art on sense, not on symbolic level

Popular science book readers know that everything in this world is made of stardust, with which more complicated materials like atoms, molecules, amino acids....life are made gradually, and then creatures with mental activity evolved.

Most of the steps can be explained scientifically and artistic activity, being on this line of progress, should be the same.
Lining up cosmology, physics, chemistry, bio-chemistry, physiology, neurophysiology, cognitive psychology, psychology, sense based formalistic art theory should be between neurophysiology and cognitive psychology.

Let me quote from Langer's"Philosophy in a new key".

"Quotation could be multiplied almost indefinitely, from imposing list of sources-from John  Dewey and Bertrand Russell....from....Piaget and Mead, Kohler....Cassirer, Whitehead, from philosophers,

 psychologists, neurologists and anthropologists to substantiate the claim that symbolism is the

 recognized key to that mental life  which is characteristically human and above the level of

 sheer animality-the use of sign is the very manifestation of mind. It arises as early in biological

 history as the famous "conditional reflex"....this is the real beginning of mentality."

The scholars seem to have more conditional habit than the ordinal.
My claim is that sense activity is the basic mental activity and conditional reflex is more advanced stage of mentality.
Conditional reflex is higher mental stage with two activity: sense; reference.
Whitehead says that he cannot dissociate the yellow colour from a yellow triangle but he does not have to.
There are two levels of seeing: retinal; foveal.
Paying attention on the three sides of a triangle one by one,we can see the triangle on the fovea and the colour is on the retina all the time without attention.
Act of sensing a shape pleasantly is not communication with symbol but receiving information of shape which everything has.
Accumulation of the memory of shapes may be the second stage of formal seeing, which start revealing a priori structural system of shapes.
This structure is the normative model of art, logic, geometry et cetera.
Without realizing that shape-seeing is  different from sign-seeing, all the current aesthetics were developed under the influence of those people.

Imagine that we reconstruct Pavlov's famous experiment using monkey this time: ringing a bell every time when we give him a banana, then the bell only can make him salivate.
A whistle could be chosen instead of the bell.
It means that any sound can be used as the signal: the bell is not always the symbol of banana.
Symbol can be anything for the same thing.
This is why symbolic level of art cannot be studied scientifically; symbol is accidentally picked, therefore is studied historically.
The taste of banana is different from apple.
Taste is universal, on which scientific theory may be established, likewise the shape of anything is the universal object to start a theory.

An organism developed sensory organ;first tactile one then visual one.
When the sensation became pleasure feeling, this is the beginning: the taste is good.
The second stage is that the taste is better: the act refers to the memory;  more complicated activities.
When we see unfamiliar wild flower in the field, we just feel it is beautiful.
We do not have to know the name.
When we see a new thing like new art, w can just enjoy seeing it unconditionally: seeing with no reference.
The thought that this is more beautiful comes immediately after seeing.
This is taste judgement which consists of three activities: seeing a flower and remembering the past experience of seeing the other flowers and comparing all.
Formal seeing starts as early as the stage Piaget called topological;earlier in biological history than conditional reflex.

The obvious consequence of art being on sense is that there is no art history.
Art historians ,relying on their taste, select art objects among artifacts to fabricate a history.
Artifact can be artistic because the maker has natural inclination to appreciate good shape,which does not mean that he  necessarily had intention to express some artistic feeling.
There is no use seeking the oldest art work since if we admit art work is visually interesting object,  the beginning of art appreciation is much older than making of so-called art.
The best we can do is finding oldest visually-interesting artifact and guessing that the maker already had such a good taste.
Actually there is no pure art work but artifact except some experimental modern art in  art history.
Although it seems that there is no interesting contemporary art going on, we now know  two wrong reasons : aesthetics is on the wrong foundation; art is dependent on  art history.
We can get back to the right track anytime.
What we should start with is the early abstract art  in the last century; they suggest proto-formal theory.







