Neuroscience and the artist's mind

This paper is a heuristic attempt to put art back into nature by trying to understand the biological basis of mind and its relation to the world. This relationship is negotiated at a physiological level by primary consciousness but, with the development of the human brain over time, higher-level consciousness has evolved symbolic systems to explore the significance of social and cultural experience, as well as to make forays into new ways of thinking about the world through recursive synthesis. The arts - including the visual arts - are an important field within higher-consciousness. Their significance for each of us is constrained by genetic inheritance, somatic and social evolution, and is part of the mental repertoire we utilise to process phenomenological experience within a social context.