“The essence of creativity is fucking around; art is that which is done for the hell it” — Tim Kreider
The quote above is from Cartoonist Tim Kreider’s book “We Learn Nothing: Essays & Cartoons”.
Initially I highlighted the quote because it might make me sound cool at a cocktail party. But then I began to consider its implications.
Maybe creativity, in its purest form, really is just fucking around.
Think of it like this…
A great painting begins as a sketch on a page; a finished symphony with someone noodling on a piano.
The painting or the symphony may be the end result of creativity, but they are not its “essence”. The essence is the playful drive to make something out of nothing.
Creativity becomes hard, painful work when we take it too seriously. When we approach it with the lofty goal of making something timeless or significant.
When we do it for some ulterior motive, rather than just for “the hell of it”