Exploring Armstrong’s statement, “To regard beauty as a luxury adornment or a social signifier was to miss the true potential of the experience.”.

After reading “La bella vita” I think that Armstrong is trying to say in the quote above that, when putting art up against a background of social media or how/where it fits in with our culture/society and making judgments on it that way is going about it all wrong. Seeing and judging art this way you’re missing the point of the piece. Art is made for a more personal experience, and I strongly agree with this, this is how I interpret most every piece of art I observe. Society is far too judgmental, far too concerned what everyone else’s opinions are before they make their own. With art, be it your own or someone else’s piece, your allowed and endless rage of connections to make with it. This helps it feel important to you. These potential strong and powerful, deep feelings you can obtain when admiring a piece of art can be every kind of amazing and beautiful, this is what I believe Armstrong was implying to be the “true potential experience”. Like Armstrong says literally right in the beginning of his essay, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”. This is the point! It is not about what everyone else thinks this time, art is your connection with it and that’s it! That opinion or idea of art is one held all around the world, it should be more embraced instead of just read and unconsciously agreed with.