Two Prototypical Creators

In Chapter 5, the author reinforces the idea that models are approximations that work in most cases, most of the time. They capture family resemblances within groups. The members of the group, in this instance artists, “look alike.” Models help because they allow us to predict. But they also, more commonly, allow us to understand, and when we understand, we not only make sense of another person we are interested in, we also, in addition to that, make sense of ourselves. In this chapter, the author applies his model to the lives and art of two famous artists: David Bowie and Frida Kahlo. This discussion reveals that it’s not necessary, and usually not accurate, to think of art as an escape or unintended cure. It is repetition, in thin or thick symbolic terms, of uniquely important experiences.