Selective Engagement with Specific Invariants in the Perception of Art.

The perception of artifice or art is inextricably intertwined with the rich regularities manifest in the environment in which individuals are immersed. Taking my cue from James Gibson, I recast the problem of perception of works of art as part of a wider problem of possibilities for perceptual experience and selection of attention toward specific invariants in a populated environment, drawing upon examples from music, sketch comedy, and East Asian calligraphy. When a work of art is viewed not merely as a configuration of stimuli, but rather as something that makes available the information (in Gibson's terminology) that lies open to further scrutiny, the range of possible discrimination is unlimited. At the same time, through selectively emphasizing specific invariants, a work of art offers the real possibility for active perceivers to discover for themselves what is important, which might otherwise remain unnoticed. Fundamental to theories of perception of artifice is the recognition that our modified environment is still indefinitely rich, in which individuals are provided with open-ended possibilities for tuning in on the specific regularities that are relevant to concerns at a particular time and place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]