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Studio Q Photography

Exploring Human Behavior and Death Anxiety Through Art
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“Before Denial,” 8” x 10” acrylic, charcoal, and pastels on paper.
I’ve tried to paint something both “primitive” and “cold.” Implying the structure of the human brain, but still primitive—pre-conscious, if you will. Not fully developed, surviving but unaware of its impending death.

Before Denial: A Primitive Painting

Quinn Jacobson January 13, 2024

I’m exploring some ideas about figures. I have posted some abstract figures before, but I’m trying to work with ideas closer to the theories I’m exploring through art.

I had an idea that came from a book I read last year (and I’ve posted before about it) called “Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind,” a book by Ajit Varki. It is an expansion and adaptation of a Danny Brower manuscript that he left behind (he recently died).

The book presents a theory about how the human mind evolved and the obstacles it overcame that allowed us to be the way we are today. The theory is based on the idea that denial of reality is a factor in how the human mind evolved and how we became intelligent, creative, and innovative.

Varki and Brower believe that humans are the world's ultimate risk-takers, ignoring scientific facts such as the dangers of smoking and climate change. They believe that this denial mechanism became essential once our brain evolved a more comprehensive understanding of ourselves and others. They call it “full theory of mind” or “theory of mind” (TOM).

Denial offers a warning about the dangers inherent in our ability to ignore reality. Denial makes you doubt your own perceptions; it is gaslighting and disturbing, and the effects of it are hidden and unconscious. There are some very powerful theories in this writing, mainly about how humans became conscious, or the point where we realized that we would die. Varki follows through with a detailed analysis of the steps that it took to get there, or here, and the price we’ve paid for it.

In Acrylic Painting, death denial, Denial: Self Deception Tags acrylic, acrylic painting, Denial: Self-Deception
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“Crow In Flight,” 8” x 12” monotype - acrylic November 26, 2023

Color Monotype Prints

Quinn Jacobson November 26, 2023

“Figure and Feathers,” 8” x 12” monotype, acrylic November 26, 2023

Here are a couple of prints I made today. I’m exploring color, and I think I like it a lot!

In Monotypes, Color Prints Tags color monotype, acrylic
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