This contains the interviews with a wide range of creatives complied between 2014 – 2017 including ORLAN, Barry Fantoni, Zandra Rhodes, Tim Nordwind, Mr Bingo, Erik Kessels, Peter Saville, Ian Anderson, Tim Pope, Bob & Roberta Smith, Gee Vaucher, Mike Perry, Julie Verhoven, Ken Garland and Doug Abraham…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonconformity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aren’t we all a little odd? For nonconformity to exist we’re saying that there’s a conformity, a uniform, a code that’s in place. By wilfully not conforming we’ve eschewed protocol, jumped a red light and ignored convention. We might well create our own protocols, put a new traffic system in place and hold a convention for other like-minded rebels to celebrate the new (non)conformity. This is often what we call progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rebellion on masse accentuates conformity, gives the status-quo definition and clarity. Rebellion is the mental and often physical manifestation of the alienation that we feel. But this book isn’t necessarily about us on masse, we’re looking at us as individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we talk about creativity and nonconformity, in the context of this book, we\u2019re talking about auteurs, accidental anarchists and those that refuse both to be boring and to be bored by others. This is about the eccentricity that pulses through our veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paradoxically, the fact that we feel isolated and dislocated in some way from society is what unites us. We can move on. Nonconformity isn’t limited to political or cultural agitators. Nonconformity can be nuanced: A flourish or a finesse. Eccentricity is arguably, an exaggerated performance of \u2018normal’. Normality is a dulled and muted perception of life. Normality borders on the non-existent, eccentricity surrounds us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s not confuse this refusal of normal with an entire rebuttal of shared values and ethics, of education and learning, of standards in skills and democratic agreement on elements of life that prevent us from harming others. We could argue a case for that, but, again, this isn\u2019t the place for such. Creating a framework, boundaries and limits are liberating: Rebellion is also a considered system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to eccentricity. What has nonconformity ever done for creativity? If we swap the question round we can see that creativity, a tool of expression, is instrumental in voicing the nonconformist self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have to be a nonconformist in order to be creative? No. But to communicate something of value to society takes an element of nonconformity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens if you think you\u2019re boring and are about as eccentric as a clothes peg? The real bores in life are those that consider themselves as eccentric. Eccentricity is what others see in you, not what you see in yourself. I just had to look up what clothes peg was in American, the answer is clothespin. I find that an eccentric choice of word. Is it because we find the exotic and the previously unknown eccentric?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you be eccentric without being creative? Yes, and no. We making creative decisions all the time. We\u2019ve already defined creativity for the purpose of this investigation, subconscious decisions versus wider accumulation of value for society. We may have eccentric habits, see above for the low-down on that. We may collect, hoard or festoon. We may use inappropriate tools for the job-at-hand, these are idiosyncrasies. Creativity agitates normality into another state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Readjust the interior of your Honda Accord with the addition of gold leaf, dial adjusted warm leatherette and squirrel motifs, you\u2019re being creative. Give up your day job to DJ ragtime at a foot spa, you\u2019re being creative. Make snow globes out of traffic bollards, record the sound of snails embracing, carve the silhouettes of sparrows into palm trees whilst dressed as Fred Astaire, it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our personal journey through life is enriched by our creativity, our lives are also enriched by others creativity. Do we believe that we\u2019re born alone and will die alone? If so, then creativity can help fix that. Our creativity is social, it feeds and excretes love. Our nonconformity is a tool to unleash our souls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking about nonconformity to contributors to this book was extremely difficult. Most people tend to be largely unaware of their own peccadillos, and who am I to call them out? If they are hitherto unaware, then the natural reaction tends to be one of defence. Why are we raising the uncomfortable truth that they are different to others? To be different is to mark you out from the herd. But as we know, society favours and celebrates the creative difference we make. Society is our friend, we are society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversely, we don\u2019t want to look like we\u2019re celebrating or boasting about being different for fear of disassociating ourselves from our audience. Creativity is a delicate balance between the magic of the creative soul and the dissemination of structured craft, which is why the emotive and discordant resonates in art. We are instruments. Drawing attention to our attention to this fact endangers us to becoming wizards in our own version of Oz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proclamation of our stunning creative prowess is the last vestige of the zany and the whacky. \u2018I\u2019m mad I am\u2019 invariably brings the response \u2018No you\u2019re not.