You ever meet one of those "artsy" people? Their house decor is considered 'eclectic', and has a striking resemblance to another person's house that you know who is also considered 'artsy'?
Many 'free spirits' reject rules, or restrictions because supposedly, it stifles their creativity.
A person may be a free spirit in just one, several, or many aspects of their life. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
However, I believe that rejecting a rule, outline, or just a suggestion for the sole purpose of eliminating all things that stifle creativity, defeats its purpose. The elimination of these 'undesirable' elements, creates a new barrier: the creator's own personality.
We can only design what's within us. The less disciplined and educated an individual is, the more his personality resembles 'the masses'. Sure, we're all individuals, but you can't eliminate the influence society has on your personality. You also can't take away human traits. So without training and discipline, a person will most likely create something that resembles the art of many others with no training and discipline.
Take creating a painting for example. I decide I'm going to paint the colors of my mood, because no one can stifle how I feel. So I create a swirly image of colors.
Now, what if someone painted a brick on a canvas. Then, they told me to finish the painting, and make it a painting of something tangible? I would never in my life have chosen to start off with a brick. Now, I'm forced to paint something that is not what I chose, and the beginning of it does not reflect my personality. This barrier, forces me to break the barrier of my personality and grow.
Our personalities should not be set in stone, and rules bend to accommodate them. If that were true, the value of truly creative art would be lost. It would be a bunch of 'swirly colors' designed by the masses. Personalities, as well as skill in art, would not grow.
Rules, are not 'made to be broken'. However, rules themselves are not our authority. They're simply tools used by authorities. You follow the rules of the authority you want to be most like. That is how we express ourselves with skill, not with just ourselves.
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Interesting.
So I guess we can each either enhance or stifle our creative self by acknowledging society's influence on us.
In this day and age, I dont' believe any artistic person is solely individual. Because all types of art are categorized, its hard to be an individual - you're simply conforming to the artist that defines your style. If your paint 'subject' is a brick - and someone paints an actual brick, they are a "realist". If someone paints a swirl, they are "abstract", etc. etc. No art is "original" in the full definition of the word. And everyone's thinking is swayed by society, the media, the past and the present.
Yeah, your art can't be individual in the absolute sense. That's why I would train from artists, and hang out with non-artists. It's categorized in the art-world, but then my friends would still be all impressed because they don't realize that.
It reminds me of how impressed I was that the guy that draws Archie comics is still working after all these years. Then Rashida explained to me that anyone who studies art can learn how to draw up an Archie comic.
OOoooohhhh.
Children are fantastic artists b/c they have no rules (yet) w/in them so they create artwork from what's truly their own vision. If children had a little of the discipline & maturity an adult has, they would be the most fantastic artists! No pretensions, preconceived ideas of what their art "should" look like, no real rules. But, w/ just a little extra discipline & maturity, they would have greater skill & technique. It's a shame how people grow up to be primarily ruled by rules & lose their individuality due to trying to conform. Why can't we still have the freeness of a child?
What Amber said is true. In the definate sense, I guess children are real 'artists'. All kids have an artistic ability. Some fall short as they get older because their art is cultivated and encouraged - so they lose interest. But when cultivated, most kids continue to pursue art in some form - be in painting, drawing, pottery, etc. Kids have no pretense and are 'artistically pure' in that what they create hasn't been tainted by someone's belief system or scrutiny.
Everyone is born with a bias, so ignore anyone who ever says, "No offense" or "I'm not biased, but..." Bias comes from our certain thought patterns; it is our perspective of life. The artists that say they accept everything and never follow standards, don't really because they have adopted the standard to rebel against rules.
I enjoy the thought that if you've entertained an idea, chances are at some point one or more people (of all who have ever existed) have had a similar or identical idea. This is more so today, because we are all influenced by iconography delivered rapidly on the world wide web. This global neighborhood could expose "new" ideas, but doesn't it actually reduce the number of fresh ideas since most of us see the same things? It homogenizes everyone so that you can watch High School Musical in Frederick, London, Turin, or Warsaw, and so that there are very few truly isolated cultures.
Our perception of creativity is limited because none of us actually created anything completely. Rather the beauty and richness comes from discovering and adopting someone else's perspective in your own life. It avoids rejecting things and it leads to understanding.
Very good point Natalia. I agree that we're born with a bias, from our first experiences. Kids tend not to develop un-encouraged traits such as prejudice. However, they are quite focused on the things they like. When Filip goes to the store, he's not objective, and see's only a kid's shirt with a picture on it (what it is). He see's "Wall-E" or "Dora", because he's biased toward them.
Creativity is relative. Our individuality does come from what common traits we choose to develop ourselves. Because what are the odds of someone developing the exact traits at the exact speed another individual does?
Yeah, the fact that we develop different traits at different rates (lol that rhymes) makes me wonder sometimes if my communication is understood.
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