Art and Evolution: Part I (Cognitive Lines)

Pech de l'Aze aurochs bone with deliberate markings. Lower Paleo (200,000 bp) (This drawing pilfered from Don's Maps)

Art plays a huge part in our lives. Many of us dedicate our lives to creating, studying, or appreciating art. But did you know it was (and is) a crucial factor in the survival of our species?

Featured Artist: Jose Van Loon

Jose Van Loon is a textile artist from the Netherlands. Visit her webpage: http://www.josevanloon.nl/, and facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jose-van-Loon.

From her webpage (this is Bing-translated  from Dutch):

"I'm trying to turn inside out,
the material is converted into a symbol,
that each one for himself can translate to a new interior."

This art speaks to me of how the wild is viewed by humans, the proprietary nature of humans, moments and breaths caught for analysis, threads binding ancient with modern, the poetics of science. Each piece is an artifact that still lives. Tangled ghost houses under glass. Categorized and labeled. Silent and proper. And infinitely beautiful.