Debasmita Biswas Anil Pinto 16 February 10 Thinking and Painting It is difficult to arrive at any definitive statements about thinking

and painting. Both involve mental processes, sometimes rigorous. Thinking is a process that organises sense perception and deciphers it, allows the mind to make connections, arrive at conclusions, plan, strategise and through reasoning form ideas of ones own. The development of opinions, attitudes, modes of perception all develop from thinking and the interaction of the process of thinking with external stimuli which may consist of events, reports, journals, public debate. It allows one to understand the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed.

There are different ways of approaching the idea of thinking. Perspectives may draw on psychology, neuroscience, sociology, philosophy to understand thinking. In quantifiable terms, thinking may be measured in terms of neuron activity and complex functions attributed to the brain (cerebrum). Thinking is a gradual process, beginning with interaction with the environment, then gradually forming internal representations which in turn lead to the formation of logical structures that are finally organised and categorised according to abstract ideas.1 It is a lifelong process.

Piaget, John. In his theory of cognitive development, he traced the growth of thought in the human mind.

Thinking is done and expressed through language. The question to ask is would thinking be possible if certain linguistic categories were eliminated? Every concept is tagged to a particular linguistic marker and thinking progresses depending on those signs. Thinking cannot be separated from language. Thinking happens through language.

Again there are different forms of thinking. Thinking happens in academic circles, commercial centres, within the family atmosphere; even conducting daily activities requires certain amount of thinking. So, when we refer to thinking, we are attempting to straddle these different domains that interact and sometimes even collapse into each other. Though thinking consists of mental processes, these are applied in various ways according to different situations and requirements. If thinking leads to the formation of certain central beliefs and ideas within the individuals mind according to which the world is perceived, then that formation is not final, newer interactions would effect it. So, thoughts are in the process of evolution ever participating in the process.

Heidegger was of the opinion that art is not something that exists anywhere in the canvas or the artist, it is out there. Painting is generically taken as visual representations depicted on the canvas that involve the use of paint, enclosed within a frame and created by human hand, though we also have wall paintings and frescos. This qualifies many visual representations as paintings. Then the question arises as what to call art and what not. This raises questions about what we understand by art which is a problematic query. To infer what art is from the work we must first determine what to examine, that is we must identify something as a work

of art. But to do that, we must already know which objects are works of art and which are not. But if we can do this successfully, we must already know what art is.2

Thus, it appears that our investigation is moving in a circle by presupposing knowledge of what it is we are trying to understand. According to Heidegger, this circle is a "virtuous circle" not a "vicious circle". The recognition of the circularity is a moment of truth, not a logical problem or an error on our part. What it means is that we must learn to think differently. The question, then, is not how to get around the circle, but how to break into it. Heidegger suggests that we break into this circle by considering an actual work of art and looking into the "thingly character of the work of art", one of a work's more obvious features.

Then again what happens in the age of mechanical reproduction? The mystique surrounding a work of art is removed through exact mechanical reproduction of a famed art object/piece. Prints may be mass produced exactly detailing the so-called original work of art. In this situation what happens to the authenticity of the original art object invested as it were with history, testimonies? Is it challenged? Or it merely loses part of its mystique and becomes easily accessible to more people.

Painting is part of visual culture. It consists of visual depiction on the canvas. In depiction it goes much beyond mere representation. It incorporates the artists subjective position, certain ways of perception and thoughts and includes technicalities of the depiction. Painting engages the spectator and there is always the effort to find form in a painting. The current exhibitions in art in India and the west reflect the ideas of symbolism and canvas depictions that defamiliarise and create their own realities thorough the use of light and colour.

Heidegger, Martin. On the origin of the work of art.

However, a painting is also a narketable product, more so in the prevailing capitalist economy. Connoisseurs know which paintings to invest in for maximum profit.

However, both thinking and painting cannot be seen in isolation as processes and images that occur according to their own cognitive and aesthetic principles. They are also produced within a discourse that creates subjective positions. Thought processes are characterised by an individuals cultural conditioning. And though painting is the artists creation, it is affected by external events and the prevailing discourse.