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Where are the DaVincis?

Talent from the Renaissance

The Renaissance is often hailed as a key time of excelling the arts, engineering, and societal changes throughout Europe. A time of heroes like Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonardo DaVinci, and Michaelangelo, to name a few. The cultural shift during these few hundred years is still felt today.

I have had conversations with a few people about how our current society makes it nearly impossible for people to raise the level that these geniuses achieved. I have heard theories of why this might be true:

Social media and our distracted society
Hyper-specializations of education and careers
Less well-read individuals

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Though these concerns need to be considered, especially how they shape our society as a whole, I don't buy into the lack of genius today. Instead, I think you can find hyper-talented individuals in paid professions.

Many of the talented Renaissance individuals seemed to be connected to the Church – the powerhouse of the age. Today, the almighty dollar seems to be the key in drawing these individuals to places of prominence.

Jony Ive and Tim Cook at Apple Keynote – apple.com

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Sir Jony Ive

Take, for example, one of my heroes Sir Jony Ive, originally at Apple. This artist help craft:

iMac G3
Mac G4 Cube
Powerbook G4
iPods
iPhones
iPads
MacBook Air
ios 7+
Apple Watches
Airpods
Apple's Campus

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These devices have become so iconic with beautiful, functional industrial design it is difficult not to see Ive as a master artist and engineer. In fact, I find his pieces so striking that I have the model of my first iPhone (4s) deconstructed on my wall.

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Though Ive may not be a household name, you would be pressed to find someone in this world that hasn't been impacted by his design. His device designs, software design, and general aesthetic live in hundreds of millions of homes. Not to mention the companies that have created knock-offs or products that take heavy inspiration from the Apple look.

Ad Agencies

The Superbowl is prime time to see amazing storytellers succinctly tell a brilliant story in less than 60 seconds. If you think of amazing storytellers, they tend to be in agencies telling great stories for companies.

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Though it wasn't a Superbowl ad, this commercial still sticks out to me years later (initially aired in 2012).

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This story is so well told that it transcends its original intended audience – released for South America. Anyone with the experience of having a kid inevitably picked up on all the references. Yet even without having kids, the ideas are so universal that they are still relatable.

Who created this ad? What genius is behind it? To be honest, I'm not sure. The ad was created by the agency Santo, which now seems to be debunked or sold. This video is just one example that shows unnamed artists are creating compelling content.

Of course, this commercial is not the only one. There are plenty of agencies out there crafting meaningful stories and, overall, pushing the storytelling craft to new heights.

BONUS: One other example of a unique, "how did they do that" type commercial by Pulse Films – Client: Apple.

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Featured (Animated) Films

Many phenomenal directors and artists are crafting stories, such as Christopher Noland, Stephen Speilberg, and Alfred Hitchcock. There could (and probably are) master courses just exploring their films as art.

However, one company that continues to stand out is Pixar. The company started out of Lucus Films. The company originally existed in the hardware space. However, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter had a dream to bring computer-animated films to the big screen.

To accomplish this, Catmull, Lasseter, and a small team had to simultaneously push forward art and technology to create films that satisfied their standards. All while telling stories, people wanted to go watch. This work was no small feat, but the outcomes have been off the charts:

As of March 2022 Pixar released its 25th film
18 Academy Awards
10 Golden Globes
7 Grammy Awards
Overall 210 awards won

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I can still remember sitting in the theatre to watch Monsters University. When the short film came on before the feature, I remember being struck that Pixar must have started venturing out of animation into live-action. It took 30 seconds before I realized just how impressive their animation had become. Of course, today, that have created even more compelling images, but this short has always struck me as art.

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Unfortunately, the most compelling images are at the beginning, so if you subscribe to Dinsey+ you can watch the entire short film there.

The technology they built to tell their stories also impacted other films. Movies like Jurassic Park, Lion King, Avitar, and the Titanic, to name just a small sample, have used Renderman, Pixar's technology.

Though it took a team to accomplish all of this, the brilliant minds of Catmull and Lasseter should not be overlooked. The leadership it took to build a company in which this type of creativity thrived is beyond impressive.

NOTE: Lasseter was essentially ousted from Pixar/Disney because of inappropriate conduct. I do not endorse that behavior nor think it is necessary to create great art. Lasseter has lost all of my respect as a leader. However, that does not diminish his contribution to art and technology and the furthering of both through storytelling.

Film Scores

For those looking for phenomenal classical-type composers, often you can find them creating the unique soundtracks we experience in movies. Take Hans Zimmer. Helping to develop the tone of:

And this is just one composer. I'm not sure about you, but just looking at the film titles, I can hear some of the soundtracks in my head.

Art, If You Look

Highlighting the artists above doesn't mean that more traditional artists do not exist. The point is that there seems to be a persuasive gravitational pull toward the commercial side of art, and many of our most brilliant artists live in the corporate world. For those looking for significant artists influencing culture, you will often have to look at companies and entertainment complexes to find geniuses creating amazing art.

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