The ecology of ideas

On sceniuses, creative lineages, and the myth of the artist as a lone wolf.

I first stumbled upon the concept of a scenius on Austin Kleon’s blog a few years ago and forgot all about it until he wrote about it again in one of his recent posts.

The term Scenius was coined by music composer Brian Eno, who defined it as:

"Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”

In its essence, Scenius conveys the extreme creativity that groups, places or "scenes" can sometimes foster. Some examples include:

• The legendary Paris Salon hosted by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, which was the gathering place for artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Paul Cézanne

• The lofts of Soho, NYC, which was transformed from a manufacturing district to a thriving artist community

• The Bloomsbury Group, which included English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists such as Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey

• The Balckmountain Poets, musicians David Tudor, Lou Harrison and John Cage, dancers Merce Cunningham and Remy Charlip, potter M.C. Richards, and visual artists Lyle Bongé and Joe Fiore

• Motown Records, which grew out of a residential neighborhood in Detroit. Singers could simply walk in with an idea for a song and play it for Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder

As I read about these Salons and gatherings, it became clear that these were ecosystems that grew largely organically, and typically brought artists, writers, thinkers, patrons, and curators together, providing a fertile ground for not just creativity to flourish, but for that creativity to make its way out into the world.

Stein in her Paris studio, with a portrait of her by Pablo Picasso, and other modern art paintings hanging on the wall (before 1910), via Wikipedia

Quite the opposite of the image of the artist as a lone wolf. And also, I think, the opposite of building a social media following, because a following does not a scenius make. Especially when you consider the distinction that Eno makes between the creative genius (or lone wolf) and the creative scenius.

“Like all art students, I was encouraged to believe that there were a few great figures like Picasso and Kandinsky, Rembrandt and Giotto and so on who sort-of appeared out of nowhere and produced artistic revolution.

As I looked at art more and more, I discovered that that wasn’t really a true picture. What really happened was that there were sometimes [emphasis mine] very fertile scenes involving lots and lots of people — some of them artists, some of them collectors, some of them curators, thinkers, theorists, people who were fashionable and knew what the hip things were — all sorts of people who created a kind of ecology of talent. And out of that ecology arose some wonderful work.

So I came up with this word ‘scenius’ — the intelligence of a whole operation or group of people. I think that’s a more useful way to think about culture. Let’s forget the idea of ‘genius’ for a little while, let’s think about the whole ecology of ideas that give rise to good new thoughts and good new work.”

Brian Eno

So, how do you create a scenius?

More importantly, can you create a scenius? According to Kevin Kelley, not really.

“Although many have tried many times, it is not really possible to command scenius into being...The serendipitous ingredients for scenius are hard to control. They depend on the presence of the right early pioneers. A place that is open, but not too open. A buffer that is tolerant of outlaws. And some flash of excitement to kick off the virtuous circle. You just can't order this.”

While reading about this subject, though, I came across a number of articles that encouraged artists to “find their tribe”, with one example being the Patreon community that Amanda Palmer built. But a tribe is not really a scenius, and while Amanda’s community may support her artistic career and even help her choose which songs to produce, it isn’t the same thing as a scenius.

Looking at the Bloomsbury Group or the Paris Salon, what becomes clear is that a scenius needs the coming together of creative minds, preferably across disciplines, all of whom are making their own art, doing their own work, and then getting together to discuss, debate, and bounce ideas off one another. And when you consider how Brian Eno originally arrived at the concept of a scenius, it becomes evident that there is a strong element of geography and place attached to it.

This can make finding a scenius difficult, especially if there aren’t many people who share your interests where you live. But not all hope is lost. While a tribe or community may not be a scenius, an online community can slowly, organically turn into a scenius.

Motown Museum, via Wikimedia Commons

Is Substack a scenius?

The best example I can come up with is

Substack

which I think may be starting to develop into a scenius.

Substack Notes is like a huge salon, where you can cross paths with artists, illustrators, photographers, writers, musicians, and hopefully soon even Substack readers {i.e., those who read substacks but don’t write here}.

Within that larger salon, you may slowly start to gravitate towards a few people with whom you interact regularly, via notes or better yet by commenting on their posts. The interesting thing with Substack is that writers will often reply to your comments, and sometimes, so will other readers, which can get a nice little conversation rolling or even set off the spark of an idea. This post, for example, was inspired by some of the comments and conversations in Austin Kleon’s post.