         

Art seeing is shape seeing

Seeing art is seeing shape.
The image on retina is solely responsible for pleasure of seeing shape.
The retinal image is two dimensional and nobody bothers a photograph not being the real object.
Photographs of architecture is not three dimension but still enjoyable to see them as architecture.
As we can see it from many angles,the photographs can be taken from many angles.
Three dimensional art is replaceable for many single two dimensional views.
This is what the retina is doing.

Decades ago I went to see some Gothic cathedral just to be disappointed.
The main reason is that I could not find any good shots of view
 as I expected.
I realized that the photographs in the book of the cathedral are well  taken with much effort beyond the capacity of unprepared tourist.
Architecture is the mixture of functional part and artistic part which must be discovered.
To see an object, we may walk around it but to see its shape we have to stop and fasten the sight.
The image must be static in order to see it's geometric characteristics.

Unless each viewer sees exactly the same image, sound art theory can not be established.
This may be the meaning of Kant's comment that art of garden is painting.
Vasari considered that painting is the major art of the three arts: painting;sculpture; architecture.

Even binocular vision may be problem to see shape.
An art student closes one eye to see the proportion of a model ,
and the proportion is the well known characteristic of shape to give us pleasure of seeing.
There is no wonder all the stereoscopic device failed to maintain the initial popularity.

Art seeing is monocular.
A bower bird has two eyes each on the side.
He makes an ornamented garden to attract female birds.
He must be able to enjoy his garden with one eye only.
I used to know one eyed artist in London and I believe that he has no problem to see things artistically.

It is possible that organism developed the visual sense organ with pleasure sensation before  monocular organ became binocular
 and that the binocular organ was preserved for the convenience of catching food.
The capacity  of seeing shape with pleasant sensation can be very primitive.

Digital image art theory

Everything we see is projected on retina.
On this retinal image level a unified art theory can be established.
Digital image is the model of the retinal image in the theory.
The image is shape whose geometrical characteristics are responsible for sensory pleasure.
All  shapes constitute a structural system.
As the  system is timeless and not cultural,this art theory is timeless and not cultural.

Whenever I find an unusual wild flower (=natural object) I try to search it  online not only for knowing the name but for collecting the digital image (=artifact).
I collect images as music lovers do musical reproduction (=artifact).

The original art works (=fine art) we can see in our life time are only a fraction even if we spend all free time for it.
My collection of images consists of picture books (=artifact) and of digital images.
I want possess an image in order to enjoy it repeatedly because the enjoyment lasts only the moment of seeing.
Art seeing is pure sensing like tasting.
The pleasure of seeing any thing is the same type of sensory enjoyment for me.

The common denominator of all objects I see is the shape.
I extend the idea of art work as any visibly interesting object.
Art theory must be about natural object which includes artifact, which includes applied art, which includes fine art.

The original painting by Rubens is fine art and the print based on the painting is applied art.
What I see daily are the reproductions of the painting and of the print.
They are neither fine art nor applied art but artifact.
Though I collected mostly printed reproductions, digital images started to appear as collectible.

Reproduction was practically print work in the late twentieth century and now digital image is surpassing it.
Reproduction and digital image took over the original in daily life, replacing fine art.

Let me take an example of Picasso in my life.
Until 1990 my new collection of Picasso was mostly cutout pages of auctioneers catalogues.
In 90's I obtained the Picasso Project.
Now I mostly see a Picasso on On-line Picasso.

The small size of the digital image is minor problem for me as long as the shape is clearly seen.
Imagine that we see some figure at a distance when we are getting close to it.
We know we are seeing the same thing in spite of enlarging size, which suggests that the real size is not important characteristics of shape.

I may get several reproduction of the same picture.
They are printed in different color.
Which one is much similar to the original is not the point for me.
The important thing is that the new reproduction gives me different pleasure.
I have several reproductions of the same Matisse.

I occasionally found an upside down reproduction  which is interesting.
In the theory the maker is disregarded.
Only the image matters.