\u2019 And whilst we at it, let\u2019s not use serious mental health issues as a shorthand for creative sensibilities. Our mental welfare, our ability to understand, compute and regulate the external and internal pressure systems of the world, are again, beyond the scope of this book. As I\u2019ve stated, I\u2019m no doctor and I struggle to comprehend my own mind. Be mindful of the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s celebrate nonconformity and observe the nonconformist stance. Zandra Rhodes was, rather sweetly, taken aback when I offered up the suggestion that she was an iconic nonconformist. Barry Fantoni pointed me to some excellent outsider art or \u2018Art Brut\u2019 including Adolf Wolfi and Augustin Lesage, a miner\u2019s son from Saint-Pierre-les-Auchel who painted during the first half of the 20th<\/sup> Century. Sometimes isn\u2019t it better to just get on and \u2018do it\u2019? Arguably, yes, and this point of view could be given at every stage of our creative journey, but I think it\u2019s also important to celebrate from time to time. It\u2019s time to hold up a mirror to our creative selves and see what we can lear<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this chapter, we hear from ORLAN, Barry Fantoni, Zandra Rhodes, Tim Nordwind, Mr Bingo, Erik Kessels, Peter Saville, Ian Anderson, [G15] Bob & Roberta Smith, Gee Vaucher, Mike Perry, Julie Verhoven, Ken Garland and Doug Abraham, talking about family, the inner voice of nonconformity and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some thoughts to get us started:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 It\u2019s our job to be unexpected<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 You have a choice: Authenticity or auto-pilot<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 The most compelling creative work is that which has a fundamental truth to it<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 You don\u2019t need any validation from anyone to do what you want to do<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Our future growth depends on our bravery to honestly confront boundaries imposed upon us<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Don\u2019t be boring. Nonconformity isn’t a problem, it’s an asset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 It\u2019s OK to be an outsider. You are not worthless simply because you are different<\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-conformity is power and anger at injustice is a very good place to start. ORLAN:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018As a teenager I was highly criticized by the adult world surrounding me. I was truly furious to realize that as a woman, I could not do the same things as men. To give birth to me seemed to be an anachronism issue in an overpopulated and over polluted world. Contraception did not exist then, nor did abortion and without this, we could not be free. I created works at that time with the bed sheets from my trousseau which my mother asked me to embroider. I got the sheets stained with my lovers’ sperm, I indicated the stains with paint and then embroidered these in my performances where I used a seamstress\u2019 large needle with a black thread. I would embroider the stains without looking at the work, I would either look at the public or be blindfolded.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018At the time when you’d think I should be at my happiest, I felt a little lost.\u2019 Tim Nordwind<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why do we bother? Is creativity some sort of magic? We appear to be under a spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The urge to write, draw, make noise, may intrinsic to humanity, but it\u2019s no easy task. \u2018Who are these young punks?\u2019 No terms of endearment here, before The Ramones to be called a \u2018punk\u2019 was to be called worthless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s unwrap this Punk ethos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whilst working at Croydon School of Art in South London, Barry Fantoni taught Malcolm McLaren and graphic designer Jamie Reid, the designer for the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols and the singles Anarchy in the UK and God Save The Queen. Fantoni, who recalls that Reid was brilliant whilst McLaren was \u2018unteachable\u2019, cites the impact of outsider art as vital to understanding how creativity works. We spend a huge amount of time and resources on a fraction of what\u2019s really out there. Art isn\u2019t just what we see in The Tate Gallery or MoMa, creativity is all around us. Is Barry a true punk in the way that we\u2019ve come to understand \u2013 uninhibited and free? His views on creativity could well have rubbed off on the young McLaren and Reid, his view on what creativity and individuality read like a Punk manifesto (if such a thing wasn\u2019t