Sometimes science isn’t enough — and art has never been able to provide any concrete answers. In his quest to understand human consciousness, Chicago neurologist Audrius V. Plioplys combined the two, and added religion, as well.
This combination, dubbed “Neurotheology” by Plioplys, is on display at the Adell McMillan Art Gallery throughout November.
The UO Cultural Forum is sponsoring the event, which is in the gallery on the second floor of the Erb Memorial Union.
Cultural Forum Visual Arts Coordinator Liz Lessner described the art as intriguing.
“I thought the idea behind the work was really interesting,” she said. “He draws from philosophy, science and art. What he’s really looking at is the process of thought itself.”
Fourteen large works, as well as a few smaller prints, are on display.
To create his works, Plioplys layered primary or secondary colors over photographs and then subtracted drawings of visual cortical brain neurons from the color, resulting in complex works of art. The digital prints were enlarged and printed on canvas using acrylic paints.
The base images are photographic pieces taken by Plioplys for previous exhibits. The drawings were made by Spanish neuropathologist Santiago Ramon y Cajal more than 100 years ago. Cajal won a Nobel Prize for his work on brain cell structure.
The titles of the pieces describe the photographic image underneath.
Plioplys said the photos emerging through the drawings visually demonstrate the biological process of memories emerging from brain cells.
“We have billions of nerve cells,” he said. “The networks of nerve cells are through which you can retrieve memories. These works aesthetically represent consciousness emerging.”
Plioplys also discussed the inspiration for his work.
“The ideas behind them are not simple ideas,” Plioplys said. He described his art as pleasing, colorful and very conceptual.
Plioplys’ art stems from his career as a child neurologist and research neuroscientist. His medical work concentrates on understanding how the brain functions in cognitive realms.
“I’m using art as the method for investigating the nervous system,” the artist said. “I want the viewer to question their own nervous reaction.”
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