The ID Arts Blog

A fascinating article by Judith Thurman, “First Impressions: What does the world’s oldest art say about us?” (June 23, 2008) in The New Yorker explores the attempts we make to understand the artworks left by humans drawing on the walls of caves thousands of years ago.

She reflects on the Chauvet paintings found in south central France. These oldest known paintings predate the Lascaux and Altamira friezes by fifteen to eighteen thousand years. The history of interpretation of older artworks has suffered from too-ready assumptions about “primitive” people, in particular that, as mud slowly morphed into mind, art would gradually become more sophisticated. For example,

He had also made the Darwinian assumption that the most ancient art was the most primitive, and [i]n that respect, Chauvet was a bombshell. It is Aurignacian, and its earliest paintings are at least thirty-two thousand years old, yet they are just as sophisticated as much later compositions. What emerged with that revelation was an image of Paleolithic artists transmitting their techniques from generation to generation for twenty-five millennia with almost no innovation or revolt. A profound conservatism in art, Curtis notes, is one of the hallmarks of a “classical civilization.” For the conventions of cave painting to have endured four times as long as recorded history, the culture it served, he concludes, must have been “deeply satisfying”—and stable to a degree it is hard for modern humans to imagine.

Also, curiously in the light of the notion of the “violent brute” cave man,

No human conflict is recorded in cave art, although at three separate sites there are four ambiguous drawings of a creature with a man’s limbs and torso, pierced with spearlike lines. More pertinent, perhaps, is a famous vignette in the shaft at Lascaux. It depicts a rather comical stick figure with an avian beak or mask, a puny physique, and a long skinny penis. He and his erect member seem to have rigor mortis. He is flat on his back at the feet of an exquisitely realistic wounded bison, whose intestines are spilling out. The bison’s glance is turned away, but it might have an ironic smile. Could the subject be hubris? Whatever it represents, some mythic contest—and the struggle of prehistorians to interpret their subject is such a contest—has ended in a draw.

Her descriptions are beautiful,

A great frieze covers the back left wall: a pride of lions with Pointillist whiskers seems to be hunting a herd of bison, which appear to have stampeded a troop of rhinos, one of which looks as if it had fallen into, or is climbing out of, a cavity in the rock. As at many sites, the scratches made by a standing bear have been overlaid with a palimpsest of signs or drawings, and one has to wonder if cave art didn’t begin with a recognition that bear claws were an expressive tool for engraving a record—poignant and indelible—of a stressed creature’s passage through the dark.

and I will spoil no more of them for you. A fierce controversy rages over how exactly to interpret the art and its purpose – or whether one should attempt to interpret it at all. One archaeologist defended his interpretation as follows:

Clottes was hurt and outraged by the rancor of the attacks that greeted “The Shamans of Prehistory” (“psychedelic ravings,” one critic wrote), and the authors defended themselves in a subsequent edition. “You can advance a scientific hypothesis without claiming certainty,” Clottes told me one evening. “Everyone agrees that the paintings are, in some way, religious. I’m not a believer myself, and I’m certainly not a mystic. But Homo sapiens is Homo spiritualis. The ability to make tools defines us less than the need to create belief systems that influence nature. And shamanism is the most prevalent belief system of hunter-gatherers.”

Influence nature, yes, but we also need to understand and interpret nature. Probably the most important thing that the cave paintings tell us about ourselves is that the mind seems to have emerged rather suddenly, not by a long series of increments, a point that Mario Beauregard and I discuss in The Spiritual Brain.

Tour the caves, courtesy France’s culture ministry. The image above is but one of many you can click on. Also tour Lascaux here (at Virtual visit) and view Altamira images here.

by Denyse O’Leary

ARN correspondent

A sculpture of a mammoth and figures of other animals, the oldest ivory carvings ever found, dated to 35 000 years ago, shed another ray of light into early human culture. (Most existing artifacts are less than 5000 years old.):

The figure of the woolly mammoth is tiny, measuring just 3.7 cm long and weighing a mere 7.5 grams, and displays skilfully detailed carvings. It is unique in its slim form, pointed tail, powerful legs and dynamically arched trunk. It is decorated with six short incisions, and the soles of the pachyderm’s feet show a crosshatch pattern. The miniature lion is 5.6 cm long, has a extended torso and outstretched neck. It is decorated with approximately 30 finely incised crosses on its spine.

What’s remarkable about these sudden flowerings of art is that they show an astonishing level of sophistication that doesn’t appear to have precursors. See also, for example, the Willendorf Venus and the Lascaux Caves. These finds support a top down view of intelligence (mind comes first) rather than a bottom up one (matter gradually morphs into mind).

