Reductionism in Art and Brain Science page 42, Zettel 147

Some birds, insects, and fish have photoreceptors that respond to the ultraviolet light (shorter wave lengths than humans can see), and some snakes, insects; and vampire bats have receptors that can respond to infrared radiations or heat (longer wavelengths than humans can see). Certainly those animals can see spectral “colors” that we cannot and their perceptions are presumably different from ours - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science page 42, Zettel 147

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science page 184, Zettel 142

While abstract paintings that appeal to our imagination call into play the brain’s top-down processing mechanism, figurative paintings that appeal to us call into play the default network of the brain. The default network, which was discovered in 2001 by Marcus Raichle (Raichle et al. 2001), consist primarily of the three brain regions: the medial temporal lobe, which is involved in memory: the posterior cingulate cortex, which is concerned with evaluating sensory information; and the medial prefrontal cortex, which is concerned with theory of mind - that is with distinguishing between another person’s mind, his or her aspirations and goals, and one’s own mind…recent studies suggest that the default network is most active during high aesthetic experience in art. (Edward Vesesel Nava Ravin, and Gabriella Starr) This intriguing finding suggests that since activation of the default network is related to our sense of self, its activation in response to art enables our perception of painting to interact with mental processes related to the self, possibly affecting them and even being incorporated into them. This line of thought is consistent with the idea that a person’s taste in art is linked to his or her sense of identity - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science page 184, Zettel 142

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Eric Kandel page 165, Zettel 137

Katz introduced a new reductionist concept into figurative art: his paintings have a flat background and lack of conventional perspective. In addition, he stressed pictorial values over narrative. He explained that “style and appearance are the thing that I’m more concerned about than about what something means. I’d like to have the style be the content, meaning, emptied of content.” (Strand 1984) - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Eric Kandel page 165, Zettel 137

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Erick Kandel page 179, Zettel 139

Thus the reason art pases such an enormous challenge to the beholder is that it teaches us to look at art - and, in a sense, at the world - in a new way. Abstract art dares our visual system to interpret an image that is fundamentally different from the kind of images our brain has evolved to reconstruct. - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Erick Kandel page 179, Zettel 139

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Erick Kandel page 179, Zettel 140

The art historian Jack Flam (2014) refers to this aspect of abstraction as “a new claim on truth”, By dismantling perspective; abstract art requires our brains to come up with a new logic of bottom-up processing. - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Erick Kandel page 179, Zettel 140

Reductionism in ART and Brain Science, by Eric Kandel, page 143, Zettel 132

Modern abstract art was predicated on two major advances: the liberation of form and the liberation of color. The Cubists, led by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, liberated form. Since then, modern art has often represented the artist’s subjective vision and state of mind rather than a naturalistic illusion of form based on the outside world. In the modern era it was largely Henri Matisse who liberated color, freeing it from form and thereby demonstrating that colors and color combinations can exert unexpectedly profound emotional effects. Once color was no longer determined by form, a color that might have seemed “wrong” in a particular figurative context would actually be right, because it was used to convey the artist’s inner vision, not to represent a particular object. Moreover, the separation of color from form is consistent with what we know about the anatomy and physiology of the prime visual system: That is form, color, movement, and depth are analyzed separately in the cerebral cortex. - Reductionism in ART and Brain Science, by Eric Kandel, page 143, Zettel 132

Reduction in Art and Brain Science, by Eric Kandel, page 130, Zettel 129

As (Agnes) Martin put it, Rothko “reached zero so that nothing could stand in the way of truth.”....As Rothko was to say about these later works, “A painting is not a picture of an experience. It is an experience.” - Reduction in Art and Brain Science, by Eric Kandel, page 130, Zettel 129

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, by Erick Kandel page 130, Zettel 128

In focusing on color, Rothko was searching for a new style of abstraction that would link modern art forms that reach out to the infinite. To achieve this, he abandoned figuration and focused exclusively on the expressive power of large fields of color. His experiments inspired a number of artists to follow his lead, to free color from objective contexts, inhibit access to figurative associations, and make it a subject of its own.  In a way, Rothko succeeded in achieving what biologists, including biologists of perception and memory, try to do with reductionist science. - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, by Erick Kandel page 130, Zettel 128

