The Second Side of the Equation

What’s what?

What do you see? I'ts not really there...... 

The there are two parts to the Behaviorof Art. The 1st part is the creation, and infusion of meaning into the piece thatthe artist is creating. The 2nd part of the behavior of art is done by theviewer; the process of making sense of the pieces message, or figuring out ifthere if there even is a message.  Ashumans, our brain is designed to create order from disorder; exactly what ittries to do when confronted with arts. Our brain follows logical patternstrying to fill in the perceived “missing pieces”, like how we fll in the misingletters in words, subtracttt unnessisary letters, fix imprcper spellings andput them into thier proper order when reading qiuckly.  Surrealist take advantage of the mentaltendency of ours to express their message, however, it is a double-edged swordwhen it comes to interpreting often faded prehistory art.  Like any functioning dyslexic, we mustbe constantly asking, is what we are seeing really what is there. Is ourpersonal past and expectations colouring in the cave walls?  Are our cultural metaphors invadingreality?

            Ritual,metaphor, and art, are all deeply intertwined with each other. The culturalcontext in which it pieces created how the effects the interpretations that onedraws from a piece of art. Because we'll likely never know the culturallyconstructed mindset of the artists that created prehistoric art, such as cavepaintings, and possible interpretations are limited. Objective interpretationsof cave paintings allows us to go only so far in understanding their meaning.We can count 200 horses, 73 Buffalo, and 6 Wildcats, but what do the numbersmean? Ecological reconstruction allows us see whether or not cave paintings areaccurate representations of the flora and fauna of that time. If the concentrationof the subject matter does not match up with the ecological reconstruction,then we can conclude that the artist were representing something other than thereality, implying a cultural bias, a connection to what was represented; sometype of Tran idea. So, we through that they had abstract thoughts, whichactually makes it harder for us modern people to try to figure out what theywere trying to express!  

Prof. Robertson posed to thequestion to us ”should we study prehistoric art? Should we try as hard as we doto understand it?”   We willnever have concrete answers; our interpretations will always be subjective.However, such a preponderance of the past instances of such a defining part ofour nature reveals something of ourselves. Almost anything is possible, 

42 Equals.....

42 equals:

            The “Expression and satisfaction of the longing for transcendence is, for humans “the meaning of life””; to be independent while coming together.

            To this I agree, but how long do we allow it to?

As the last free write ended up developing a tangential idea from The Cave Painters this weeks free write will cover the importance of feeling, chapter 6 of What is Art for?

Earlier in the class we had proposed that the purpose of art is transmission and communication of ideas that are difficulty to express in another manners; that Art works as social glue. Traits that are deemed Universal, as art is, must be tied into an early, universally shared experience.  As such our ability to appreciate art as a mean of empathy is developed as a child.

Bawlby contends that the propensity to attachment is an indelible part of human nature and that it leads us latter in life to try to find unity and a meting of the minds.

Agreeing to this point, disagreement arises with the assortment that there is also an inherent appetitive need for the infant and juvenile to form a close exclusive bond with its mother or mother figure. Bawlby assumes that “ that selection would have favored the survival of young children who have a positive attachment to one protective figure.”

Contrast this with the work of Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. Her work puts forth that the mother is less important then the fact that the child gets enough care to feel safe.  In most of our ancestry this care and safety was provided the mother and other clan members. Using the term Allomothers for these caregivers, complete care during childhood can be seen in traits as social “compliance,” respect for others, and self-control; traits that build upon art as a behavior.  The study Hrdy used  “showed no detectable ill effects from day care only when infants had a secure relationship with parents to begin with (which I take to mean that babies felt wanted) and only when the day care was of high quality.” This is not the reality of our only 12 weeks of parental leave society and shift quality daycare.

So if a child feels safe in relation to all the people caring for him or her, then they are able to develop the necessary traits to appreciate art.  If modern life requirements do not allow this feeling of safety, the child will become detached from their caregivers, and people as a whole.

But detached children don’t always become “lonely, socially deprived adults” as Bowlby explains them during his description of the symptoms of loss. “Being extremely self-centered or selfish, being oblivious to others or lacking in conscience are probably quite adaptive traits for an individual who is short on support from other group members.” These traits sound also carry the ring of the modern values of a capitalistic worker; these so-called negative traits can make detached children finically and socially successful.

