This fascinating conversation between Stan and Hugo will discuss how Zen thought has shaped Stan’s practice as an artist and his views on the process of creativity, attempting to bridge Zen, art and consciousness. Stanley Rosenthal is an artist and former senior research fellow at the then Welsh National School of Medicine, and Hugo Critchley is a neuroscientist and Co-Director of Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex.
At the age of nineteen, Stanley Rosenthal was introduced to Rinzai Zen by Professor D. T. Suzuki, since when (some sixty years ago) he has attempted to follow its teachings within the constraints of Western environments. Stan has described his experience and understanding of the process of art in a number of written works, drawing on scientific knowledge and contact with neuroscientists such as Emeritus Professor Charles Butter who wrote a foreword to his latest book. Over the last five years, Stan and Hugo Critchley have had many discussions about the brain processes underlying creativity, and this led to the commissioning of a film of Stan’s ideas and work to be shown at State of Mind.