so totally \u2018un-Punk\u2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCreativity is natural: Human, it\u2019s part of the kit. Creativity is part of the survival kit. We need to breathe, we need to reproduce, we need to keep warm but unless we understand who we are, all of our existence on this planet is completely pointless because we won\u2019t have known who we were. All we\u2019ll have known is that we were living here for a while, living the lives of other people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Barry waxes lyrical about the importance of art and the need for us all to express ourselves\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018If the creativity is that voice inside you. I\u2019ve heard people say this to me many times, \u2018if I was only a painter\u2019, \u2018if I could only paint\u2019, \u2018I\u2019d love to paint\u2019 they ARE painters, they were just told they weren\u2019t. The outsider doesn\u2019t think like that, they think \u2018that\u2019s a lovely landscape, I\u2019ll paint that\u2019 doesn\u2019t matter if it works out or not, or the wrong colours, they are obeying the internal demand\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t think you\u2019re not, or can\u2019t be creative. Creativity is not a members-only club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gee Vaucher spent the 1970\u2019s in a band with her husband the poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist Penny Rimbaud. Their home in Essex, in the UK, became the focal drop in place for bohemian activism. Vaucher reminds us of our duty to the next generation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I think children need to understand that they have a voice, they have a right, they have a lot of power and they have a lot of really brilliant sensible things to say. That\u2019s only coming to the fore now; that Victorian \u2018seen and not heard\u2019 bullshit, that is changing gradually.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The sense of marginalisation or sense of powerlessness can have a profoundly adverse effect, has Vaucher ever felt marginalised by society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Me? No. I\u2019ve always been an outsider even at school, never felt marginalised because I was very confident in myself. I think you can feel very marginalised and lose confidence and feel alone and feel, \u2018what\u2019s the point?\u2019 And all that stuff, but being marginalised isn\u2019t just that, I felt like an outsider, I felt very different, I suppose I\u2019ve always known what I wanted to do, I never gave up painting and drawing and that\u2019s what my means of expression was from the word go, so I never lost contact with that.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This sense of \u2018feeling different\u2019 is something that the designer Kate Moross ponders when she speaks about advice that she offers to students\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018There\u2019s a perception or a fear, that if you aren\u2019t like everyone else then you\u2019ll find it more difficult, and that\u2019s something I always try and tell people: Difference is your unique selling point, it\u2019s what makes you not like the average clich\u00e9 of what a graphic designer is, that\u2019s what you should sell yourself on, not the average, I think people like that I\u2019m different \u2013 I\u2019m not doing it to be different, it\u2019s just who I am, but I do think it\u2019s important to clients. I think they like that I\u2019m open with them about processes, that I\u2019m honest, that I don\u2019t have an agenda, it\u2019s not my way or the highway, I\u2019m fair, I compromise.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This sense of wanting to be \u2018who you are\u2019 surfaces, along with other painful pustules, in our teenage years. Our teenage years help to define us, shaped in part by rebellion, rejection and isolation and it\u2019s our families that bear the brunt of this transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Creativity is a substitute for finding a boundary or a framework in order not to go crazy\u2026Of course.\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Erik Kessels<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It must be fairly daunting for some of us when our children first disclose their intended vocation in life is to spend it doodling, strumming or making tiny faces out of brie. The fear that junior will be destitute motivates some of us to offer alternative career advice in the hope that all of this creativity nonsense is \u2018just a phase\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This advice is often based on misplaced fear, the world is a harsh place, yes, it\u2019s tough to make a living, but it\u2019s worth remembering that our parent\u2019s motivations are honourable: They want to protect us from the world. Unfortunately for them, creativity is not \u2018a phase\u2019 and if it is quashed at an early stage it will only resurface in a mutated fashion. The only crime you can commit with creativity, as with anything in life, is not to fulfil your dreams and ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim Nordwind recalls his relationship with his father as being a war of attrition: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018My father was supportive but critical, it\u2019s probably the best way to say it.