The quality of digital image has reached fully enjoyable state.
Being an original art work or the digital image is the same as being a book or digital book; being a live music or DVD.
It is likely that digital image is the medium of twenty first century art.
The consequence is that museum, commercial galleries and art schools are obsolete.
Art as digital image can be appreciated and studied by anybody anywhere anytime.
With more people involved, the study and creation of art will make progress.

Any shape is interesting

Art theory should be based on the activity of seeing a thing in everyday life.
Seeing any shape gives him a certain pleasure , which makes him seeing a thing unintentionally.
Each shape gives him different pleasant feeling.

The problem is that most human stops using this faculty of seeing for its own sake in daily life.
Educated persons are so conditioned that they can hardly spear time for seeing without purpose.
Only few like 3 months old babies, real artists and persons of pleasure can use such ability easily.
Though such ability may look unpractical,it helped the evolutionary process: the one who has curiosity of seeing more than the other can find more food and avoid danger.
This faculty is found not only in human but in more primitive organisms.

The faculty works automatically when a maker produces any artifact.
This is why artifact has functional beauty.
When the object has efficient function and the formal beauty is noticeable,the maker can handle the shape more playfully.
When the copy is reproduced according to the established sample,this is the beginning of applied art.
Some people may want an artifact not for initial purpose but for the appearance.
The work becomes fine art.

Any object can be beautiful unintentionally, which means art is not communicational but informational.
Being so-called fine art does not promise to be pure art.
We see few good works in the contemporary art scene.

People expect pictures in a museum being fine art but they are applied art: applied for the demand of the contemporary art world.
   artifact=usefulness+shape
This simplified equation is convenient to explain where the beauty lies.
The usefulness can be communicational when the artist wants to express his idea.
It can be commercial made for the demand of the art market.
It can be functional as archtecture is.
It can be illustrative like religious painting and historical painting.
Such usefulness lasts for certain time.
It is durative,therefore historical.
The history of spoon can be studied by art historians.

The shape lasts even when the use is forgotten and nothing written about it is found.
Negro sculpture was in such state when Picasso found it.
It is like a shell on sea shore.
Art has been mostly made as by-product represented on the shape.

As the study of medicinal effect of herb is not the business of botanist but of chemist,
the study of shape is not the business of art historian but of a new kind of grammarian who studies shape.
Any shape is geometrical , which makes the study easy.

Universal Grammar of seeing

1)The faculty of seeing shape with pleasant sensation is the basis of artistic activity.
Artifact maker with such faculty makes pleasurable shape intuitively,which is why any artifact has artistic quality more or less.
     Artifact =usefulness+shape
The usefulness is temporary and the shape lasts forever.
Art historians' main concern is the usefulness.
We need a new type of study for the shape,which I call visual grammar.

2)Art theory should not be only based on art work but on every object we enjoy seeing.
Fine art is a sort of applied art.
 Applied art is a sort of artifact.
Artifact is a sort of natural object,
The form of natural object is the one we enjoy seeing.
99 percents of objects we see nowadays are reproductions of the originals, which are kinds of artifacts.
The original objects we can see are only fractions.
Art theory based on art works only is inevitably outdated.
The new art theory on all shpes rather than on art works may be created easier than before because we are having larger amount of reproductions of objects: digital images, together with art books.

3)Art seeing is shape seeing and is two dimentional.
 The image on retina is two dimentional and to see a shape,the image must be static.
Seeing a sculpture is seeing many pictures, each one at a time.
Seeing a sculpture on walking around  is like seeing a movie.
An art student uses only one eye to see the proportion of the model because binocular vision is not static.
The proportion is well known important characterristic to give the viewer pleasant sensation.

4) Shape seeing is attentive:seeing particular geometrical characteristics of the shape of an object quantitatively.
We can see some shape is made of four straight lines whose proportion is 1:2:3:4 and has one concave,etc.
The quantity of each characteristic of a shape effects us pleasant feeling.
The study of quantative characteristics of shape is objective.
The business of visual grammar is science.
As grammar is not about literature but about all the writing,the visual grammar is not about art but about all shape.

