What I came across at RISD..

 

(sorry I don't know how to rotate the photos on blogger) 

Art History Essay #2 .

 

Neolithic reproduction of Catalhoyuk  

 ESSAY #1b Perception and Reality

QUESTION: Is it possible for a modern viewer’s "perceptions" to either create or alter the "reality" of a specific Neolithic Period cave painting or carving?

Part 1

Summary: In attempting to answer this question I experienced, yet again, another look into my own mind on how I felt about this question. I wanted to research a valid explanation that agrees with how I feel about this. To me, anything can be perceived differently than what it really is like in reality. So in answering this question, I felt I could put a lot of my opinion in; whether my opinion is accurate or not it does not matter because isn’t that the point of these essays?

Reason: I think the reason for you asking us this question on perception and reality is to spark some sort of excitement in our minds, just like asking any open ended question. Because perception and reality are so often confused and altered to begin with it really forces us to look within ourselves for the answer.

Purpose: Besides sparking our minds to think, the purpose of asking us this question is also to get us to look more closely at the Neolithic art and how others are reacting to it. It seems that everyone has something to say about everything these days; reviews or comments or insults; everyone wants to voice their opinion. Also by asking this question, we can be the “modern viewer” and test this question by asking ourselves what we think the reality of a specific cave painting or carving is.

Direction: The direction I went in with answering this question first started with me. Before I go to Google or flip through my text book I like to ask myself the question and see what I theory or explanation I can come up with on my own. I do this for two reasons; one, being that I want to be able to think for myself and use my existing knowledge, two, being that I get easily distracted by Facebook, twitter, and stumble upon once I open my internet browser. Next, I simply looked at numerous pictures of the Neolithic cave paintings and asked myself “what do I think the purpose of the painting is?” and “what do I think they really mean?” Then I opened my book and found is hugely help for because at first I was a little confused about the differences between Paleolithic and Neolithic art. Once I understood the difference I better understood why this question was being asked.

Impressions: The most memorable part of answering this question was how much I let my imagination take over. I started to lose a sense of what I thought the Neolithic reality was. Were these violent paintings the reality of what these people were experiencing or were they a depiction of their imagination. What If the art was just simple utilitarian paintings and that’s it. What if all of our modern day input was, excuse my language, bullshit. If the prehistoric people could be alive today would they laugh at our crazy perception of their art, and entire existence for that matter? To us the ancient world is mesmerizing, but do we ever build it up to be something that it’s not? As an Art major I enjoy learning and viewing any artistic creative form, but are we letting ourselves get carried away? Then I began to freak myself out by thinking about what the future people could dig up about us. What happens if we became “prehistoric”? Then I snapped out of it and typed my essay.  

 

Recreation of the original city plan of Çatal Höyük.  

Part 2, the answer:

          To start off, my answer is yes. Yes, I think modern day viewer’s “perceptions” absolutely create and alter the “reality” of Neolithic cave paintings and carvings. Hardly anything in life is concrete and has only one reality. Almost any perception can be altered simply because we as humans all think differently and see the world around us differently. No one living today was around in 8000 B.C.E to interpret and inform the rest of us what was really going on during the Neolithic revolution. I think as humans, we like tangible things that make sense; some of us fear the unknown. Good thing some of us are problem solvers and like to put together the puzzle. Just because we are problem solvers by nature doesn’t mean any one of us are correct. I could look at a painting of large deer charging towards human figures and see a spiritual piece of art work, they guy next to me could see a potentially cool bloody battle scene. 

 

Houses and Shrines in Catalhoyuk, Turkey

       In the Neolithic period people began to settle, build homes and continue to live off the land and its food supply instead of being more nomadic. A good place to start is Chatal Huyuk in the Konya plain in central Turkey. This is where some of the first traces of villages were found, dating back to 7400 B.C.E, this was considered early in the Neolithic period. This village consisted of many mud brick structures with walls, floors, and ceilings covered in plaster. This specific location is important because it shows the use of early architecture and exceptional art. After excavations we have concluded that these structures were more than just shelters they also served as shrines and graves. The paintings on the interior walls of these structures were much more in depth and wild than cave paintings from the Paleolithic period. (Art History, pg.14) Were the Neolithic people’s imaginations getting more creative or were their daily interactions becoming wilder? This was the first question that ran through my mind. Violent, wild scenes of humans without heads, huge horned wild animals and dangerous interactions between the two cover the walls of these structures. Some excavators see these paintings as a depiction of games, hunting, rituals or taunting of these animals. Animals were the sources of food, clothing and tools; every part of the animal was used that is why they are so consistence in prehistoric art. Along with the importance of animals was the important of the male. Some paintings show bearded men and erect animals. (Art History, pg. 14)

"Animal Hunt" restoration of main room in shrine 

 
“Critically, the mixture of shelter, architecture, art, spirit, ritual, and ceremony at these and many other Neolithic sites makes us realize that we cannot easily distinguish between “domesticated” and “sacred” architecture.” (Art History, pg.15)

 

Seated female figure of fertility Çatalhöyük 6000 BCE 

    To be honest I am not sure what to think about the Neolithic and even Paleolithic cave painting, carvings, and ceramics for that matter. I can only assume that they were created for many reasons not just one. How many things in life solely happen for one reason? Not many. Their art could be for teaching hunting or rituals, recording events, spiritual expression, personal expression, or decoration. Whether I am right or wrong I think the reason for their art is a combination of everything. In the modern world today, we shouldn’t use our knowledge and discoveries to nitpick, point the finger at right and wrong or get carried away with crazy theories. Let us use common sense for once. We will never be able to go back thousands of years to live with and get into the minds of these people. The best thing we can do is search for more evidence, find relationships between them and us and appreciate the fascinating pieces of history they left behind. Whether our perception of their reality is their actually reality, we may never know, we must learn to accept that.