Introduction

Abstraction and Mysticism. Two words which are inextricably linked, at every turn in the path of abstraction we find the mystical, the romantic, the ‘spiritual’, either lurking behind or clearly opposed. In any case abstraction is called to acknowledge if only to reject the ethereal. What is the basis of this relationship? Is there any place for a concept of universality in art? I do not set out here to outline an historical map, nor am I setting forth to unpick the cultural and philosophical drives behind the rise and fall of transcendent themes in abstraction. I will use various illustrations but I am not looking into a particular artist or period. The work shown serves as a philosophical model rather than a specific point of enquiry. I am taking an entirely different view and one, I believe, is particularly relevant to our time, neurology.

The 1990’s have been labelled by many in the field ‘the decade of the brain’. The enormous advancement in brain imaging technology has enabled neurologists to make huge jumps in their understanding of how the brain works. There are many new branches of the science appearing, including neuroaesthetics (looking into the underpinnings of art production) and neurotheology (proposing a neurological basis for religious experience). There is also a resurgence in the research into synaesthesia, a condition which had been dismissed as a neurological anomaly but may now uncover many mysteries as to the workings of the brain. The twenty first century is one in which the brain is fast becoming the focus of research. As our understanding increases so then we are spurred to ask more probing questions about the nature of the mind and experience. Neurology holds vital information when considering a larger philosophy of the mind. Following Kantian philosophy, in order to understand the universe around us we must first look at the tools we are trying to understand it with.

There are several things I feel I must make clear at this point. Firstly, I am not a neurologist. The scientific research data at the forefront of this field is readily available, but technically beyond the layperson, so for the sake of constructing a theory I have assumed the authority of this research. I have referenced this material. What I propose is embryonic at this point but I present it as a potential new direction in our understanding of the mind. Secondly, I am not proposing a theory that encompasses the entire spectrum of art making. The concept of universality is commonly applied in scientific thought, where making connections leads to great discovery, but when applied to the humanities can be generalising, robbing rather than informing. This is essentially a scientific essay looking at universals within the mind on the most fundamental level.

Chapter one introduces the discussion of ‘Form Constants’ by looking at Palaeolithic cave painting and the origins of art. I will discuss this in light of research linking early art production and altered states of consciousness, forming a link between abstraction and mystical experience. Here I outline Kluvers’ categorisation of visual perceptual phenomena developed through the analysis of hallucinatory experience.

Chapter two discusses the nature of mystical experience and its roots in the brain, considering current research in neurotheology by Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili and Michael Persinger’s ‘God Helmet”.

Chapter three looks at synaesthesia, the phenomena of sensory merging, where one sense stimulation leads to the stimulation of another within the brain. I propose this as the link between visual perceptual phenomena and mystical experience, and discuss research, which indicates that this is common to us all: a universal sensory bridge between abstraction and the transcendent.