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O’Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada’s Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

Just as ID inspires art, so does Darwinism. If there is one place where the Darwinian creation story has been proven true, its in Photoshop skills of artist Daniel Lee. Lee uses the Photoshop software to combine human portraits with animal features in his Manimals exhibition.

by Denyse O’Leary

ARN correspondent

Illustrations

Here are some illustrations riffing off the popular myth of the “Ascent of Man”, and other evolution folklore:

A spoof of the biology text

Devolution of Obese Man

Evolution of Computer Man

Evolution of the Research Grant

For these graphics, hat tip to a correspondent from Singapore!

Cartoons

I’ve also collected these ID-related cartoons along the way:

(Note: The cartoons are not necessarily ID-friendly. Most attracted my attention because they showed genuine wit.)

Eight cartoons

Tax code laff

Manwhile, here is an amazingly ugly cartoon used to promote Darwinism by a classical Darwin lobby!

.. and a Spoof!

For a spoof of Darwinism by ID-friendly wags, you can’t beat the Brites.org, its very name a spoof of The Brights – a group of self-consciously superior Darwinists.

Here are some current entries:

Professor of Pugilism Conway Moore attempts to savage ID-friendly astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez:

CM: … Look. Religious whackos who believe in Intelligent Design believe the earth is only 5000 years old because it says so in the Bible in the book of Guinness. By any standard…

ED: Do you mean Genesis ?

CM: Whatever.

ED: Dr. Gonzalez believes the universe is billions of years old and originated at the Big Bang.

CM: Oh. Nevertheless, …

The “I Love Lucy” petition, insisting that the now (apparently) discredited she-gorilla “Lucy” is really adorable Mum after all:

Professor Yoel Rak at the Sackler School of Medicine’s department of anatomy and anthropology said, “The presence of the morphology in both the latter and Australopithecus afarensis and its absence in modern humans cast doubt on the role of [Lucy] as a common ancestor.”

Rak’s statement infuriates Finch.

“If man didn’t evolve from apes,” offered Finch, “then I am an obnoxious pompous overeducated immature egocentric materialist with goo for brains.”

Also, this sendup of evolutionary psychology’s latest theory on the origin of humor – but the trouble is, evolutionary psychology is so inherently ridiculous that it is genuinely hard to spoof. Still, the illustration of “crude Ardepithecus humor” definitely works.

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O’Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada’s Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

In this podcast episdode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin with Discovery Institute interviews medical illustrator and artist Jody Sjogren. Jody tells her scientific journey from being a passive “go-with-the-flow” Darwinist to becoming a Darwin-skeptic as she learned more and more about the workings of biology and human-designed machines, and gained experience with the creative-process. Jody graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology, and then from the Medical College of Georgia with a Master of Science degree in Medical Illustration, and also has a background in aviation. She now works as an artist with Metamorphosis Studios, and contributes to IDarts.org, both of which feature her highly-regarded art connecting biological avian flight with human-designed flight-machines. Two of Jody’s prints (Dominant Raptor and Blackbird) can be purchased here and the proceeds support the idarts website.

We are pleased to introduce artist Tim McMahan and his ID Art print entitled “Placed with Purpose”. We are also pleased to offer those that sign up for the ID Arts mailing list a free high-resolution edition of this image suitable for framing or use as your computer desktop wallpaper. Here is Tim’s commentary on the image: “I created it in Adobe Photoshop with the use of two stock photos (the moon and the eye). I created it after hearing a lecture by Jay Richards on The Privileged Planet in March 2005. Dr. Richards mentioned in that lecture that many of the things we find most beautiful in nature also happen to be results of things that are necessary for our survival. I was inspired by the idea that a solar eclipse is not only an expression of beauty but also evidence of purposeful design. While looking at an eclipse, we can see the designer looking back at us.” 

Tim is a freelance graphic designer based in Orange, CA. He graduated from Biola University in 1996 with a B.S. in Art.

With a motor structure of drive shaft, rotor, bushings, propeller, and a rotational speed of about 20,000 rpm, the bacterial flagellum of the E. coli bacteria has become the veritable mascot of intelligent design. This molecular machine has been called “irreducibly complex” by Michael Behe and other biologists, meaning that the flagellum poses an obstacle to step-by-step Darwinian evolutionary processes. At the same time, this nano-motor structure has the type of intricate, precise, and efficient molecular arrangements that are exemplary in showing the striking similarities between technological structures known to be caused by intelligence, and the type of complexity found in living cells.

This three dimensional image of one of the quickest and most efficient machines in the known universe was created using Sketchup3D, based on the structural descriptions of Howard C. Berg and other biologists. Rendering a three-dimensional image can be tedious, this particular work taking about thirteen hours. The result of this rendering process is a unique visual expression of one of the most amazing examples of molecular motors to be found in the biological world.

