1. What
Modern Art
can teach us
about
Creativity
… to Warhol
From Picasso
By Podium Wisdom

3. At an auction in May
2013, this painting,
“Onement VI” by
Barnett Newman,
sold for quite a pretty
sum…

4. $43.8
Million
US Dollars

5. “WTF!?”

6. “WTF!?”
(Was That Fo’real?)

7. I mean… it looks
like something
even I could do!

8. And this revived
a suspicion I’ve
long had about
modern art:

9. Is Modern Art…
Complete…
and total…

10. B.S.?
Is Modern Art…
Complete…
and total…

11. And this was
hardly an
isolated case…

13. $230,000My Bed (1998) by Tracey Emin

14. $230,000My Bed (1998) by Tracey Emin

15. $230,000My Bed (1998) by Tracey Emin
$MillionsBlack Square (1915) by K. Malevich

16. I mean…
Seriously!!??

17. Find a picture of a
museum with a queue
around the block, and
add the caption: “Are
we being duped?”
Maybe we’re all…

18. Find a picture of a
museum with a queue
around the block, and
add the caption: “Are
we being duped?”
DUPED?
Maybe we’re all… getting

19. Fortunately…
I don’t think we’re
getting duped.
On the contrary…

20. Such artworks
can be incredibly
Valuable

21. Such artworks
can be incredibly
Valuable
(Ok… maybe not
$44 million…
but valuable!)

22. And I would go
even further…

23. WE SHOULD
ALL CARE
ABOUT
MODERN
ART

24. WE SHOULD
ALL CARE
ABOUT
MODERN
ART And here is why…

25. Modern Art can
teach & inspire us
enormously about
a most precious
quality in the 21st
century economy…

26. Creativity
Homie!
“Creativity
my love!”

27. “La CréativitéGamins!”

28. Créativité
Gamins!
OH, JEFF…
I LOVE…
CREATIVITY!

29. A 2010 IBM survey
of 1,500 CEOs named
creativity the most
crucial factor for
future success.
(“Creativity is the New Black”,
Forbes, July 16, 2010)

30. “Creativity is as
important now
… as literacy.”
Sir Ken Robinson

31. Now, you might
be thinking…

32. “Well DOHHH…
everyone knows
creativity is
important.”

33. “and everyone
knows Monet and
Van Gogh are
creative…
BUT…

34. How does that
HELP ME
become more
creative!!??

35. How does that
HELP ME
become more
creative!!??
Well, here’s how:

36. We know that to
be truly creative,
we must be willing
to turn away
from the old…

37. that creating the
truly innovative is
impossible without
challenging rules,

38. that creating the
truly innovative is
impossible without
challenging rules,
breaking tradition,

39. that creating the
truly innovative is
impossible without
challenging rules,
breaking tradition,
poking the system

40. “Learn the rules like a
pro, so you can break
them like an artist.”
– Pablo Picasso

41. “To be an exception, a
painter… had to
contest the norms of
the art that had
formed him.”
—John Berger
Renowned art critic

42. “There’s a feeling of
rebellion in any act of
creativity.”
—Philippe Petit
The “Man On Wire”

43. And this is where
the heroes of
modern art can
help you.

44. Let their stories
inspire you and
lead you…

45. Let their stories
inspire you and
lead you…
To Break boundaries

46. Let their stories
inspire you and
lead you…
To Break boundaries

47. Let their stories
inspire you and
lead you…
To Break boundaries
and Rip Up
the canvas if you
fancy…

48. To illustrate the
point, allow me to
paint a picture
for you…

49. There used to be
rigid rules on what
art could be about.
Mostly, subjects of
art were…

50. Divine
Titian (1542)

51. Divine
Rich or
Royal
Dieu (1697)

52. Divine
Rich or
Royal
Naked
ladies
Titian (1538)

53. In other words…
If you weren’t god,
rich, royal or a sexy
naked lady, you were
not good enough
to be art.

54. In other words…
If you weren’t god,
rich, royal or a
naked lady, you were
not good enough
to be art.
Eventually,
artists decided:
“To hell with that!”

