Memetic evolution of art to distinct aesthetics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a memetic theory of art evolution, focusing on typological transitions from 3D to 2D art forms and how material choices influence aesthetic development across human history.

Contribution

It introduces a novel memetic framework explaining the evolution of art typologies and aesthetic distinctions from early human times to modern graffiti.

Findings

Typological transitions driven by material and structural choices.

Symbolic tinkering creates aesthetic and non-aesthetic art forms.

A memetic perspective explains the evolution of artistic display.

Abstract

Humans have been using symbolic representation (i.e. art) as a creative cultural form indisputably for at least 80,000 years. A description of the processes central to the evolution of art from sculpted earthen forms early in human existence to paintings in museums of the modern world is absent in scholarly literature. The present manuscript offers a memetic theory of art evolution demonstrating typological transitions of art in the period post the 3-dimensional to 2-dimensional transition occurring in the early Aurignacian period. The process of art evolution in the 2-dimensional form central to the typological transitions post this period was propelled by material and/or structure chosen to display the artistic message. Symbolic representational tinkering whether collectively or individually creates artistic typologies of display deemed aesthetic and non-aesthetic by the current cultural milieu. Contemporary forms of graffiti underscore the aesthetic/nonaesthetic dichotomy.