【原】David Currie绘画展｜倍增时代：创新思维的重要性

莉莉张的字影 2022-05-15

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《倍增时代：创新思维的重要性》

The Importance of Creative Thinking in the Augmented Age

The world is changing fast.

Opportunities undoubtedly fly past.

Change is augmented with technology, time and space.

But the real creatives will certainly find their place.

世界瞬息万变。

机遇无疑会飞逝而过。

变化的是技术、时间和空间的倍增。

然而，真正的创意一定有其自己的位置。

The story is like this, for about 30 years I'd been firm in a belief that painting and also some of the other fine-art mediums were dead. The rationale was that digital technologies had become so advanced and so powerful that any visual image could be augmented or altered in strikingly powerful ways. Even as early as the 1980s, my opinion was that some bus-shelter advertisements were much more visually striking than things being shown in art museums.

However, I now realise that this belief was flawed.

故事是这样的，在过去的三十年里，我曾以为绘画以及其他传统艺术媒体已经被淘汰了，因为数码科技实在太先进、太强大了，它可以优化甚至改变视觉景象，从很多方面给人带来更为震撼的视觉效果。在20世纪80年代的时候，我甚至觉得公交站台广告牌上的广告都比艺术博物馆里展示的大多数东西更有视觉冲击力。当然，现在我意识到这种想法是有缺陷的。

If we were to backtrack to technical advances around the turn of the 20th Century, it’s probably safe to say that because of innovations like, manned flight, electricity, the automobile, and multitudes of other inventions, art communities in the Western-world were feeling a little directionless. Nonetheless, there was also a new breed of artist that were able to define (or redefine) art in a context that was both influenced by, but also separate from, the modern industrial society. So, I feel that by taking a closer look at what was happening in art a hundred years ago, today’s creatives (whoever you are) may find it easier to define a role in today’s world of rapid technological change; a new world called the Augmented Age.

我们如果追溯到大约20世纪之初，就会发现新型科技产物像雨后春笋般涌现，像是载人飞机、电力能源，还有汽车等等。在新科技力量的巨大冲击之下，西方艺术界定然会觉得有些无所适从，但当时还是有一批新一代的艺术家，他们勇于创新，通过一些有创意的想法和作品定义甚至重新定义了艺术。所以，如果你更细致地去观察、去了解前一百年艺术的发展与变化，你就会发现，在这个全新的时代，任何人都可以创新，任何人都可以轻松地定义一个全新的角色。

When about fifteen, I was already showing a very strong interest in drawing and painting; my parents had sent me off to several art courses and I’d been admitted into the H.B. Beal art program (a special high-school in London Ontario for gifted teenagers).

在我大概15岁的时候，即表现出对绘画的浓厚兴趣，我的父母送我去学习一些与艺术有关的课程；随即，我便被HB比尔学校的艺术系录取了（这是一所专门培养具有艺术天赋的孩子的高中）。

At the time, strong interests in colour theory led me to a simple idea; objects, like colour, could also have complementary opposes. If identical visual images were juxtaposed, such as in a reflection, these opposing images would complement each other.

那时候，被色彩理论深深吸引的我，萌生出一个简单的想法：事物，如色彩，都可以对立互补。如果相同的视觉图像并置在一起，例如在反射中，这些对立的图像将相互补充。

Months later I began pushing the boundaries with the idea that I could just rotate lines or other objects to create balanced abstract compositions. And, ever since, I’ve been playing with this idea and trying to refine certain skills; so the style still results from the same basic idea.

几个月后，我开始用可以旋转的线条或其他物体来创建平衡的抽象构图，用这种思想来推进边界。从那时起，我一直在玩这个想法，并试图完善某些技能，所以风格仍然来自相同的基本思想。

Anyway, a hundred years ago, Picasso, Matisse, and also Salvador Dali were certainly pushing the boundaries of art, which is significant because photography (both as an art and as a documentation medium) was certainly challenging the relevance of painting. But, the real push forward, was from someone that was not only cynical of industrial modernism, he was a firm believer that art should separate itself from government, politics and big money; his name was Marcel Duchamp, and through him, along with a group of other creatives (photographers, musicians, writers, etc) called the Dada-ist, a new window of creative thinking was opened. The breezes that flowed through this window had a huge influence on me at fifteen and still have a huge influence on how I think today.

