Lecture 8: Creative Rhetorics

-Plato didn’t like creativity as he believed it didn’t fit with his theory of metaphysics. His theory was that this world is a mirror/copy of a different world. Physical mimics the real and art mimics the world and therefore, by this logic, art mimics an imitation. Plato thought mental skills (e.g. maths, science) were harder than technical skills (art). This is an attitude this is still prevalent with todays society, as there is still a stigma with doing an art degree.

-Gombrich argued that art has afro-asiatic origins, and Bernal agreed, writing that Classical Civilisation has deep roots in African cultures but was suppressed by Eurocentric history.

-In the Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece, the sculpture of the Goddess Nike was more naturalistic, than, for example, the Kouros from Attica 530 BC, which looked quite wooden. In that era, it was believed that the more realistic the sculpture looked, the better the artist was. It’s interesting to note how this belief has changed with time, as now abstract art is well respected. The whole way we all interpret and view art has changed vapidly- now, we are more open-minded as a society.

-In the 19^th Century, Leeds town hall was built which boasted Britain’s large empire due its classical architecture, e.g. the Roman domes and the Greek columns. At that time Britain had huge economic power and they wanted to celebrate this, and so they merged two other historically well-known empires into their architecture. 

-There are nine Rhetorics of Creativity. The first one I will discuss is about the Creative Genius, which is found in romanticism. Kant wrote the Critique of Judgement that was all about emotions, colours and dreams. I found the discussion on Kant quite interesting because although I had studied Kant in philosophy, I learnt only about his view on life after death, and so his view on art was very intriguing. Another key piece of literature surrounding the creative genius is ‘Gender and Genius’ by Battersby. Romanticism transformed how people thought about art and creativity. Nietzsche and Schopenhauer rejected Plato’s belief that the arts aren’t as important as the academics. They believed art was the most important method of generating knowledge. Romanticism also states that creativity is dynamic and through creating, artists create new rules.

-Another of the Nine Rhetorics is Creativity and Cognition. Csikzentmihayl wrote a book called Flow, which discussed the psychological conditions of creativity. He said that creativity is all about enjoyment, happiness and losing yourself. This happens when you get set a brief that is challenging enough to experience a creative flow. This mostly happens when you’re talking to someone.

- Another of the Nine Rhetorics is creativity for social good e.g. Clair Tancons and her carnival performance art piece that tackled racism.

-Lastly, there was creativity as economic imperative. Creativity is vital for the economy as it can encourage people to invest in things and when people consume, it is good for businesses and it generates more jobs which then in-turn generates more money.

Links with advertising

-The Hellenistic sculpture of the goddess Nike related to the Nike brand which uses aspects of the goddess in its advertising, e.g. the goddess personified victory, and the brand Nike centres on sporting victory and being the best you can be via its products.

-The Greek idea that the more realistic a sculpture was, the better the artist, links with advertising as it brings up the question of how realistic are the images we use in ads? For example, the McDonalds burgers in the ads are not realistic.

- Nietzsche and Schopenhauer believing that art was an important method of generating knowledge links to advertising as we can generate knowledge though advertising, which many argue is a form of art. For example, the Tesco and St.John’s Ambulance baby grow campaign that taught viewers how to perform CPR on a child.

-Romantics believing creativity is dynamic links to advertising as the advertising industry is constantly changing. For example, more women are being employed and before Bernbach came along, copywriters and art directors didn’t work in teams.

-With the 9 Rhetorics of Creativity, advertising legend John Hegarty fits in the Creative Genius category as he has subjective visions, is dynamic, breaks rules and got his achievements through his own work and not instruction.

- Csikzentmihayl and the creative flow links to advertising as we all experience a creative flow when we generate ideas.

-Creativity for social good links with advertising as there are many ads that promote social change, e.g. Kenco coffee vs. gangs campaign.

-Creativity for the economy links with advertising as ads are meant to encourage and inspire people to buy products, and therefore contribute to the economy.