Creatives on Creativity by ACC Art Books

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? To me, creativity is everything; it is playing, it is breathing, it is in all of us, it is life. But the fact is that only some of us have the opportunity to make a living out of being creative. I have the good fortune of being able to live off my creativity every day. Finding innovative ways to give brands exposure on television channels, both on air and online, is what I do. Often this entails finding the right balance between the wishes of the advertiser and the content maker, which is how I’ve come to perfect my skills in ’creative compromise’ and ’meet-me-inthe-middle solutions’. That can be frustrating at times, because it always leaves you feeling like an idea hasn’t been utilised to the fullest. Add to that a serious case of imposter syndrome, causing me to think that I’ll wake up one day and people will have figured out that I have no skills, that I’m only pretending, and that the jig is up. In recent years, I have given talks at many international innovative marketing conferences. I have spoken about creativity in all its forms: ’Fail Better’ and ’Creativity, fake it till you make it’ are just a few of the titles of my talks. I’ve shared the stage with the world’s greatest creative thinkers of our time, and decided to ask them if they could spare an hour to talk to me about creativity. I also drew up a wish list of my personal heroes and contacted them via email or social media, asking them for an hour of their time. I started each interview with the same question: “What is creativity to you?” The list of people you will find in this book is a personal list of my favourite graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, painters; all of them artists who inspire me and whom I have followed and cherished for years. Artists who will undoubtedly inspire you and challenge your thinking as well. In the beginning, this was a one-man production, including the photography, but that turned out to leave the picture quality somewhat lacking. So, I decided to invite my best friend and photographer Joost Joossen to join me on this adventure and to take care of the portraits and behind-the-scenes images. Together we travelled by car, boat, train, underground, taxi, and plane, across different continents. Time and time again we were warmly welcomed into the artist’s universe. It was crucial to me to have my conversations with the artists face to face, as I was on a personal quest, trying to find an answer to the question of how to find your place in the world as a maker and a creative. Of course, not everyone said yes. Here is the email reply I received from Magnum photographer Martin Parr:

“There is no real creativity, in my case, so the premise of your book doesn’t work for me. I just wander out and shoot lots of photos, it’s that simple. It’s just the whole notion of creativity that is pretentious, through my eyes! You just have to show up and do the work. Greetings, Martin Parr.” That’s also what my wife, gallery owner Sofie Van de Velde, has taught me. She is a big inspiration to me and encourages me to face things head-on. She is the ’why put off until tomorrow what you can do today’-type. And I am a procrastinator. That’s why making this book has been such a gift. Looking back on the conversations I had with the artists, I realised that everyone deals with the same fears. The fear of failing, of not being good enough, the neverending quest for an unattainable perfection. Some of them work because they worry that if they stop, everything stops. That the creativity will fade away. They walk to clear their heads, and they often have passion projects to help them escape their daily routine. It has been so enriching to talk to so many great minds, who have challenged me—as they will soon challenge you too— with their way of thinking and questioning life and creativity. Each conversation has been a gift that I’m happy to finally share with you. Navid Nuur even created an artwork exclusively for this book. You can discover it on pages 212 and 213. The only artist who seemed to be free from insecurities was art director George Lois. He said: “Fuck failure, I am what I am. My work will be remembered, and I will be remembered as one of the greatest.” Maybe wisdom comes with age. George Lois also said: “The seed of all groundbreaking creative ideas is asking ’what if?’”. This piece of advice led to graphic designer Paul Boudens agreeing to both be featured in the book and to design it, and to Marc Verhagen from Luster publishing it. I’m so proud of and pleased with each of the 44 creatives who agreed to be in this book. The inspiration they provided was addictive and made me want to keep going, but budgets and deadlines can get in the way, as you know. In any case, there will always be more people whose brain I want to pick. It is what it is, It is time to let it go out into the world For you to enjoy reading it As much I enjoyed making it. Steve

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I try to set boundaries in order to create space.

