Does All Creativity Stem From The "Challenge"?
Thursday, March 26, 2009 - FEATURES
[SP EXCLUSIVE]
Troy James Sobotka talks about the great, big, profound debate of perception vs. reality.
Recipe for creating phenomenal digital art: Start with expensive gear. Throw in pricey proprietary software. Add a dash of creativity. Right? Wrong, says Troy James Sobotka, a self-described “artsy fartsy type” living in Vancouver who is fascinated with the realm of Free Software, a.k.a. software libre. Sobotka has been attracting attention with his artistic digital creations, such as this one, made with a cheap digital camera and Blender software and recently published on his blog, The Driblet of an Aphorism.
* It should be noted that the song is a remix by Trent Reznor, which undoubtedly was not created using Free Software, but is available license-free here.
Is it harder to make professional-looking and -sounding art with free software? Most artists will say yes. But art takes talent and persistence no matter what. And creative powerhouses such as Sobotka show us that it’s not impossible.
What is the secret sauce that flavors his work? He says, “I’d probably like to say that creativity and such flows out naturally, but that would be lying. It usually starts with a reason for me—something of depth. I believe it was Oscar Wilde that said, ‘An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.’ If there isn’t anything challenging—be it in practice, execution, design, content—I have trouble getting passionate or interested in it.”
Directly or indirectly, the “challenge” seems to be one of Sobotka’s most powerful drivers for creativity, whether it is the subject or the means—the challenge of a broken heart, the challenge of communicating a feeling, or the challenge of mastering a certain medium. In this case, Sobotka is driven by the “challenge of self”—the idea of overcoming all those things that can be used as excuses for not creating: “I don’t have the right software. I don’t have time. I need a nap. What if I’m not good enough?”
In many cases, the machinations and procrastinations of “self” can be the biggest barrier to creativity being realized as brilliant art. We, for one, are glad Sobotka is up for the challenge. In a recent conversation with SoulPancake, Sobotka offers his take on truth, discovery, invention, and Life’s Big Questions.
SP: You have one hour left on earth—how do you spend it?
TJS: Packing. Moving to a new house is always a painful experience. Moving to a new planet is worse, especially if you have a big couch.
SP: Why do bad things happen to good people?
TJS: Wasn’t Einstein clear enough? Aside from the speed of light, everything is relative. The sciences embrace this, and yet we will struggle dearly with it philosophically. If only the world were good and bad, it would make things much easier, no?
SP: How do you know when you are doing the right thing?
TJS: Life isn’t about doing the right thing, as it is unavoidable that you will make a decision that appears poor at some point. Some of the most magical people I have had the pleasure of meeting don’t do the ‘right thing’—they are extremely adept at recovering from all of the ‘wrong things.’
SP: If you could get rid of one invention, what would it be?
TJS: Wow... can I have a few? I’d get rid of music. I’d get rid of science. I’d get rid of pencils and paint. I’d get rid of books. I’d get rid of poetry. Only after that would it be painfully clear the value of their presence.
SP: That’s interesting. Do you consider science to be an invention?
TJS: Absolutely.
SP: Are you talking about the process of the investigation of truth or the tools we’ve invented to do that?
TJS: Everything. Think about our world if Leonardo da Pisa didn’t value the Arabic numeral system invention. Think about the invention process—hypothetical procedure. Science itself is an invention. It is nothing more than sculpture.
SP: I’ve always been interested in the distinction (or lack thereof) between discovery and invention/creation. Discovery implies that there’s a truth there to be discovered—if one person doesn’t discover it, another will. Do you believe that?
TJS: Truth is relative. I couldn’t sit here and tell you that Michelangelo ‘discovered’ David, although he would say it was there waiting to be discovered. There is no truth. Isn’t that clear? If you and I sit on either side of a coin pinched between glass, we would argue to death that our perception of that coin were ‘truth.’ It’s tricky stuff. The more you look, the more the vertigo sets in and you go back to fumbling around blindly in your daily routines.
SP: But do you think we invent the laws of nature?
TJS: Of course we do.
SP: But we didn’t invent the way the universe is expanding, or the path of Jupiter. How did we ‘invent’ those things?
TJS: Science seems to be sculpting a bit of a David of its own, relative to the invented metrics. And I’d probably suggest that we did invent our perception of what a planet is or isn’t. Is Pluto a planet?
