The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics
In this paper we discuss the work of Francis Bacon in the context of his declared aim of giving a visual shock. We explore what this means in terms of brain activity and what insights into the brain’s visual perceptive system his work gives. We do so especially with reference to the representation o...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00850/full |
| _version_ | 1818849697401405440 |
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| author | Semir eZeki Tomohiro eIshizu |
| author_facet | Semir eZeki Tomohiro eIshizu |
| author_sort | Semir eZeki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper we discuss the work of Francis Bacon in the context of his declared aim of giving a visual shock. We explore what this means in terms of brain activity and what insights into the brain’s visual perceptive system his work gives. We do so especially with reference to the representation of faces and bodies in the human visual brain. We discuss the evidence that shows that both these categories of stimuli have a very privileged status in visual perception, compared to the perception of other stimuli, including man-made artifacts such as houses, chairs and cars. We show that viewing face and house stimuli that depart significantly from a normal representation of faces and bodies entails a significant difference in the pattern of brain activation. We argue that Bacon succeeded in delivering his visual shock because he subverted the normal neural representation of faces and bodies, without at the same time subverting the representation of man-made artifacts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T06:37:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c0678587fe3485e8538882c1503efdc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T06:37:21Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c0678587fe3485e8538882c1503efdc2022-12-21T20:32:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612013-12-01710.3389/fnhum.2013.0085068253The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroestheticsSemir eZeki0Tomohiro eIshizu1University College LondonUniversity College LondonIn this paper we discuss the work of Francis Bacon in the context of his declared aim of giving a visual shock. We explore what this means in terms of brain activity and what insights into the brain’s visual perceptive system his work gives. We do so especially with reference to the representation of faces and bodies in the human visual brain. We discuss the evidence that shows that both these categories of stimuli have a very privileged status in visual perception, compared to the perception of other stimuli, including man-made artifacts such as houses, chairs and cars. We show that viewing face and house stimuli that depart significantly from a normal representation of faces and bodies entails a significant difference in the pattern of brain activation. We argue that Bacon succeeded in delivering his visual shock because he subverted the normal neural representation of faces and bodies, without at the same time subverting the representation of man-made artifacts.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00850/fullface perceptionBody perceptionneuroestheticsFrancis BaconFace & Body Deformation |
| spellingShingle | Semir eZeki Tomohiro eIshizu The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics Frontiers in Human Neuroscience face perception Body perception neuroesthetics Francis Bacon Face & Body Deformation |
| title | The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics |
| title_full | The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics |
| title_fullStr | The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics |
| title_short | The Visual Shock of Francis Bacon: An essay in neuroesthetics |
| title_sort | visual shock of francis bacon an essay in neuroesthetics |
| topic | face perception Body perception neuroesthetics Francis Bacon Face & Body Deformation |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00850/full |
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