Throughout my stay at Vanier College as a Liberal Arts student, I have been exposed to many different theories and concepts that make up history and have influenced the way I have understood the world. One philosophical theory I learned in my first semester of Liberal Arts was Plato's theory of the forms. This was the first time I ever encountered the idea of perception not being an accurate account of reality, Plato furthered explained that object can only aim to be the essence of something, however the basis of the theory is inaccurate perception. At the time, this idea was very hard for me to wrap my head around because it went against common and sense and everything I ever knew. It is reminiscent of Aristotle who opposed this, and rather emphasized the particular rather than the universal understanding. This is reflective of the age of enlightenment at which point theories arose that went against common sense, which started the scientific revolution. Then, in my fourth semester the same concept of perception not accurately representing reality re-emerged in the form of Einstein's Photoelectric Effect and the Double-Slit experiment, and I knew that I needed to use the art project as a means by which I could further study this mind-boggling concept. Thus the inspiration for my art work came from scientific discoveries and scientific revolutions.

The materials I used to create my art work were a single white Bristol board, Crayola markers, and a ruler. In the center of the board I drew a giant eye to represent observation in general. I then split the background of the eye into four sections by coloring thick black borders along all the edges. The reason I chose to do this was to make the four sections stand out from one another because the facts each square would represent was a ground breaking discovery in history and facts that we spent a lot of class time focusing on. Also, it changed the way we viewed the world. The top two squares I dedicated to the Photoelectric Effect and the bottom two squares were dedicated to the Double-Slit experiment. In the top left square I drew out six waves to represent the light spectrum that humans can actually see. The top right square shows the same strips of colors which were being represented as light waves, as particles, lights other form. The bottom left square represents electrons acting as waves and creating an interference pattern as shown by the grey stripes on the back board. Lastly, the bottom right square shows the electrons acting as particles creating two basic stripes.

Firstly, the Photoelectric Effect by Einstein shows that there is a visible range of light that humans can see. Humans observe that visible range of light in the form of light waves, as depicted in the top left square. However, as the top right square indicates, the visible range light is comprised of particles, but those particles are not visible to the human eye, yet that is also light. This I found very interesting because it reinforced the notion perception not always accurately representing reality, because light was waves and particles, but only observed as waves. Secondly, the Double-Slit experiment further enforces this same notion as the electrons act differently in the presence and absence of an observer. Taking a look at the bottom right square, we see that the electrons are acting as particles and are creating two slits on the back board in grey as anticipated. This is the way electrons act in the presence of an observer. In comparison, if we take a look at the bottom left square, we see the electrons acting as waves and are causing an interference pattern to occur on the back board. This is the way the electrons act in the absence of an observer. This is a prime example of how observation, or a lack thereof, affects the results of an experiment. Again, this reinforces the notion that reality is not always represented accurately in our perception of things because when we observe the electrons they behave normally and when we do not observe them they act completely the opposite.

Thus, my art project represents two important and revolutionary experiments that reinforce the age old theory Plato once presented on the accuracy of perception not being reflective or the reality of the world using, particularly through the explanation of forms only being the essence of an object. Using different colors and artistic features such as this black borders to make the brighter colors stand out even more, in an effort to emphasize the importance of the concepts the four small squares encompass, I channelled the importance these discoveries had in history. I am pleased with the way my art work turned out and I think it fairly and accurately represents the concepts I am trying to portray.