flaunting
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” - Picasso
Modern art looks… bad. Or atleast uninspired. Picasso paintings look like something I could paint 10 years ago. There’s an argument to be made that these artists can get away with making crap since they are famous and everyone will sycophant anyways, and I think that’s an entirely valid argument, but something more interesting for analysis is the idea of intentionally breaking the norms of common practice.
If you are an expert in your craft, presumably you understand the various elements that are used, how each of them affect the final product. And it’s at this point that you can start modifying elements with the confidence that their subversion will make something more interesting. The most famous media are ones that formed genres, and pioneered, and they categorically did this by taking existing practice and reforming it. Many naive clones of these media fail because they copy the surface, without having the expertise to maintain the interlocking systems that make the whole work.
Two random examples that come to my mind at the moment:
- Minecraft has no tutorial, which is a obvious failure of game design and oft-criticised. While this may have been an oversight, a holdover from Minecraft’s smaller roots, this failure may have been key to MC’s success. Specifically this turned singleplayer MC into a communal information exchange. You find out about the various blocks and mechanics by finding videos and wikis. This in turn encourages content creators who spread the game.
- In a (kinda bad) book called Antifragile, Talib talks about how common practice to make an engaging speech is to talk clearly and loudly. He does the opposite, talking quietly so that the audience has to make out what he’s saying. This forces them to think about the material since they are paying active attention to it.
- Influencers often make stupid or incorrect content, but that gets more people to comment on it, increasing engagement and boosting their popularity.
