CAVE PAINTERS By Rodman M. Papros Artists are interesting people, although oftentimes they are misunderstood, some even called weirdos. They have something gossipers could talk about for hours, a quality distinct enough to draw attention and start lengthy debates, like a drop of ink on a clean white cloth. Whether opinions about them are good or bad isn’t exactly the point, since either way can be interesting. The real point is that if just being an artist already makes a difference, then even the small things an artist does can stir immense changes. Sadly, not all artists realize this. Only very few have an idea of how important they are. A few steps back in time can give us a glimpse of how important artists really are based on the kind of role they play in shaping this planet. As far as archeological finds are concerned, the oldest undisputed works of art were found in caves. Among the first discoveries were some 40,000 years old paintings of ancient animals in France. It is likely that older artifacts are still hidden in various places around the world, but so far these paintings, along with other discoveries, comprise the bedrock of present art. The discovery has mapped not only history but also the distinction between man and other life-forms. When archeologists saw the paintings, they were astonished of how the figures revealed a proof of man’s uniqueness as a being. For once they felt the essence of being human and not just any other organisms. Those who drew the figures seemed to have as much idea of their kind as their idea of animals, something quite not possible the other way around. At the time, man was already aware that he was different from other creatures, which, according to scientists, was the reason he could draw the animals and himself. Evolutionists and anthropologists agreed that, somehow, learning to draw or to make an artwork out of something marked the end of the period in evolution when humans struggle to identify themselves. It also marked the beginning of the phase where they could further evolve into the kind of humans we are today. That was quite a long journey if Darwin’s theory is right. Maybe a clearer explanation to this assumption can be derived through psychology. Explaining human behavior has long been a daunting task. Even with the breakthroughs in psychology, still a huge fraction of human behavior with respect to evolution remains vague to our understanding. However, it is simple to understand that in order to produce a painting that can last for thousands of years on the walls of a cave, man should at least have the basic ability to choose his subject on purpose. In the case of the paintings in France, the artists chose animals as their subject. And surely they chose them for a reason. Various factors probably had influenced the artists’ choice. Maybe they were trying to leave a message, telling us that these were the animals that lived during their time. Or maybe they foresaw a possible extinction and drawing the animals would enable them to preserve their images for future use in science. Yet considering the confirmed age of the paintings, it’s quite not possible for man that primitive to come up with such a reason. And thinking too much about it will only complicate this argument. Perhaps the real reason was as simple as “they liked animals.” Oftentimes, artists would choose to draw subjects that have struck their attention or have captured their affection, except some of those commissioned drawings. It’s the affection toward a subject that usually drives an artist to spend time and energy crafting a masterpiece of it. In other words, they need to like it before they can have enough motivation to draw it. Or in case there’s no specific subject, as not all types of art involve drawing a tangible subject, an artist would pick something interesting from his imagination to inspire his artwork. This is the simplest principle that applies to basic art in terms of drive or motivation. If the finds about the age of the cave paintings are correct, then this principle can quite be the case. Some 40,000 years ago, the Earth was a very different place. Compared to the cities of the present world where vehicles travel the land, the water and the air, the only objects that possessed the capability to move nearly as agile during that time were humans, animals, and heavenly bodies. Movement catches attention and eventually stirs interest. Because those animals were constantly moving, they were most likely catching humans attention far more than stationary objects like mountains and trees were. Although stationary objects were also present in many ancient artifacts, they were rarely the subject. The frequency of a certain event leads to gradual buildup of interest. The ancient artists of the famous paintings must have been frequently observing those animals, if not interacting with them, that their interest eventually grew. It’s possible that they were hunters who regularly hunted some of these animals for food. Or perhaps they tended them for other uses like agriculture. No one knows, but what’s certain is that these animals became interesting and important to the ancient humans, most likely because they had a lot in common, and the animals provided food and clothes for them. Interest is a common drive for making an artwork. As the ancient people’s interest in these creatures matured, they finally decided to draw them on the walls of that French cave. (Decision-making is a very critical task that is unique to humans in some levels) The figures were very accurate, with bodily features almost perfectly rendered. It’s not that they brought each of the animals in the cave and copied them, but their long and possibly intimate experiences in the woods or on the grassland allowed