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How would you introduce yourself? The titles that I give my paintings are a good way to introduce myself, because they often act as alter egos of mine, and thus they indirectly say something about who I am. One of the first works I ever made is called Dobbermans and since then I’ve often referred to myself as ’N. Dobbermans’ in my titles. They are very often in Dutch and I tend not to translate them, as they often consist of a play on words, so a translation just wouldn’t work. Having viewers read the titles in Dutch, even if they don’t understand them, still allows them to catch the rhythm of the sentence. What kind of family did you grow up in? My father was a laboratory worker and my mother was a housewife. I grew up in a small village and I had a happy childhood. We’re a normal and close-knit family. I’m still very close with my brother, my sister, and my parents. Was there room for art and culture in your childhood? It wasn’t dominant, but there was always a lot of music in our house. We used to visit a lot of exhibitions. I remember seeing a show about surrealism in Oostende, which had a big impact on me. There are a lot of creative people in my family as well, my grandfather was a painter. When I told my parents I wanted to pursue a career in the arts, they were very supportive. Was there a specific moment when you realised you wanted to pursue art as a career? It happened gradually. From the ages of twelve to eighteen my sister and I attended an artistic high school. It was a logical step because that’s what we did at home as well: we drew a lot, we built things. But it wasn’t until the final years of high school that I realised I really wanted to keep studying art. I used to draw these perverse little figures and scenes, and when I saw Tracey Emin’s work for the first time and specifically the portrait Money photo (Spider legs), I saw what an artist could be. That’s when it became a conscious decision and I realised that being an artist is a very specific role. And then you went to art school? Yes, I attended the KASK (Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in Ghent. I started out in something called Combined Media, but I was making a lot of short animation-type films, so I soon transferred to Media Art. I graduated by doing performative actions that I filmed with super 8 film. After getting my degree, I gradually went into other media like painting and collages.

You still combine many art forms, is that a necessity? I always do a lot of things at the same time, it’s how I work. I can sometimes find it hard to concentrate on one thing. If I’m doing collages, something will trigger me to do something within a painting. An event or a thought can become a small drawing that will then act as a basis for an action or a film. My textile work started as a solution while building up an exhibition, and later became an important and active part of my art practice. At first sight your world looks fun and colourful, but looking closer you can sense some melancholy, is that deliberate? It’s just what happens while making a painting. The very concrete and direct imagery came naturally as a next step after the collages. They were made out of coloured paper blocks that were very structural and almost architectural. My work can sometimes come from a very personal place so the melancholy swoops in during the work process. What does creativity mean to you? For me, it’s seeing possibilities in everything. What do you need to feel free to work? It’s all about a specific headspace. I was recently in Germany for a month, building up two exhibitions. I was there alone, and working solely on those shows, so I had no other obligations. A situation like that allows me to be in a constant flow, acting on every impulse. I try to set boundaries in order to create space. At the same time, the energy of a group of people singing and screaming in a bar until the early morning can also do the trick. What does a day in the life of Nel Aerts look like? I usually wake up quite early. I’m a morning person. I have a coffee and read a little or watch some artist interviews on YouTube. Most days I immediately go downstairs and just start working, then I go out for lunch with my husband Vaast, come back and continue working. I like the fact that I live and work in the same house, so I can easily go from one place to the other at any time, day or night. What inspires you? A lot of different sources can inspire me. Coincidental colour compositions in the street, blackand-white painting books, all kinds of textile shops, thrift shops, architecture, cinema, decors, the energy of a frontman or woman, other artists, a writer like Charles Bukowski, strong characters, attitude, comedians, the shit you go through in life. The kinds of things that make it interesting to be here.

CREATIVES

CREATIVITY

What is your work process like? Is it intuitive or do you start out with a clear concept? My process is very intuitive. I play around in the studio and things happen. When it comes to work, I flow from one thing into another quite easily. I try not to be too strict about it. When I’m stressed or I feel pressured, it stands in the way of my creativity. Usually I don’t start with a clear concept but work gradually defines itself during the process. This can be very performative. There’s a lot of play and I can jump quickly from one thing to another. My drawings can sometimes form the basis for a clearer concept. For example, some of my editions or super 8 films came from doodle drawings. How important are titles in your work and in what part of the creative process do they come in? I’m almost constantly writing down names or words that I see or hear or think of. I have an archive to draw from for my titles. I title my paintings while I make them or after they’re finished and somehow that puts them into the world. The titles aren’t defining in the sense that you won’t get the work if you don’t read them, but they add an extra layer or make the work final. I love playing with titles and creating references between older works and new works, like reusing a title, but adding an element to it. The name Dobberman often pops up in your titles. What does it mean? ’Dobberen’ means ’to float around’ in Dutch, so it represents the idea of trying to figure things out. The image of the first Dobberman piece featured a seascape with a figure moving away into the night, giving it a sense of loneliness, of being left to your own devices. Someone who is drifting along alone and trying to figure it out. Also, I think it’s a funny word. How do you know when a painting is finished? If you spend enough time with a painting, sometimes you just know. It’s always a difficult question, and I don’t always know, but it’s usually when I feel the painting says enough. When something happened that I didn’t foresee. A lot of times my paintings get overcooked. Then I store them and return to them a few years later, with a completely different eye and mindset. I can feel a painting is finished when it’s just damaged enough. Being barely standing can make it fully stand out. Sometimes it also feels as if it has been there all along, as if nothing happened before the final layer.