To view the 3D model in three dimensions, you will need to download SketchUp. Click here to download the 3D bacterial flagellum.

For more information, and a version with protein labels, visit ResearchID.org.

“…Only from the deep coal tunnels
White diamonds come.
But only by the light
They are recognized…”

Akiane’s Co-Creating is featured elsewhere in this blog as an example of artists who feel their talent is somehow a reflection of the creative nature of the universe. Divine Knowledge is another of Akiane’s works that speaks to the design of the universe and our yearning to understand it. If we use our chisel to follow the evidence where ever it leads, will we find the diamond? Perhaps we have already found the diamond (DNA) and just don’t fully realize it, or are still discovering its implications. Here are Akiane’s comments about this painting (keep in mind she was age 11 when she wrote this):

“This painting was particularly hard for me, because I have changed it so many times and ended up using two models and two completely different backgrounds. It took me a few months to paint its full meaning and another five months of prayer to fully understand it.

This is the painting about search for divine knowledge.

The young sculptor represents our civilization mostly ruled by the male. His youth shows that our civilization is still immature. The sculptor is chiseling a huge heap of coal in order to find the diamond representing divine knowledge.

The sculptor ignores the pain, strain, hardship and temptation of everything surrounding him. All he focuses on is on finding this particular diamond, and he knows that if he chisels long enough through the black coal layers, representing human knowledge, he will finally see the diamond of divine knowledge.

In the background of a cave the contrast of ice and hot rocks represent the world of contrasts we live in.

The melted ice that formed a narrow stream flowing through, symbolizes humanity’s thirst for knowledge that can be quenched only by God’s light.”

Visit Akiane’s website and click on the image for a more detailed view of the painting.

Jody Sjogren has an entire metamorphosis series she has developed depicting man-made designs that draw their inspiration from designs in nature. Several of her prints in this series have already sold out, but she still has a small supply of Blackbird prints left that she has agreed to make available for the launch of our ID Arts Project.

The similarities between machines and living systems inspired artist Jody Sjogren to create “Blackbird,” a visual metamorphosis between the Raven and the SR-71 Blackbird. These two black avian knights share many attributes and functional capabilities. But the elegance and complexity of the bird’s features rival those of this Mach 3+ spyplane. With variable-geometry wings; on-board maintenance, repair, and refueling systems; and even the ability to reproduce itself, the Raven compels us to consider that intelligent design is as logical an explanation for the origin of living systems as it is for man-made machines. (Maybe not politically correct, but definitely logical!)

The Blackbird art print is available from ARN.

This beautiful watercolor image was painted in a canyon in Colorado. Some might wander upon this scene and only see random patterns of nature. As an artist operating in an intelligently designed world, Chris Woolley finds purpose:

“When you hike up North Cheyenne Canyon, you eventually step through the trees to find looming above you this rock of monumental proportions. It is set on the side of a hill with the path brushing past it on the right. It is large enough to provide shelter in a time of storm or a solid foundation if one chooses to spend time there. When I first found Split Rock I felt compelled to draw and paint it and have since grown quite fond of my time spent there. It has become for me a metaphor for life. The rock that was broken, but through that brokenness I create art.”

– Chris Woolley

The Split Rock art print is available from ARN.

Many mindful artists realize (and have realized) that they are the instrument, not the source of art. It is often remarked in music circles that Mozart appeared to be a conduit for his work since his original manuscripts show no signs of correction or rewriting; it was as if he was taking dictation. Many artists report occasionally having a taste of this experience, where the art flows effortlessly, while at other times it is an incredible struggle. Does the fact that music and art can occasionally flow through us as instruments point to a grand design of the universe? Do the sights and sounds of the world around us, as captured by the artist, reflect a design that is not a proof, but a shadow or reflection of the deeper design of the universe?

This question is intensified when we encounter child prodigies such as self-taught artist Akiane Kramarik, who first started drawing at age 4 and was doing solo art exhibits by age 9. Watch this CNN video interview with Akiane for a glimpse of her amazing artistic talent.

Click on the thumbnail above for a larger view of Akiane’s self portrait entitled “Co-creating”. Here is her commentary on this work: “Right after my eleventh birthday I visualized my self portrait through the view of a canvas and through the eyes of the spirit. I hoped to express the joy of co-creating, and the awe of feeling God’s love and wisdom.”

The discovery of the helix-shaped DNA by Crick and Watson was viewed by artist Salvador Dali as evidence of the intelligent design of life and one of the inspirations for his 1963 painting Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid shown here (click on image for larger view). For more background and interpretation on this complex work see the commentary by Jonathan Ashar.

22″ x 29″ giclee prints of this image can be ordered on-line.

