My dear,
Most people say that creativity is taking something commonplace and showcasing it in such a way that people have no choice but to stare. Most go about this by adding more and more fanciful (yet hollow), words to it. It’s like when people say, “He questionably said, he carefully said, he quietly said, he timidly said, etc., etc.,” when they can just say “He said.”
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
Anyone can make a thing of beauty by adding more and more to it. But few are those that beautify by subtracting.
You can call yourself an artist either way, I don’t care; but please, don’t call yourself creative until you’ve made something so unbelievably simple that only its beauty is left to shine.
Falsely yours,
Charles Mingus Jr.
