Creativity's greatest invention

Creativity’s greatest invention; urban abstractions of art

What was the creative man’s greatest invention? What may have been the single most ‘rhizome’ of thought that has defined, perhaps permanently, the tenants of escapism, entertainment, art and emotional expression? The creative man, from caveman to today, has had at his disposal several boundaries of the human conditions; boundaries which, once crossed, would liberate him. And in thus liberating him, bring him his epiphany and freedom both at the same time.

For readers and generally inquisitive folk, the medium of story-telling has been the prime source of provocation (positive or negative). Therefore, for story-tellers, what could have spurned the greatest revolution in modern expression? Story-telling leads us to visual media. From there, we have moved to a concoction of social technology. None the less, it remains story-telling.

What follows will be tricky to grasp only if one pre-supposes any limitations to me (or anyone else) utilizing complete and un-abashed artistic license. In order for me to opine what I opine, I would have to first forget that there is any academic, rigid inspection required of my work. References will be made, nuances will be implicit, and a few mentally flexible minded individuals may even find some sense in all this.

The greatest advent of the 20^th century was the abstract of urban life taken to explain the human condition;

The greatest invention for artists (all of them) was their utilizing the urban setting, that concrete jungle, to make abstractions explaining human life. Generically, it may be said that they used urban reality to explain, as best as they could (with no small measure of pain) to explain the human condition.

Their fodder was that eternally symbiotic idea permeating present (collective) human consciousness that we are all suffering. That this suffering at a very basic level makes its connection even more potent. We are living amongst concrete, metal and stone and this is a direct (yes direct) biological habitat replacement. Its predecessor: actual jungles. Replacing our trees with our high-rises for shadow, moving from ‘burrows’ to shelters of permanence, man trades his primitive tools for communication devices.

The abstraction in question is one of dramatization, exaggeration, expansion and philosophical literature. Used, by all levels of thinking (rhizomes of art), the urban jungle was unique in its structure for man; an evolution of thoughts and ideals coinciding with a dynamic rise in marvels of art explaining the jungle. If ever there was an advent, single in its philosophical instance but multiple in its application, than this advent of expression for life in an urban setting has no parallel. It has no equal in history. It is preceded only by the actual creation of expression itself.

Urban realities are sources of ‘fear’

We are all relatively new to the urban jungle. This transition, it is far from over. Our primitive beings, long buried but to be forgotten at our peril, are probing our sub-conscience with a constant barrage of exigencies. These are the real and undeniable sources of our deepest, darkest fears. Our very existence in ‘artificial’ urban surroundings, with their associated external threats, presents us with a strong measure of ‘dissonance’. Jaded, we should realize and accept the fact that life is suffering, at its core. Not undefeatable, but a formidable foe of long standing. For some 7000 years, this foe has haunted us.  

Setting characters in this reality is something storytellers have done best in what we call contemporary expression. It has also been an appeasement of our suffering. Art and its deviants amuse, console, cajole and provoke, mostly positively. Thus, the exposition of the human ‘abstract’, that immeasurably complex process of creating similes to explain humanity is a pivot. Around it rotates the release of hundreds of years of misery.

Thus having indulged myself in this minor, but important, realization, I may conclude. This idea first occurred to me in 2007 (while I was, let us say, indisposed to be with society for about 7 hours). It was during this moment, staring out of my balcony of yonder, gazing upon the endless terrain of houses and concrete lines between them, that I first coined the idea (in my head naturally). The greatest advent we have made in the realm of fantasy spawned in the under belly of the capitalist beast; the city-state. Post-modernism’s adaptation for life, well, it followed suit. To what effect, we will soon find out.

 

The following has the strong reference points raised by Desmond Morris in his book ‘Human Zoo’. Those are limited to the definition of ‘concrete jungle’. It is a book I recommend to everyone. The following has also taken a very liberal view of the ‘rhizome’ proposed by Jilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, who worked on the phenomenal ‘Capitalism and Schizophrenia’ project.