The Origin of Art: Towards Humanistic-Scientific Theories and Methodologies

The origins of Art expose the paradoxes of Western critical paradigms by showing how beauty, constantly associated with purity, truth and integrity, is a concept encrusted with the values as well as the biases which have marked the history of Western civilization. The characteristics we attach to Western ‘popular’ art exhibit remarkable similarities with the features we note in the art of ‘non-Western’, ‘indigenous’ cultures. ‘Popular’ is the label conventionally assigned to woodcarving, embroidery, painted glass, metal working and every other formof craft, while ‘non-Western’ and ‘indigenous’ are definitions utilized, not less conventionally, to encompass, and classify, the cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Americas and to include artistic expressions not properly classifiable as ‘pure’ art. In fact, those artefacts may be made to be beautiful, but are certainly, and possibly primarily, intended for specific uses. Trans-disciplinary enquiries into the origins of art can thrive on methods which, while maintaining the efficacy of historically and philosophically oriented critical modes, encompass archaeology, ethnology, cognitive sciences and biology. The concept of interface presupposes the activation of osmotic processes which can neutralise biased, hierarchical preconceptions about fine and lesser art, pure and applied creativity, us and them. Because origins have been eluded by humanities scholars, the construction of a new cartography of the arts is necessary. The act of mapping involves studying the interactions between innate biological predispositions which trigger responses to emotional stimuli and the cultural environment which enhances or thwarts them. The artistic process presupposes the expression of emotional drives, is never learned and repeated mechanically, entails the deployment of technical skills and creativity, and requires an adequate environment. Interfaced methodologies are worth developing because they can offer a substantial contribution towards an understanding of art as an intrinsic, and shared, rather than a privileged, almost exclusive, human expression