Since the success of the person no longer is dependent on the ability to bond, this trait will no longer be selected for.

Defining the evolution of art as humanities long attempt at transcendental expression and communication, the ability to empathies and bond is key. If Hrdy is correct, could our commercial world lead to the lost art as we know it?

Article Mothers and Others by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy:

http://naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/11440/mothers-and-others

Runs in the Family

Nothing we do is random. There is always some vestigial benefit that allowed for the evolution of an act that gives us either pleasure or pain. Art is an offshoot of those positive feedback reactions.

We have a ”universally inherited propensity to make some objects and activities special”. How long that propensity goes back is a matter of debate.
Art has never been about the end product, just to be mounted on a white wall with soft lighting and hushed voices; the process and the purpose define art.  Ellen Dissanayake elaborates on the concept of art evolving as a defining part of ritual; with the purpose of bonding social groups and communicating complex ideas. Art helps us work out the complex thought processes that characterize our species.  It helps with the expression of these complex ideas and standardizes the views experience when used as an aid.  It is believed that the oldest form of art was utilized in personal adornment (Ellen D.)

Not just a.m. Homo sapiens have been shown with evidence of this personal adornment however. Neanderthal adornment was simplistic compared to a.m. Homo sapiens of the same region.  Gregory Curtis, the author of The Cave Painters, proposes the idea that the Neanderthals were mimicking the Cro-Magnon people. That idea still implies that the Neanderthals had an appreciation for self-adornment, and therefore art itself. If they were able to appreciate art then there must have been a selection for the propensity of art before the evolutionary split of these two Homos.  Southern France has the highest density of cave paintings in Europe; this is also the area with the longest period of overlapping contact between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon (Curtis, 41). They lived together from 35,000-27,500 B.P. (Curtis, 37). Such a long-term overlap would lead to the necessity of interspecies communication between two decently intelligent species.  The physical difference between the two species would make vocal communication difficult if not impossible. Neanderthals vocal tracks to not make the same bend as a.m.Homo sapians consequently the types of vowels produced would be different.  Art would avoid this entire issue while still allowing for interspecies communications. 

Intrinsic Logic

"Intrinsic to life of all higher animals are two complementary needs- for making order out of experience, and for disorder- novelty or the unexpected” – pg. 134, Dissanayake

We enjoy making order.  O

If we are to make order then we need disorder. O⊃D

Therefore we enjoy disorder.   ∴D

We enjoy the challenge. 

Define Living

"To experience something that is outside order and ordinary - which we can call extraordinary. There is an unquestioned human appetite for intensity, and though we can exist without them, intense emotions make us feel we are living." (pg.134, Dissanayake)

Can we go a moment in our lives without seeing countless examples of the quest this? When does our personal appetites become fulfilled? Only when we learn to see the extraordinary everywhere; the phenomenal odds that came together to create the everyday does that appetite begin to be sufferable. Awe takes understanding and for this reason I love to learn. Spotting the extraordinary “requires prior familiarity with the elements”; you have to be aware of how far something has gone to appreciate the state it is in.

In my constant search for intensity, my goal is to try everything, learn everything, and be aware of everything that I can so that my appetite for intensity can be fed though never sated. I am not looking to be all knowing, to know the intimate details of the universe. My goal is to just to be knowledgeable enough to appreciate the world around me. I've been lovely teased for being "naturally high". Its not my body chemistry that creates that state however, its curiosity. Experience is just a type of learning. Thrill does not end with the experience; the thrill is revived whenever the memory of that experience is triggered. Trigging that neuron network that life has laid is art’s goal, life’s goal.

     Every time I see a well-executed pole vault I feel awe.

Every time I see a plant grow in the direction of the sun, I feel awe.

When I see a ceramic piece, I understand the journey it has made and feel awe.

     It is physically induced empathy. 

Cultural Relativism in Art

Topeng Spirits

The mask making traditions of Indonesia displayed on walls around the world are prized for their flamboyant visual appeal. Known as Topeng in their country of origin, they are used in ritualized dances of the same name to help the performer take on the spirit of the character they are portraying. The masks are seen as living manifestations of the spirits; their creation, a religious act.  In defining this art form we look to The Anthropology of Art by Robert Layton and his two part cultural criteria for art. Using the aesthetic qualities and the substance that is being transmitted though the artwork. These criteria must be applied to the art form in an ethnographic manner in order to judge any type of art.

