Thinking Outside the Box By Charles Gibbons Presented at the Alliance for Modern Art (AFMA) September 21, 2015
Thinking Outside the Box – by Charles Gibbons September 21, 2015
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We have all heard of the expression "thinking outside the Box". New ideas come from thinking outside of the box. We praise those who have demonstrated the ability to think outside the box. But in reality we rarely think outside the box.
The human race needs their boxes. We need defined boundaries. we need rules to evaluate and judge all parts of our culture.
Do you go to school to learn to think outside the box? We are told that we do. But only within the confines and limitations of the parameters of your education. Education is based on what is inside the box, what is defined by the box.
Now, I may be straying from a discussion of art, but all parts of our lives are interconnected.
The Box is a key we use to define success, and when one actually steps outside the box they are mocked and ridicule until the new box is defined and accepted.
We have all heard of FedEx, and the story is true that Frederick Smith wrote a paper at Yale University for an overnight delivery service, for which he received a grade of C. With a comment that the idea had to be feasible to get a higher grade. Today, now that he has defined the box, all other overnight delivery companies are evaluated and judged on Smith's Box.
Having explained how boxes are formed, let's tie that into art.
Prior to the 1870's we had realism and romanticism that portrayed kings, queens, religious settings, and sometimes in an ever glorified representation, but all expressing realism. Everyone understood the art without lengthy explanation. The
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style grew over time with techniques and materials, but always within the Box defined by the official school of the arts.
Now we come to the 1870's, we have the Franco-Prussian War that will end in 1871. The first telephone is invented in 1876, by thinking outside the box, and we now take the phone for granted. A version of the light bulb is created, adding light to the outside of the box. Jules Verne publishes Around the World in 80 Days, a mind blowing concept to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. In art the extremely conservative academic juries and exhibitions were not receptive to the Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas & Paul Cezanne. These artists sought to capture the atmosphere or a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions. Because of the rejection of their works these artists organized the SociĂŠte Anonyme Cooperative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, et Graveurs. (The Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers) for the purpose of exhibiting their artworks independently because they did not fit into the Box.
The Impressionists stepped outside the conventional Box and violated the rules of academic paintings. They constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours. They painted the common people doing everyday work. They did not seek nobility nor the church for wealthy patrons. And who would have engaged these wild impressionists painters. This is also the time that En Plein Air painting is a radical concept. Think about it, setting up outside to paint is a radical concept!
After a period of time, the definition of impressionist can now fit fairly neatly in a Box, and has become acceptable convention. The public of the late nineteenth century started to flock to the exhibitions. The public could not buy enough to
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satisfy their needs, and this phenomenon continues to this day. Especially prized is an impressionist work painted En Plein Air.
At the turn of the century, the acceptance of Impressionism became so defined within the Box that artists such as Renoir and Rodin felt confined. Rejecting the academically define Box of Impressionism, they organized a new "Outside the Box" group known as the Salon d'Automne.
Soon to follow in 1905, Fauvism was born with the likes of Andre Derain and Henri Matisse. The fauvism was a joyful style of painting that delighted in using outrageously bold colours. Then the launch of Cubism followed, with the art of Fernand Leger and Pablo Picasso. Cubism at the time stood so far out of the Box it resulted in anti-modernist quarrels in the French National Assembly. Can you think of that today, hearing about our government debating a style of art in parliament?
Nowadays, the well defined Box of Cubism is accepted and presented in educational settings. The rules are clear, evaluation and judgement can easily be defined. Since then we have had Art Nouveau, Futurism, Dada, Constructivism, Art Deco and Abstract Impressionism to name a few art movements. As travel became more accessible, the International Style emerged, then Pop Art, and here is one that you rarely see: Earth Art. Earth art is the carving and manipulation of the earth into art – sometimes brutally, sometimes organically. And, in the 21st century we have digital art, multi-media, environmental art, hyperrealism, performance art and many more that I have not mentioned Each of these movements started by stepping out of the conventions defined by the Box.
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We as artists do not accept being put into a box. We strive to expand the box, explore beyond the box and eventually create new boxes.
But, you the public generally buy within the box. A survey of galleries of all types report that sales of landscapes, figurative and representational art be it an abstraction of these styles make up the majority of sales. The general public want a recognizable element in the paintings, even if it is letters of the alphabet.
Yet, at the extreme far end of the price scale, the non-representational abstract art of those who have stepped out of the box and redefined the art world such as Rothko, Klein, Pollock, and so on fetch the highest price at auctions.
Behind us lies many fruitless attempts at thinking outside the box. Few have flourished into mainstream acceptance. Yet, without glorious attempts gone astray we would not have the art we have.
History has shown us that in culture, science, medicine and all facets or our humanity almost always the creative dedicated minority has made the world better. All from daring to think outside the box.