In the lecture, we were presented with a premise; that all art could be categorized into either 'hand prints' and 'hunting scenes'. These categories originated from the earliest recorded art; prehistoric cave paintings, which are over 40,000 years old. The denotation of the categories tell us that throughout human history, and in every eventuality and dire situation, art fulfilled a need - Art, even in it's most rudimentary form, meant something and was considered important. We know this because, had it not been, the artists would have been expected to contribute to the community, whereas they were left to paint, whilst others had to hunt or gather food etc.The hand print says 'I am human. I exist', this concept runs throughout art history, from early self portraits, modern performance art and even documenting social media. Whereas the hunting scene documents what the artists sees, examples of this include; painted battle scenes, film, photography and television. The two categories can crossover, where the piece means 'I am here and this is what I see / do'. We can use this premise to better understand art and the process the artist went through to make it, similarly, we can scrutenize our own work.