5)Most philosophers seem to consider that the conditional reflex is the beginning of mentality.
My claim is that unconditional sensing comes first and this is the basis of aesthetics.
When we say that the taste is better, this is Kant's taste judgement:additional act of reference is necessary.
Eating some food,the taste give us pleasure instantly. This is sensing.
Likewise shape seeing is seeing a thing as if it is the first time to see it.
Even Gestalt psychology and cognitive psychology tend to neglect this animalistic,non-symbolic act of seeing.

6)The human mental faculty has four levels: sense; perception; cognition and imagination.
The popular art theories skip the first and stand on the other three,i.e. picture theory.
This does not explain why I have pleasure of seeing non-picture like a cardboard cutout shape without background.
Seeing a shape is tactile;the eye follows the contour as the finger does.
Piaget called this faculty topological.

7)The function of the visual organ is both tactile and optical.
A shape can be sensed tactilely and colour can be optically.
The binocular vision is optical and useful for catching food.

8)Each of the four mental faculties perceives four different things: form; real object; real world and imaginative world.
The faculty of sensing shape matures to what I call proto-visual-grammar.
With the help of the other three faculties, this can be advanced to visual grammar for itself and to geometry, arithmetic and logic.
Charles Sanders peirce wrote that ethics is based on logic and logic based on aesthetics.
I follow him.
 Aesthetics is based on visual grammar.
Visual grammar is based on proto-visual-grammar .
 Proto-visual-grammar is based on sense experience.
If art seeing cultivates proto-visual-grammar,art is important in human life.

10)Any art work has four separable layers.
Imagine that we see a bird drawing by Picasso.
Immediately we recognize it is a Picasso. (Art of code)
The bird looks like a white dove which is a peace symbol. (Art of symbol)
Even without such knowledge,it is still a bird. (Art of icon)
When we enjoy it repeatedly we do not anymore pay attention on the semiotic contents but on the lines. (Art of form)
The first three layers are useful as 'manifold content' and the last two are perennial and universal.

11)Let me introduce a method of peeling art work: a sort of anatomy.
An original sculpture minus originality is the replica.
It can be made in any size, which I call size-free model.
It can be made of any material,I call solid model.
Reproductions can be  made from many single views of the original.
Any reproduction belongs to flat model.
The flat model has colour and textural impression.
The textural impression should be regarded as small structure of its own.
The flat model minus colour is black-and-white model.
subtracting the tone from the black-and -white model ,the design appears.

12)Design is the basis of all the art.
a design consists of line and any executed line has two types of structual lines: the contour and the back bone line which is the trajectory of executing tool.
For example,a letter O has double loops as contour and a loop as back bone.

13)Imagine the type of a letter B with two half-circles attached on the right side of a vertical line.
This can be drawn with a ruler and a compass.
This Euclidean shape is an example of proportional model.
All the geometric characteristics of this model are  recognizable separately: proportion; angle; curve; smoothness; shaplikeness and concavity.
By removing one characteristic each time ,the next model can be made.
The proportion of the two semi-circles can be changed without losing B- likeness. (proportion-free model=angled model)
The angle of the letter can be varied . (angle-free model=curved model)
The degree of the curves can be different, (curve-free model=smooth line model)
Without the smoothness of the curve,the letter B is still recognizable. (smooth- line-free model=shape model)
We can make such a B with cotton twine on a sheet of paper.
Shake the paper a little.
It is no more readable but may look like two loops without concave attached at a point. (concaved model)
Shaking further,the loops lose tension and become two loose closed strings attached  at a point. (string model)
A string is not a characteristic but a thing.
A design is a thing of string with all the characteristics.
Any design has all the models and each model trnsformable to the next.
The transformation is reversible.
now I am ready to establish visual grammar.
(This is the part one of visual grammar)