Charlie Rose

applegateportraits  06/23/2012 11:17 AM Report

With three remarkable Traumatic Brain Injuries & the associated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, this series & particularly this episode contributed greatly to my self portrait. I have been well aware of Chuck Close & seen several works in museums years ago when I was availed by privilege. In preparation to appreciate the artists in museums, from which we cull ideas & inspiration, sometimes information is gleaned from publicity of the times or in art history classes. I had not been prepared to know Close as exceptional (disabled) but I did recognize him as a topical (photo-realist portrait) peer. In total with the new awareness of brain injury & cognitive development, I understand why all my life I could excel at portraiture & to me "everybody looked the same." I will leave alone the affect of the third TBI that "blew my psychic shield," but be advised there is so much more to be learned in this the frontier of the mind.

After the third TBI every thing became "extreme." In recovery during the "what hit me?" years, I painted to be sure that no essential part of the successful me had been damaged.

On my Facebook page is the evidence of the facility to do portraits that I have had since age seven when I first began to paint 8' x18' bulletin boards. The young artist develops in play. Application of the lessons of the oldest Art College in the nation broadened my base with a drawing major to prepare me to learn old masters techniques. In these comments someone attributes the Golden Mean from the Renaissance to a more modern thinker. The whole has been grater than the sum of the parts since the Renaissance. I can tag masters who lived & died "my life," Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Rodin & be secure that the copyright makes me different by the union respect of making money to enforce it, but I am as alone or more so because I am female. My museum has trespassed me because I am an American artist with the same consequences to creativity as the Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei who stands in front of his government bulldozed studio & declares this is my greatest artwork.

I have had more art stolen than sold. My heirs will not earn from my merit, but if I can contribute here as a subject of interest, let it be. My vulnerability comes from disability as well as my brilliance. I model the ADA that includes the MR with the gifted, the challenged with the genius. We have the finest law in the finest nation & now research & development that will mark my time & give me my place. I am retarded & I accept that as I accept my savant without shame or undue pride. It is the law that gives me freedom of speech to protest & in so doing a way to tell how to do "it" better.

With a lifetime of experience in the jealousy of others, in the mysterious way I am better than any, I am in a face down of politically enforced poverty by those I call the job jealous. My bent is to prevent soldier suicide because I "get it." I am isolated, segregated, negatively typified, degraded, called names, hung up on, never called back & so forth in a scandalously un-American attack on me because I have earned $100 or &700/day in a very time limited way that suits to a "T" my exceptionality, disabled, amazing & all. My first step to my dedicated tough topic is to tell jokes. That is why I wanted to comment here. I have "no memory" from the first TBI in'58, but my kinetic memory is super muscled to make up. Insert here the big words as applicable.

What made me laugh was the fantastic neuroscientist & the amazing Chuck Close giving a list of symptoms& saying in essence it must be terrible to be "that." It was me all over! It isn't terrible, I don't know any other way & I am blessed in this nation by laws that gave Rev. Dr. King impetus, my fight for civil rights includes the copyright & right to vote as a woman, the IRS exemptions for marriage & as an artist, etc, in other words this nation makes me better than any one in history before & with that greatness comes the associated humility from the realities of discrimination against me as a disabled individual.

RRodriguez  03/05/2012 12:43 AM Report

Just as a few others have commended here, I was disappointed in the composition of the panel in discussing creativity. Eric Kandel emphasized just how poorly this area is studied, but more to the point is just how little he has surveyed the field. As the guide to Charlie Rose, he could have done much to make this episode more biologically centered and less philosophical in the discussion. What is the relationship of mirror neurons and emotion in an aesthetic experience? How do basic speech and visual centers in the brain relate to the brains automatic and unconscious practice for grouping? What is the relationship in developing metaphor (speech and writing) and neural pathways to the various localized areas in the brain? What about the release of dopamine, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters in the perception of music? I could go on.

This series has been so outstanding; Charlie and Eric deserve a mulligan. How about starting with someone like neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran, who has written and spoken explicitly about creativity? Let Oliver Sacks talk about the neural implications of some of his experiences related in his terrific book, Musicophilia, instead of steering him to making way too much out of Prosopagnosia. Choose from any number of evolutionary biologists and discuss the social connections in relation to genetics.

bekuhl  09/06/2011 07:56 PM Report

I was the construction manager that erected the Serra sculpture that is located in Downtown St. Louis. I worked with Richard very closely and have an autographed copy of one of his many hand drawn sketches, he made during the erection. He was very easy to talk to and between a contractor and a sculptor we much to talk about. He explained how to be a part of the sculpture be getting inside and looking out and looking at it with different skylines. My oldest son told him it looked like a giant arrowhead. This was a great experience for me.