<\/em> He had no experience in the field, he was an attorney, an entertainer to him seemed so far -fetched in any way, he did buy me a bass, but he was critical. I remember we had just won a Grammy award for our video Here We Go Again, which is the one where we are dancing on treadmills and up until that moment he was asking me \u2019have you started thinking about what you are going to do now?\u2019 I remember a week or two after we won that award, which he was very proud of, delighted in fact, he sent me an article in the New York Times about the decline of the recording industry and it might be time to start thinking about getting out of this! I was like \u2018Aww God what do I have to do?\u2019 When something good happened he was pleased, he was just an overly protective father \u2013 in some ways that gave me a lot to fight against. It\u2019s very hard to make money in the music business, there was a lot of \u2018I\u2019m glad you\u2019re doing it, I don\u2019t know if you can do it\u2019 I was probably going, \u2018well I can\u2019t do this but this character can, I can play this part I can play this character that\u2019s a little bit larger than, at least, my life.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What do we have to do to prove that we\u2019ve made it! This may sound familiar to many of us, family can be the toughest critics but let\u2019s not be too hard on our parents, they try to do their best, but the poet Philip Larkin made no bones about the influence that parents have on us, a little harshly perhaps \u2018They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had. And add some extra, just for you\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to Tim Nordwind, how did his relationship with his father affect him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I felt really lost at one point, I know it was around 30 years old, right after some good things had happened to the band and the videos had started taking off. I got home from that, form two and half years of really running around the world, with very little time to enjoy what was going on, by the time I got home I was so far past, we should have celebrated when they were happening, I remember getting home and thinking \u2018what a crazy two and a half years, I’m not exactly sure what just happened’ and not feeling as happy as I thought I should feel, even though most of<\/em> my teenage dreams had come true. I definitely went into a bit of a depression I think. At the time when you’d think I should be at my happiest, I felt a little lost. I feel ok talking about it now because it was a while ago, but I remember at the time thinking \u2018I can’t tell anyone this, everyone will think I’m such an asshole\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim Nordwind is no asshole. That feeling of isolation is a very real sensation and reveals that no matter how things look to the outside world, no matter the level of success or achievement, depression can strike us at any moment. We must be careful here not to blame our parents, (Larkin was a bitter soul) for they do their best, but without their support things can get very tough when we do hit rock bottom. Our depression can feel like ammunition to beat us around the head with. \u2018See I told you that being creative was a one-way ticket to hell’. Of course, to us in our depressed state, we might agree. But we’d be wrong. Communicating our fears, hopes, aspirations and ambitions keep us healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents adopt a variety of techniques to keep us on track, Zandra Rhodes\u2019s mother, herself an art teacher, took a different path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “My mother was very influential in terms of being, she taught belief in one’s self and she was a very dominating woman, although she didn’t dominate, do you know what I mean? She made me always think that I did things of my own free will and it was probably a big influence. It’s important to strike a balance, to give people the freedom to believe that they are capable of doing something because so much of creativity is about risk-taking perhaps\u2026Or having a belief perhaps to put pen to paper, without throwing it away. My mother was always this sort of woman who would be encouraging, she’d encourage me to do things and taught me belief in myself, I didn’t have her saying \u2018why are you doing that?’<\/em>[<\/p>\n\n\n\n But surely if we\u2019re given enough rope we\u2019ll all be swinging around town, whooping and hollering, the wildest of banshees? Not so with Zandra Rhodes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was a very boring child. I wasn\u2019t rebellious. I was encouraged all the time by my mother. When some people say \u2018I rebelled against that or I didn\u2019t like that\u2019 I liked school, working at school I didn\u2019t have a problem with any of that\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There blows another myth: That creativity is for dropouts. The idea that creativity cannot be academic in its approach is frankly absurd, a pernicious lie. Who started this rumour, what were their motivations? Our creative right brains versus logical left brains are given as the scientific root but I would argue that in order to create art of value and significance we need to apply lateral free thinking and execute