for a crystal clear memory of the animals’ images. That’s how they were able to paint those animals very precisely. Today, after thousands of years of evolution, the world has become a different place. The changes weve made in our environment have given us more subjects to draw aside from animals. In fact, buildings, bridges, ships, and other manmade structures began to appear in paintings a few centuries back. Technology supplied our imagination even with intangible subjects, which had spawned various types of art. As humans evolved into intelligent and moral beings, art also evolved. As to the path art took in the process, that’s something most artists find hard to figure out. From narrative to abstraction, art has achieved a considerable level of modernity. Art is no longer confined to rendering of subjects as it widens its scope. Prominent artists like van Gogh and Picasso, who pioneered modern art through analytic and synthetic cubism, inspired the plethora of methods of art we have at present. Art museums, which were once held exclusive for oil paintings, now provide rooms for sculptures, ceramic items, accessories, and the like. Indeed, art has evolved well in terms of media and style. However, this is not the evolution that makes artists significant. Let’s face it—just being able to carve faces from stones or scribble graffiti on wall surfaces does not make artists very useful. Aesthetics is important but it does not define purpose. Take a car for example. Even without its exquisite coating and well-designed interior, a car can still run for miles as long as it’s sufficiently fueled. Its look has little effect on its real purpose, which is to aid transportation. The significance of an element to a certain system is measured by the impact of its presence or absence in that system. For example, a person can live even without an appendix, but if you remove his heart, he will surely die. That shows that the heart is more important than the appendix, at least in a biologists perspective. Only when artists become an element that this world can never live without can they be considered truly significant. The question is “How?” Or probably “Didn’t they know?” It’s only rational to think that artworks are meant only for aesthetic uses. If not, then what else could they be for? They don’t release some kind of power that heals the sick or feeds the hungry. They are simply objects with colors and shapes we hang on the wall or post on Facebook for people to see. There’s nothing too special about them. While true at one point, it may look too shallow an argument on another. Those who perceive art this way are missing the real point. The truth is it doesn’t work that way. Everything we see around us is a product of art. Whether it is the computer you’re reading this from or the chair you’re sitting on right now, everything has a touch of art in it. Artifacts in museums, on the roadside, or on building walls comprise only a small fraction of the true contribution of art in the developed world we live in today. A car, for example, may still function well even without proper coating but if its maker did not have the adequate artistic skill to design it the way it should, it cannot move an inch. The interior walls of a building may remain standing even without decorations, but we miss to see the fact that it cannot even be there standing if the architect did not have the artistic skill to lay it out properly on papers in the first place. Imagine the world without visual artists trying to give tangible shape to ideas. It would be a messy and lifeless one, filled with people whose ignorance kills it really fast. Science could have never gone as far as reaching the outer space and exploring the deep seas. Man could still be living in caves without realizing that trees can be cut into lumber or silica and sand can be mixed to form concrete for building homes. Without them, Earth could have been long gone. In her paper entitled, The Contribution of the Artist to Scientific Visualization, artist Vibeke Sorensen of the California Institute of the Arts said, “They [Artists] help us to see in new ways and understand that which is difficult to see, making the invisible visible.” Her concept was derived from an excerpt in Essays in Science and an actual statement from Albert Einstein saying, Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best, a simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it. This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher and the natural scientist do, each in his own fashion. In other words, the world turns exactly as how artists dictate it should turn. How the future looks like may already be in the artists minds waiting to happen. In fact, if not for artists like Spielberg and Cameron who produce flashy sci-fi films, we will still be dumbfounded by the high-tech world as it appears. Therefore, there’s no reason for an artist to think less of himself or to feel inferior to anyone. Whenever artists are belittled for the seemingly small things they do, they can always go back to that French cave and remind themselves of their true importance. Those paintings showed humans their true identity and place, a realization that became the stepping stone to our physical and moral individuality. If not for artists like the cave painters, there could have not been any difference between us and animals. That contribution alone is too much to not encourage artists to value who they are by loving what they do best and doing it on good purpose. And that purpose is something the world can never live without. Only with this perspective can artists be truly significant.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 23:15:54 +0000
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