Think Like an Artist: . . . and Lead a More Creative, Productive Life

Description

Embrace your inner Picasso - wisdom and smart thinking from Da Vinci to Ai Weiwei Why do some people seem to find it easy to come up with fresh, brilliant ideas? And how do they turn them into something worthwhile? After spending years getting up close and personal with some of the world's greatest creative thinkers, the BBC's Arts Editor Will Gompertz has discovered a handful of traits that are common to them all. Basic practices and processes that allow their talents to flourish, and which we can adopt - no matter what we do - to help us achieve extraordinary things too. It's time to Think Like an Artist and ... Become Seriously Curious (Caravaggio's discovery of optical lenses changed art for ever.) Think Big Picture and Fine Detail (Turner transformed a masterpiece with a tiny dab of red paint.) And realize ... It's Nearly Always Plan B (Mondrian spent years painting trees before becoming a master of abstraction.)

Will Gompertz is a world-leading expert in, and champion of, the arts. Having spent seven years as a Director of the Tate Galleries followed by eleven years as the BBC's Arts Editor, he is now Artistic Director at the Barbican. Will has interviewed and observed many of the world's leading artists, actors, writers, musicians, directors and designers. Creativity magazine in New York ranked him as one of the 50 most original thinkers in the world. He is the author of the internationally bestselling What Are You Looking At? and Think Like an Artist, both translated into more than 20 languages.

Will Gompertz is the best teacher you never had * Guardian * The Shock of the New redone a la Bill Bryson . . . richly detailed and highly entertaining * Daily Telegraph on What Are You Looking At? * Hugely accessible . . . writes about difficult things without letting on that they are difficult * Independent on Sunday on What Are You Looking At? * A romp through art history and the creative mind ... full of entertaining anecdote * Guardian * Gompertz doesn't have it in him to be boring. He clearly loves art too much and his book ... succeeds as a short love letter to art. The pictures are wonderful * The Times *