in a logical manor. The methods we use for studying the arts all require deep philosophical thinking. When we rebel it is not always mindless vandalism of academia or cultural values, it\u2019s simply to create, to work beyond the boundaries of convention in order to create boundaries afresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there a difference between rebelling and \u2018doing your own thing? Back to Zandra Rhodes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Oh well, you can go on and do your own thing, I\u2019m just trying to think, would you call it rebellion? I suppose you could call it that, but I never thought of myself as rebellious. I think of myself, compared with some people, when I say I was quite boring. I get on with my work, I try and hope I come up with something new but I don\u2019t think of it as rebellion.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing \u2018your own thing\u2019 takes confidence not just to create but to live from day to day, sometimes having a devil-may-care attitude can be extremely useful. Being able to twist a situation to our advantage, to think laterally, can protect us. Zandra Rhodes recalls a time that an old school friend got in touch with her to apologise for mocking her:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I\u2019ve got my own look that I put together, and that gives me my confidence. I also think I was born with a thick skin. I was very lucky. Years ago, I can\u2019t remember who wrote the letter, but this girl wrote to me saying\u2019 Dear Zandra, I was at school with you and I used to travel with you on the bus, and I\u2019m sorry that we always laughed at you.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know that at the time, but, if you are lucky enough and they are staring at you\u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the spirit: If you live with the fires of creativity, make use of the smoke and smoke some proverbial kippers for breakfast whilst you\u2019re at it. Resistance is futile as Mr Bingo points out. In the end, those we love will just have to give in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are lots of things I could say about<\/em> my parents: They are quite happy with who I am now. I’m very different to the rest of my family, and I think there were points where they maybe saw me as a bit of a weirdo and a bit of an outsider and I think now they’ve recently just accepted me for who I am. And they think, \u2018he may never have kids, he may never get married again, and he just does this art stuff and that’s fine.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For Erik Kessels the route to creativity was a form of therapy, self-expression in order to construct a new world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I think when you set out with the idea of being a non-conformist, then you will never be one. I mean, for me it had more to do that when I was 11 years old my sister died, she was 9, from then I was the only child. My sister died in a car accident, somebody drove through a red light whilst she was crossing the street. For the next five or six years, my parents were really in grief over it and I had to be very independent. I pushed myself into creativity. It wasn\u2019t like I had a huge talent for it, because I saw a lot of people around me that were better, I just put all my energy at that time into drawing.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The construction of a new world requires a framework, Erik Kessels gathered around his interests, something that he still does as a curator. He\u2019s keen to point out that \u2018hobbies\u2019 should not be scoffed at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Creativity is a substitute for finding a boundary or a framework in order not to go crazy\u2026 Of course. I think that especially with creative people, the ones that need to do this work are the ones that would maybe kill somebody or would be very strange people if they didn\u2019t. I need to have a certain framework, I work with my hobbies or interests, sometimes a little too keenly. It\u2019s slightly autistic of course, there is also a good side to it, the downside is about isolation, but it\u2019s also nice to develop your hobbies.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s turn this up to 11 and replace the word \u2018hobbies\u2019 with passions. However, Erik Kessels asks us to beware the clich\u00e9 of troubled artist as the epitome of nonconformist glory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The passion that you have? I think you should put that into the work. The most important thing is to be true to yourself, because that\u2019s a constant fight. Sometimes there\u2019s a lot of trouble and irritation, but I like to sleep well at night, also that\u2019s what a lot of people forget \u2013 you need to be very fit. The best creatives in any field are people that feel very good, they have a great relationship with their partner and they don\u2019t have a lot of frustrations. When you feel very safe and happy then you come up with the craziest ideas. Being in a constant crisis and feeling bad is not the time when you come up with the best ideas.