Blog one: The Natural History of Art article response

I found Conniff’s article interesting, as I have always appreciated art but never really gave any thought as to why that was. It makes sense to me that as humans evolved, we kept biological triggers that cause us to like or be attracted to something so we could have the greatest chance at survival. I could see Conniff’s point in some of his examples—mainly those in which nature scenes or animal-like features were exhibited—because these are things that would have caught our attention way back in primitive times. Some of his examples I found to be a little stretched, however, like the ballerina’s pointed toes as we discussed in class.
What I take from this article is the knowledge that yes, some of art perhaps is biologically based, and there are parts of art that are intrinsically attractive to us as humans. I personally think that, in addition to Conniff’s examples, art could also be evolutionary in that it is a form of communication in a sense between the artist and the viewer (or listener if it’s music). I can just imagine that cave people drew things on their cave walls both to entertain and also to talk about the world going on around them. Today, I think that art still holds some of those qualities as the artist makes art for entertainment or to get a message across to their audience, although these days it seems much more “developed” than that of early humans. Maybe then it is somewhere in our DNA to be able to communicate in this way.
However, although I believe that there is some basis to Conniff’s examples, I don’t believe that art is completely DNA-based. Humans are the only animals that can think abstractly, and I personally would like to think that we have the ability to express our creativity and enjoy other’s creative expressions on our own, and not just because it is biologically linked. I think that we are able to see dimensions in art that biology can’t explain. There very well could be an initial attraction to art that lies in our evolution, but I think that that initial attraction is built upon by our personal life experiences and viewpoints that ultimately bring different elements into the piece of art.