Art, My Art, Innovation, Leadership, Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Design, Creativity, Sustainability, Jazz and other Cool Stuff
A little bit like Sherlock, a little bit like Dirk
I always like to look at pop or literature icons as a way of referencing certain interesting characteristics or conclusions. It is a short, simple, and effective way of coming across with complex ideas in ways that do not seem so complicated.
For example, whenever I teach my course or I give a lecture, I usually talk about the need of any inquisitive and creative mind to think a little bit like Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock, the super sleuth, concentrates Socratic logic, and puts in very practical terms the impact that deep observation, careful reasoning, and the use of hypotheses will have on any issue. This method helps to open up horizons not seen until then, while paying attention to indicia and actual evidentiary proof.
As many already know, author (and physician) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, based his character on a doctor and professor named Joseph Bell.
Bell was famous at the time for his deductive reasoning and his amazing accuracy in coming up with information about, not only his patients´ illnesses, but also their nationality, family, work, activities, customs and other personal data that was not available to him. All this from simple observation.
Conan Doyle decided that all the mystery stories that were popular at the time showed detectives which, for some non-explicated reason, would come up with clues and resolutions. He decided that it would be great for a detective to use the same techniques that Bell used, and decided to publish the investigator´s adventures.
The actual way in which the Strand´s short stories became famous is, by itself, a great example of how a new concept or idea gets accepted by a difficult market, and how a combination of doing the hard work, plus the influence exerted by a necessary dose of luck, will get you closer to success. I would also recommend you read the many articles written about this for inspiration.
But with time, and as I finetuned my understanding of facts and theories, I decided that it was not enough to be like Sherlock. Part of the answer to any conundrum will be elucidated from the diagnostic threesome that is made up by “Observe carefully, deduce shrewdly, and confirm with evidence.” But there is much more to life than that.
Amongst other things, there is a holistic approach to problem solving, or project building, or market conquering which goes beyond the closeness of solutions based on observation, no matter how accute or accurate.
That is where another, albeit lesser known, pop culture detective comes along to offer a different perspective.
Many of you may follow the adventures of “Dirk Gently, holistic detective agency” on Netflix. This is a crazy mix of mistery, philosophy, sci-fi, super powers, psychological thriller, and organic detecting which kind of rounds up a series of characteristics that the original Conan Doyle creation missed.
The basis for this crazy adventure is that there are things we do not understand, but that nevertheless, are important even without us working out what they are for, or where do they fit into our story. The reasoning is that everything seems to be connected with everything else in life. It is just a matter of time, or sleuthing, or mind opening, or a combination of those -and other characteristics and actions- which will get those unusual, almost unfitting events, to fit in.
And this combination is almost magic.
It puts Sherlocks ideas, well characterized by psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova’s book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (Viking), as his “natural skepticism and inquisitiveness toward the world”, and his critical, analytical, and hellbent passion to solve all those questions that seem to remain unsolved in front of him, right alongside Gently´s curiosity, his peaceful acceptance of facts that are not yet resolved, and his search for the connectors that will show how that, which he yet cannot fathom, fits into the universal grid of life.
Dirk Gently, like Sherlock, normally lacks desperation to the point of causing desperation in everyone around him. But he realizes that no matter where he is, and as satisfying as it may feel, there is always somewhere else where things will make even more sense, or perhaps, just sense. He doesn´t look for clues all the time. He realizes that sometimes, if he waits, clues will find him instead.
My recommendation then, besides brushing up on books and movies on Mr. Holmes and his bumbling companion Dr. Watson, is to also have a look at Dirk Gently (you will have fun while doing it), and give him a chance to show you how a combination of answers and alternative views will usually result in a richer and more satisfying result, than those conclusions which are reached by concentrating just on a single theory.
In any case, and as always, it is a matter of training your brain to think in new ways, to explore new concepts, to connect the dots, and to come up with logical conclusions -and some illogical ones as well-. It is a matter of accepting that life, if anything, does not always make sense right away.
ABOUT IGNACIO
Ignacio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, grew up in Australia and lived in several countries around the globe until his return to his country of origin 15 years ago.