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018There are those people in life who, if they are honest, in the back of their minds, see their whole life as a bit of a performance\u2026\u2019 Ian Anderson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n hat other motivation and ambition do young creative spirits have when they are starting out? For Peter Saville, growing up in a fairly well-off suburb of Manchester, there wasn’t a lot of creative stimuli to be found. The young Peter found television to be his portal to another world and got caught up in the idea of lifestyle, fashion and interestingly, diplomacy. Peter Saville:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I remember one day when I was quite young, aged between 8 and 12, I heard the word \u2018diplomat\u2019, or read the word, and I remember asking my father what a diplomat was and he told me. I remember thinking \u2018oh I quite like that, that\u2019s James Bond without being shot, without the guns\u2019 so that\u2019s a little bit of a measure, it was the romantic aspect of it, that you got to go to foreign places, preferably exotic foreign places, and be in the milieu of those places, there was something about that quite appealed to me, of course, I’d be brought up on Bond movies and The Avengers and I think they shaped the parameters for quite a<\/em> lot of people in my generation. The only place where I saw anything different, challenging, avant-garde, progressive and occasionally sexy was on record covers. I was also very aware of fashion, I’d dragged my parents to Carnaby Street in the late 60’s to be part of that, and I suppose I saw the convergent sensibilities that the 60’s threw up, where music, film, fashion, furniture, way of living, there was a coherence, definitely of the more exotic dimensions of the 60’s<\/em> .\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another graphic designer, well known for his record cover artwork is Ian Anderson, Ian also nods to the idea of performance and drama of lifestyle in his answer to the idea of nonconformity. Ian Anderson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018There are those people in life who, if they are honest, in the back of their minds, see their whole life as a bit of a performance, you don\u2019t have to look in the mirrored window as you walk down the street just to check that you are alright because you know you are. And if people think \u2018that fucking fat ginger cunt\u2019 it\u2019s like \u2018yeah, and? I could lose weight, what\u2019s your problem?\u2019 I think there is that sense of performance.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is nonconformity a personality trait? Is creativity obsessive? Ian didn\u2019t study graphic design but sees himself as someone who is highly visually aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ian Anderson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Being a designer is an obtuse career path, if, like me, you didn’t decide to be one, if you ended up being one, and staying one. I think you can talk about the advantages and disadvantages of whether you studied and that’s a different question, but in terms of obsession I think that I am not really particularly obsessive by nature, in a way that a lot of designers are, a lot of really good designers are OCD because things have to be right, I don’t think I’m like that, to be honest, but I do like pushing myself to be obsessive. When I was a student living in bedsits, we had bookshelves and even before I had any idea of being a designer it would be important to me that books looked right on the shelves, so I’d find myself going to jumble sales and buying up Penguin classics, Sartre and Camus, and so the shelves look good, if there is a book that doesn’t look good you read it and throw it away, but I don’t think that’s obsession\u2026 \u2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The inspiration for nonconformity doesn’t have to stem from an interest in Sartre and Camus and peppered with James Bond poolside shenanigans in exotic locations. Martin Parr’s view of the world was shaped well within the confines of a suburbia that is as arguably absurd as any Ian Fleming novel. Parr offers out the escape as a reason to celebrate conformity as a measure with which to bend and break .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martin Parr:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was brought up in Surrey which was a bland county, it helped inspire because everywhere else seemed more interesting, that\u2019s why I took very warmly to being in Yorkshire later on. In the end, blandness probably helped me creatively, I can see the strength and worthiness in the bland”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something could be said about beauty and the eye of the holder here, Parr\u2019s idiosyncratic yet warm view of mundanity in all its ignoble glory is a lesson in sheer bloody mindfulness: In amplifying the world around you, you bring focus, clarity and often hilarity. Celebrating eccentricity validates its very existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name Julie Verhoven often appears alongside the word \u2018kooky\u2019 in the press. Things may have been different, a \u2018kooky\u2019 secretary perhaps had it not been for a present from some well-meaning family friends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018My parents didn\u2019t want me to struggle all my life so they suggested being a secretary, to learn to type, but there was nothing else I was interested in apart from fashion. I think they were nervous of me doing fashion because I\u2019m a bit soft and they were worried that I was going to be shat on basically.