The Groove 146 - Why Is Important to Challenge the Status Quo
WHY IS IMPORTANT TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO
You can’t be creative and innovative if you aren’t willing to challenge the current state of affairs. Not necessarily as an unhinged insurgent, but through a profound and well-reasoned questioning of existing norms, beliefs, and systems.
Paul Gauguin challenged the status quo of his surroundings, first by leaving his day job as a stockbroker in Paris and then as a salesman in Copenhagen, to become a full-time painter. He encouraged critical thinking and the exploration of alternative possibilities through paintings that defied the accepted European standards of academia, accepted trends, and good taste.
Now, if Gauguin were to be of this time he would have been canceled (or maybe he would have behaved differently). He left his wife and three kids to become a full-time artist, although he stayed in touch and sent money and paintings for them to be sold. He wrote Noa Noa, an essay-travelog of his life in Tahiti that has been accused of plagiarism and inflated with self-aggrandizement (although his son Emil years later blamed it on an editor who got his hands on it and messed with it), and he had an underage mistress in Papeete, which would have been an impossible relationship today.
Gauguin is a man whose personal life has been examined without much kindness. But then there is the art he made, which has inspired generations of visual artists (both Picasso and Matisse revered his paintings), several novels including W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence and Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Way to Paradise, many films, several operas and the world’s fourth-most expensive painting: 1892 Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), which sold privately by the family of Swiss businessman and art collector Rudolf Staechelin for $210 million in September 2014.
What I find redeeming about Gauguin is the magnificence of his art and the doors it opened for future generations of creative thinkers everywhere. The colors, the composition, the mix of everything and the modernist view of art as reality. Once an artist creates something, it doesn’t belong to the artist anymore, it belongs to the world. With that in mind, here are three overarching ideas to ponder and maybe even borrow from Gauguin’s work:
Escape the Conventional
Paul Gauguin circa 1891.
Disappointed with Impressionism, Gauguin felt that traditional European painting had become too imitative and lacked symbolic depth. He fell in love with African and Asian sculptures and prints, which to him were full of mystic symbolism and vigor.
After traveling to Tahiti in 1891 and creating paintings as ravishing as Ia Orana Maria (now part of the permanent collection of The Met Museum), Gauguin's historical significance lies in part in his refusal to conform to the artistic conventions of his time and in part his mixing of elements from metaphysics, ethnology, symbolism, the Bible, classical myths, and much more, creating a synthesis that was of its time yet timeless.
This desire to escape the constraints of society and embrace a more authentic and primal existence fueled his artistic vision. Gauguin's art became a means of exploring the mysteries of human existence, transcending traditional notions of beauty and representation. His refusal to conform to artistic conventions allowed him to break new ground and create a distinct artistic style.
In life as much as in business, embracing unconventional thinking can lead to innovative solutions and competitive advantages.
Seek Inspiration from Unlikely Sources
Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), 1891, oil on canvas.
If you have a yearning to evolve but you keep looking at the same things you’ve always looked at, you’ll probably stay where you’ve always been.
Gauguin sought inspiration outside his European life by immersing himself in unfamiliar cultures, first in Martinique, then in Tahiti and later in the Marquesas Islands. One of his most significant contributions was his advocacy for primitivism, a movement that celebrated indigenous cultures and sought to challenge Western notions of civilization.
Through his vibrant paintings, sculptures, and woodblock prints, Gauguin portrayed the simplicity, spirituality, and authenticity he found in Tahitian culture. His work celebrated the harmonious relationship between humans and nature, challenging the industrialization and materialism of modern society. This laid the foundation for future movements like Fauvism and Expressionism, which sought to break free from the confines of academic art.
Drawing ideas and insights from unrelated fields can spark fresh perspectives and lead to innovative approaches to problem-solving and product development.
Keep Storytelling at the Forefront
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897–1898, oil on canvas.
Creating a brand, having a distinctive voice, establishing a style - it all comes from how you communicate who you are and what you do, consistently. Storytelling is as vital today as it was in the late 1800s.
Gauguin's departure from traditional representation and his embrace of symbolism and subjectivity set him apart from his contemporaries. His work delved into the realm of dreams, emotions, and mythology, infusing his art with personal narratives and rich symbolism.
His innovative use of color was highly influential in the development of modern art. He moved away from the naturalistic depiction of color and instead used vibrant and unconventional palettes to evoke mood and emotion. Gauguin's art transcended mere visual representation, inviting viewers to contemplate the deeper meaning of existence and the complexities of human nature. His willingness to challenge Western perspectives had a profound impact on subsequent generations.
The use of narrative in Gauguin’s work was novel at the time. While the Impressionists were stripping their art of symbolic and personal content to move forward toward abstraction, Gauguin was piling these elements on and looking backward to old-fashioned things like historical paintings, religious art, and myth.
Parau api, (Two Women of Tahiti), 1892, oil on canvas.
In an interview with L'Écho de Paris published in 1895, Gauguin explained: “Every feature in my paintings is carefully considered and calculated in advance. Just as in a musical composition, if you like. My simple object, which I take from daily life or from nature, is merely a pretext, which helps me by the means of a definite arrangement of lines and colors to create symphonies and harmonies. They have no counterparts at all in reality, in the vulgar sense of that word; they do not give direct expression to any idea, their only purpose is to stimulate the imagination—just as music does without the aid of ideas or pictures—simply by that mysterious affinity which exists between certain arrangements of colors and lines and our minds.”
The artist’s contributions to the art world transcend traditional boundaries, captivating audiences from all sorts of backgrounds. Our explorations of identity, cultural authenticity, and the human experience challenges us to examine our own preconceptions and seek deeper connections to ourselves and the world around us.
Paul Gauguin's legacy serves as a reminder that art has the power to transcend cultural, social, and temporal limitations, offering profound insights into the complexities of the human spirit. Whether in the realm of arts or beyond, Gauguin's life and work inspire us to question, explore, and embrace alternative perspectives. To challenge the status quo.
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