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#2: Break Some Rules

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By Chris Dunmire, CoachingYourCreativity.com

I bet as soon as you read my title you thought I was going to capitalize on the “rules are made to be broken” cliche, didn’t you? Well, you’re partly correct. But instead of writing about why you should “break all the rules” in an artist-rebel sort of way, I want you to think about what rules are for and why some are necessary in in your creative work. And when you have that figured out, you’ll know which rules to leave alone and which ones you can break.

While you’re percolating on that, take this fun quiz to see how much you know about creative rule-breakers.

Rule-Breaker's Quiz: Guess Who?

1. This American poet was born in 1894 and remembered as “one of the preeminent voices of 20th century poetry, as well as one of the most popular” because of the unconventional capitalization and formatting in his poetry. (1)
   
   
2. This French artist was born in 1887 and his artwork was associated with Dadaism, “characterized by its humor, the variety and unconventionality of its media, and its incessant probing of the boundaries of art.” (2)
   
   
3. This perfect couple in the Old Testament is best remembered for eating forbidden fruit after hearing the wisssssperings of a snake.

e. e. cummings

If you answered e. e. cummings to the first question, then you’re correct. Notice the unorthodox style in his poem “Buffalo Bill’s/ defunct” as published in the January 1920 issue of The Dial (1):

What was the result of cumming’s "rule-breaking" style of poetry writing? In his day it was ground-breaking. Not following the usual conventions of writing undoubtedly appalled some of his contemporaries, but it opened up new possibilities in poetic expression that many have gone on to adapt and appreciate as artistic variety. Even now we write his name in lower-case letters because to do so otherwise just feels, well, wrong.

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp is the correct answer to question number two. Duchamp was the first to use found objects and call it art. The significance of the Dadaist movement he was part of changed (and mocked) the traditional ways of art and aesthetic. It made nonsense of art to reflect the political and social climate of the world during the time period around World War II.

According to the Web site Understanding Duchamp, the class of objects he called “readymades”(such as Bicycle Wheel) were “experiments in provocation, the products of a conscious effort to break every rule of the artistic tradition, in order to create a new kind of art — one that engages the mind instead of the eye, in ways that provide the observer to participate and think.” Duchamp’s unusual style of putting items together created new ways of artistic thinking and expression using found objects, assemblage, and montage.

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About the Author
Chris Dunmire is the author of the Dollar Bill Origami Money Plant and driving force behind the popular Creativity Portal Web site. She finds meaning as an artist, humorist, and creativity coach and channels her overactive imagination into multiple containers on display at ChrisDunmire.com.