For this project I have produced an artwork representing two animals, an elephant and a bull. This artwork represents the concept of perception for, determining what you see depends on ones perception. From one person perception, they may see an elephant. From another person’s perception they may see a bull. From a third perception the person may be seeing two bodies, but may not be able to identify the head. This artwork is similar to the ideas presented in the works of Escher. Both my artwork and Escher’s artwork, go beyond common sense. It is beyond our common sense because there are three different possibilities.
Quantum theory is related to my artwork because we don’t know what the reality is and we don’t know if our interpretation of the world is the right one. It all depends on how we observe things and interpret them. My artwork is similar to an electron passing through two slits. We don’t know whether it’s passing through one or the other slit, or even both.
When we observe something our senses interfere with it. When seeing something our mind and consciousness will interfere in how we interpret what we see. For example, we may just see the bodies of two animals, but then our mind will identify that there is an elephant and a bull. We may be seeing or thinking one thing, but there may be something completely different going on.
Everything in this world is determined and fixed but how do we know that our interpretation of the world is the right one. You see three different drawings in my art work and there is no possible way to determine the right drawing, to see more then one drawing is like to see more then one outcome. Just like how the electron can either be a particle or a wave. In one universe it may be acting as a wave and in another universe as a particle. In one universe the animal I drew may be an elephant and in another a bull. Quantum theory explains how nothing is consistent. The ideas we have in mind or have been taught may not be consistent with what we view.
The statement on my artwork reading, “This is a car!” represents the interference of our eyes with our common sense. We have been taught the names of objects, so when our eyes see something, our mind makes the connection in our head and gives its proper name, but that is just a name. This artwork is similar to the works of Magritte. What we see is not necessarily what we think, it can be anything. The quantum world shocks us so much because it goes against logic. Logically speaking this drawing would not be a car, yet it is in this world, which is why it’s so similar to the quantum world.