Juxtaposition Part 2

We had discussed Juxtaposition before but i would like to give some more examples...a series of interesting juxtaposed images that i found online. Hope you enjoy.

I hope these images give you a greater understanding of juxtaposition.

Creativity and Madness

Back to the main topic of this subject, creativity. I would like to share some examples of how madness or insanity can foster creativity. I will give an example of 3 mad geniuses:

1. John Nash: He came up with the award winning film "A Beautiful Mind". This film is about an eclectic "madman" who was terribly good with number. Nash himself suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and the film describes his life somewhat. He was however a genius with Mathematics.

2. Vincent Van Gogh: One of the world's most renown artists, Van gogh was a manic depressed man who even cut off his own ear, drunk turpentine and tried to drink paint. He eventually ended his life. However in his lunatic ramps, Van Gogh managed to create amazing works of art which have made him popular till today.

3. Sir Isaac Newton: He was a renown physicist and mechanic who came up with the theory of gravity among other inventions. He however suffered from psychotic tendencies, mood swings and bipolar disorders.

Random word image association

Imagine having a problem. Then imagine solving it using a random word that has no perceptible relationship to the problem.

A good instance of this would be:

PROBLEM: Broken Down Car

RANDOM WORD: Rain

From this problem,we can come to two possible solutions. One is that the rain contains water...maybe the car broke down because of overheating, hence the water from the rain can be used to cool down the engine. Secondly, rain could be the cause of the breakdown hence by eliminating/shielding from the rain, the car could work again.

In this situation, the problem is approached from two varying angles, each will a conflicting solution depending on the situation.

Exploration on analogy metaphor

Metaphors are analogies between two objects or ideas, shown using a word or the other. These objects are not defined literally but instead similarities are sort between the two.

A good example of a metaphor is life and a journey. In this case, one could say that life is a journey although we all know that this is not literal. The journey is used to describe the various life stages and the hardships that one has to go through to overcome them. It also shows that just like a journey, life has a beginning and an end.

The image above, sourced from Google Images shows two figures walking through a fantastically lit forest. The figure to the extreme left could be the same as the figure to the right. The right would represent the beginning, where one is still young and bare and the left figure could mean that as one progresses through life, one obtains the hat which is some form of protection from the journey's hardships.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition can be described as the side-to-side comparison of two objects.Usually these objects are conflicting in nature or use but they share a mutual likeness than can only be perceived by the creative eye.

The two examples above, gotten from google images show the text book description of juxtaposition. The first shows the juxtaposition between socialism and capitalism, the main systems of government that differ greatly in ideology while the bottom image shows a speaker with microphones to his eyes which make him seem robotic. Both images share a deeper meaning which has all to do with relation.

Associated Mind Map

As discussed before, mind maps help creators to conceptualize ideas through sketching and association. The are like trees with a single root being capable of formulating thousands of branches of ideas, and on the inverse, numerous ideas converging to form one root or solution to a problem.

Mind maps are the brain child of Tony Buzan, a modern day psychology and creative thinker. He teaches creative minds to maximise their minds power by sketching out their ideas and liking ideas together to come up with ideologies.

According to [http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Mindmap/], "Mind Maps™, developed by Tony Buzan are an effective method of note-taking and useful for the generation of ideas by associations. To make a mind map, one starts in the center of the page with the main idea, and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images. "

Examples of mind maps are shown below:

To create a mind map, start from the center and spread your ideas outwards while expanding the topic to smaller more specialised topics.

Methods of Creative Thinking

[Courtesy of Google]

Creative thinking is a very subjective topic. Some people prefer the traditional time tested methods of formally creating ideas while some other people go at it randomly starting from nowhere in particular and working their way to their ultimate goal via numerous channels. Some artists sit down and carefully draw line after line while some take a pencil and doodle across numerous pages before finally settling on one concept.

One thing however is common to both this approaches, the end/goal. The goal is to come up with something that is greater in value to the sum of all the input. This could be aesthetically, philosophically or monetary.

Mind maps are used extensively for creative thinking and this tend to help the creator to view the problem and solve it graphically. Some people prefer brainstorming or the use of flash cards while some write down random words while trying to come out with a poem or concept.

In light of this, the creative process is creative in its own virtue since no single channel of creativity can be followed by everyone. To every man his preference.

Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention.

Novelty:freshness: originality by virtue of being refreshingly novel

Creativity:a mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts, fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight.

Innovation/Invention:a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation

[Courtesy of Web Dictionary]

Many of the world's inventions have been spurred forward by creativity. From the wheel, to the first automobile, to the airplane, to the computers, man has perceived an idea in his mind and gone forward to pursue it. Creativity is the ability to solve a problem by viewing it from outside the box. Thinking away from the normal lines of thought and letting the mind stray to the unimaginable. After the thought process, the implementation is of equal importance. Hardwork and creativity go hand in hand. Without hardwork, creativity is just a fart in the wind.

Defining Creativity

Creativity is the ability to form from nothing, the ability to change something to something else, the ability to explore the unexplored and to come up with ideas and concepts never thought of before. Creativity is also a lie, masked in beautiful wrappings. Deception, art, illusions of the mind body and soul. It is in everyone, but some suppress it while others choose to express it. Creativity begets art, music, poetry and dance. It lies in everyones grasp and it is not held by any borders. Seeing one thing while perceiving something totally different. That is creativity. Taking the plunge into the unknown with courage or guised fear. That defines creativity.

Introduction

I expect to learn alot from creative studies. The mind is like a bottomless pit that cannot be filled. You may keep throwing things inside and there is no limit as to how much can be learnt. This is a good thing because from this class, i will be able to harness the depths of my mind and to fill it up with thoughts, reasoning and endless possibilities.

Sigmund Freud states that "The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water." Judging from the size of an iceberg, the mind is huge and only a small part of it can be comprehended or understood. The fun of it is that it's so big and vast that it will take forever to completely understand it. The journey to understanding the mind, however is the beginning of self fulfilment.