Like a lot of people David Bowie had a lot of influence on how I think about creativity.
Recently, I was watching this conversation between artist and director Julian Schnabel and Bowie. It was recorded around the time that the film Basquiat was produced.
It’s full of so much wisdom. And like a lot of archival footage of Bowie, the more time passes the clearer it becomes that his predictions and opinions that may have been surprising at the time, were in some way premonitions.
Now, most people, or indeed brands, could never achieve the level of cultural influence that Bowie had. But perhaps there’s something that can be learnt from his approach. Some of which came down to leaving his ego at the door, getting out of his own way, and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
As he said;
“If you work in a creative area, if you work in a comfortable area you know nothing much is going to be produced. It’s only when you start to move very slightly out of your depth and you feel you’re a little bit lost that’s when you’re going to get something exciting going. It’ll either be a dismal failure or it’ll be spectacularly what you really want to do.”
In any new project, venture, or creative pursuit to create anything truly surprising — something that’s going to push that cultural boundary — it's necessary to push beyond first thoughts and assumptions and get into that uncomfortable space. To look at things from a different angle. To read the things we don’t normally read. To go to the places we don’t normally go to. To put ourselves in the (metaphorical) shoes of our audience and — most importantly — get out of our own way.
This means not starting every project with an ambition to prove what you know (or fear what you don’t). But with an ambition to surprise yourself (and by default your audience).
As Schnabel put it (drawing from a quote by Christopher Walken):
“If you can’t surprise yourself how do you expect to surprise anyone else? And I think that whatever I do I don’t do it to illustrate what I know, I do it to find out something that I don’t know”
A quote to print out and stick above my desk for sure. Not least to remind me that not knowing is not only ~okay~ — it’s often the most exciting starting point, and potentially where the magic lies.
Take care and Happy Holidays,
Until next time 👋,
Harriet
Before I go I wanted to share a couple of other things I’m enjoying at the moment:
Avant Arte - a platform which aims to bring drop culture and ‘radical accessibility’ to the art market.
ALEM LABS - the awesome studio/shop of Alex Morris and siblings. Alex is also the author of the brilliant Strategy Scrapbook and STRAT_SCRAPS newsletter. If you haven’t already I highly recommend checking them out.