Creativity and Philosophy

"I don't know what's good art, but I know what I like" - popular saying.

Is it possible to say what creativity is? When it concerns 'art', it is useful to consider that there are different kinds of art, and thus different kinds of aesthetics and creative practice. The following ideas are suggestive rather than definitive, and sometimes merge into each other.

Representational art

This is often related to 'traditional methods' and is currently unpopular. It has been rigorously de-constructed by contemporary academia, and often embodies conceptual, ideological or political attitudes no longer acceptable. In the Victorian era for example, art work sometimes involved a proprietorial attitude based on the capacity to capture an image, and then display it in a museum or gallery like a possession, or an aspect of the British Empire.

Representational practice used to be the fundamental training in art colleges, and the skill with which a drawing or painting 'captured a likeness' defined how successful it was. Struggling to 'get it right' may not help the creative process, which is a more free-form activity. When photography was invented, representational practice was re-evaluated. Initially, photographers imitated the earlier, painterly aesthetic; people realised that for simple representation, a photograph was superior. More subtly, we can ask the question 'representing what?' Experimental painters like the Impressionists sought to depict the qualities of light; Wassily Kandinsky and Mondrian believed that they were depicting hidden realities underlying questionable, conventional perception.

Conceptual art

Controversial and debateable approach. There is little or no craft involved; it uses the gallery as a space for philosophical and conceptual exploration. It does not reward perception, because there is very little to perceive. It may, for example, replicate domestic circumstances like a kitchen or bedroom - something that we see every day without travelling to a gallery and/or paying an entrance fee.

Conceptual art provokes debate about 'what is art?' It is integrally linked to what critics say about it, i.e. the conceptual discourse that justifies it and gives it context. Without this it would - to use the same example - be no different from the room where we cook or sleep. Conceptual art often uses re-presentation. By relocating ordinary phenomena into an 'artistic' context like a gallery, it is re-considered in an unfamiliar and non-habitual way. The 'frame' is both literal and conceptual.

Going further, the role of the gallery can be re-evaluated and some artists produce work designed to be displayed in ordinary public places. The gallery, they may argue, has elitist and political connotations that they wish to challenge.

Sacred art

This is related to spiritual traditions like Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Egyptian systems and Christianity. The British Museum has notable Hindu and Egyptian exhibits; the Victoria and Albert Museum has a substantial Christian collection.

The Eastern works were often based on esoteric symbolism using numerological proportions and mythological iconography. The philosopher GI Gurdjieff had his own system of (Sufi based) self-study, in which he described what he called 'objective art'. This roughly corresponds to the sacred art tradition, supposedly based on definable and objective parameters, as opposed to random discovery. The pyramids and gothic cathedrals are cited as examples.

Profane art

Sacred and Romantic art is based on the notion that there is an implicit or transcendent level of reality, which it seeks to embody or reveal. The profane artist rejects this and deliberately portrays ordinary phenomena, suggesting that only this reality exists, or that meaning is located in or derives from the ordinary.

Anti-art

The rebel-artists. There are no rules, except that you break the rules; the punk rock of aesthetic practice. The so-called young British artists are a good example. 'Breaking the rules' is closely linked with 'originality', and yet this is questionable. Duchamp and the Italian arte povera movement did many of the things that the 'young British artists' currently do (see www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/artepovera/default.htm ).

Anti-art is linked with conceptual art. It is often driven by an intellectual or political 'message', frequently linked with 'being different'. 'Breaking the rules' is not necessarily creative or innovative in itself. It is significant that the 'YBAs' are young. Youth is often a period of experimentation and self discovery; adolescence is often characterised by taking risks and wanting to assert personal identity. According to sacred art, this 'personal identity' is ultimately illusory. It often expresses and reflects personal sociological and psychological experience.

Digital art

An emerging form with its own philosophical paradigms; it is related to the technology that underlies it. Both photography and cinema began by replicating earlier aesthetics; over time they established their own unique aesthetic. Digital practice is still in the early stages, and often refers to post-modern thinkers like Jean Baudrillard to justify itself. The science fiction ethos is also invoked, as in the writings of William Gibson and movies like The Matrix and Blade Runner - where technology has its own aesthetic. The 'cultural study' of technology is also related, often called 'techno-culture'. This is sometimes conducted with little reference to wider cultural studies, i.e. psychological, sociological and political considerations.

A few world class galleries now recognise digital art, and the BBC has discussed it and presented it on their web site.

Nihilistic Art

Inseparably linked with conceptual, profane and ant-art. When people say 'this is rubbish, it's meaningless' etc., the artist replies by saying 'it's meant to be'. Nihilistic art supposedly reflects modern life, which revolves around vacuous commercial, cooperate and materialistic values. Sometimes, the individual perception of the viewer is dismissed; the 'meaning' derives from the artist's intellectual vision. Objecting to or dismissing a piece of art is absorbed into a conceptual discourse where the viewer's negative response is - like the work itself - appropriated and located in another context.

Nihilism can be a philosophical outlook, in addition to a pop-culture ethos.

Art and Art Discourse

Art - and creativity - reflects the ideas and perceptions of the creator. The critic's evaluation corresponds to but is not limited by the artist's ideas. Sometimes, the critic reveals questionable attributes that the artist has not considered; sometimes the critic generates discourse that is abstract and suggests the phrase 'just academic', rather than aesthetic or artistic.

The artist is sometimes deliberately 'philosophical'; even when they are not, their work reflects something about their outlook on life. To balance - and undermine this - post-modern theory suggests that the role of the artist is minimal, in the sense that meaning is ascribed by the spectator, and there is no definitive interpretation.

Conclusion: Philosophy

Philosophy is related to art in a variety of ways. · A painting, sculpture etc can express a particular viewpoint. · The spectator forms their own interpretation. raising aesthetic questions about evaluation. · The perception, status and role of art can be and often is challenged