on taste

one of my explicit goals in life is to build exceptional taste

here i explore some definitions of what that actually means and how to do so

acceptance and rejection; liking and disliking
conviction. To a large extent, taste is highly related to conviction. [[Rick Rubin]] quote: “I have no technical ability and I know nothing about music. I’m paid for the confidence that I have in my taste, and my ability to express what I feel has proven helpful for artist”.
resonance. The idea of being able to empathise and resonate with a movement or piece of matter. To be able to *get* why this can move people, or why it is special and why it’s time is now (or it’s time should be now - [[Johnny Ive]])
harmony and cohesion; curation. The sensibility of knowing how to put things together, create a narrative from them, and find cohesions between them that are surprising or unexpected.
eclectic, diverse, broad but not necessarily general. The idea of pruning. The fine line between obtuse/ignorant/dogmatic, and curious but cutting out and pruning that which you don’t like. But there is generally an aspect of curiosity and slippage in the way that creative people analogise, and a lot of creative people often have very good taste
exclusivity? Notice that there is a difference between people who have “taste” which is just expensive/luxury things (LVMH etc.) and people who like “nice things” of which some may be expensive (but not all - Wolterinck mixing trinkets from local flea markets with v. expensive pieces)

taste x boredom are highly related? in trying to narrow in on what taste is, we can look to some of it’s negations:

- Does someone who likes all music have taste?
different types of taste, functional and platonic?, something along the lines of, this is beautiful vs this is beautiful within a given context.
[[Rick Rubin]] in the [[Book - The Creative Act]] has this line about antennae and receptivity and sensitivity. I think by definition if you are never bored, you are over saturated and perhaps this implies you have bad taste, bc you are not practicing the pruning aspect, you are satisficing with mediocrity (the TikTok, YouTube attention complex).

taste vs tastemaking

Returning to this idea of taste + conviction/courage + network (the right people have to see it)
who are the all time and current most important 'tastemakers'?

Can taste apply to everything? Business?

Usually restricted more to subjectivity of fashion, arts, music —> why this is the case can help us hone in on the idea of taste

Please reach out if you want to discuss any of these!