Sho Kamizawa

The history of art is the history of images and artistic expressions over the centuries.Since man began, in Prehistory, to leave marks inside caves the history of visual communication begins as prehistoric man did nothing more than communicate, express and wish through these early reproductions that were intended to imitate the natural world. Greek culture gives rise to the concept of Téchne ( τεχνη ) , a term that today we translate with the word technique but which at the time was associated with the word science ( Epistème ) and later translated by the Latins with the word ars, that is, art. Plato considered téchnai disciplines such as medicine, hunting, agriculture, politics, sculpture, painting, and many others; these disciplines have in common that they are activities that are not exhausted by theoretical knowledge but require "knowing how to do." Art, especially Western art, has had, since ancient times, the intent to represent in order to celebrate, educate, decorate and tell the story of our culture with images, as close to reality as possible. This concept linked to the artist's technical skill evolved over the centuries, and it was with the Renaissance and the conquest of spatial representation, thanks to geometric perspective, that art took a step forward and imitation became increasingly truthful. With the course of time, the concept of imitation of reality, of mimesis of our world centered on achieving stylistic and spatial perfection came to an end and, in place of the correct representation of the visible, art has seen declines in a variety of meanings that present, more or less always, the individuality of the artist always at the center. It is clear, then, that art is no longer mere imitation of the world (we have the camera that perfectly and truthfully records our reality); rather, it is a subjective view of the world, distilled from the eyes and mind of the artist.