55. In other words…
If you weren’t god,
rich, royal or a
naked lady, you were
not good enough
to be art.
Eventually,
artists decided:
“To hell with that!”*
*Except for “naked
ladies”. They still
loved naked ladies

56. In the mid-1800s,
artists started to
feature subjects
such as…

57. The Poor
Manet
(1859)

58. The Poor
The Crazy
Munch
(1893)

59. Picasso (1912)
The Poor
The Crazy
Everyday
Stuff

60. Duchamp (1917)
The Poor
The Crazy
Everyday
Stuff
Urinal

61. Pollock (1948)
The Poor
The Crazy
Everyday
Stuff
Urinal
????

62. Warhol (1962)
The Poor
The Crazy
Everyday
Stuff
Urinal
????
Soup can

63. Oldenburg (1992)
The Poor
The Crazy
Everyday
Stuff
Urinal
????
Soup can
Trash

64. Sure, they were
heavily criticized
for such brazen
violations.
And yet…

65. They
brushed it off,
painted on and
chipped away.

66. … and so,
stroke by stroke,
chisel by chisel, they
completely reshaped
what the world
perceived as
artistic beautiful

67. such that today,
our creativity
can literally…

68. Take on
any
subject
Murakami (2011)

69. be about
any
-body
and…
Sherman (1978)

70. be made
from any
material
Hirst (2012)

71. We look out into a wide open world, with
nothing to limit us but the limits of our
own imagination.

72. So the next time
some schmuck tells
you: “That’s not an
appropriate topic!”

73. Just remember
what Monet or
Picasso would say:

74. Just remember
what Monet or
Picasso would say:

75. That’s how they
took down another
old commandment
of the art world…

76. Thou shalt paint in
the approved way,
and only this way:

77. Precise,
detailed,
alive real
as a photo
Van Eyck
(1434)

78. With brush
strokes so
fine they’re
barely even
visible
Van Eyck
(1434)

79. and yet
idealized
romanticized
Botticelli (1490)

80. heroic
glorified
David
(1805)

81. If you didn’t paint
in this way, your
art was never
admitted into the
salons…

82. Thus, all was
smooth and
orderly in the
art world…

83. Thus, all was
smooth and
orderly in the
art world…
Until some
brash hooligans
mucked it all up.
Again.

84. by painting
but the
roughest of
impressions
Monet (1872)

85. twisting the
world into
dreams
feelings
Van Gogh (1889)

86. reducing
the world
to a bunch
of shapes, to
reveal its
true nature
Cézanne (1887)

87. and then
reducing
people to
shapes also
Picasso
(1889)

88. in order to
reveal THEIR
true nature
Picasso
(1925)

89. But the rebels
didn’t stop there…

90. They took
the “shape”
thing above
and beyond
Delaunay
(1924)

91. ‘til all
became
abstract
Mondrian
(1930)

92. and simple
in its
elegance
Judd (1972)

93. sometimes
to the very
extreme
Malevich
(1915)

94. By constantly
flouting the rules,
these rebels
created a world
in which…

95. Newman
(1952)
This…

96. Rembrandt
(1632)
can be
every bit
as beautiful
as this

97. Miro
(1950)
And this…

98. Titian
(1520)
can be
every bit
as magical
as this

99. The fact that most
people I know
would prefer their
bedrooms to
look like…

100. this

101. rather
than this

102. Tells you just
how profoundly
modern art has
changed the way
we think about
art and beauty

103. In the process, modern art forever
altered the face of this world

104. And continues to challenge
our assumptions perceptions
(“Execution” by Yue Minjun, 1995)

105. “But wait!” you
might be thinking…

106. “Artists can do what
they want, they’re
artists! I work in
[insert serious field],
I can’t do that!.”

107. Well, let’s ask some
“serious folks”…

108. “In field after field, past experience has
taught us that the ones to pay attention to
are the ones who understand the rules so
well that they also understand the urgency to
break them.”
— Yongme Moon,
Professor, Harvard Business School

109. “The most important
thing for young
scientists is to
dare to be different.”
— Yuan Tseh Lee
Nobel Chemist

110. The audacity to
challenge the
status quo has
changed our world
in ways far beyond
the artistic…

111. In how we see the
rights and dignity
of all people,
whatever the
color of their skin

112. … in how we
learn about
EVERYTHING

113. … in how we
think and talk
about Privacy

114. … and much,
much more

115. Cave Painting, Banksy (2008)
You may or may
not be the next
Picasso or Warhol

116. But you can still
let their stories
inspire you

117. To shred up dictums,
upend structures, and
sow creative chaos
wherever you are
A Sudden Gust of Wind, Jeff Wall (1993)

118. Because…
who knows…

119. From the
debris of
that chaos

120. A new world
may yet
emerge
Gyre, Chris Jordan (2009) created from trash from the ocean

121. What
Modern Art
can teach us
about
Creativity
… to Warhol
From Picasso
By Podium Wisdom

122. 90% of what I’ve learned about
modern art came from the BBC Arts
Editor Will Gompertz and his book,
What Are You Looking At?

123. Podium Wisdom