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Creativity from Constraints: What can we learn from Motherwell? from Modrian? from Klee?
Author(s) -
STOKES PATRICIA D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the journal of creative behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.896
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2162-6057
pISSN - 0022-0175
DOI - 10.1002/j.2162-6057.2008.tb01297.x
Subject(s) - creativity , limiting , constraint (computer aided design) , motif (music) , computer science , musical , painting , theme (computing) , task (project management) , subject (documents) , aesthetics , visual arts , artificial intelligence , psychology , art , engineering , social psychology , world wide web , systems engineering , mechanical engineering
This article presents a problem‐solving model of variability and creativity built on the classic Reitman and Simon analyses of musical composition and architectural design. The model focuses on paired constraints: one precluding (or limiting search among) reliable, existing solutions, the other promoting (or directing search to) novel, often opposite, ones. The primary constraint pair precludes an existing goal criterion and promotes a novel one. Other constraints — source (elements for recombination), task (how materials are used) and subject (motif, theme) — are then strategically selected to realize the goal. A brief discussion of Abstract Expressionism introduces the model, which is then applied to the painting careers of Piet Modrian and Paul Klee.