It’s all a matter of perspective

Let’s be honest. Whether we’re talking about fashion designers like Karl Lagerfeld and musical magicians like Jamaica’s own Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, it seems the more creative you are, the more quirky you are.

PERSPECTIVE IS a heck of thing. There’s a meme (of which there are some variations) of a man in a worn-down car who envied a guy in a brand new one. He said, “I wish I had a new car.” Unknown to him, there was a guy on a bicycle who was looking at the worn-down car thinking “I wish I had a car.” Then there was a guy who was walking, looking at the bicycle man and thinking “I wish I had a bicycle.” Then a guy in a wheelchair who saw the man walking and said “I wish I could walk.”

Like I said, the meme has variations, but it all comes back to the same thing. It’s all about perspective.

Each guy was taking something for granted that someone else thought was a gold mine. I’m pretty certain even the guy with the new car might have complained about something.

He probably didn’t get the colour he wanted, or he’s already worrying how he’s going to afford the newer model coming out in a few months.

Life is what it is – it all depends on the lens through which you are looking at it.

Kinda goes the same way with art. What looks like wild and uncontrolled brush strokes to me and you ‘speaks’ to someone else.

LOOSE SCREWS?

I’ve often wondered if artists and creative people have to have a screw loose or something.

Let’s be honest. Whether we’re talking about fashion designers like Karl Lagerfeld and musical magicians like Jamaica’s own Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, it seems the more creative you are, the more quirky you are.

Now, were they quirky before and just found the right medium to express it? Or did the medium create the quirkiness? Hmm ... .

I’m not sure if I’ve abandoned the idea completely that you have to have a few nuts and bolts missing from the cranium to be ultracreative.

But at the very least, as I’ve grown older, I can appreciate that these creative people simply have a different perspective on life.

Of course, a big part of any artist’s success is the people who ‘feel’ their work as much as they do.

Late American artist and pop art pioneer, Andy Warhol, was quoted as saying, “Art is what you can get away with.”

Considering his paintings of soup cans is considered a modern-day masterpiece, I’d say Andy was right. If I painted a bunch of soup cans, people would ask me if I was hungry.

I see photos of designs on catwalks and I see the crowds going wild. But if me try dem dey same clothes, I would probably be given spare change by passers-by who would swear I was homeless.

Guess it’s really all in the eye of the beholder.

To be fair, there is a thin line between genius and madness, and honestly, I think some people have crossed that line numerous times.

But guess what? At least they know who they are and where they stand. How many of us can say the same? Later.