总之，一百年前，毕加索、马蒂斯和萨尔瓦多·达利无疑推动了艺术的界限，这是很重要的，因为摄影（作为一种艺术和一种文档媒介）无疑挑战了绘画的意义。然而，真正意义上推动这种转变的却另有其人。他不像当时的其他艺术家那样对现代工业化带来的改变表示愤懑与不满，他仍然对艺术抱有坚定的信念。他认为艺术不受政府、政治和金钱的摆布，是一种独立而又自由的存在。他就是马塞尔·杜尚。当时与他有相同信念的摄影师、音乐家、作家等创意工作者，一同被称为达达派艺术家。与此同时，一面崭新的窗户打开了，“创新思维”像一阵微风透过这扇窗儿拂来，并深深地影响了那个15岁的我。这阵微风并未离去，它还在我的思绪深处轻轻萦绕。

So, if there was a contemporary art genius today (someone like Leonardo da Vinci or Marcel Duchamp) in today, how would we identify them and what type of art would they be making? A few years ago, if asked this question, my reply would have probably been that they work for companies like Adobe Systems. And, though that may in fact be true, it can also be argued that someone like Duchamp or Da Vinci would be far too “off the wall” to comfortably exist within the confines of a modern corporate environment.

所以，如果今天有当代艺术天才（比如达·芬奇或马塞尔·杜尚），我们将如何识别他们，他们将做什么样的艺术？几年前，如果被问到这个问题，我的回答可能是他们为Adobe系统这样的公司工作。尽管事实可能是这样，但也有人认为，像杜尚或达文西这样的人，在现代企业环境的限制下，会“过于自由”。

But, does it matter? And from the perspective of the Augmented Age? Do artists and the ideas of creative people have much importance in our lives? Will the creative spirit have a sense of status in the near future?

但是，这有关系吗？从倍增的角度看呢？艺术家和创意人的观念在我们的生活中有多重要？创新精神在不久的将来会有地位感吗？

This is where I come in; I think the creative spirit is quickly becoming an absolutely essential tool of survival and, after so many years, this is what is driving my own, personal "artistic awakening”.

It all started about 1 1/2 years ago. A local Shenzhen web designer invited me to attend her Chinese painting class. Having not been painting for years, I certainly enjoyed this opportunity. However, the really the catalyst to start painting in the middle of the night with a thought that painting is only dead when there are no painters left to push it forward. At that point, out from a closet came long-forgotten tubes of paint and brushes; visual content rapidly started to accumulate on the computer desktop.

这就是我的切入点，我认为创作精神正迅速成为一种绝对必要的生存工具，经过这么多年，这正是推动我个人的“艺术觉醒”的原因。

这一切都始于大约1年半以前。一位深圳本地的网页设计师邀请我参加她的国画班。因为很久没有动过笔画过画，我特别享受于其中。然而，真正的催化剂始于深夜，我恍然大悟：绘画没有消亡！画家不再提笔，绘画才会真正地消逝！这时，从壁橱里传来了早已被遗忘的油漆和刷子，视觉内容迅速在电脑桌面上堆积起来。

The Medium and the (Contemporary) Message

In a world that is supposedly on the threshold of the Augmented Age, one cannot help but start thinking about creative ways to make art using technologies like laser, 3-D printing, and uses for augmented reality glasses but (in the context of this new age) the medium may not be as important as learning how to exercise the creative processes and how to access an individual’s creative sixth sense. In this context, mediums like painting, paper cutting, and conventional photography can hold just as much value today as they did 100 years earlier. This is because the process will have more importance and the medium is better defined as the facilitator. And, though I agree with Twyla Tharp, author of The Creative Habit, that most creatives probably have a cognitive affinity to certain mediums over others, the medium will not independently dictate the success of an artist or a particular art creation.

艺术媒体和（当代）艺术要旨

世界正在进入倍增时代，人们不得不开始思考用激光、3D打印、AR眼镜等技术创造艺术的创造性方法，但是考虑用什么媒介可能不如学习如何运用创造性过程和如何获得个人的创造性第六感那么重要。在这种情况下，像绘画、剪纸和传统摄影这样的媒介，它们今天的价值与100年前一样高。因为过程更重要，媒介更被定义为艺术的载体。尽管我认为泰拉‧沙普《创意的习惯》中的观点“最具创意的作品，其作者对艺术媒体的认知具有共通之处”有一定道理，但介质本身不会单独决定一个艺术家或一个特定的艺术创作的成功。

So, What is the Creative Process?

The creative process combines a mix of four elements: knowledge, skill, motivation, and a creative sixth sense. In other words, you need to learn a lot and open up to what other creatives are doing. Also, you need to develop a “toolbox” of skills and, to be good, you need to develop your skills to the extreme. This is a bit problematic because there is a finite limit to the number of mediums an artist can perfect. It’s similar to being a musician or an athlete; how many instruments can a musician really learn to perfect. Likewise, athletes must also limit their scope usually to one or possible two sports.

