DAY FOUR

One of the more positive changes in thinking about creativity is that we have gotten away from the idea that it's all about flashes of brilliant insight which then manifest themselves in a creative frenzy of some sort. Another is dropping the idea that creativity is the special preserve of special people, although this idea still persists in any number of arts reviews in the press and online.

It's Off To Work We Go
It's hard to know how the first of these ideas ever really caught on. I think of it as a particularly 20th century phenoemenon, operating in a symbiotic way with mass entertainment and media; It makes a good story and is easy to play up. But if one starts to look around it very quickly becomes obvious that a great deal of creativity must be the result of long hours and persistence. I mean, does a Rembrandt look all that frenetic to you? Did indigenous peoples knock off massive stone carvings in their lunch hour?

The idea of special people is a bit harder to dismiss. Mozart was special, Robert Crumb is special, any number of artists are special in the sense of possessing an exceptional talent, (or exceptional luck, an exceptional agent, an exceptional alignment with their zeitgeist,  an exceptional ability to cultivate positive relationships with patrons, admirers and promoters). Saying this is not to be cynical, or to dismiss the reality of talent, only to recognize that success and reputation rely on many factors. Best not forget survivor bias either.

For all us lesser mortals, those who don't even aspire to the status of 'outsider art' but who just like to do stuff, the true nature of creativity is in great part about persistence, making the time and space on a regular basis to face down any notion of waiting for the creative spark or needing to be special, and just doing it. 

Onwards...


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