Art Inquiry Assignment 1

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

A few concepts I learned in the videos and article are that:

Plato wrote about art concepts that most follow to this day

Aristotle wrote about concepts of the unity of time, action and place

Abarti expressed ideas that how beauty is harmony and perfection

Hegel was one who rejected that art represents nature

2. Which philosopher's theroy on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosphers name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

I believe in Plato's Theory, which was from fifth century Athens, was the most important. His theory relates to his ideals of beauty, which comes from his original theory that the things we see in the world can't change and become something that it isn't. 

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art? What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speakers lecture? 

Changeux and Ramachandran had different perspectives on ancient artwork. Chanquex believed that art is mainly a non-verbal artifact. He believed this because humans make artwork from emotions and reasoning by using conscious and non-conscious decisions. One interesting fact I learned from his presentation was that there was a clear genetic envelope for the evolutionary origins of art, which he discovered through studying skulls and how humans back in the day were making tools, cave paintings and line drawings. Ramachandran’s main ideas come from the place in the brain where science and art meet. He believes that when humans make art, the main goal isn't to perfectly copy something. He believes that the point is to exaggerate or distort the subject matter in one way or another, to please the viewer. In his research, he discovers all cultures know how to create realistic figures, and they learned how to quickly, which is why they eventually switched how they created things. An interesting fact i learned from his presentation was that today humans find butterflies so beautiful because both humans and butterflies have similar evolutionary aesthetics, such as symmetry. 

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and text share main key ideas when it comes to aesthetics. In Chanquex’s presentation he specifically states that we can recognize art as a form of communication, similarly how in the article it states how we can easily recognize line, color, and pattern on a canvas. Ramachandran states how evolution of the brain is why humans are attracted to things that evolved similarly to us symmetrically. The article also states that we can recognize human faces easier than anything else, which relates to that. One of the videos states that artists have developed ways to create depth and brightness that aren't actually present. The article similarly states how artists add shadows and highlights to make their work look more real.

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

The films and the article were all very informative. They all shared a common theme of how the brain portrays how we see artwork and what we find pleasing. The only downside was that the videos were somewhat boring and hard to watch, but they got all the points across.