The interaction between works of art and the human mind can be hard to quantify. A film released at a certain time can spark intense feelings within a viewing audience. While a novel written generations ago can still entice a modern intellect to grow and widen. A glimpse of a transcendent painting; or the sound of timeless music can move a person to experience feelings of joy and wonder. The multitude of human creations offers the opportunity for a multitude of human responses. Despite this, I believe we can deconstruct, and distill some of the distinct ways the human mind responds to works of art. It should be noted that in speaking about the ‘human mind’, I am referring to a mind not immersed in art history, art criticism, or critical theory. Rather I am referring to a mind that is a blank slate in terms of artistic discourse. In my view, this framing represents how the vast majority of human beings encounter art during the course of their lives.
There are four main constructs relating to the interaction between art and the human mind. We will call them the utilitarian, the formal, the immediate, and the universal. Each one has its own distinct qualities. Yet the qualities of one, can inform or influence another. Each construct is a product of time, human consciousness, and the properties of the art in question. The way a work of art is perceived can be different during the time it was created versus a generation later. The metaphysical space a mind occupies, and the nature of human perception provides the lens through which a work of art is viewed. And of course the independent qualities of a work of art itself can impose themselves on our consciousness.
The utilitarian construct can be described as one where a work of art functions primarily as an object that performs a practical function. Some examples of this could include pieces of furniture, public transportation hubs like subway stations, or visual advertisements. Our minds frame each of these examples in terms of practical usage. A chair prompts us to decide whether to sit or stand. A subway stop describes our location in the world, and how to get from one place to another. And a beverage advertisement triggers us to consume - or to pass on the visual sales pitch that is presented.
One might consider the nature of the utilitarian construct negating the very idea of ‘art’ itself. It seems reasonable to conclude that a purely functional object isn’t really a work of art. Yet this notion ignores the craft that can be applied to objects that function primarily within the utilitarian construct. A piece of furniture can be beautiful, a subway station can be built with sublime grandeur, and an advertisement can be designed to be visually engrossing. This means that the utilitarian construct bleeds into, and oscillates with the formal construct. Our minds can consider and respond to the formal aspects of objects serving a practical function.
Some of the earliest known human paintings illustrate the connection between the utilitarian construct and the formal construct. Around 50,000 years ago our ancestors depicted animals on cave walls discovered in Europe and Indonesia. At the time the cave paintings were created, they probably served some kind of utilitarian purpose. Whether that was storytelling, instruction, location mapping, or ritual. Yet at the time, the formal wonder of the paintings must have captured and inspired the minds of prehistoric humans. As the millennia passed, and modern human minds began to view the paintings, the utilitarian construct faded and gave way completely to the formal construct. The modern mind can take no practical instruction from the paintings; yet it can still be moved by the formal wonder of the works.
The formal construct describes the situation where the human mind responds to a work of art overwhelmingly via the qualities of the work itself. Examples of this could include a big budget, CGI blockbuster movie that stimulates the senses, but is ultimately empty of deeper meaning. Or maybe a well written detective novel that simply looks to entertain the reader rather than teach a philosophical lesson. Under the framework of the human mind we are describing (as a blank slate when it comes to artistic discourse), abstract visual art becomes subsumed by the formal construct as well. When a mind encounters a Jackson Pollock painting today, the interaction is one where the formal aspects of the work spur the feelings the mind produces. The average viewer will not take into rational consideration the history of painting, or the psychological journey Pollock took to arrive at his most famous works.
Two interesting aspects of the formal construct are time and metaphysical foundations. As one can see with the cave paintings from prehistoric humans; the passage of time tends to remove utilitarian considerations from certain works of art. This in turn leaves the formal construct to fill the void that is left behind. Metaphysical foundations function in a similar, but distinct manner. The term ‘metaphysical foundations’ refers to the philosophical context or ideological motivations for a work of art. The sharpest examples of which would be various forms of religious art. A breathtaking painting that depicts a Christian miracle will impact a devout Christian mind in a completely different manner than it would the mind of an atheist. The Christian mind will respond within the formal, the immediate, and maybe even within the universal construct. While the atheist mind will respond primarily under the formal construct.
