Beyond Intuition

• Many artists have assumed that such knowledge is unnecessary:

  'It is intuition rather than knowledge that provides the foundation for artistic creation.'

  I agree: intuition is essential for artistic production. In the absence of knowledge, our only recourse is to follow our intuitions. But intuition is not the foundation for artistic freedom or creative innovation.
  
  Quite the contrary: The more we rely on our intuitions, the more our behaviors are dictated by unacknowledged social norms or biological predispositions. Intuition is, and has been, indispensible in the arts. But intuition needs to be supplemented by knowledge (or luck) if artists are to break through "counter-intuitive" barriers into new realms of artistic expression.