tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post1571142723449103898..comments2023-09-23T08:27:07.212-07:00Comments on Prof Zeki's Musings: A reductionist exhibitionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-88204490220853648762012-09-16T11:44:18.350-07:002012-09-16T11:44:18.350-07:00Thanks, Jf, for your comments.
The original paper...Thanks, Jf, for your comments. <br />The original papers on orientation selective cells are by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel and they are to be found in the Journal of Physiology (1959, 1962) and the Journal Of Neurophysiology (1965). Many more papers have been published on orientation selective cells since, but these remain the classic papers. <br /><br />I have come to doubt whether these cells, fascinating though they are, are necessarily the physiological "building blocks" for the elaboration of shapes by the brain. <br /><br />Your comments about hierarchy are also interesting. I would add that perhaps a more compelling feature, applicable to the works of Mondrian as much as to representational art, is that of parallelism - the notion that different attributes of a visual scene are processed and perceived separately. This is not to deny a unit for these works, but I am now no longer sure that that unit is built up in a piecemeal way, as we had all supposed. S.Z.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05135219380052959664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-60944487839065179412012-09-15T14:35:02.956-07:002012-09-15T14:35:02.956-07:00Could you give a reference for the discovery of or...Could you give a reference for the discovery of orientation selective cells in the visual brain? I would very much like to read more about this topic. And whether it has any relevance to the brain's urge to look for hierarchal structures in an image. In Mondrian's work there are apparantly no hierarchies, every part of a painting is of equal importance, and this goed for much abstract art, I suppose. Representational art on the other hand always displays, consciously or uncounsciously, a hierarchy in order to convey a meaning. And I wonder if there is a neurobiological process which makes the human brain look for these structures.<br />Jef S.Jef S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16826197370502822758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-35822628753717244212012-05-01T13:33:40.602-07:002012-05-01T13:33:40.602-07:00Thanks. Let me know if you find anuything new. I h...Thanks. Let me know if you find anuything new. I hope my next post will be about a reductionist literary work.S.Z.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05135219380052959664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-12364431640658672442012-04-30T16:22:06.945-07:002012-04-30T16:22:06.945-07:00How thrilling to know you think this way. I'm ...How thrilling to know you think this way. I'm still learning what I think about Mondrian. I've seen letters between Blavadski and Ezra Cornell in the basement of Olin Library. The talk about art. I need to see them again.Mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06343452639819348505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-32137056720290726542012-04-17T08:01:38.327-07:002012-04-17T08:01:38.327-07:00Thanks for these interesting comments. The influen...Thanks for these interesting comments. The influence of Theosophy on Mondrian was, I understand, so profound, that he did not ever use green in his abstract composition for theosophical reasons. I suppose the restriction of his palette to red, yellow and blue (plus of course the black lines against a white background) represents a further reductionism.S.Z.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05135219380052959664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135284651117634504.post-80917541183434774462012-04-17T02:33:12.108-07:002012-04-17T02:33:12.108-07:00Apparently Mondrian's was also influenced by t...Apparently Mondrian's was also influenced by the spiritual ideas of Theosophy, which I think is evidenced in this desire to reduce the complex forms of the material world to the abstactions of geometry and primary colours. I see this as his moving toward the entire dematerialisation that Malevich speaks about (although for very different reasons) in which the fallen world of objects, and even platonic abstractions are left behind in favour of some aspirational pure 'spirit'.Conference Reporthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17622873093215344774noreply@blogger.com