Art & the Eye as a Human Slide Projector: By Dr. Mary C. Saleeby Ph.D

Art & the Eye as a Human Slide Projector: By Dr. Mary C. Saleeby Ph.D

Art & the Eye as a Human Slide Projector: By Dr. Mary Saleeby Ph.D.

The human eye is like a slide projector with an immeasurable number of images reserved in a cryptic library.  Our inner slide projector is our inner memory and our outer visions are what will come to be.  What make’s this fascinating is how we store images and how our memory conceives them.  We seem to see what we want to see and perceive things differently from person to person, particularly when viewing art.

A well-known anecdote that resonates this process concerns the use of visualization in scientific discovery.  We question what does science have to do with art? The answer remains in the fact that perception; whatever genre or area of distinction determines our understanding and emotion for the piece or subject. German chemist Kekule von Stradonitz  (1829-1896) learned the molecular structure of benzene a colorless liquid hydrocarbon that is derived from petroleum. In his narration Kekule described having dreamed of a snake twisted in a circle eating its own tail. Kekule had been considering the problem of the underlying structure of organic molecules. He then suddenly realized that the snake’s position in his image represented the key molecular structure he had been searching for. Without this vital imagery Kekule might not have come to a conclusion therefore visual imagery was of fantastic importance in his scientific findings. It proves that art is vital in both pleasurable roles and imagery in any respect.

Visual imagery played a crucial role in the Art of the Ancient Egyptians.  The Hieroglyphs which are pictorials telling tales of everyday life are visual images at their finest. Although our eyes all see differently a common factor that we all share is the understanding of beauty.  Hieroglyphs are some of the most gorgeous forms of art ever made.  They are simple in many respects and extremely complex in others.  The tales that the Ancient Egyptians share allows us to enter the mysterious, enchanting world they lived in.  Art can teach us so many things in addition to the aesthetics; in Egyptian art we have learned mummification, religion, agriculture and my favorite the weighing of the soul. In this process the weighing of the soul is when the God Anubis would place your soul, which would look like a tiny unclothed person on one side of a scale and a feather on the other.  The more distasteful things that you did in your life the more your soul would weigh. If your soul were as light as a goose feather you would journey into a pleased place in the afterlife. The visualization of this image in hieroglyphs is extremely moving and spiritual.  It’s an vital part of history therefore an vital part of art.

Visualization and visual images such as art and sculpture are an integral part of the work of an Art Historian, Archaeologist or Psychologist because the actual seeing or seeing into. By using the eye as a slideshow one can achieve a distinctive role in analysis. Because of imagery, society developed an appreciation for things visionary, which would be the viewing of a painting recognizing symbols and understanding artistic values. It is because of our visual slide show that we can appreciate art as an optic representation.

Copyright 2009: Mary C. Saleeby Ph.D.

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