Rules

The essence of cre­ativ­i­ty and the pur­suit of artis­tic inno­va­tion lie at the heart of exam­in­ing and often chal­leng­ing the con­ven­tions and rules that define dif­fer­ent gen­res and medi­ums of art. This explo­ration begins with dis­tin­guish­ing between the immutable laws of math and sci­ence and the muta­ble rules of art, which serve more as guide­lines than absolute truths. These artis­tic rules, shaped by cul­ture, genre, and indi­vid­ual teach­ers or influ­encers, are not designed to con­strain cre­ativ­i­ty but to guide it momen­tar­i­ly, always sub­ject to scruti­ny and change for the sake of bet­ter expres­sion.

The chap­ter dis­cuss­es the ten­den­cy with­in art to adhere to con­ven­tions that dic­tate the para­me­ters of what art ‘should’ be—whether it be the length and struc­ture of a song, the accept­ed mate­ri­als and pre­sen­ta­tion of paint­ings, or the stan­dard­ized for­mats of books and films. How­ev­er, it under­scores the point that true inno­va­tion aris­es not from fol­low­ing these con­ven­tions but from step­ping out­side of them, from see­ing past the estab­lished rules to cre­ate some­thing unique and ground­break­ing. It encour­ages artists to val­ue and devel­op their own voice rather than con­form­ing to the aver­age or expect­ed, high­light­ing how the most mem­o­rable artists and art­works are often those that defy soci­etal norms and expec­ta­tions.

Fur­ther­more, the text delves into the deep­er, often sub­con­scious rules that artists com­ply with, absorbed through cul­ture, upbring­ing, and emu­la­tion of admired fig­ures. The dan­ger, it points out, lies not in the rules them­selves but in the unex­am­ined adher­ence to them, which can sti­fle cre­ativ­i­ty and inno­va­tion. Artists are called to con­tin­u­al­ly chal­lenge their method­olo­gies and assump­tions, to remain flex­i­ble and open to new pos­si­bil­i­ties that diverge from their estab­lished process­es or for­mu­las.

In con­clu­sion, main­tain­ing a crit­i­cal stance towards both vis­i­ble and hid­den rules is posi­tioned as essen­tial for artis­tic growth. By ques­tion­ing and test­ing these bound­aries, artists can ensure their work remains dynam­ic, inno­v­a­tive, and true to their unique per­spec­tive. It’s about hold­ing every rule as break­able and see­ing beyond the famil­iar to what might become. This reflec­tive and ques­tion­ing approach not only pre­serves the spir­it of inno­va­tion but also enrich­es the artist’s jour­ney, allow­ing for end­less explo­ration and dis­cov­ery in the realm of cre­ative expres­sion.