It’s official: Janet Jackson is a performer who simply “pushed the envelope.”
Now I have a little issue with that. It seems to me that creativity isn’t doing something bizarre. Hell, anyone can do something out of the ordinary for the environment they’re in. What she and Justin Timberlake did (I wouldn’t even know his name except for the news coverage) required absolutely no creativity. It “pushed the envelope” of decency, and nothing more. It is no more artistic than grandpa making funny noises when you pull on his finger. Pushing the envelope is not creativity. Doing something new within the envelope is.
Artists, and I use that term very loosely, abound because it takes no talent to be one. A true artist makes us see things (visually or mentally) through impression that we might not see otherwise. It requires true creativity to put together the same eight musical notes as everyone else in a way that inspires the listener. Art is now self-defined. And there are plenty of high-brow folks looking down their noses at people who “don’t understand.” Let me give them a clue: Art is not about what an artist was feeling when he created it. Art is what feeling his work creates. If it creates a sense of “garbage”, it is garbage.
I agree near totally, but must chime in that the same work won’t necessarily “create a sense of garbage” in all beholders. One man’s garbage often may be antother man’s chicken pot pie, and there’s really nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, this post reminds me of a favorite quote:
“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
Good old Charles Mingus.
Comment by Bogey — February 5, 2004 @ 12:16 pm
Agree. If someone likes a piece of garbage and wants to put it in their house, more power to them!
Comment by Bunker — February 5, 2004 @ 2:47 pm