At a very young age and with the help of his mother, a talented artist herself, and his father, an engineer internationally renowned for his creativity and innovation, he took his first steps in the world of art. Surrounded by drawing tables, technical pens and architectural influences he began to create his own path.
His early influences were very eclectic and mature for his age. They included great masters like Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso, as well as modern masters like Kandinsky, Pollock, de Kooning and Rauschenberg. Drawing, painting, and a great deal of reading took an important place in his life.
During his early 20s he develops a love affair with jazz, becoming an avid follower of the local Australian jazz scene and as a result, his painting begins to show signs of this inspiration. Complex rhythms, intertwining melodies, and a great deal of improvisational skills are developed in his art.
That slow and jazzy pace also helped him mature his own approaches and techniques while freeing himself from classical ties, finding stimulus in unusual places and developing a unique and sensitive voice.
Added to that, his artistically applied synesthesia –condition which he shares with Kandinsky-, adds to his work an unusual share of musicality and innovation. The artist admits the complexity of combining his artistic imprint with the possibilities this "gift" generates while always underlining that it is a constant exploration, full of achievements as well as challenges.
The result is a fusion that explores the limits of colors and shapes within a marked abstraction. An expressive path without reservations strongly anchored on his individuality and unique experience.
This exploration has not only been applied to his painting. He has also pursued his vision into other forms of artistic expression, including smaller architectural and design projects, and graphic design assignments applied to advertising and marketing.
VISUAL JAZZ
IGNACIO ALPERÍN BRUVERA
The works presented in his Blog are a fraction of the main series developed by the artist and which has been travelling around different cities around the world since 2010. The artist’s "Visual Jazz Tour" encompasses works aided by his synesthesia and based on a visual interpretation of melodies, mainly from traditional and avant-garde jazz, soul, Motown and the American songbook, expressed in shapes and colors.
Fascinated by this musical genre, Alperín has created his own visual language through the same methods of inventiveness and spontaneity as musicians. We find in his paintings spectacular spiral lines and longitudinal strokes which glide through the canvas, outlined by an energetic use of the primary palette, extracting from these colors unthought-of shades and gradations that have become a signature and a characteristic of his bold and powerful style.
In this way he has built its own movement filled language to communicate and engage in a dialogue with the public; mostly divorced from figurative representation, he constructs a visceral abstraction that stimulates the imagination and turn on the viewers’ inner sensations.
Ñ magazine (South America´s largest selling arts and culture magazine), in its issue of September 11, 2010, under the title "IGNACIO ALPERIN in NEW YORK – an Argentine visual Jazz show" went further than that, drawing a parallel between the love of jazz from the great Argentine writer Julio Cortazar and his incorporation of this musical form into literature, with the work of Alperín and his intention to assimilate this same musical form, this time in the realm of visual art.
Many subsequent articles in La Nación and Clarin newspapers (Argentina´s best- selling newspapers), as well as specialized magazines such as the above mentioned Ñ, ADN and Maleva Mag –just to mention a few - have also constantly highlighted his originality and constant growth.
The artist has conceptualized his art in a term that expresses the musicality of his work together with the movement that he seeks to impose on it.
The viewers are thus encouraged to become emotionally involved, transcending everyday reality in a process without space, age or time, towards a more universal, melodic and harmonious view of everything that surrounds them.
The work of Alperín has movement, rhythm, coolness and a degree of visual improvisation that is meant to hide a very well studied score. The result is constant dynamism and exceptional use of color in a never ending search for beats and counterpoints.
This synthesis of Art and music, or "Visual Jazz" as an American journalist baptized it a few years ago, it is almost a trademark of Alperin´s work with a strong track record and exhibitions in New York, Miami, London, Melbourne, Zurich, Lisbon and in Argentina.
Currently, the artist discloses the development of his work and research, and how it applies to corporate and professionally applied creativity in academia, as professor of Creativity and Innovation at the Universidad Católica Argentina (The Argentine National Catholic University in Buenos Aires), and gives seminars on the subject in the context of workshops and events for individuals, companies and artists both in Spanish and English. View all posts by Ignacio Alperin Bruvera