe that many people spend most of their lives completely blind to all that is happening around them. The entire universe can be a very aesthetically pleasing place, but so much of what is happening in our day to day lives is overlooked. Sometimes it takes an artist to bring our attention to the things we miss.

Kantian philosophers believe that the only true beauty exists in nature. I believe that this also encompasses natural phenomena, like light and gravity. These things are beautiful because they have no finality, no purpose, no reason, or end. They inspire wonder and awe in us and have no answer. They are pleasing for us to experience but for no clear reason. A tree just is, colors just are, and sound just happens.

These things are truly beautiful and opposed to unnatural things which are not. Such as things created by man, which are fundamentally flawed by the purpose assigned to them or the means to an end they inevitably become.

It seems like the beauty of the natural world is often overlooked. At the same time, almost all men find pleasure in experiencing large scale natural wonders, such massive canyons, mountains, oceans, solar eclipses, and the starry night. However, these things inspire pleasure and awe because they are the sublime, and we simply cannot fully comprehend them for they are much too large. The beautiful which we can comprehend, but not necessarily understand, happens on a smaller scale. This beauty often is missed. Irwin finds it and portrays it in a way which we can appreciate and comprehend.

Robert Irwin finds ways to bring our attention to true beauty in a way which does not corrupt the natural perfection of the experience. Irwin is not a creator, but a guide.