Does your creativity have to be provocative? I don’t know about creativity. Art, yes please! How important is humour in your work? It’s definitely important. I use it as a tool to put things out there that aren’t always convenient or easy to approach. I believe in showing doubts and vulnerability, humour helps me with that. How important is colour in your work and do you stick to a certain colour palette? My use of colour is again rather intuitive. It’s influenced by my surroundings and the colours in the magazines and textiles I work with. Mostly they’ve been very direct, but lately that has been changing. They show themself less easily. It’s an ever-changing language. I play with colour until the colours themselves take over and start to communicate. My colour palette has developed into a rather personal one over the years. There are no rules to it other than a vibe and a feeling at a certain moment. Does your work have to create a better world? I think good art can do that, although it’s not necessarily about creating a better world. Maybe it’s more about touching upon the idea of how imperfect the world and human beings are and seeing the beauty in that and by doing so perhaps making it a better place. Art can do that if it wants to and if people want to see it. It’s about seeing possibilities and energies. It’s a gesture and a suggestion. Is that what you want people to see in your work? People will see whatever they want to see in your work. Sometimes they link it directly to me personally but I think mostly people will use my work to reflect upon themselves and the world we live in. Who inspires you? When I first started out, I was definitely inspired by Tracey Emin. During my studies Bas Jan Ader was very important, as were René Heyvaert, Jimmie Durham, Bruce Nauman’s early films, and Paul McCartney. When I started painting, I looked at a lot of different artists like Philip Guston, René Magritte, Walter Swennen, Mary Heilmann, Chris Martin, Dana Schutz, Nicole Eisenman, etc. At the moment I’m looking at the combines by Robert Rauschenberg, the collages of John Bock and Salvador Dalí. I will always be inspired by people who take risks and artists who are radical in their practice and dare to turn it around.

Being really honest makes you bulletproof. If you do nothing, nothing happens.

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BINGO

Has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted your art practice? I feel guilty about it, but lockdown has had zero effect on my art practice. I’m very lucky that I can work anywhere in the world, under almost any conditions. All I need to make a living is paper, pens, a scanner, a laptop and Wi-Fi. Not being able to go to my studio in Shoreditch, I’ve turned my flat into my studio so I can continue working. I’m also very lucky that the shipment of my online shop orders is handled by an external company, which means my business continues to tick along in the background and takes care of itself.

What is failure to you? I think I don’t fail much, and I know I should fail more because it pushes you to try harder. I would love to take more risks and fuck up more often, because I think I keep things a bit too safe. Everything I do is successful, and I kind of know it will be a success before I even do it. It’s very hard, because what I do is very public. I show something off on social media, I release it, people buy it and then people see that it is sold out—all of which basically makes you look like a success. Doing something that didn’t work would be very tough for me. Why is so much of your work about anxiety? I spent way too much time in my life worrying. I never thought I did, but just recently I had to admit to myself that I get anxious about most things: Are things okay? Is this drawing okay? Will they like it? Is everything I do good enough?

Many artists have observed that, since the pandemic, the art market has stagnated. Has the virus impacted your sales in any way? Sales in my shop went down for a couple of weeks at the start of the outbreak, but then something really surprised me: people started buying art again. I think there are a few explanations. Firstly, there are now a lot of bored people trapped in their houses looking for joy, entertainment and jokes to raise their spirits. I make funny art and social commentary, so this is a good time for me. Secondly, a lot of people have saved money by not going out, and they’re sitting in their homes thinking about nice little things they can buy to bring a bit of joy into their space. I make very affordable art and people don’t think too much about buying prints and objects in that price range. The last—and quite unexpected—point is that people want to buy little mementos that represent the current time as a way to help them understand what they’re going through, as an object to mark that very significant point in history. I made a little print about socially distanced mugging that did really well; it caught the collective consciousness at just the right time. Again, I’m only realising this now. I’m not some horrific marketing genius, I just put silly art out there and see what happens to it. What’s the best piece of advice you have gotten and repeated to others? Don’t listen to advice! I can give you bits of advice I have given to myself. The main one: don’t forget to have fun. This is a very important one, because everyone takes life to seriously. And we’re all going to regret it in the end. I work a lot around issues I have, like anxiety or worrying all the time, or being obsessed or being a workaholic. By making a lot of work about this stuff, I’m just trying to get it off my chest, and then I make a living by selling it, which is kind of nice.

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M O R A G MYERSCOUGH

Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come.

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