Valuable business/life insights from a big artist

What can an artist teach us about working across mediums, pushing boundaries, the importance of failure, enjoying the process and innovation? A great deal, it seems, based on this incisive obituary in today’s IHT by Michael Kimmelman on Robert Rauschenberg.

Excerpts:

A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked.

The process — an improvisatory, counterintuitive way of doing things — was always what mattered most to him. “Screwing things up is a virtue,” he said when he was 74. “Being correct is never the point… Being right can stop all the momentum of a very interesting idea.”

Culture tip | Robert Olsen video clip

I’m lucky to have a few close friends who live/breathe the art & culture scene.

They’re constantly inviting me out to see new work, which I appreciate very much, because good art/culture always inspires me.

Like yoga, cooking, or a brisk walk in the woods, art/culture offers a doorway into self-awakening or consciousness, making it easier to stay centered and leave behind what Peter Russell calls the “hum-drum of daily existence”.

In this vein, I offer you a 30-second journey: a short clip by one of my favorite emerging artists, Robert Olsen.

How did I find out about Mr. Olsen? A tip from one of my friends. And no, I don’t own any of his work, yet…