I'll christen this post on creativity with a quote by 20th century French painter John Duffet
"Art does not lie in beds ready made for it. It runs away when its name is called. It wants to be incognito. Its best moments are when it forgets what it's called."
Which brings me to a line of questioning, and for those who follow me on Facebook this will be familiar; is creativity different from originality? How does it differ from art? How important is originality and what is its role in creativity/art? Does practicing a craft, such as photography, automatically mean one is an artist? How are they different or the same?
Another point to consider is; does being a unique individual, which we all are since no one else has lived a life exactly like ours, enough to make one original? Is it the degree to which one can access this uniqueness that makes one's work considered to be original or cliche?
Jonah Lehrer recently published a book on creativity called Imagine: How Creativity Works,
(or for a more scathing review you can visit The Guardian) which makes some interesting points concerning the creative process. His interview on Slate is good to get the conversation rolling, however limited it may be. There is also the book Conceptual Blockbusting by James L. Adams which is a great resource on creativity. Well, I think that's enough to get us going on a Tuesday and all from one image of a lamp post!
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