I’ve been thinking about how visual art is consumed. I’m inclined to believe most people, viewing representational artwork relate favorably or unfavorably as the content reflects their interests: outdoor lovers and landscapes, hunters and wildlife, etc. Then, there are the aesthetes who revel in the beauty of color and composition or disdain the lack thereof. They seek rhythm, form and pictorial depth rather than meaningful subject matter.

The Effete Aesthete takes the visual art experience a step further. She seeks aesthetic nuance, contextual reference or artist intent as basis for value judgement, even though such meaning depends on secondhand interpretation provided by a critic or curator thereby eliminating the need for an honest interpretation of her own. Such action would seem to be a sterile and overrefined approach to visual art viewing.