svernon  09/06/2011 07:21 PM Report

What a great show, I have not seen the other 11 episodes but now would like to order copies of the other shows. I have read some of the works by Oliver Sacks, great stuff and personally suffered Traumatic Brain Damage from a Hit and Run Accident about 1 1/2 years ago. Fully recovered both mentally and physically at this time, I was very lucky and as my Dr.'s commented..." Your recovery was nothing less than a medical miracle, thanks to God. I was so knocked out by the quote "Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and do the work." I do not recall who was the author of that quote, but it really grabbed me. The other quote that I loved is 'How do I know what I am thinking, until I read what I wrote." Please let me know if there is a way to purchase the full series. Thank you in advance for your time, SV

Paulc  09/06/2011 10:33 AM Report

I found the conversation interesting, yet needing to be explored further (as mentioned). The dialogue regarding being "inspired" is different from what I have heard from my creative colleagues & peers, yet the point about being self driven is very consistent with dialogue with the same people.

You can have many segment on this subject. What I think could be interesting to explore further is getting different generations of creative thinkers together to see what drives them, their development process for solutions, influence of creative upbringing & environment.

Great episode.. would love to see more

waynevipond  02/04/2011 03:32 PM Report

The story of Moby Dick carried the Creative Brain Development program in another direction. I had to explore my own thought development.

The creative process starts with a thought, as does everyone else's. One connected thought leads to the next until I recognize a new idea. This peaks my interest and I'm off on a new exploration.

As I've gotten older I am able to dwell on these kinds of thoughts for what seems like hours. I consider many options as the idea evolves. Sometimes I come to a lack of concision and have to back up and enter a "what if...". The ability to stay focused or not, is a matter of training or the intense desire to deviate out of fatigue. I paint.

Charlie, can you ask a "creative person" on your next Brain series the thought process that leads to the initial idea he/she was motivated to act on to get a better idea how the brain works?

mota51  01/02/2011 04:48 AM Report

Two things came immediately to mind after listening to the episode. First, a talk by Matt Ridley on TED.com where he claimed that progress (read creativity) occurs on account of ideas having sex; this is social ethos affecting individual styles as well as what professor Kendal says on social contribution. Second, I invite viewers to take a guided tour of gardens created by Robert Irwin at Getty Museum in LA, which takes the viewer from geometry of architecture to poetry of subjective experience.

I think creativity is born out of higer sensitivity coupled with delibarate effort - as in garden at Getty museum, plucking out every 3rd leaf from every tree. What I would like to know from neurology is how some people can keep that sensitivity alive and why it is pruned in as a matter of routine in majority of us? If you can contribute to the answer, please mail me at mukesh_a99@yahoo.com. Thank you

bschratz  11/12/2010 02:02 PM Report

Thanks to Charlie Rose and Eric Kandal fora great series.

I was somewhat disappointed in the 12th episode, but in all fairness, Charlie Roses' comment summed it up, with "we could do 2-3 more episides and no cover all creativity" or something like that. I agree. I DO hope there will be more episodes upcoming. They all were educational and thought provoking. Thanks to all who made them possible.

Bruce (Ret. MD)

marciopaoliello  11/07/2010 01:24 AM Report

Hello Charlie,

Great guests and great ideas got around your round table. However one important point related to the creativity process was missed: Creativity is deeply connected to the human capability of to be able to sense the world which goes around us. In this sense, allow me to introduce the concept of "the felling of the creativity". This idea is quite important and actually is the foundation of all other theories about creativity. To be able to foresee through our fellings new ideas is the first step that leads us toward the process of to create sth new in order to fill our needs. Please, let me be clear, this idea about " the felling of the creativity" doesn't apply to small scale ideas. This ideas that I am releasing goes beyond to the criteria which drive current ideas linked to the creativity. To be able to feel one new idea which wants to emerges, this is the right point. I know that this idea could be rejected at glance for those who have no idea about where the felings have been living on earth. However, for those who are well-known as genius, the released idea has been part of teir daily lives.

ShalomFreedman  11/03/2010 05:43 AM Report

I found this discussion disappointing. I do not know the work of Serra or Close. They are articulate in explaining their own process of work, but I am not sure that there is any great message in this about the subject of Creativity in general. I am generally a great admirer of the work of Oliver Sacks. I ws thus surprised at his absurd statement that the inner transformation of Melville which led to the writing of 'Moby Dick' came solely from his relationship to Hawthorne.

'Creativity's is a vast subject. Taking two practicioners from the visual arts and one museum curator made for a very inadequate panel.

