PhD awarded on 29th June 1995 (“summa cum laude by unanimity”) Barcelona University,
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (Faculty of Fine Art, Painting Department)
524 pages, 80000 words. With 130 illustrations of Ramos-Poquí's paintings 1962-1994
Research focus or content
Central theme: Research for a new paradigm for perception-interpretation and evaluation-judgement in Fine Art, Culture, Society and Philosophy.
In terms of its epistemology and axiology, the proposed paradigm takes the form of an “ ecological-wholistic ” perspective (a meta-synthesis of cognitivist- hermeneutic- naturalist- instrumental approaches and ideas) in contrast to both relativist and absolutist viewpoints (e.g. post-structuralism)
Research field
Art and Culture, Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology applied to Painting.
Main Aesthetic theories in the Philosophy of Art
Theories of Modernism & Post-Modernism
Main research method
Systematic historical analysis of theory underlying art movements/trends since the 1950's. Thesis organised into four chapters: the 60's, the 70's, the 80's and the 90's.
Interrelation of practice and theory.
Philosophical analysis (study of Metaphysics, Epistemology, Aesthetics, Ethics and the Philosophy of the Social Sciences in relation to Fine Art)
Research strategies
Bibliographic research. Analysis and interpretation in the above fields.
Comparative study of different philosophical models, e.g. the Analytical Anglo-American; Continental and Post-Structuralist; and the “Ecological-Wholistic” paradigm and counter-culture
Methodology
Interdisciplinary approach (linking art with other fields of knowledge)
Using the art work as point of departure for philosophical reflection and for examining the ideology/world view, theories of perception, language, human nature, creativity, freedom and flourishing - embodied and expressed in the form and content of the art work.
Critique of models of interpretation. Epistemological and axiological analysis for the purpose of constructing a criteria for the evaluation of art.
Analysis of the evolution and changes of my own work (130 reproductions and catalogue of work exhibited since 1965, in an Appendix, at the end of the thesis)
Parameters
Theory as an inherent component of the practice of painting. Iconographic and iconological levels of analysis.
Exposing the limitations of the Cartesian approach, its assumptions and ways of seeing, on which both absolutist and relativist viewpoints can be shown to be based
Characteristics of this PhD in Fine Art (in contrast to PhD's in other fields e.g. History of Art or Philosophy)
The point of departure of this PhD takes the examination of the development of my own practical work as a painter, its cultural context/influences, and my experience as art lecturer.
By critically reviewing the interrelation of theory, ideas and practice in my work, the PhD research served to provide new insights, changes and developments in the direction of my practice. Such new insights arose through an interdisciplinary study of contemporary issues in the light of different intellectual movements and their various theoretical models. This interdisciplinary approach to research/study has a wide application to art teaching, and the thesis itself provided a new model for PhD enquiry in Fine Art
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