What sort of Web Designer would Pablo Picasso be?

So I will set the scene first. Tonight I attended a special presentation of Picasso and his collection, at GOMA, in Brisbane. This presentation was for people associated with Queensland Leaders and was presented to us by the GOMA Director, Tony Ellwood.

Apart from the fact this unique exhibition of Picasso’s work and his own personal collection (well some of it), was a great exhibition Tony gave us an insight into the history of Picasso (view: BBC History) and some of the influences on Picasso and his artwork.

Picasso is different to many artists, in several ways;

• he made a lot of money during his lifetime, rather than his value being raised after his death.
• he tried, experimented with and successfully worked with many styles throughout his long career
• he collected art from many other artists, and respected and promoted art / artists throughout his life

While I am no Picasso expert, what impressed me most about this exhibition was the way he approached his art with an open mind and a desire to continually evolve.

So what sort of web designer would he be?

• curious
• forward thinking
• challenging
• frustrated
• knowledgeable
• passionate!

Ireckon I would have employed him, he would have fitted into our Eat Your Own Dog Food culture (can I say that about a great artist?).

I would imagine he would not have let cross browser issues, or other language issues slow him down, he would have learned all he could about the medium and applied his unique perspective to it.

Much like working between paint, pencil, sculpture, carvings and the other mediums on which he successfully worked, he would have adapted to and soaked up the powerful medium that the web provides.

I doubt he would have accepted that any one technique of delivery was good enough for each new piece he was working on (he would not do everything in flash or not in flash, or in simple standard column structures). He would not just accept convention, and would pursue the end result with absolute passion and understanding.

No doubt his personality would permeate the designs, not just for their design aesthetic but from a functional and useful way. I am sure some would be commercial failures, while others outstanding successes.

I have a team that while may never qualify as artists in a traditional sense, nor classified of the standard of Picasso, they can and should be inspired by such artists, and dig deeper into the characteristics and approaches artists of this caliber applied to their mediums. Who knows how the future will judge electronic art, and media as a form of communication? But our job is to help communicate using a medium which is an art form.

My teams show so much of these characteristics in different ways, particularly passion and a willingness to push through conventional boundaries and to do what needs to be done.

Another interesting aside from tonight’s exhibition were the photos showing how much of Picasso’s personal collection lay, unprotected, stacked on top of each other, behind furniture, on tables and in corners throughout his home. The value to Picasso (one can presume) was not so much in having them presented in front of himself to review, but more that they had personal meaning to him and high intrinsic value he carried in his heart and mind because he had purchased or acquired the items.

This reminded me that inside each of my designers (and all my staff) are a lot of highly valuable skills and passions not all of which are necessarily exposed each day. They may be hidden under stacks of work to do or hidden behind office furniture. The challenge for me is to give them the space and encouragement to follow their own dreams, and bring forth their own highly valuable inputs so the organisation gets to shine. More importantly that in their own lives they feel like their own great artist!

Great work GOMA on a fantastic exhibition. I wish I had been more than just the once, so much to see. Thanks Qld Leaders.

Who said Brisbane is a cultural backwater. Hogwash mate!

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