Week 7 - Neuroscience + Art

This week we explored the topic of Neuroscience and Art. The lecture touched upon neuroaesthetics, a relatively new art form with the improvement in medical scanning technology. According to Semir Zeki, “art is governed by the laws of the brain. It is brains that see art and it is brains that make art.” Therefore, it seems perfectly logical for neuroaesthetics to become such a hot field. In a Daily Mail article, Victoria Woollaston described the images painted by Greg Dunn, who has a Ph.D in neuroscience show that “beauty and brains really can co-exist”. Greg Dunn combined the traditional Asian sumi-e ink painting style with neuroimages. All of his images are painted by hand and are inspired by microscopic images of complex brain structures. 

Cortical Columns by Greg Dunn
http://www.livescience.com/49060-brain-artwork-gallery.html

The lectures also talked about art and consciousness, which made me think about an article I read written by Anjan Chatterjee. He stated, “Brain damage can alter patients’ artistic abilities, sometimes causing notable improvements”. He found that some people with OCD develop a gift to produced extremely detailed and realistic artwork - the graphical embodiments of acquired obsessive-compulsive traits. For example, one autism-afflicted child was able to draw lifelike horses by the age of three. 

Dementia patients drawing amazing portraits :)
http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2012/apr/10/dementia-tackled-through-arts

Perhaps the most controversial part of neuroscience and art is the experiments with drugs. Ned Hepburn introduced Bryan Lewis Saunders in his article: “Bryan Lewis Saunders is an artist from Washington DC who has drawn over 8000 self portraits, one for every day of the last 21 years and has taken a lot of drugs in that time, too”. The results were absolutely fascinating, with a collage of creative portraits. Sadly, a lot of people refused to recognise this as art. However, I agree with Leo Tolstoy’s definition of art - “Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.” Bryan definitely evoked emotion and thoughts in people who saw his portraits so it undoubtedly is an art. 

Self-portrait after bath salts by Bryan Lewis Sauders
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/188778/25-self-portraits-drawn-on-25-different-drugs/bathsalts-4/

Sources

Chatterjee, Anjan. "Neuroaesthetics." Neuroaesthetics. TheScientist, 1 May 2014. Web. 12 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-scientist.com%2F%3Farticles.view%2FarticleNo%2F39802%2Ftitle%2FNeuroaesthetics%2F>.

Hepburn, Ned. "25 Self-portraits Drawn on 25 Different Drugs." Deathandtaxes. Deathandtaxes, 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deathandtaxesmag.com%2F188778%2F25-self-portraits-drawn-on-25-different-drugs%2F>.

MailOnline, Victoria Woollaston for. "A Beautiful Mind: Japanese-style Art Inspired by Neuroscience Reveals Grey Matter in Much More Colourful Glory." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2874373/A-beautiful-mind-Japanese-style-art-inspired-neuroscience-reveals-grey-matter-colourful-glory.html>.

Noe, Alva. "Art and the Limits of Neuroscience." Opinionator Art and the Limits of Neuroscience Comments. The New York Times, 04 Dec. 2011. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/art-and-the-limits-of-neuroscience/?_r=0>.

Tolstoy, Leo. "Tolstoy's What Is Art?" Tolstoy's What Is Art? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://denisdutton.com/tolstoy.htm>.