Abstract:

The act of creation is the crux from where novel and original works of art and design emerge. It is the act of creation which probably made Van Gogh paint The Sunflowers in the way he did. A closer look into the study of act of creation reveals that this act has been studied from varied perspectives like the creative object, the creative process and the creative environment. But what does the act of creation mean for the creator? What does the creator experience in this moment of creation? The domains of Visual Arts and Design are creative fields and lay emphasis on the experiential dimension and its impact on the painting/design.

The thought of researching Phenomenon of letting go (PLG) has its roots in the visible disparity between individuals, personal understanding of PLG of artists/designers and the non-inclusion of experiential realm of creative experiences in theoretical foundations of domains of Arts and Design. The need to research this topic is also stemmed in the significance of the experience of PLG during the creation of novel and original work. The present research aims to conduct a focussed investigation of the phenomenon. The study stems from a belief that this significant event is a crucial creative experience which needs to be substantiated with a knowledge base that could give PLG its own identity and unique qualitative distinctness. The research aims to deconstruct the phenomenon so that the parts analysed would give an understanding of the complete picture of PLG experience.

The research starts by drafting a premise for PLG which enlists the characteristics of the experiences being investigated. The study holds the premise as central and investigates the phenomenon occurring in artists and designers. PLG is an intangible, unobservable and subjective experience. A Hermeneutic-phenomenological investigation of PLG deconstructed the nature of PLG and confirmed the characteristics as initially draftedin the premise. The study gave a tangible definition of PLG which made this experience distinct from the on-going creative experiences. The research gave a comprehensive understanding into the variations/types of PLG and its attributes. The study focussed on PLG which occurs in the domains of Visual Arts and Design. It extracted the points of variance between PLG in both the domains, thus establishing the uniqueness of PLG in each domain.