Chuck’s Bad Day by Matt Voss, is a fictional graphic story suggesting that there may have been many factors that influenced Darwin to develop his theory. It is featured in the 2006 SCAD Science Anthology and Slam Bang Anthology #1 Vol. 3 by Fantastic Press. Matt Voss (a.k.a. “Vosshogg”) is a comic book creator, freelance illustrator, and storyboard artist with a B.F.A in Sequential Art form Savannah College of Art and Design. He currently lives in the Bay Area, CA.

Click to view or download

Inspired by the majestic power of the Bald Eagle and the technological wonders of the F-22 Raptor, artist Jody F. Sjogren captures the association between these two “dominant raptors” of the skies. Who has not marveled at this great American bird of prey on the wing, or pondered the fierce force of its curved talons and hooked beak? Wherever it flies, Haliaeetus leucocephalus dominates its territory. Above all other raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls), it reigns as America’s symbol of national pride and strength. In military parallel, Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor guarantees “air dominance” in aerial warfare. As the first of the United States Air Force’s fifth generation fighter aircraft, the F-22 prevents hostile aircraft and missiles from denying U.S. operations worldwide, day or night. The Raptor’s combination of maneuverability, speed, stealth, integrated avionics, and supportability multiplies its advantages in both air-to-air and air-to-ground environments. In any airspace and any situation, the F-22 gives its pilot unsurpassed control of the engagement. By the genius of its designers, it has become — like its living counterpart — the dominant raptor of the skies.

The Dominate Raptor art print is available from ARN.

Some art comes with a more direct message. Such is the case with our next work from political cartoonist Chuck Asay. A recent book attacking intelligent design (Intelligent Thought: Science vs. the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. John Brockman, Vintage Press, May 2006), has chapters by most of the big names in evolutionary thought: Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne, Steven Pinker, Lee Smolin, Stuart A. Kauffman and others. In the introduction Brockman summarizes the situation from his perspective: materialistic Darwinism is the only scientific approach to origins, and the “bizarre” claims of “fundamentalists” with “beliefs consistent with those of the Middle Ages” must be opposed. “The Visigoths are at the gates” of science, chanting that schools must teach the controversy, “when in actuality there is no debate, no controversy.”

While Brockman intended the “Visigoths” reference as an insult equating those who do not embrace materialistic Darwinism to uneducated barbarians, he has actually created an interesting analogy of the situation, and perhaps a prophetic look at the future. For it was the Visigoths of the 3rd and 4th centuries that were waiting at the gates of the Roman Empire when it collapsed under its own weight. For years the Darwinists in power have pretended all is well in the land of random mutation and natural selection and that intelligent design should be ignored. With this book (and several others like it), they are attempting to both laugh and fight back at the ID movement. This work by Chuck Asay proves again that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Click to view a larger imager or order your Visogoths products at our CafePress Store

I picked up this little book a few years ago in a museum shop in Europe, and to tell you the truth it was the seed that generated this whole ID Arts project. The book explains that four different types of “isms” are represented: 1) a trend within the visual arts; 2) a broad cultural trend; 3) artist-defined movement; and 4) retrospectively applied label. The broad cultural trends caught my eye: Renaissance, Secularism, Humanism, Realism, Materialism, Primitivism, Post-Modernism. The art movements marched along the timeline in step with intellectuals movements. As ID theory emerges in step with startling new discoveries about the design and complexity of life, where will that show up in the world of art? IDism? Designism? If you are an artist thinking about these issues, buy this book and spend a weekend looking at the Chronology of Isms timeline in the back of the book and absorbing the sample art for each period and help us define the next art ism on the chart: Designism.

Isms: Understanding Art is the perfect pocket-sized guide for gallery and museum lovers who have a general interest in the arts, but not necessarily any formal education in the visual arts. With this portable and indispensable tool in hand, anyone can guide themselves through the world’s prestigious museums and major art collections and recognize and intelligently discuss the significant movements that have shaped the world of art.

Using an informative and engaging style with informal and direct tone, each of the numerous “isms” that are used to define-but often misleadingly cloud-art movements are explained in simple terms and made accessible to the casual art lover. Readers are encouraged to think of styles as useful tools for conversation and exploration rather than as hard and fast academic definitions, and to relate to the art itself rather than to a merely conceptual idea.

Each spread is devoted to a single art historical period and begins with an introduction that explains when the movement first emerged, the historical period to which it applies, and the principal disputes over its applicability, usefulness, or significance. The rest of the chapter is divided into several sections illustrating the most important artists and works within the period, related key words, and illustrations that best represent the distinctive features. This comprehensible structure makes it possible for any reader to gain a clear understanding of Classicism or Cubism while sitting in a café or visiting a gallery.

Isms: Understanding Art is Available at Amazon.com