Mel Angel R.

Ducao 2015-03998

Hum II
More Human than Human

Theres one quotation from a revered figure that shall serve as the basis upon which this
paper is about. Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere Albert
Einstein. Pyramids, statues and buildings exist not because of theories of structures, geometry
and the likes, but because they were first an image a vision in the minds of those who created
them. Society is where it is today because people had the perception, the imagination, and the
creativity that the arts provide.
The first and key step in unravelling your own creativity and applying it to your everyday
life is learning to see what artists see. One of the obstacles to coming up with new ideas and
presenting fresh perspectives on established ideas is the way we separate imagination from the
real world. To understand how artist are able to bring together new ideas and create things that
give us pleasing aesthetic experiences and stimulate our reward systems, we need to examine the
relationship between the real world and imaginary world the way artists do. Perhaps the ability of
the brains visual system to be selective about what kind of information is included in our picture
of the world gives a new meaning to the old saying theres more to the world than meets the
eye.
No other picture dominates our life unlike human images. The human form has obsessed
some of our greatest artists. But none of these images resemble a real human being instead they
are unrealistic and are exaggerated. The Venus of Villendorf , a 25,000- year old figurine, is the
first clue of how the world was so dominated with unrealistic images of the human body. When
you look at the Venus figurine, what strikes you the most is that certain features are not
emphasized such as the face and the arms whereas their features such as the breast and stomach
are bizarrely big. Similar Venus figures with similar exaggerations and omissions have appeared
all over Europe and Russia in the next hundreds of years. The principle behind this can be
explained by a research done with seagulls and how their chicks, which are stimulated by the red
stripe on their mothers beak, can be overstimulated by simulating a beak with additional stripes.
In a way, thats just what artists do. They eliminate or play down some visual elements and
emphasize others to create emotional response desired. They were living in a harsh environment
and features of fertility and fatness would have been highly desirable. The brain, in its tendency
to pull out or abstract only the meaningful information, performs a remarkably similar function.
This may be one of the many reasons why images dominate our live they tell us how to behave,
what to think and even how to feel.
Over the course of many years, Egyptians were also the first to use images of the body
extensively in their art. Their arts are carved out of solid rock and decorated by highly skilled
artists. But unlike, the Venus of Villendorf, they did not exaggerate body parts. These are driven
by something different from the nomadic way. In fact, their arms, legs and head are all just about
right size. Rather than exaggerating, it seems like the Egyptian made it to be as clear as possible
from the best angle. Their images were driven by a shared obsession with consistency and order
to the extent that they used grids as a guide to create their art. This is precisely what their culture
values have been founded. Not only can you see it in their images but also in their building such
as the Great pyramid of Giza and statues. Again, their obsession of order made these statues as
formal and as rigid. Egyptian created these images of the body not because their brains were

preprogrammed but because of their culture. Art has allowed us to glimpse lives and lifestyles.
Perhaps, these could explain the images that dominate our modern world. It could be that they
represent a particular aspect of our culture. The society that we live in, the values that we create
for these society, these are what dictate how we depict our human body.
In another part of the world, ancient Greece had very particular values. They were fixated
on the body, like the Egyptians, and had very firm ideas about what the body should look like.
When the Ancient Greeks culture came into contact with the Egyptians, this ignited an artistic
revolution across Greece. The Greeks wanted a more realistic representation of the figure for
their temples. The problem about it is that is too realistic that its already boring. When it comes
to the human body, were driven not by just culture but also the prime evil instinct to exaggerate
(just like the Venus). If art is about realism, why do you need art when you can just look around
at things? They want more human than human. They built and created something more human
than human by changing the arrangement of the limbs, the direction of head and chest to make
them seem alive. This implies that art needs this exaggeration to be interesting. The instinct to do
this has been alive all along. Its that instinct that is still in our world today. As cultural values
change, what artist chose to exaggerate about the body, changed too. As modern society become
more culturally diverse, what we exaggerated changed further. The change in times, the signs of
progress or the introduction of new methods in government can bring about beautiful paintings
and even statues of leaders immortalized. It takes a simple logic to know that people are
naturally inquisitive and easily bored. They are most likely to sit up and pay attention to a fresh
and novel idea than something that they feel is familiar. Even an old idea presented in a new way
will create more interest than the same old idea presented the same old way. Artists are especially
good at coming up with fresh, stimulating and original ideas. Thats because when new
connections are recognized by our brains as a result of understanding a new idea, we are
compensated with a pleasant feeling of achievement. Catwalk models, clothing and marketing do
the same by capturing us by exaggerating qualities that we regard as important. And in digital art,
we also do this. Exaggerating shapes and removing features that we dislike. We even spend
million exaggerating those features that we regard as attractive.
Truly, art influences us. The arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and
help to shape our identity. The arts are the measure and reflection of our civilization. It offers a
diverse and larger perspective to people. The values that we share are transmitted through the
beauty that is emotionally transmitted through the arts. They have a wonderful universality, and
the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. Indeed, art and
imagination will take you anywhere.