John Rohrbach, preface of “In the American West” Richard Avedon, Zettel 125

…Instead of the staged explorations of artifice delivered by Cindy Sherman, he delivers the results of a heartfelt improvised dance between photographer and sitter where landscape comes projected through clothing and time is revealed in every blemish and fold of skin….Together, the photographer and his subjects had succeeded in delivering piercing looks at the wear of life’s struggles. - John Rohrbach, preface of “In the American West” Richard Avedon, Zettel 125

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, by Erick Kandel, page 126, Zettel 124

Rothko saw such reductionism as necessary: “The familiar identity of things has to be pulverized in order to destroy the finite associations with which our society increasingly enshrouds every aspect of our environment” (ROss 1991). Only by pushing the limits of color, abstraction, and reduction, he argued, can the artist create an image that librates us from conventional associations with color and form and allows our brain to form new ideas, associations, and relationships - and new emotional responses to them. - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, by Erick Kandel, page 126, Zettel 124

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science” by Erick Kandel, page 115, Zettel 123

Thus what abstract artists contend - and abstract art itself bears out - is that an impression, a sensory stimulation of the retina, is merely a spark for associative recall. The abstract painter does not attempt to provide pictorial detail, but rather to create conditions that enable the viewer to complete the picture based on his or her own unique experience. Legend has it that upon viewing a sunset painted by Turner, a young woman remarked, “I never saw a sunset like that, Mr. Turner,” to which Turner replied, “Don’t you wish you could, madam?”  - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science” by Erick Kandel, page 115, Zettel 123

Dostoevsky, A Writer in His Time, Joseph Frank page 57, Zettel 136

“To know nature, the soul, god, love … These are known by the heart, not the mind.” Dostoevskey argues that thought cannot unriddle the mystery of creation because “mind is a material faculty,” and as such is not in touch with transcendental truth. “Mind is an instrument, a machine, moved by the fire of the soul.” It is the soul that is the true medium for attaining the highest knowledge, for ”if the goal of knowledge is love and nature, this opens up a clear field for the heart.” Poetry is thus just as much a medium of knowledge as philosophy because “ the pet in the transport of inspiration, unriddles god.” - Dostoevsky, A Writer in HIs Time, Joseph Frank page 57, Zettel 136

Reductionism in Art and Brina Science, Eric Kandel, pg 101, Zettel 120

..it was Pollock who, according to even to de Kooning, “really broke the ice.” Pollock proved to be by far, the strongest personality of his generation. As de Kooning put it: “Every so often, a painter has to destroy painting. Cezanne dd it. Picasso did it with Cubism. Then Pollock did it. He busted our idea of a picture all to hell. Then there could be new paintings again. (Galenson 2009) - Reductionism in Art and Brina Science, Eric Kandel, pg 101, Zettel 120

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Eric Kandel, pg 90 & 91, Zettel 117

Two of de Kooning’s paintings were of seminal importance in this period: Excavation and Woman I. Excavation, painted in 1950, is generally considered one of the most important paintings of the twentieth century….In Excavation, de Kooning achieved a magical synthesis of these two modern claims of truth. His powerful, poised style integrated the rigorous detachment of Cubist structure with the personal drive and spontaneity of the moment. - Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Eric Kandel, pg 90 & 91, Zettel 117

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Eric Kandel, pg 87, Zettel 116

The art critic Clement Greenberg divided the abstract Expressionist Painters into two groups (1961,1962): the gestural painters de Kooning and Pollock, and the color-filed painter Rothko, Morris Louis, and Barnett Newman. However, as the art historian Robert Rosenblum points out, this distinction is less important than the artist’s common pursuit of the sublime (1961) - Reductionism in Art and Brina Science, Eric Kandel, pg 87, Zettel 116

Daniel Lewis, The New York Times, Thursday, July 2023 on MILAN KUNDERA, 1929 - 2023

Milan Kundera was born on April 1, 1929, in Brno, in what is now the Czech Republic, the son of Milada Janosikova and Ludvik Kundera. His father, a noted concert pianist and and musicologist, taught him piano, and he considered a career in music before his interests shifted to literature, particularly French.
“From an early age ,” he told an interviewer for the literary journal Salmagundi in 1987, “I read Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Apollinaire, Breton, Cocteau, Bataille, Ionesco, and admired French surrealism.” - Daniel Lewis, The New York Times, Thursday, July 2023 on MILAN KUNDERA, 1929 - 2023