The Beginning of Art - in the context of modern graphic design

History has always been a social science that does take form by the time and the way it has been handled. At the very first aspect, it has always been studied chronologically. It is grounded on the past and the knowledge acquired by the investigation. The interpretations of the events do show alterations in terms of the transformation in time, interaction among the other events, and the conditions of the present. At this point, history itself can be reframed by confronting the past with the very conditions of now. The interaction between the time that the events did occur as it has been called as past, the materials that are created to narrate and perceived and the timely manner of these material statements does reveal the history. The materials can be diversified according to the statements and their focus. To comprehend what the history of art and culture is, the formation process of the statements should be examined.

From Cave Painting to Virtual Reality (VR)

Art is the expression and the statement composition of both emotions and ideas. The expressing the ideas through the visual materials, the abstraction of the emotions and the thoughts are getting symbolized. The generation and the comprehension of the ideas are being possible by concretization.

The understanding of the history of art and culture can be actualized from this point forth. The statement and its builder do make differences for perceiving. Thus, making the statement that creates the identity and the criteria to narrate do compose the very definition of the history of art and culture. It can be stated as the history of art and culture is basically narrative and inquiry of making of identity.

While art does come into being with the expression of emotions and ideas in the transmission of history, it can also express the narration of the past through-line. In a word, art does transmit the “history” as the line does the “art”. As well as the line mentioned here is a concept which the existence of it can not be mentioned when the existing objects in nature are examined. Although a line is thought to exist when the edge of a leaf, a crack on a stone, or the point where a sea is separated from the sky, it is stated that there is a three-dimensional edge only when these objects or spaces are zoomed-in atomic form. The concept of line that is used to express the visual is actually a concept that comes into being in a cognitive manner and does not exist in nature.

When considering the expression of an idea or an object in nature with a line, there is actually a state of the “line concept” which is formed in the human mind and does not exist in nature by means of a drawing tool. At this very point, when the concept of line is reconsidered, the examination of a line drawn on any surface at the atomic level does reveal that it is a trace composed of three-dimensional volume. Therefore, it must be considered that the concept of the line does continue to be absent despite the expression by the tools of drawing and painting.

Pictures drawn on cave walls in historical times or hieroglyphs on historical artifacts can be given as examples of ideas that have been tried to be expressed with lines throughout history. In the first example, the visuals which are described as lines in cave drawings, appear when the paint material (mud, coal, etc.) exists in volume on the wall. These are drawings that do not exist at the atomic level, but that revive the line concept in the human mind. In the second example, considering the hieroglyphs in historical artifacts although there is no drawing or painting here, a visual that is expressed with lines on the surface of the historical artifact is created. When viewed from a distance, the visuals which are expressed through the lines can be seen as carved or embossed surfaces when viewed closely. This concept of a non-existent line in nature does present another sample in this very carving.

By examining an architectural work in order to better understand the concept of line in the human mind, a different perspective can be given to drawing which is the means of expressing the line that does not exist in nature and the line concept in the human mind. Simply, the existence of any architectural work in volume in the physical environment does not create a line, as the project drawing of this architectural work cannot create the line. However, a unique architectural project that “Brunelleschi’s Mirror”, a visual perception technique that can be considered in a slightly different for an architectural project, can create a different identity to the concept of line not existent in nature in a physical environment.

In order to perceive the line concepts in Brunelleschi’s Mirror technique, this technique should be examined closely. While implementing this technique, Brunelleschi does use a mathematically perfectly calculated drawing of this architectural work and a mirror. There is a hole on the mathematical drawing of the work and on the mirror, and this very line formed by these two holes is called the “sightline”. As seen in the visual, when looking at the mirror from the back of the architecturally drawing, the architectural drawing and the architectural work form a wholeness.

Brunelleschi’s Mirror Experiment

In this technique of Brunelleschi, the line formed by these holes called the “sightline”, can be considered as another form of the concept that makes it possible to visualize the expression in the human mind even though it is neither an object existing in nature nor a drawing.

While examining the existence and absence of the concept of line in nature and consciousness through the examination of Brunelleschi’s Mirror technique it can be mentioned that there are three different line concepts. The first concept of the line is the facade and detailed edges of the building that do not exist in nature, which is revealed with this technique. The second concept of line emerges with the concept of the line which is actually expressed as the line in human consciousness, despite the fact that architectural lines form a three-dimensional object at the atomic level.

The third line concept mentioned in Brunelleschi’s Mirror technique is the reflection in the mirror. Since the reflection takes place in the “virtual environment”, it is not possible to talk about the existence of an object with a volume that can be approached at an atomic scale. In this case, the concept of line in the human mind can be seen in the mirror, although it does not have volume in the “virtual environment”. In short, the line, which cannot exist in the physical environment, embodies its identity in the “virtual environment”.

One of the most important details that give this work of art its identity is narrating that the line can create different visual concepts. The identity gained by such a rich and unique transmission of the expression can be evaluated in the most realistic way.

Starting from the journey of the line throughout history, the line in the human mind turns into an entity directly produced by the human in the virtual environment, as the technological tools and techniques used to make it possible to create visuals directly in the virtual environment without the need for the physical environment or any physical drawing tool. In a word, the line that does not exist in the natural environment exists in the virtual environment and gains an identity. A person who cannot produce lines in a natural environment can create art and an artistic identity by producing lines in a new virtual environment created by humanity.

It's the beginning of the journey of "the beginning of art in the context of modern graphic design".

One of the most important virtual environments offered by modern technology is “Virtual Reality (VR)”. In order to better understand the concept of line gaining an identity in the virtual environment, the drawings created in the VR environment can be examined. Anna Zhilyaeva who does offer very successful products in this field would be the ideal choice to view.

Anna Zhilyaeva is a French/Russian artist living in the south of France. Seeing herself as an eternal traveler, Anna feels great anywhere on the planet and sees travel as the most important part of her self-education. Considering that the art she is making is in the virtual environment, it can be said that while she likes to travel in the physical universe, she travels in the universe she created in the virtual environment.

Anna is a digital artist who graduated from fine arts school and later worked in different fields of digital design and art direction. In addition to her digital design profession, she also receives training in architecture, filmmaking, and sculpture. In short, the use of line is the most important part of her education and professional life.

The astonishingly endless drawing possibilities of the virtual environment are one of the main reasons Anna became a VR artist. In her works, she does not only gives a new virtual identity to the ongoing visual arts throughout history but also creates an identity for the concept of line in the human mind which has been studied throughout history, in the virtual environment. In addition, Anna has coined the term “Volumism” for her impressive sculptural paint creations because of the way this technology creates any volume and breaks the laws of gravity.

At this point, The concept of line, which has been studied from history to the present, does play an important role as seen in the works of Anna to create an identity for the artwork through its identity gaining in the virtual environment with VR technology.

Briefly stated, the concept of the line does gain its identity as a concept and ensures the expression of visual arts thanks to the techniques and technologies that have developed from history to the present and it has given art a new identity by reinterpreting the visual arts in spite of the non-existence in nature.

It's the beginning of art in the context of modern graphic design.