The Aesthete

Taste This

Words have many meanings, no matter how simple they seem. See what some of New York's brightest minds envision when they think of "taste"

by Patrick Duffy

Curator, Art Historian

Who gets to decide who is a "tastemaker," what's permissible and what’s considered "in good taste"? This is a question society constantly struggles to answer. This image, taken by Dejana Vucicevic, of a perfect, kitch 1970s housewife is a parody of "good taste": By striving for perfection, she is following someone else’s constructs of what is acceptable and appropriate.

Graffiti Artist

For me, taste comes in every color of the rainbow – sensory, symbolically, and in what we nurture within ourselves. Our appetites and aesthetic are ever evolving, yet deeply ingrained. It is so complexly individualized, but speaks to what we believe in.

Performance Artist

Taste is something we’re all born with. People don’t realize this, but animals have it too. My French bulldog, RuMble-De-Thumps (aka RuMbles), knows what she likes and what she doesn’t.

Interior Designer

Taste is the personality-driven expression of someone’s mind, and is, at its fullest bloom, a heady individualistic statement of “I am.”

Program Director, Sotheby’s Institute of Art

Taste refers to both physical and metaphysical experiences. These women are first ladies of various African nations. All regal and dressed in good taste by their own standards, they are an embodiment of how much taste is subjective and localized.