How Trends & Creativity Become Contagious

"Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being?" Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are influenced in all kinds of ways - by our parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, by teachers, friends and colleagues, by the arts, culture and the media, by society and language, by our history and by our environment. But we also influence others around us in a myriad ways; it is a two-way street. Some influences are ephemeral whereas others often lead to profound and lasting change.

The following 15 minute video (best experienced in full screen) from R+I Creative shows how influence works in music, art, fashion, entertainment and through the power of  brands.   

Influencers: How Trends & Creativity Become Contagious

On a much deeper level, Influencer, a thought provoking book by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler, gets to the heart of the matter by addressing behaviour - thoughts and actions, the very stuff of influence. The book was published in 2008 and was on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today best seller lists. 

A classic, worth checking out. This book matters!

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Borges On Transformation In Art

Jorge Luis Borges (1889 - 1986) on transformation in art: 

"The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory. That is our duty. If we don’t fulfill it, we feel unhappy. A writer or any artist has the sometimes joyful duty to transform all that into symbols. These symbols could be colors, forms or sounds. For a poet, the symbols are sounds and also words, fables, stories, poetry. The work of a poet never ends. It has nothing to do with working hours. Your are continuously receiving things from the external world. These must be transformed, and eventually will be transformed. This revelation can appear anytime. A poet never rests. He’s always working, even when he dreams. Besides, the life of a writer, is a lonely one. You think you are alone, and as the years go by, if the stars are on your side, you may discover that you are at the center of a vast circle of invisible friends whom you will never get to know but who love you. And that is an immense reward."

An Angel Dancing On The Head Of A Pin

I.

Of all the questions you might want to ask 

about angels, the only one you ever hear 

is how many can dance on the head of a pin. 

No curiosity about how they pass the eternal time 

besides circling the Throne chanting in Latin 

or delivering a crust of bread to a hermit on earth 

or guiding a boy and girl across a rickety wooden bridge. Billy Collins

II.

Sandi Fitzgerald’s paintings are small, bright and optimistic. It is an urban world of gentle interactions,  snippets of life most people would generally ignore. A woman feeding a piece of bread to a pigeon with a bad leg, for instance, is actually an angel, the kind one might encounter in Wings of Desire or City of Angels. The noise of the city is transformed into a backdrop of words, dots, dashes and arrows, an innocent graffiti, of sorts. 

Despite the metropolitan context, Sandi’s work is essentially a private world - intimate, warm and delightful, very delightful indeed!

Feeding Kitty, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Alejandro and Lupe, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Wet Paws, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

What Now?, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Urban Angel, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

I ar playful....You?,  acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Angel Energy, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Angel, acrylic on plywood, 8 x 8," 2010

Sandi Fitzgerald is a Toronto based artist. Some of her work can be viewed here.

Boy's Toys

When do they plan to shoot me? I asked.

Take it easy, they answered. 

(Mahmoud Darwish)

It is highly unlikely that these boy’s mothers bought them toy assault rifles. That the boy’s sisters or female relatives bought them plastic automatic weapons, is also improbable. 

Credit: Abed al Hashlamoun/European Pressphoto Agency

The original caption for the image in the 16th November Wall Street Journal reads: "Palestinian children in the West Bank city of Hebron mocked a confrontation between civilians and soldiers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast that commemorates the prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to God."

The Humble But Mighty Venn Diagram

Given that Venn diagrams can be generated in numerous online sites and programs such as Microsoft Word, Smart Draw and Concept Draw, one would probably imagine the Venn diagram to be a relatively new concept. It is, in fact, almost 120 years old.


Here are three brilliant Venn diagram creators.

An Adjectival Illusion by Jessica Hagy

Please by David Armano

Luck by Rebecca Rapple

I hide behind simple things so you'll find me

I.

Ansel Adams said, "There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." Not quite. There are, in fact, three - the photographer, the viewer and the subject, at least in portrait photography. A symbiotic relationship exists between the three, creating a dialogue between the photographer and the subject, the photographer and the viewer; the subject and the photographer, the subject and the viewer; the viewer and the subject, the viewer and the photographer. 


All three look into each others eyes, in different ways, in different places, at different times.

II.

Long after a picture is taken, the subject more than likely forgets that his or her photograph was taken. The photographer, however, remembers the subject not only through the photograph but also as a memory. This memory is sometimes stronger than the photograph; at other times, the image is stronger than the memory. The viewer, in turn, may never ever get to meet the subject of the photograph or the photographer. There is just the image to go on by for building connections between the viewer and the photographer. Photography being a powerful medium, it often changes one's perception of people and places, of photographers and people photographed. Such is Falsalama's work.

III.

Primarily self-taught, Falsalama has sought inspiration in the works of some of the greatest XX century photographers - Brassai, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Dorothea Lange, Bill Brandt, and Steve McCurry, amongst others. Preferring to shoot in 'classical' black-and-white with wide angle lens, getting as close to his subject as he possibly can, his style is disarmingly casual, so much so that one can miss the point entirely if one is in a hurry. These are, after all, gentle, quiet, meditative works, reflective of an artist who has travelled widely, both inwardly and outwardly, and has much to share.    

Here is a small selection of his work. 

Tibetan Nomad leading horses to water, Lhagang (Tagong),
Kanding County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. 2009

Tibetan Nomad in Summer tent at a horse riding festival, 
Kanding County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. 2009

Tibetan Nomad on Pilgrimage, Ganden Sumtseling Monastery,
Shangri-La County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, 
Yunnan. 2008

Tibetan Nomadic Herdsman, Grassland camp. 2009

Tibeto-Chinese Townsman, Zhongdian, Yunnan, China. 2008

Japanese/Thai Girl, Bangkok, Thailand. 2009

Boy, Vang Vieng,  Laos, 2008

Swimmer, Lonely beach, Koh Chang, Thailand. 2009

Can you still fly in your dreams? Machiya, Tokyo, Japan 2008

Telekinetic leaf trap, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan. 2008

Queens Guard, St James's Palace, London, England. 2009

Tibeto-Burmese Naxi Girl, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. 2008

More of Falsalama' work can be seen on his Flickr site,  his blog and his website

The title of this blog post, "I hide behind simple things so you'll find me," comes from the first line in a poem called, Simplicity by Yannis Ritsos,  The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, published by Harper Collins, 2010

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