Art that is born out of a narrow metaphysical belief resides within the formal construct for a wide swath of human minds. For a metaphysical belief system within a human mind defines the very nature, and the structure of the reality that mind observes. In modern times, human consciousness is divided among a varying amount of metaphysical belief structures. So a work of art that is totally immersed in one, will be impenetrable to another. It’s almost like encountering someone who speaks a language different from your own. Your immediate mode of communication with them will be on a formal, and surface level. This is similar to the way a human mind responds to a work of art that is immersed in a metaphysical construct different from their own.
Art that identifies, and captures the broadest metaphysical notions of the time in which it is created, interacts with the human mind under the immediate construct. Within this construct, a viewer encounters a work of art; and instead of being prompted by utility, or formal beauty, they begin to feel something deeper. It’s almost like the mind of the viewer begins to look at itself in a way. It begins to correlate what it’s seeing, with the feelings and sentiments it has been experiencing during its interaction with the broader world.
One example of art that falls under the immediate construct would be the late James Rosenquist’s painting, ‘F-111’. Painted during the tumultuous 1960’s, the painting captures what it felt like to be alive at the time. One can imagine a contemporary viewer of the work having their minds activated by feelings concerning the world around them. In a similar manner, early 2000’s HBO television shows like ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘The Wire’ captured the minds of viewers. The television dramas were entertaining, but they also forced audiences to grapple with deep metaphysical questions about the time in which they were made. In the realm of literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1925) did the same thing. The celebrated novel captured the essence of the 1920’s jazz age, and deeper issues surrounding the human condition.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is also a good example of the interplay between the immediate construct, and what some might call the highest construct: the universal. ‘The Great Gatsby’ became a widely accepted piece of great literature as decades passed. Its staying power, and effect on modern readers can be attributed to its successful artistic depiction of universal human nature. Novels like George Orwell’s ‘1984’, and David Foster Wallace’s ‘Infinite Jest’ also rose to exist within the universal construct due to their mastery in depicting aspects of the human condition. As time went by, the time in which these novels were written mattered less and less. Their original place within the immediate construct gave way to a place within the universal construct.
A work of art that is able to deeply move and connect with a human mind many years after its creation operates within the universal construct. The highest form of the universal construct is one where a work of art is able to affect a human mind in a similar manner to the immediate construct; but free from the constraints of time. In a way, the work becomes eternal, or even transcendent. A viewer or subject is moved to feel sentiments or thoughts that are so universal, they are hardwired into human consciousness. Great music can be especially effective at this. Artists like Bob Marley or ‘The Beatles’ created songs that maintain their effect across the span of time. While the compositions of a classical master like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or the genius jazz creations of Miles Davis elicit universal, timeless wonder.
The abstract, yet potentially universal nature of classical music and jazz music, highlight a second form of the universal construct. One where the formal construct rises to the realm of the universal. Philosophers or neuroscientists can eternally deconstruct the notion of ‘beauty’ as it relates to human perception. But for our purposes we must simply acknowledge that there are formal aspects of art that the human mind has evolved to find pleasing or captivating.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a modern human being who didn’t find paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, or Georgia O'Keeffe visually appealing. I would be willing to bet that the visual appeal of such works will remain strong as long as there are human beings around to view them. The same could be said for Michelangelo’s sculpture ‘David’, or Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. When the formal aspects of a work of art rise to the universal construct, they are able to spur certain feelings within the mind of the viewer. Sentiments like awe, wonder, or joy emerge into the mind of the viewer as if they were dragged from the depths of their subconsciousness.
There are no value judgments to be placed on either of the four constructs that describe the interaction between art and the human mind. One should not be seen as ‘better’ than another. They are only descriptions that map the intentions of human creators, the passage of time, and the minds of human viewers. Like everything in our world, the nature of art is at the mercy of human consciousness. A human mind must perceive a work of art in order for the work to exist. This means (for better or worse) that the perception of a viewer is integral to how a work of art is defined in our reality. Works of art are not single, self fulfilling entities projecting their reality on the world. Rather they are similar to the human beings that view them - objects embedded in a dynamic, interdependent reality. One where the nature of things exist partly in the material world, and partly in conventions created by the human mind.