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What was Julie Verhoeven\u2019s character like as a child?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I was shy, quiet and obviously people\u2019s idea of the fashion industry is that it\u2019s quite hard-core, which it is, it\u2019s highly competitive, but equally I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do in fashion, I just wanted to be a part of it somehow.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps Julie felt like she was compensating in some way for something by going into fashion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I suppose, as tragic as it sounds, I loved the glamour and the allure, dressing up and becoming somebody that you are not, through clothes. I just found a lovely fantastical world to draw these women, and I wanted to be those women, I was obviously miles from that but I was really attracted.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When was the first time that Julie Verhoeven saw the fashion world and thought \u2018this is what I want to be?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I remember my parents had friends that didn\u2019t have children, when people don\u2019t have children they give children presents that are a bit more advance because they don\u2019t realise the age range, so they gave me a copy of French Vogue when I was eight years old. It was full of Helmut Newton photos of shoes, really provocative and extraordinary and I thought it was amazing, it had a real impact.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It takes strength of character to overcome well-meant career advice from parents, thank goodness for rogue parent\u2019s friends. Some of us find ourselves at a young age, but there\u2019s no ticking clock, it\u2019s about truth rather than about time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The only person that could threaten my creativity is me\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>Gee Vaucher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no time limit on nonconformity. Talking to Tim Pope, his love for punk and where he has found himself over time, brings a reminder that the most compelling work is that which has a fundamental truth to it \u2013 something that relates, resonates and reverberates throughout a culture. Tim Pope asks for simplicity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I think if you are true to yourself and don\u2019t look over your shoulder, just do what you want to do, which is very hard to do these days, but if you know what is true within yourself, it will reach a truth with an audience. There are essential truths.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just about simplicity in essential truths, Tim Pope invites us in for a healthy drop of anarchy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I think a lot of my early work, specifically, I wanted to create as much trouble as I could. There\u2019s a big part of me that wants to, is fairly anarchic, or wants to be\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to ‘mess stuff up’, Tim?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Not really, I like flying close to the edge, I think it\u2019s a very exhilarating place to be, at many levels, I mean, you know, my first year of making videos I made this first one with Soft Cell called Pleasures and I was making a film for a song entitled Sex Dwarf. I made the video and it was basically \u2018a vertically challenged person\u2019 and a pile of meat and some hookers from out of Soho, loads of milk and me turning up the music really loud\u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a certain amount of \u2018naughtiness\u2019 associated with nonconformity. It\u2019s not easy. Nonconformity can have a dark side. When we challenge ourselves to create there can be a nagging feeling that we can lose the plot at any given moment. This self-doubt affects us all as Gee Vaucher illustrates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The only person that could threaten my creativity is me. There have been periods where I think \u2018oh shit I’ve lost it, I can’t think of anything’ but that’s because I’m trying to think too hard so I have to get rid of all that and just get on it.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does the way we conduct our art education bring to bear on the subject? Education, often by simply nothing more than bureaucratic necessity, pigeonholes subject matter. This approach is arguably outmoded in a cross-disciplinary world where use of skills, media and materials can be applied across traditional boundaries: Fine artists don\u2019t just paint and sculpt, graphic designers increasingly work on self-initiated projects, musicians make films, perhaps we should embrace the homogenisation of the arts, or is homogenisation the enemy of the non-conformist? Mike Perry sticks two fingers up at the idea of \u2018jack of all trades master of none\u2019. When it comes to the core facet of creativity \u2013 having \u2018ideas\u2019 he explains his stance towards his time at college as this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I did the opposite technique to what all my art teachers said, which was \u2018get really good at one thing and become known for that one thing\u2019 to me that seemed really boring, I want to be known as someone who has ideas, that\u2019s allowed me to try things.