The Aesthetic criteria that a mask must meet is complex because if their perceived spiritual properties. The first criterion is symmetry, an aesthetic trait which is often used to judge visually appealing artwork around the world. Decoration is done in vivid colours, with natural dyes.  Trim is then added as demanded by character being portrayed. The end visual result is highly stylized representation of a dancers character whether human or spirit.

An Old Women Mask.

Completed mask with costume.  

Mask making is a specialized profession in Indonesia. The makers are called Undagi tapel, and come to be initiated in the art form by heredity.  Only consecrated individuals carve the ritual masks in the traditional manner. It is this preset method of their creation that gives them their sacred properties. A religious mask is not deemed complete until it is ritually purified and the mask united with its dance costume on a sacred night to invite the spirit in. Viewed as the most dangerous part of a masks creation, it is vital to a masks cultural significance. When the mask is not being used in a ceremony, it is thought to protect the village in which it is stored.

Other, "lesser", mask makers produce lower quality maskers to be used as a market produce as they are culturally aware of the western interest in the masks purely visual appeal.  These masks are not held to the same culturally demanded form and materials and are now treated as their own living art form, which is been evolving on its own such as the mask shown bellow. The highest peaks of mask art are reserved for those who value the cultural substance.

There is no doubt that the Indonesian mask making tradition is a stylized an art form as the surrealist movement in western painting.  There is a culturally defined level of aesthetic appeal that the creation must meet and a deeply infused spiritual imagery from the beginning to the end of a masks life.

Sources:

Photo: Artest, Balinese dance Resources for Schools. ://www.balinesedance.org/Making_Balinese_Dance_Masks.htm#topengphotos

Photo: Compete mask with costume, Purnama Sari. http://www.purnamasaribali.com/aboutus.html

Photo: Old Women Mask, Balinese dance Resources for Schools: Topèng Pajegan. http://www.balinesedance.org/Topeng_Pajegan_Istri.htm#femmaskphotos

Photo: Contemperary mask, Balinese dance Resources for Schools: Topèng Pajegan. http://www.balinesedance.org/Resources-Topeng_Pajegan.htm

Layton, Robert. The Anthropology of Art.1991

Slattun, Judy. Balinese Masks: Spirits of an Ancient Drama. 2003

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topeng. 

What is Art?

Hello everyone, my name is Christina Cauley. With my major being anthropology, my attention was drawn to this class. My interests tend towards universal patterns of human behavior, which just added to the classes appeal. I deeply admire those who are able to infuse and direct the emotional response that is projected though their medium.

Art is a behavior, a practice, which infuses an object with a dimension other then which it natural contains. Through this it gains a symbolism outside the physical characteristics of the medium. Doing so requires additional exertion of energy; mental as the artist plans the desired effect, and physical as extra energy to add the necessary details.

Art is different from a craft because of mental connections it contains. Crafts are skill based while art is emotional. A craft can be used in creating art, and this along with out cultural expectations is generally what we perceive to be “good” art. Art is not defined by beauty though we often see art as beautiful. A craft can be beautiful just as an art can seem grotesque or alien. Nature also beautiful is but we do not consider snow an art, but when a person in such a manner as a photograph modifies it, shows it in a particular view, it can become art.

Snow, not art. Photo, Art.

Art helps humans make sense of the world around them and express those attempts to others. To create art you cannot take your environment for granted, but postulate a view or mindset to go along with the creation, and the evoked reaction.

To call something art we must understand the metaphors and norms of the culture that it was created in, otherwise the emotion it is expressing can be overlooked. This is where the anthropological aspect of what is art is incorporated. The anthropology of art is the study of the human conditions that are part of creative expression. Creative expression is a universal trait, though the forms it takes is as numerous as the cultural mindsets that we use to perceive art. Through this class, hopefully we can become more aware of the cultural mindsets that lead to the creation/interpretations of art so we can see what is the same. Similarities across the world hold the answer to human nature and a deeper understanding of what we are capable of.  

Photo: London When it Snows (Westminster) by Kayode Okeyode. Flicker.