ARE WE KILLING CREATIVITY?
Any artist’s capacity to be “wrong” and “risk defeat” is an ugly, daily struggle. There is no need to talk about subjectivity (or Kant and The Critique of Judgment) to understand that our modern world is obsessed with measuring public approval. “This art is better than that art.” It sounds so ludicrous as I repeat the words, but it is an all-too-common conversation in our brave new world when the topic is creativity. That’s not how it works.
When I was four, I went to a Montessori School in Brooklyn. We were all clamoring for attention, dancing our own super special dances, expressing ourselves with wild abandon. Every day, one of us was responsible for filling plastic cups with juice. Snack time was a pretty big deal. When it was finally my turn, I remember it all so clearly. All at once the uncontrolled drops, the eventual spill, the pink stain crawling across the floor. I ran from the room in tears, full of shame. I did not remind myself that other kids had done the same — just that I had failed, that I would now be judged, that the letters of defeat would be tattooed on my forehead for eternity. Yes, it is a ridiculous story. But is it so terribly different from what every single one of us experiences as an adult? Are you divorced? Have you ever had money problems? Have you ever been passed over, fired or laid off? Has your application ever been rejected? Welcome to the human race. Nowadays, defeat translates to a lack of popularity, a lack of triumphs, awards, accomplishments — when in fact, all creation (maybe life itself) is a triumph and every single one of us is a capable of fucking something up no matter how smart we are.
This dynamic of stigma and perceived brownie points is a rigged game of judgement., and I am convinced thatjudgment is killing creativity. In fact,judgment may be killing everything. Today I heard Sir Ken Robinson say that “Creativity is the act of having original ideas that have value.” I really love that. He did not say “good” ideas or “ideas that are better than other ideas.” I found myself thinking about the cavemen and cavewomen that were inspired to paint on their walls. I wondered if they felt foolish, or cautious. I wondered if they gave a shit what anyone thought. Maybe the paintings were just for their children to point at and smile. I found myself laughing out loud, imagining how idiotic it would have been for one caveperson to say “My cave painting is better than yours”. And yet, WE do that constantly. In fact, we are obsessed with competitions where the winners are “decided by the general public” by getting enough likes or votes. “Let the people decide” sounds so democratic. In truth, we are saying “let everyone judge” and “let everyone be judged”.
The cavepeople were in a perfect position to be original. I don’t think there is any way to say that their work lacked value. And you know, some cave paintings were representational, and some were just tracings of their hands. Here’s the headline — They did not all paint the same way. They painted in Spain and France, in Australia and Argentina. So — how do we find our way back? How many artists do you know that have their own unapologetically unique voice, following their muse wherever it takes them? Now ask yourself how many artists you know that create with one eye on the prize, making work that goes down easy, that does not offend, does not challenge, work that wins popularity contests, work that can be “discovered” thanks to a hashtag (ahem, #instagood).
Yes — how the hell do we find our way back from all of that?
I think we need to stop listening to anyone that says “Everything has already been said and done.” I think we need to stop buying into horseshit like “There are really just seven stories.” I think we have to stop worrying. I’ll quote Robinson again. Creativity is the act of having original ideas that have value.I am convinced anyone can write. Anyone can, and they should.
Scratch the itch that is your own special itch. Keep it rich and messy and weird and wonderful. Don’t dumb it down. Take a chance and paint on a wall.
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