I am thinking about ugly. The "ugly aesthetic" came up when learning about Kathe Kollowitz. She included the images of the less fortunate at a time when it was not fashionable.
Beauty is historically a signifier of truth, virtue, and the sublime. Ugly suggests evil, unrest, bad character, and deformity. Kathe Kollowitz's Unemployed (1925) a wood-cut print, depicts the faces of the impoverished- the gaunt faces and sagging skin. Kollowitz shows their ugliness as a call to action, as it inspires pity and represents injustice.
Ugly makes you want to turn away, but it also fascinates. Grotesque is a related term which has a psychological suggestion. Its as if the ugliness has somehow traversed the barrier of your flesh, and is burrowing inside of you, imitating a reflection of your bloody mushy insides. I would argue that what constitutes ugly or grotesque, is shared by all humans, and it is only the way we respond to it that varies from culture to culture.
The human standard for ugly seems to be different between the animate and the inanimate. For instance, humans pan-culturally appreciate texture in clothing and art. Polk dots and stripes. When those qualities, however, appear on human flesh such as in the case of an aging face, the liverspots and creases that accompany us into our twilight years, mark the cessation of youthful beauty. Asymmetry is beautiful in design but works terrible for a person's face.
Felcan update:
Found someone to help me with rubber mold. Trying to make it uglier.
Sill haven't been able to get Spring out of the mold, but should have that done by tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Found plaque for taxidermied head.
Started My Mother was a Dancer.
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