SP: So nothing exists outside of our perception?
TJS: Tough one on that count. I’d like to think that Pluto exists, but the cornerstone of all relativity is the perception. Without a point of relativity—a singular point—it all becomes moot, doesn’t it? Paradox and nightmare. With a singular point, it’s all fine and dandy—and real. I will never go to Pluto. I will never touch it. If all of the ‘facts’ and ‘truths’ that I rely upon daily turn out to be a sham, does that make my current reality any less real? And perhaps more importantly, does it really matter?
SP: Very good questions.
TJS: Many years ago, I had a dear, immovable friend. While everyone was becoming fascinated with LSD and lofty, ethereal ideas, he simply plodded on. He was incredibly bright, but he just plodded on. He had somehow realized that all of this dissolves into nothingness if you look too closely at it. And yet it is in our nature to do that: If I came up and told you the meaning of life, you would probably keep looking.
SP: Maybe, yes. Each person probably has to find the meaning of life for him or herself.
TJS: It isn’t there. Never will be. We go in loops, cycling around, creating God. Again and again.
:: Intellectual discovery navigated by Kelly Snook
creativity is logic
creativity is discovery
figuring out what comes next
thinking for yourself
doing for yourself
creating the next moment
creating your next creation
For many in touch with the artistic ~source~, creativity is a fountain always flowing. For them, it is just a matter of directing that flow: through a paintbrush, an instrument, a chisel, their voice, their bodies, or their words. Given the right support and materials, they can create endlessly -- challenge or not. Perhaps what you allude to is the combination of creativity and motivation? For the artistic intuitive, creating is easy -- it's getting up off their asses that's the hard part. And there the challenge may be credited for their creativity -- or the successful manifestation thereof.
Once, I met a chinese poet who lived in London. He told me that all art pushes boundaries. It is a quest to go beyond the norm. I guess that is why he had to flee from China, back then.
I hadn't thought about it in quite that way before, but it makes sense to me. My poems seem to mostly come into my mind already written (although they might go through several revisions before I consider them finished works). Each poem, though, is at the core an answer to the question "What is your response to _______?" or, "What is the larger meaning of _______?"
My paintings usually come to me as an image, but that original image may be modified as I work--sometimes so much that the original image almost completely disappears. Once again the core question is the same--what do I make of _____?
Each poem or painting is in itself a challenge--how will I use the medium at hand to convey what I hope to convey? How will I present the words on the page, or the paint on the canvas? What new skills do I need to learn to give this poem/painting life?
And of course each new poem/painting implies the challenge of the possibility of failure. I don't expect everything I create to be a masterpiece. The things which don't satisfy me are learning experiences--not marks on my person. And sometimes you just have to get the garbage out of your mind to make room for something better.
The link to Blender points to Blender.com a Magazine, not Blender.org the Software...
yes and no, i would not go as far as to say that ALL creativity comes from what we call "the challenge" but it is my belief, that a good chunk of the most wonderous creations know to man have come from some sort of a roadblock presenting itself. the general idea that later leads to that fantastic ending point however, has to start with something. whether it be inspiration from seeing or hearing another great creation or just something that clicked in ones mind on a certain day, all ideas that lead to final 'creativity' have to start somewhere. what beautiful flower would exist with out somebody deciding to plant the seed? saying that, i would also continue to say that every feet achieved by us in time and space, has been faced with some sort of a challenge. can you ever think of a time where you succeeded with doing something new on the first try and it was one hundred and ten percent perfect? no, which is why i believe that those challenges that will always present themselves to us in any way, shape or form help to mould ideas and creations in to something much more creative. for example, if somebody were painting a beautiful protrait and their paint blotted on the page and that person had to cover it up and turn the blotch in to something else, the result of that could end up maing the piece of art a thousand times more beautiful than they had originally planned. therefore, i do not believe all creativity stems from The "Challenge", but that all creativity has the potential to be improved to something greater when posed with a "challenge".
- LIFE's BIG QUESTIONS
- ATTACK A CHALLENGE
All creativity comes because of 'The Challenge' only if creativity is defined as something arising in response to 'The Challenge'. I won't bother to mention even one creation that is valued and yet not dangerous. The choices are myriad. We could all probably think of 5 valid examples in 5 seconds with no overlap.