“What else is different, other than what we can notice, at first glance? Upon the surface, there lies the difference. Beyond the surface, we notice something else. We notice ourselves.”
– Modern Romanticism
There is nothing diverse between humans, other than what we see, at first glance. The way a person who is familiar with art can tell the difference between styles is the same in one person telling the same kind of difference, always existent upon the surface. Upon the surface, there lies the difference. If an experienced artist also knowledgeable of differing art styles can read, at first glance, a Van Gogh painting from a Rembrandt painting, it is not the same in understanding the art. When an artist wants to be understood, they cannot without specific trials from the viewer. For how a person, not an artist, wants to be understood, there will be involvement of those same trials from another, who is a viewer, to get past both prejudice and the surface.
Diversity believes in the celebration of what is different, though what is different is always noticed at first glance. We see difference, immediately. We are also instantly hesitant to approach, to understand someone, soon when we see that difference. Then, to celebrate diversity among peoples is to perhaps unknowingly feed into prejudice.
Cultures are different, though it is the same as art. A style. If we can notice Mexican culture from a simple detail as a sombrero, to French cuisine in another spot of their life as the breakfast crepe, we can tell what is different from the surface. We walk into another country to see the lives among it, though again, these differences are only upon the surface. When we, as humans, are willing to see beyond the surface, this becomes both a negative and a positive. First, we would no longer notice what is different among culture and art forms. Second, we would no longer be prejudiced, because we always exhibit this trait whenever we are fearful to come closer to understand something other than what is instantly recognized.
For what is different, that is the surface. For what is the same, that is beyond the exterior to where a person can say to another, “We are the alike.”
While an artist would like to be understood, they have no choice other than to reveal their art style, being the identity of themselves, upon the surface of their work. The same as a race to a person, this art style will be immediately recognized. However, that is all that is recognized, when a person sees the exterior. Should a viewer examine closer, they will see something else. They’ll notice themselves. How many restaurants does a person pass, within their vehicle in some other direction? Had they seen the culture that creates the food, within the cuisine. All these are the differences of art. However, to know the cook to such meals, in those restaurants, and then to befriend them, one sees themselves. One sees what is the same, of both. There is then neither the difference in art, nor the difference in background. There are only humans.
Humans comprehend each other in seeing something that has always been there. What is different, for the surfaces, exists only to conceal what is the same.
Modern Romanticism 