6/3/07
The Sublime: Between Darkness and Light Arts Council catalogue.

This source has been very helpful as it has expressed the sublime as a 'Human experience that is beyond the everyday' and that 'The sublime can inspire bliss and exhilaration as well as fear and dread'. It has many useful references to artists, literature, philosophers and theorists. The concept of the sublime has a history of philosophy of aesthetics reaching back to the 18th century and any discussion in relation to contemporary art must consider this history.

'capable of producing delight; not pleasure, but a sort of delightful horror; a sort of tranquillity tinged with terror.'

Burke’s view brings together the idea of imminent threat and the certain knowledge of security; a feeling of physical danger, fully grasped and understood, yet apprehended from a position of safety. We experience ‘ the towering force of things’ Burke writes. ‘The grand’ and ‘The sublime’ hinges upon the notion of fear. While both lead eventually to feelings of pleasure and well being.

‘grandeur by way of a sense of awe, and ‘sublime pleasure’ only after an initial feeling of terror.'

The intention of artists would be to depict an experience, which was for them already imbued with sublimity: to provide the viewer with the same overwhelming feelings they themselves had already experienced. These could be feelings of awe mixed with trepidation from a sight that can inspire.
I have been particularly interested in the experience when referencing the sublime and the way in which artists can create work based on their experience to express a sublime experience for the viewer.