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not just the upstarts that bring the noise to homogenisation of the arts. Long-time educator Ken Garland reminds us that it’s not just the fickle youth that feels boxed in when he says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I’ve never tried to pull all the threads together, I love doing something that is totally different to doing what I was doing yesterday and I like that variety immensely. As to cohesion? I suppose there must be, the cohesion is that you are one person and you have one mind, it\u2019s as simple as that<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps it really is as simple as that. This \u2018one love’ across many fields, with endless forays into the unknown is what makes it all so very exciting and nerve-wracking. Ken Garland is a prime example of someone who continues to battle, converse and convince us of the plight and use of creativity. Ken’s First Things First manifesto, which he co-wrote in 1963 and published in 1964, called on us to look beyond capitalism as the overarching vehicle for our talents. Ken’s view that creativity is more useful than its mere ability to sell dog food is a worthy one. The call to refuse to conform to political or social pressure, that there are alternative outlets for creativity, that do not compromise your beliefs, is worth bearing in mind in an age where we are seemingly faced with a myriad of possibilities, but where, in fact, we often operate in a hall of mirrors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonconformity Under Pressure: A Rallying Battle Cry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You don\u2019t need any validation to do what you want to do\u2026\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>Doug Abraham<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many amongst us feel that creativity is a young person\u2019s business \u2013 If you haven\u2019t \u2018made it\u2019 by the age of 25 then it\u2019s game over: You may as well give up. Of course, some industries have traditionally thrived on youth, we take more kindly to the traumas of teenage kicks then the balding \u2018dad-isms\u2019 of our elders. Music and fashion in particular fall foul of ageism, but graphic design and the wider arts also fall foul. Culture is fashion and fashion is fickle. Why should we see struggle as a struggle? What happens when you become you and no one else likes you? Let\u2019s lay this one to rest: There is an audience out there for you, it\u2019s just a matter of finding it, creating and nurturing it. You are not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking forward to the other chapters in this book, Erik Kessels is keen to point out that he considers nonconformity to be the tread that runs through creativity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Money and power, fame and fulfilment, maybe they are something I treat in my own way, these topics could be seen as very negative, because I think that when I really reach for those kind of things I would have made different choices. I think nonconformity is the most important thing in all of this, because that is something you need when you do creative work, however you do it, if you do it very tangibly or not, you need to do your own thing.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, is nonconformity some sort of magic from within and what pressures do we place on nonconformity? Erik Kessels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018No it\u2019s very hard work, of course, you need to work hard for that to keep being non-conformist, you can lose it, the hardest part is to stay like that, for instance, up till now, the most difficult thing about the job, anything to do with creative work is when to say yes and when to say no, that\u2019s the most important thing, I\u2019ve meant to say no and I\u2019ve said yes\u2026 That happens, the most difficult thing is to say no.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s end this chapter with this rallying battle cry from Doug Abraham:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018You don\u2019t need any validation to do what you want to do, conventional thinking is the dangerous dogma of our time, don\u2019t go to school because you think it\u2019s going to get you a job, or that you are going to have a future later if you do this now: Your future is now.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This contains the interviews with a wide range of creatives complied between 2014 – 2017 including ORLAN, Barry Fantoni, Zandra Rhodes, Tim Nordwind, Mr Bingo, Erik Kessels, Peter Saville, Ian Anderson, Tim Pope, Bob & Roberta Smith, Gee Vaucher, Mike Perry, Julie Verhoven, Ken Garland and Doug Abraham… Nonconformity Aren’t we all a little odd? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-81","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberturquhart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Eternal Internal Struggle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
We Are Family<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Feeling Out Nonconformity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
An Ode to Sheer Bloody Mindfulness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n