The Art of Art: How Humanity Deteriorates in Pursuit of Aestheticism

By Namiyo

Credits to Radz_berries on Pinterest

Everyone wants to be someone or something that makes them distinct from the person next to them. The notion of aestheticism is not a recent plague, in fact, it’s rooted back in the 19th century and some stated it was at the end of 18th century (Mambrol, 2022). This movement encourages art as it is; in its pristine most raw state or the famous phrase “Art for art’s sake” (Guan, 2018). Nowadays, the primary definition of this word inevitably changes over time, bringing to the portrayal of aestheticism parading by people, just to fit in the vessel of what they thought as ‘aesthetic’.

History is not the concern in this very article as things have already dried in the past. It was the placement of aesthetics on its pedestal from the recent generations that brought the critical questions of what is supposed to be promoted and what is not. The dire wave of aestheticism that erodes humanity’s very creativity and how society approaches this during the rise of artificial intelligence. 

When it comes to postmodern understanding of aesthetics, some characteristics must be acknowledged for them to be considered ‘aesthetic’ such as “...knowledge, awareness, and recognition…” (Al-Alami, 2025). A group of people, or rather, a community of a particular aesthetic would recognise a pattern of their so-called aesthetic relatively better than those who are not. For instance, some of the aesthetics terms that may be frequently found are dark academia, light academia, whimsy aesthetic, clean aesthetic, etc. The idea of aesthetic falls on the images and representatives of the person, as a person, to embody it in a literal sense. In comparison to the foundation of aesthetics, which, back in the days, rejected materialism and rather, searched for the beauty in things surrounding them as beauty is in every tangible and intangible thing (Mambrol, 2022).

Humanity opens the door for deterioration when they are willing to revamp their entire life literally or figuratively to mould themselves into the aesthetic of their dream. While it is encouraged to have an identity, to be known, or to be comfortable in one’s own skin, one should also be aware that the choice of not being a slave of an ideology is also a privilege. The amount of people purchasing things for the sake of being pretentious is appalling and the show never seems to end. As long as people are willing to spend and the other side is lenient in supplying support, society will succumb to the idea of having things equal to certain status or portrayal of life.

There are many ways to be aesthetic without losing one’s essence. One or two of them are worth implementing or pondering over.

Creativity As an Expression

There is beauty in using one’s creativity to express the abstract and the intangible. Rather than presenting aesthetics as an obsolete portrayal of one self, anyone can present their creative sides for the betterment of themselves or society. Writing, painting, designing, and more artistic hobbies as a way to give them a chance to portray themselves through dimensions rather than a single focus point. Humanity strives better in diversity rather than rigidity. Art isn’t supposed to copy another person and create clots of similar individuals wearing the same outfits and call it a day. The stagnancy of society is what makes individuals look similar to the other which is ironic because while they are working hard to create the distinction, they keep on using the same colour as the rest.

Idiosyncrasy and Self-fulfilment

It is vital to be able to proudly claim one’s mark on anything they do. Especially in an era of illiteracy and decline of creativity. While everyone is trying to fit into a specific aesthetic for the sake of public image, one may lose their own identity along the way which is a paradox; a loop of never-ending unfulfilment of life for they do things, consciously or unconsciously for the sake of others rather than themselves. The idea of idiosyncrasy is to have a style of one’s own that is distinct from others. Fulfilling one’s soul with things they do for their own desire and not for belonging is rare in its existence. However, in order to ensure that humanity may strive without the stagnation of saturated aestheticism in a society, one must be able to be proud in their own skin.

Regardless, admiring a certain aesthetic and building one’s dream upon it is not a bad thing. It’s the obsession in purchasing, wearing, hoarding excessively is the issue. While curating one’s aesthetic, never lose the essence of art itself. For doing ‘art for art's sake’ is to be able to understand art itself.

Al-Alami, S. E. (2025). Aesthetic appreciation of a novel: An exploratory study of contributing factors. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 15(11), 3810–3816. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1511.34

Guan, B. (2018). Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 7(2), 24. https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v7i2.1331

Mambrol, N. (2022, April 28). Aestheticism. Literary Theory and Criticism. https://literariness.org/2022/04/29/aestheticism/