Sometimes it is the artist who sees around the corner and connects the dots for us. As such, perhaps the artist is the penultimate strategist. For the artist, imagination is key, it is the seeking-seeing or the zehnsucht.
When I retired from the NetHope Board, I told this story at the awards dinner:
Last year we visited Florence and toured the Academia Museum. This is where the famous David sculpture is displayed, which Michelangelo carved early in his artistic career. Not many realize that half of his work came after he turned forty. Four examples were intended for the tomb of Pope Julius, which Michelangelo never finished. They are in the grand hall as you approach the David. The figures seem to be rising from the blocks of marble with the rough chisel-marks designating something new.
As I thought about this, it told me three things:
First, that our work as humanitarians and conservationists is never finished.
Second, it is never too late to start something new and fix something old
And third, what you create can still bring something new that leaves its mark on others to carry on
What do you see when you look at great art? |