Raul Cuero's interview about Creativity

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             Pablo Picasso is quoted as having said that "good artists borrow, great artists steal", a sentiment that even Steve Jobs has echoed. I didn't set out today to drag two of the most influential creators of all time, but it's worth pointing out that this statement is one that microbiologist Dr. Raul Cuero seems to be in misalignment with.
           
             One of the biggest things that stuck out to me in Dr. Cuero's interview was the emphasis on utilizing the power of induction rather than deduction to foster creative thinking: merging what is inside you with your own observations of the world to create something wholly unique, rather than piling off of information that already exists and has been explored.

             I think this is a thought process that I would do well to implement in my daily life, especially when chasing down a muse to inspire my creativity.  It's tempting to take an easier route and merely recreate an existing piece of art and add in your own flair, but will this be as satisfying in the end, knowing that only part of it came from you? There's nothing wrong with mimicking other styles as one first learns, but getting better from a technical aspect is entirely separate from being creative.

          Additionally, I would like to take to heart a few other ideas Cuero presented, being that creativity arises without prior planning, and that creativity can not fully happen if one is afraid of failure. I have often found myself putting pressure on myself to create my best work all in one sitting, which is unrealistic. I also will let myself be more uninhibited by the fact that it is better to create than to never try out of fear.

          At the end of the day, the originality of exploring the unknown seems to take precedence over simply adding to the echo chamber of things that have already been created. Here's to hoping I haven't started any feuds between dead painters and microbiologists. (As a side note, I was going to include a Picasso image in this post to make it a bit more visually interesting but in this late hour of the night they were all a bit unnerving to me to be honest. I guess surrealism is not my thing. Unfortunately Cuero provided no tips on that.)

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