Video and CNN Article Review

1. In the " What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience" article I learned that artists have figured out ways to create illusions that are not really there but make works of art seem more real. I also learned that artists add elements such as lightness and shadows to trick the brain into thinking an object looks three-dimensional or life like. In the video Aesthetics: Philosophy of Art Video I learned about the history of art and its philosophy through different philosophers.  In the video CARTA: Neurobiology neurology and Art and Aesthetics I learned how there are many different definitions of art and aesthetics by observing two different point of views. 

2. Plato said in the 4th Century B.C. " What is beautiful in itself is not this object or that one, but that which conveys their own nature". This theory means that not just one specific object or thing is more beautiful or meaningful than another, but rather the beauty in an object comes from the inside and the nature it displays and what the artist had in mind when they created it. 

3. I think that both Changeux and Ramachandran have very different views on the topic of aesthetics and art. Changeux stated that works of art are human productions, he also said that art is in constant evolution therefore he argued that there is indeed an art history. Changeux's most interesting point was the evolutionary origins of art and aesthetic he stated. They included sexual selection, group selection, intersubjective communication and social bonding as well as by-product of brain evolution.  Ramachandran stated that the goal of art is to distort the image to please the brain. He also stated the eight laws of art/ aesthetics which included grouping or "binding", peak shift principal, contrast, isolating a single cue to optimally excite cortical visual attention("attention"), perceptual "problem solving", symmetry, abhorrence of unique vantage points and suspicious coincidences as well as art as a metaphor. The most interesting fact he said is about the triangle process, being the three questions: what is the law, why is it useful and how is it useful. 

4. The videos and the article relate to the reading because they provide a more in depth understanding of aesthetics. 

5. My opinion on the films was that they were hard to understand and didn't provide me which as much information as the article did. I feel as though the article did a good job pointing out certain areas of art such as color and lines and made it clear as to how the brain interprets them. The videos did provide a more solid understanding of aesthetics to a certain extent but I feel as though the book did a great job explaining what aesthetics was.