Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts is a video that discusses many ideas around the philosophy of the arts. Theories on what art truly is have been explored for centuries and have varied over the years. Plato critiqued that arts while his student Aristotle defended and studied them in his famous work, “The Poetics”. In the Middle Ages people were dedicated to God and art as a form of beauty was not much on their minds. However, the Renaissance brought about a huge change in the arts and the way it was viewed. At this time German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten coined the term aesthetics, art as a form of beauty. People became disinterested in practical concerns and came to appreciate the arts. I feel that I relate the most to Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher from the late 1700’s. He believed that art is brought together by sensibility and reason. He felt that art was an emotion, as a sense that could not be pinned down. I agree with this in that everyone has their own view of what is art and what is seen as beautiful. With this theory everything can be seen as beautiful to someone.
The video, CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics, displayed two speakers who touched much more on the scientific aspect of art. Changeux discussed the history of art as far back as 2.5 million years ago with the introduction of tools. From there symmetry, symbolism and artistic composition led to what today we know as art. The brain processes art as a visual perception and then connects what is seen to internal emotions and memories. I agree with this statement. I often find myself thinking of something specific in my life when viewing art, listening to music or reading poetry. I think this is important to me as a future teacher. I need to make sure my students can connect to what they are exposed to. Ramachandran had interesting ideas as to what is pleasing to the brain. He also points out that culture does have an impact on art perceptions as well. He discussed how something exaggerated actually was more pleasing to the brain than the realistic object. Studies have shown that rats trained to go to a rectangle for food are even more attracted to an elongated rectangle even though they were never exposed to it. Other studies with birds and their mother’s beak proved the same. I found these facts to be very interesting, especially that a bird would choose a rectangle stick with two red lines over the mother’s beak with one small red dot just because it was “bigger and better”. Artists use this in their work and exaggerate body parts to draw attention and make them more pleasing. He also discussed how the brain prefers a bit of obscurity. For example, a nude body only slightly exposed is more appealing than a Playboy pin up photo. This video showed direct connections to the brain and art perceptions.
The CNN article, “What the brain draws from: Art and Neuroscience”, discusses that our brains are wired to interpret art. It can take simple lines and shapes and create beautiful images. Certain images such as faces are instantly pleasing to young babies, even just two dots and a half circle smile. There is something instinctively in our brains causing this reaction. Artists use tricks with color, lines, shadows, and perspective to stimulate our brain. Continuing studies are being performed to understand why and how people appreciate art.
These videos and article have helped to further my understanding as read in the text. They both discuss what and why artist do what they do and the connection to our brain’s reaction. Visual examples as well as hearing explanations from experts made the text reading and samples more understandable. The book provides many examples of art and as I looked through them my mind was focused on all the concepts discussed in the videos.
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