那么，如何创新呢？

创新有四要素：知识、技巧、动力与灵感。换种说法就是，你需要大量的学习来开阔眼界、提高认知。此外，你需要开发一个“工具箱”的技能，最好，你把你的技能发展到极致。然而这有点难，因为一个艺术家可以做到极致完美的媒介数量是有限的。这与音乐家或运动员相似，音乐家能真正完美演奏的乐器有多少呢？同样，运动员也必须限制他们的范围通常是一个或两个的运动项目。

So, like Picasso and Matisse, or even Rothko and Warhol, regardless of the technologies available, our scope is limited to the places where our skill is the best. And, even though innovations in the augmented reality space may help to expand an individual’s creative scope, skill perfection will always be part of the recipe. My guess is that technological innovation won’t radically change the challenges related to skill perfection; it will only push the perfection requirement higher on the quality curve. So, in terms of skill proficiency, we will still need to identify our strengths and weaknesses!

所以，就像毕加索和马蒂斯，或者是罗思克和沃霍尔，不考虑现存的技术，他们在自己有限的领域中达到了极致的成就。尽管在不断增强的现实空间，创新可能有助于扩大个人的创作范围，但技巧的完美永远是配方的一部分。我想，技术革新不会从根本上挑战技能的完美，它只会在质量曲线上推动更高的完美要求。所以，在技能水平方面，我们仍然需要找出我们的强项和弱项！

So, why am I painting instead of shifting to a more fashionable medium (like laser, or 3D printing, etc), because this is where my skill set is. But, could we not argue that a painting skill set now dead and meaningless!

所以，为什么我还要坚持绘画，而不是转移到更时髦的媒介（如激光或3D打印等），因为这是我的技能集。但是，我们不能争辩说，绘画技能现在已经死了，失去了意义！

There is no more reason for painting to be dead today than when Matisse and Picasso were redefining art (through painting) a hundred years ago. In fact, (in my opinion) if there was any time in history that painting should have been totally killed by technology, it was at the beginning of the 17th Century and the advent of the printing press. However, despite the printing press, artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio ensured that painting absolutely was not ready to die.

今天，比起一百年前马蒂斯和毕加索通过绘画重新定义艺术，我们更没有理由说绘画已死。事实上，在我看来，如果说历史上有段时间绘画被技术完全毁灭，那就是在十七世纪初和印刷机问世的时候。然而，尽管有印刷术，像伦勃朗和卡拉瓦乔这样的艺术家仍然确保了绘画绝对没有准备好去死。

So, on that note, to all the augmented-reality techies in the Bay area (and elsewhere), in my opinion, Rembrandt and Caravaggio were absolute masters in the art of augmenting reality. So, don’t think you are so cool!

所以，要注意的是，在湾区及其他地方所有的增强现实技术，在我看来，伦勃朗和卡拉瓦乔都是增强现实艺术的绝对大师。所以，别以为你很酷！

As for the creative process, it’s just simply a combination of knowledge, skill and a lot of hard work, that’s it!

至于创作过程，它仅仅是知识、技能和大量辛勤工作的结合，就是这样！

To Summarise

The real purpose of art (and for me as an artist), at least from the perspective of the Augmented Age may not rest so much in the “art product”. So, the medium may not really matter as much. The purpose of art is more likely to act as a guiding light to the importance of the creative process in society. So, in this new world, it may not be the “profession of art” that moves to centerstage, it is more likely to be the tools associated with creative thinking. An hopefully, as masters of these tools, the artist’s sense of purpose and their sense of inclusion in society will now become more relevant.

The Augmented Age undoubtedly will be a renaissance for all creatives. So, my opinion, understanding the creative process, and proactively putting it to work in our lives will unquestionably be very import. For millennials, becoming a lawyer or doctor or even existing on any sort of singular life track may be a waste of time. Maybe it can be said that industrial societies, and the conditioning that this age invoked on humanity is what has really died (not painting or art).

总结

艺术的真正目的（包括对作为一个艺术家的我），至少从倍增时代的角度来看，不可能在艺术产品中得到更多的支持。所以，媒介实际上可能并不那么重要。艺术的目的更可能成为社会创造性过程重要性的指路明灯。所以，在这个新的世界，它可能不是“职业艺术”移动到舞台中心，它更像是与创造性思维相关的工具。希望，作为这些工具的主人，艺术家的目的感和融入社会的意识现在变得更加相关。

倍增时代将无疑是所有创意的复兴。因此，我的观点是，理解创造性的过程，并积极地把它运用到我们的生活中，这无疑非常重要。对于千禧一代，成为一个律师或医生、甚至存在于任何奇特的人生轨迹中，也许是浪费时间。或许也可以说，真正死亡的，会是工业社会、以及这个时代对人性的召唤，而不是绘画或艺术。

Interestingly, Duchamp and his buddies in the Dada movement were already alluding this 100 years ago. It’s amazing!

有趣的是，达达运动时期的杜尚和他的伙伴，在100年前已经给了我们这个暗示。太惊人了。

Anyway, this is what’s driving me and it’s these thoughts that answer many of the unanswered questions that I’ve been pondering since I was 15-years old.

不管怎样，这正是促使我前进的原因，正是这些想法回答了我15岁以来一直思考的许多未回答的问题。

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