Jean_Purcell  11/01/2010 11:31 AM Report

How do I rate this episode? I would give it 4+ stars at least. Fascinating and though-provoking as usual from Charlie Rose et al. I have read kitsune's comment that appeared before this one (mine), and agree with him on that point: Whatever the facts, then they are what they are; however, speculation is running rampant these days.

We are blessed to have Charlie Rose on air regularly and independently. I guess that my political and religious views do not fit with his at all, but to me that poses no problem. He gives a respectful and thoughtful approach and does not "argue" or push back except to get more meat of thought from guest(s).

From editor, Opinari Quarterly newsletter for Christian writers, publishing professionals, book lovers and reviewers.

kitsune  10/31/2010 05:36 AM Report

This in in reference to Oliver Sacks' comment about Herman Melville writing "Moby Dick" out of sublimated sexual angst because Nathanial Hawthorne hadn't reciprocated his affections. I mean--I'm no Melvillian scholar, but I also know (by his comment) that Sacks is not, either. If he were, he would not be making a speculation seem like a truth--on national television, no less. Next time, just say, "He may have..."

shrodgers  10/30/2010 10:58 PM Report

The 12th Episode of the Brain Series with Chuck Close, Richard Serra, Oliver Sacks, Ann Temkin, and Eric Kandel was wonderful. As one who is fascinated by the creative process in many fields, I loved the way the guests tackled the communication of creativity by scientists and artists. My artistic friends and relatives are often frustrated that many people cannot understand the way they talk about their work and creative processes. In many fields, creative people probably cannot explain what happens when they make something that is new and exciting after hours, days, months, or years of work. 'Reminds me of the cartoon showing math geniuses working out a complex set of equations on a blackboard, with one saying to the others, "And then a miracle occurs".

The entire Brain Series was terrific! I look forward to many more chapters in the near future. Thank you!

plantwhisperer  10/29/2010 10:38 PM Report

Developmental prosopagnosia (faceblind from birth) is actually rather common. We can't possibly know if Close is "the only" portrait painter with this anomaly. As the brain responds strongly to novelty, it might actually be a gift to a painter of faces.

In the program, Candel and Rose refer to Close's dyslexia, (the inability to read) which he may well have. However, what Close describes is actually dyscalculia, the inability to do math.

Far more interesting, is the combination of prosopagnosia, topographnosia, (no sense of direction), sensory hypersensitivity, creativity, and fixated interests sported by the author of The Oaxca Journal, Oliver Sachs. There's a name for this too.

winter  10/29/2010 07:33 PM Report

You'll never succeed in lobbying me into believing that that rubber "etude to topology" is anything but a slab of rubber bent in the middle. Sure, maybe its a metaphor for

an 11th dimensional manifold where flatlanders have reservations for the Presidential Suite but I'm not buying

any of it. You don't have to be John Wayne swinging open the doors to the saloon to be on bedrock footing in declaring, "thus far and no further" on that hardware store fugitive. I know, its about creativity. I wouldn't advocate its being defined by virtue of the beholders in your rolodex.

SkyLarkJ  10/29/2010 05:45 PM Report

The distinctions between the right brain and left brain hemispheres with respect to creativity was really valuable.

DAVIDOGILVIE  10/29/2010 10:46 AM Report

A slightly disappointing conclusion to an excellent series. The panel should have included a composer (Glass? Reich? Wuorinen?) or musical performer (Kissin? Barenboim? Perahia?). While Close and Serra offered truly stimulating insights, their viewpoints on the creative process are too similar. I would like to know if a composer's brain, or a performer's, somehow functions differently from 'yours or mine'. Quite apart from a performer's prodigious memory - itself a fascinating topic - is the composition and performance of music somehow fundamentally distinct from other mental tasks? Surely, a Mendelssohn's brain is not just 'better than' the average Joe's at music; it seems to operate in an entirely different way. I would liked to have seen this subject explored.

cbarnes  10/29/2010 10:18 AM Report

One of the most engaging discussions about art and creativity I've heard in a long time. I particularly enjoyed the comments made by Serra and Close on the misguided notions about "inspiration" and how each work of art, as it is made, is an unexpected discovery---that is what keeps artists, scientists, and others working.

PeterMelzer  10/29/2010 09:39 AM Report

A great series capped by an utmost insightful conversation last night! Artists and scientists are similar in that they strive to relate observed pieces and grasp the whole. Almost a century ago, Max Wertheimer discovered that the whole is more than the sum of the pieces. Both artists and scientists discover the unprecedented, when they examine the whole after they fitted the pieces together and begin to understand their relationships. In art as well as in science, every implementation is preceded by an image viewed with our mind's eye.

Read more here about Max Wertheimer's discovery:

http://brainmindinst.blogspot.com/2008/06/professor-max-wertheimers-synergy.html