Creativity is an amazing gift.

I continue to under estimate it’s potential. I just returned from New York where creativity is on display everywhere you look, feel and eat. I went to the Jeff Koons Exhibition at the Whitney Museum with mixed feelings about his art. Here is a guy who doesn’t make any excuses for how he does his art and now I understand why. In my opinion, if art is a reflection of our times or current generations, then he’s right on. I still don’t like or get a lot of his work, but at least I get what he’s doing. His ability to articulate his thinking about each phase of his work is a prime example of creativity surprising you. You read each of his art statements and you find yourself saying, “Yeah! I get it, it may even make sense”. The take away from his art is very clear once you understand his intent. Dr. JK makes his art “talk to you” and stimulates your brain to move off center. What it says is, “I dare you to join me in conversation.” I am not here to tell you I like this piece or that one, but to tell you he extends your thought process viewing art. I couldn’t help looking at each piece trying to get into his head in order to figure how I really feel about it. It’s more than I like it or I don’t like it. On another level, he takes the fabrication of his art to a new level as well. In many cases, he has done things that have never been attempted before. How he uses his creativity and the creative efforts of his staff to develop the pieces is fantastic. The details are really great. Half way through the show, I became a believer. What I believe is that this Jeff Koons knows exactly what he is doing and has a rather straight path. There are many connections between all the phases of his work and he shows them to you over and over again. He is definitely not a one trick pony. In fact, I think his direction of conceptual thinking is endless just like creativity.

How deep is creativity?

I left the show thinking about how I can adjust my thinking to include this dimension of creativity that I just experienced. It wasn’t about wanting to own any of his art even if I could afford it, but making me think about digging deeper the next time I reach out to creativity. If I do get there, I am sure there’s yet another level even deeper.