And then there are some Substackers who put together wonderfully curated recommendations that can help you discover not just new writers, but also new ideas.

And while there are many excellent curators, I don’t think all of them contribute to a scenius. It takes a special something to curate posts that foster and promote creativity — curated links on social media trends, finance, or business; wellness, beauty, or just ‘good writing’ in general don’t really work in this specific context.

When I think of curated posts that feel supportive of a scenius, I think of:

• Kathryn’s curated posts on the intersection between art and mental health and on writing on

  Create Me Free

• Austin Kleon’s weekly 10 things

• The excellent round-up of fiction news from around Substack by

  S.E. Reid

• And maybe even the Creative Explorations that I share each month on art and creativity

The Bloomsbury Group: Left to right: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Maria Nys (neither members of Bloomsbury), Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell, via Wikimedia Commons

The scenius of the ‘dead’, or finding your artistic lineage

Another interesting thread that I found via the comments on Austin Kleon’s post is the idea that your scenius can extend to the ‘dead’ too — books and artists, writers, or thinkers whose work inspires and feeds your own creativity.

While this model doesn’t have Brian Eno’s elements of a scenius, I think it’s very interesting. In my own creative practice, I look to these artists and thinkers as my lineage. I also include the artists, creatives, and mentors who are currently alive, and whose work and ideas inspire me or make me think in new and different ways, as part of my artistic lineage.

There is no cultural scene or communal aspect to creating a scenius based on books or looking at an artist’s body of work, this would be entirely self-directed. But by immersing yourself in the work of a few selected artists and thinkers, I believe you can bring a richness to your own creative work.

As an artist, when I look at the work and lives of painters I admire, I can find threads that help me craft my own practice. Artists like Mark Rothko who was an elementary school teacher for most of his life or Van Gogh whose work never gained acclaim during his lifetime not only inspire me to keep plugging away at my craft, but also to rethink the current cultural narrative that insists that success equals making money off your art.

The new potential van Gogh photo was taken in Paris by architect Jules Antoine in December 1887. Believed to be joining van Gogh, Gauguin, and Bernard at the table are Dutch artist Arnold Koning, politician Felix Duval, and Jules’ brother André Antoine, who founded the Théâtre-Libre in Paris, via Wikimedia Commons

Carefully studying the work of artists whose work I admire infuses freshness and a rich seam of creativity into my own art practice.

Reading Murray Stein and the Stoics help me better understand myself, which extends out into my creative life.

Immersing myself in the fragments that I can find on Paulus Berensohn help me to craft a creative and writing practice that is meaningful and nurturing to me, and to think more mindfully about my relationship with art and craft and the way I view the world.

When you bring in all of these influences and start weaving them together to look for creative inspiration, fresh perspectives on what it means to be an artist, insights into how to live and create better, your work takes on a richness and a deeper personal meaning than it could if all you did was watch a few YouTube videos, take a few classes, and locked yourself away in your studio.

"Creativity is about connection—you must be connected to others in order to be inspired and share your own work...”

Austin Kleon

In this case, when you rely more on a scenius of the ‘dead’, or as I think of it, on an artistic lineage, I think connection and sharing your own work becomes more important.

For me, this Substack is how I am currently choosing to connect more meaningfully and to share my work, and I’m truly appreciative of each one of you who replies to these emails, leaves a comment on these posts, or shares my work. Your attention, which is such a rare thing in this age of fractured attention spans thanks to Instagram reels and TikTok videos, is not something I take for granted.

If you enjoy my work, please take a moment to share it so that I can bring my work and my words to more people who may appreciate them. Thank you!

Let’s chat

I love chatting with you in the comments or via e-mail. Here are a few questions to help us get the conversation rolling.

• Do you think being part of a scenius — or a community — is important to your own development as an artist or creative?

• Do you have a creative lineage?

• Who is the single most influential artist or thinker who is informs or supports your creative practice?

  ---

Studio Diaries is a free weekly newsletter. If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing.

You can also share excerpts of this post on social media, forward it to your friends, or share the link on your socials. Thank you for being here.