Proposta de Lane E. Last.

Imagining the Aesthetic Metaphor
by Lane E. Last

Every image can embody a way of seeing and relating to the world. It is nearly always necessary for us to "see" or detect a phenomenon before it can be discovered, studied, and understood. This is a fascinating parallel to some visual arts production, and one not lost on early writers on alchemy. In many ways the beauty inherent in some types of art is their ability to cling to the imagination of a viewer despite a lack of knowledge of specific information. Whether it is a combination of formal compositional or visual elements, or pure chance is hard to know. What is important is that the recency and attractive visual qualities of such a work can become an opportunity to educate in an informal manner. As an artist the process of "imagining the aesthetic metaphor" goes far beyond communicating information to a form of persuasion. As the modern world becomes more dependent on the products and processes of the chemical sciences, it is imperative to address the pursuit itself in an interesting and positive framework. "Believing is seeing" is a quite telling notion. This means, however, that the productions of images to support the sciences must be sophisticated, appealing, and not far from mythologizing. It is not said that they should be imaginary. Rather they should challenge the imagination to lead to further knowledge-based inquiry.