1 CHANGES IN ARTISTIC STYLE AFTER STROKEThe 1st International Symposium of Clinical and Applied Anatomy CHANGES IN ARTISTIC STYLE AFTER STROKE Milorad Žikić, Tamara Rabi Žikić, Marija Semnic, Vojislava Bugarski, Robert Semnic and Ivana Divjak
2 On the fine arts and the brainHuman brain is capable of selecting and processing from among numerous constantly successively changing data those that reflect the essence of “something”.
3 The brain does not record, it creates.From among numerous stimuli (data), it selects and separates new ones, and then compares them with the old ones already stored in memory.
4 Humans learned to see long before they learned to speak – sight developed over millions of years.
5 When we look at something exceptionally beautiful we cannot express our exaltation in words, but remain “speechless”, and keep the pleasant feeling inside us, or we say “one picture is worth a thousand words”.
6 “Come to present yourself to the exhibition” (M. Antic)Art, especially painting, is a perfect field for studying neurological processes through which the brain recognizes the beauty of a work of art.
7 The hippocampus is the part of the limbic system associated with conscious factual / rational (declarative) memories. The hippocampus can store information for either short periods of time or long periods of time depending on the type of information being stored.
8 The hippocampus is “the most sensitive” part of the brain, there are cells that reflect in traces personal memories of the viewer. In this way, everyone’s opinion on beauty is a result of accepting new information and of previous experience.
9 While we look at a work of art our brain “becomes” an artist.Painting is a very complex behavior and its neural correlates involve brain areas processing the perceptive, cognitive, and emotional valences of stimuli; brain damage, therefore, could modify artistic expression.
10 Drawing before stroke (1964-5)
12 23rd October Dg: Stroke Admitted to hospital with a developed ischemic stroke, left-side paralysis, somnolent. Unaware of existing cerebrovascular disease, apart from decades-long smoking and recorded allergy to salicylates. On admission: hypertensive, laboratory-verified hyperlipoproteinemia, hypo-HDL holesterolemia (type IIb).
13 23rd October Dg: Stroke Duplex Scan of both carotid arteries showed present occlusion in proximal part of right internal carotid artery (ICA), reduction of circulation in trunk of both common carotid and proximal part of left carotid artery (left ICA : significant stenosis 70-80%).
14 23rd October 1991 Dg: Stroke The ischemic stroke caused by occlusion in proximal part of right internal carotid artery, with addition of reduction of circulation in trunk of both common carotid and proximal part of left carotid artery (stenosis 70-80%) The ischemic stroke develops when right ICA and right MCA supplied area of the brain becomes blocked by a blood clot.
15 Ischemic Stroke The clot travels from apposition coagulum formed in the occlusion thrombus at proximal part of the right ICA and further into the bloodstream. artery to artery embolization
16 About three-quarters of all strokes are due to blockage of the oxygen-rich blood flowing to the brain. Called clot or ischemic strokes, they are triggered by either a thrombus (a stationary clot that forms in a blood vessel) or an embolus (a clot that travels through the bloodstream and becomes lodged in a vessel).
17 Treatment and course Treated with heparin in the acute phase of stroke. After a few days his condition stabilized: improved consciousness, good verbal contact, with residual left-side paralysis. Later, recovery of motor deficits; continued with oral anticoagulants.
18 Treatment and course Three-week investigation and treatment at neurology clinic was followed by two and a half months physical rehabilitation ( ). Signs of organic psychomotor syndrome withdrew; walking with the aid of a stick, slightly changed gait. Independent in everyday activities.
19 Course of the disease Good recovery; independent gait; driving a car already in January 1992 Slowed psychomotor functioning (as ever), mild mental deterioration, poor visual-motor coordination (Neuropsychological testing from : normal for his age). Half a year later he continued teaching at the Academy.
20 Left Brain Right Brain Functions Left-Hemisphere Functions Constantly monitors our sequential, ongoing behavior Responsible for awareness of time, sequence, details, and order Responsible for auditory receptive and verbal expressive strengths Specializes in words, logic, analytical thinking, reading, and writing Responsible for boundaries and knowing right from wrong Knows and respects rules and deadlines Right-Hemisphere Functions Alerts us to novelty; tells us when someone is lying or making a joke Specializes in understanding the whole picture Specializes in music, art, visual-spatial and/or visual-motor activities Helps us form mental images when we read and/or converse Responsible for intuitive and emotional responses. Helps us to form and maintain relationships
21 Change in artistic style after stroke (1993)The effect of lesions within fronto-subcortical networks subserving executive functions might be more subtle. Executive functions may intervene in painting in the process of screening the figurative relevance of stimuli or in expressing novel order relationships between concepts.
22 The time and the events Two pictures from 1995Left one shows “on the target” and the right “expectation” It seems as though the artist predicted the dramatic happenings in the country that would take place in a few years.
23 A word from the artist (M, Stanojev) and a review (M. Arsić)The paintings presenting “dramatic sights” ( ) and “critical realism” ( ) are a result of a timely and approprite response of the artist to the challenges of Postmodernism. The poetry of these paintings the artist explains in few words: “I did not wish either to predict or to copy the reality”. Privately, he often says that he “usually does not understand a word of what critics say”.