"On Comparing Perfumes I & II": Repost from the Archives of May 2006 {Scented Thoughts}
Penelope Cruz by Paolo Pellegrin, 2008
In the beginnings of the blog, questions about how to best think about perfume and extract ideas and correct sensations from them was a preoccupation.These two past essays look at the virtue or vice of comparing perfumes between themselves...
I concluded momentarily then on the idea of human interconnectedness as mirrored by the art of perfumery, which, it turns out, is a very relational means of expression in search of effects on others and comments by them. It is very self-aware, aware of others and the others are aware of it.
Even if there exists an ideal of the unique perfume, uniqueness in fact implies a comparison arrived to term.
Today, we would point out that if one thing is missing in perfumery it is its capacity to express as satisfactorily as cinema can do the complexity of nuances found in the human face and body. If it is arguably the most humane art form, it remains a disincarnate art.
