Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Objective art, I agree is not possible because there is an infinite number variables. Mostly my point is about the purpose of art being beauty and that beauty itself has something that stirs the soul upward rather than downward. For beauty to have an objective quality, there must be a silver lining between what constitutes beauty across time, space and even culture. This is why I compare Paris or Rome to a main street in a suburb of Houston...or why Chinese people play the 9th symphony of Beethoven.

I believe that people are naturally attracted by beauty(ei: a beach in Hawaii) and repelled by ugliness(ei: the local dumpster). The ultimate form of beauty, according to Christian Theology, is what reflect the Good and the True...which is why I think why some piece of art have transcended taste and culture through the centuries...by religious and unreligious people.

We will play John's Passion in 200 years...but we surely won't play something like "My Hump" from the Black Eye Peas.